Biblical Studies Department

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Designed to promote excellence in African Christianity by providing a research - based degree specializing in the field of biblical studies.

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Visual Theology
(2002-05-30) Nkansah, James Obrempong
Drifting Loyalty
(2011-07-30) Makanda, Nelson Ndong'a
DRIFTING LOYALTY:
(2011-07-30) Makanda, Ndong'a Nelson
Benefaction and Patronage in the Pastoral Epistles
(2013-03-30) Nzyoka, Nathan Joshua
Leaving Vengeance to God: examination of Roman 12:19 within context
(2013-08-23) Batibuka, Pontien Ndagijimana
The purpose of this study was to understand the concept of' leaving vengeance to God' as stipulated by Paul in Rom. 12:19. This purpose consisted in a threefold endeavor: (1) to examine why vengeance--which is in fact a negative act--stands prohibited for the believer but accepted if God is the one who executes it; (2) due to the fact that Paul infers his words from Deut. 32:35, it has been necessary to examine the concept of 'leaving vengeance to God' in the Old Testament, but also in other contexts that are deemed to have had a certain influence on Paul, i.e., the Near Eastern culture, Judaism, and the Greco-Roman culture; (3) to draw the theological teaching that Paul is making in commanding the believer to leave vengeance to God. The approach used in the study comprised syntactical analysis, relative word study, and socio-historical use of the concept. The study was a literary research. Thus the method adopted has fostered an interaction of the writer and library resources, i.e., books and articles of joumals. The study has revealed that all the contexts examined have a tendency to take for granted the punishing of evil deeds, and that God (god) is the primary avenger. This fact that vengeance is the prerogative of God is especially emphasized in the biblical account. In the Old Testament, the God of Israel is a personality who avenges himself, avenges his people and mandates his servants to exercise vengeance. God appears as the source of any legitimate vengeance. As a God approved practice, vengeance in the Hebrew Bible had a noble purpose. Education was its primary aim. Because of this educational aim, vengeance was then enacted publicly. Private vengeance was strongly prohibited. It was the civil organs that had God's mandate to punish those who had wronged the right and dignity of other people. It is noted that the Old Testament shares most of these traits on vengeange with other cultures that had a historical connection with the Bible. Therefore, in Rom. 12:19 Paul perpetuated a concept of divine vengeance that was already rooted in the cultures that influenced his life. But ajoint study of Deut. 32:35 and Rom. 12:19 showed that the apostle draws a specific theological teaching. His point is that God stands as the avenger of the believer because all evil is primarily against God, even if it is done against the believer. He perceives an identification between the believer and God: persecuting a believer equals persecuting his/her Lord (Acts 9:4). But beyond this identification, the context of Rom. 12:19 gives to non-vengeance a kerygmatic importance. Paul places abstinence from vengeance at the heart of the fight between good and evil. Non-vengeance stands as a weapon for overcoming evil and bringing evildoers to God. In Paul's thought, repaying good for evil is a powerful act that can stir in the evildoer a painful feeling of shame that can bring him l her to repentance. But abstaining from avenging one's right is not an easy attitude. From the context of Rom. 12 and Romans in general, the apostle gives the foundation on which non vengeance stands: The power of repaying good for evil resides in the fact that it is a self-giving act (Rom. 12:1) done to one's enemy, which exemplifies the self-giving love of Jesus (Rom. 5:8, 10). So it requires a special relationship with God. For, only a person transformed by God (Rom. 12:2) and endowed with his strength can put in action Paul's injunction of leaving vengeance to God.
The ambiguity over the recipient of Isaiah 18 and its impact on the church in Sudan today.
(2013-09-18) Liol-Agueng, Ramadan Chan
It is difficult to know the recipient of a text by a mere understanding of its message. This is typical ofIsaiah 18 where the prophet failed to name his audience. As a resulted the church in Sudan perceived the audience as Sudan and has formulated a theology of the present suffering on this text. It is out of this concern that the thesis of investigating the audience of the message of Isaiah 18 was born. This investigation is presented in six chapters. Chapter one covers introductory materials, namely statement of the problem, significance of the study, thesis plan and methodology, assumptions, definitions, limitation and delimitation. Chapter two discusses the land of Cush which serves as the background for the message in Isaiah 18:5- 6. It mainly consists of exegesis of verses 1 and 2 where the prophet describes the land of Cush. The land of Cush is described, located and identified on the basis of Isaiah's description. The extent of the land is pointed out in order to guide the reader in understanding Isaiah's intended audience. In chapter three, I exegete verses 2b and 7 in order to identify the people of Cush. This then led me to identify the possible Cushite communities at present. Chapter four focuses on the message of Isaiah 18 and its impact on Cush. This consists of exegesis of verses 3-7 where the inhabitants of the whole earth are called to witness the events of the destruction along with the content of the message of doom as well as God's position at the initial development of the events preceding the destruction. This then led to the examination of the impact of the destruction on Cush which is stated in verse 7. Chapter five aims at highlighting the relationship between the message ofIsaiah 18 and the present suffering in Sudan. It tries to reconcile the discussion of Cush in the opening verses with the ambiguity of the audience of the message in verses 5 and 6. This is then viewed in the light of the possible time for fulfillment to see the possible connection between the two. Chapter six then presents the conclusion reached on the basis of the findings. In conclusion, we have been able to locate the land of Cush south of Egypt which comprises of modem countries of Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. We have also been able to identify the Nubians, the Zing and the Abyssinians as the recipients of Isaiah's message. But our finding has shown the difficulty in taking the present political situation in Sudan as the fulfillment of Isaiah 18 and the church in Sudan has been advised accordingly on the basis of the finding.
An exegesis of Ephesians 4:1-16 with emphasis on Paul's use of Psalm 68 : 18 implications for preaching and teaching today
(2014-05-07) Mbamalu, Abiola
This study is primarily concerned with Paul's use of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:1-16. To this end, a literary-grammatical analysis of the relevant passage was done. With egard to the quotation found in Ephesians 4:8, we found that the change from the verb 'receive' as found in Psalm 68: 18 to the verb 'give' in Ephesians 4:8 could be accounted for by context, and affirmed by semantics. A semantic analysis of the verb np" 'receive' indicates that it co-occurs more frequently with the verb lnJ 'give' than with any other verb. Working with the assumption that this finding in terms of collocations may, perhaps, arise from a socio-cultural context, we investigated the socio-cultural context of the concept of warfare, for this is a concept that underlies Psalm 68: 18. In addition, we looked closely at Ephesians 4:9-10, for they serve as commentary on the quotation in Ephesians 4:8. We found, in terms of the method of exegesis at play, that the commentary is a Pesher, and that it employs an argument from silence to identify the referent of the quotation. The conclusion of this study is that we cannot replicate Paul's method of exegesis in terms of arguing from silence, for this will necessarily lead us away from the text, and easily degenerate into doing an eisegesis rather than an exegesis. The corollary of this is that the task of modern interpreters is basically different from the task in which Paul was engaged. Paul's task was not primarily to interpret Scriptures, but to interpret the Christ-event and related subsequent events in the light of Scriptures. However, there is one basic principle employed by Paul which we can emulate today. This is the principle of knowing the context of Scriptures, for this is one principle that enabled Paul to use the verb 'give' instead of the verb 'receive'. If this principle was important for Paul, it is all the more relevant in our time, because of our distance from the actual period in which the events took place as well as the time they were written. Among other things, it is one principle that helps us know the different senses which a word may signify to the original hearers or readers. Having a thorough understanding of the context of Scriptures is highly recommended to modern interpreters (preachers and teachers) today by Paul's use of Psalm 68: 18 in Ephesians 4:8.
Examination of 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, with special reference to the Lord's supper:implications for the Methodist Church in Kenya
(2014-05-08) Nii Okai Clottey, Emmanuel
This thesis is an examination of 1 Corinthians 10: 14-22 and 11: 17-34. The findings from the examination were applied to the practice and meaning of the Lord's Supper in the Methodist Church in Kenya. In chapter one, we looked at introductory matters such as the statement of the problem, potential benefits of the study, presuppositions, methodology, and delimitations. In chapter two, we looked at the historical, geographical, social and textual contexts of the Lord's Supper. This included the background of the Corinthian Church, the origin ofthe Lord's Supper as well as meal- eating in the time of Paul. Also a general survey of the book was done to establish the textual context of the Lord's Supper. Chapter three is an exegesis of the 1 Corinthians passages, with due attention to all issues of hermeneutical interest in order to establish Paul's teaching about the Lord's Supper. In chapter four, we examined by way of exegesis how Paul related the Lord's Supper to the judgment of God. In other words, for what was God judging the Corinthians? Chapter five is a summary of the examination of the two passages. The principles from the research were applied to the African situation of the Methodist Church in Kenya. A conclusion was then drawn.
LUKE'S NARRATIVE LEGITIMATION OF PAUL AND THE GOSPEL AMONG THE DIASPORA (ACTS 16-19)
(2016-05-30) BYERLY, BEN
EXEGETIC ANALYSIS OF EPHESIANS 4:1-16: THE USE OF PSALM 68:18 IN EPHESIANS 4:8-10, THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS TO THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO THE AMHARIC BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
(Africa international University, 2017-07-01) ROBI, WORKU EJERE
PERCEPTIONS BY AARI SPEAKERS OF FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE USE OF VERNACULAR SCRIPTURE IN THE AARI COMMUNITY
(Africa International University, 2018-05-05) Abayneh, Leyon
This research investigates perception of Aaraf speakers and factors that affect the use of the Aari New Testament. The Aari New Testament was published and distributed in 1997. The purpose of the translation believed that a mother tongue helps to understand the message of the Bible and enables believers to grow to Christlikeness. However, this crucial plan missed its target due to different internal and external factors at work in the context. The researcher discussed the problems, theories and studies done in other contexts in the literature. He also included detailing Aari perceptions of their language, impacted by internal, external and institutional factors. Lack of an integrated work between the translators, church leaders and members throughout the process of translation made the translation not to be owned by the people. The lack of ownership along with other social, political and cultural issues contributed to the low usage of the translation. The dominance of other languages and, lack of confidence in using the mother tongue in public hindered the progress of the vernacular language development. With regards to institutional issues, the lack of incorporated language planning with people, the non-existence of language maintenance, the choice of dialect and script that was not appropriate in the context all played an additional role in the process. The study concludes with some recommendations for how to increase the use of vernacular Scripture showing different available opportunities to change the attitude of the people. It also shows different ways to encourage the people to use Scripture more effectively.
IDENTIFYING FALSE TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH TODAY ON THE BASIS OF 2 PETER 2
(2020-10-30) Malusi, Dionysius Muthoka
EXAMINATION OF 1 CORINTHIANS 14:33b–35 IN RELATION TO WOMEN’S MINISTRY IN CHURCH
(2020-10-30) Ponga, Fednarnd Mwamburi
SYNCRETISM IN JUDGES 17
(2020-11-05) Kirui, Kiprotich Albert
This paper analyzes religious elements in Judges 17 that are contrary to the instruction of Yahweh in the Torah. This chapter paints a picture of syncretism where the characters worship Yahweh in the wrong way by incorporating other borrowed forms of religious practices. The pattern of the curse made by the mother of Micah follows the common understanding of cursing among the neighbors of the Israelites. The dedication of silver to make a carved and cast image in the name of worshipping Yahweh violates the ten commandments. The ordination of the non-Levitical priest failed to observe the appointment rules in the Torah. Micah’s confidence in the Levite for prosperity conforms to the pattern outside Levitical laws. These patterns fall outside the Torah but have more in common with practices among the Canaanites, though in some cases there is more clear evidence of syncretism than in others. The implication is that there is the worship of Yahweh in the wrong way.
GRACE AND LAW IN DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC DISCIPLES:
(2020-11-30) MOENGA, MICAH ONSERIO