L. William Oliverio

Bio: L. William Oliverio is an academic researcher from Marquette University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hermeneutics & Theological hermeneutics. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 7 publications receiving 121 citations. Previous affiliations of L. William Oliverio include Northwest University (United States).

Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition: A Typological Account

Abstract: In Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition , L. William Oliverio Jr. accounts for the development of Classical Pentecostal theological hermeneutics through four hermeneutical types and concludes with a philosophical basis for future Pentecostal theological hermeneutics within the contours of a hermeneutical realism.

Revisioning transformation : towards a systematic proto-evangelical paradigm of the Christian life

Abstract: Within the contemporary church, usage of the term transformation has become commonplace. However, the way it is understood is often misguided. This study provides an original synthesis that points the church towards the need to express and live out a full, integrated, effectual and distinctly Christian vision of transformation. Self-identified “evangelicals” continue to explore the possibility of authentic transformation. There is now a proliferation of perspectives on the nature and process of Christian formation, some of which attempt a revision through ecumenical “ressourcement” or interdisciplinary methods. These often-conflicting approaches leave a landscape characterised by pluralism, division, fragmentation, confusion, relativism, individualism, pragmatism and subjectivism. Although evangelicalism is seen by some as a restorationist movement that seeks to draw the church back towards a prototypal faith, self-identified “evangelicals” clearly exhibit differences in their beliefs and practices. Both the absence of a common, coherent and integrated vision, and the lack of transformation itself, are often simply accepted and affirmed. In this thesis, it is argued that the only way to move towards the possibility a cohesive, integrated, broad, effectual and distinctly Christian vision of transformational theology, is through an approach that is grounded in rationallinguistic truth. Such a method is typified by J. I. Packer. His approach to integrating the concerns of theology and spirituality is used as the initial basis towards pursuing a “proto-evangelical” approach to Christian formation. In order to determine the breadth of Packer’s approach, he is brought into dialogue with Maximus Confessor. This critical conversation between two “theologians of the Christian life” allows exploration into the scope and diversity of a distinctly Christian view of transformation, and the seeking out of common characteristics in its nature and practice. This all provides a solid basis upon which to be able to outline an original synthesis.

An Integrative Study of Doxological Metanarrative, Mission, Motivation and Mechanism

Abstract: This dissertation engages in an integrative study of the doxological metanarrative of Scripture in relation to mission, motivation and mechanism, with special attention given to the business as mission (BAM) mechanism in Brazil. Two research techniques were utilized: 1) archival research in order to define and describe both the doxological components (metanarrative, mission and motivation) and the BAM mechanism; and 2) case study method in order to examine the motivations that drive successful Brazilian Christian entrepreneurs to start Kingdom companies. The researcher identified three key metanarrative frameworks for understanding Scripture and redemptive history: the Nature of God (NOG), the Kingdom of God (KOG) and the Mission of God (MOG). While the KOG has been the metanarrative of choice throughout much of history, the MOG has gained growing attention over the past 60 years. There is one underlying core metanarrative, however, which a close reading of Scripture yields, and which has profound implications as a motivation for missions. It is the Glory of God (GOG). This research is foundational in filling a void of scholarship concerning God’s doxological metanarrative, mission and motivation, and demonstrates the significant interconnectedness between them and the business as mission mechanism.

The Impact of Gospel Content on the Shape of Corporate Worship in Select Baptist Churches in North America circa 1650-1910

Abstract: THE IMPACT OF GOSPEL CONTENT ON THE SHAPE OF CORPORATE WORSHIP IN SELECT BAPTIST CHURCHES IN NORTH AMERICA CIRCA 1650–1910 Richard Scott Connell, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin Recent trends in Baptist worship have revealed an interest in Liturgical forms and some movement toward more thoughtful worship content and order in what has historically been a free church worship tradition. The fields of liturgical theology and liturgical anthropology have produced research that indicates that there is validity to this interest and that the order of worship elements can be instructive as is the content of worship. When both are oriented around the gospel’s shape and truth (e.g., the gospel of the glory of Christ), the worshiper is pointed to Christ who is the object of faith and the facilitator of spiritual formation through the Holy Spirit. The result is a worshiper who becomes like the one he holds in view in worship. This survey of representative churches in North American Baptist history (ca. 1650–1910) reveals that there has always been some evidence regarding the gospel’s presence in Baptist worship. This has not always been due to deliberate thought and planning, but because the gospel controls its forms. Where a church has held the gospel, its worship has reflected that conviction. Where the gospel has been lost, worship is at least reflective of that, if not partially the precipitator. These churches reflect varying degrees of gospel-content and form. The historical trend demonstrates that overall, Baptists have held the gospel, often in the face of stiff opposition. This grip on grace has been reflected consistently in their worship and likely is at least one of the reasons that they have continued to grow. Their growth is at least partially, in direct correlation to their worshiping in light of the cross. They have not just sung of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but they have engaged it in corporate worship and reflected the effects of this encounter with Christlikeness in their daily lives of worship.

Participating in the knowledge of God : an engagement with the Trinitarian epistemology of T.F. Torrance

Abstract: The overall aim of this thesis is to assess the viability of a particular understanding of participation in the knowledge of God for the postmodern, scientific context in which it is now located. Through a critical engagement of the Trinitarian epistemology of T. F. Torrance, this thesis provides a more holistic, complex vision of participation in the knowledge of God that moves beyond the problems of reductionist accounts. Part I of the thesis identifies and defines the modern problem of reductionist accounts of theological epistemology. To overcome these problems, this thesis proposes a complex vision of the knowledge of God through an engagement and expansion of Torrance’s Trinitarian epistemology. Part II delineates and analyzes seven general dynamics which comprise the nature of the knowledge of God for Torrance. Before moving to the center of his theological epistemology, this section provides an introduction and assessment of the general dynamics at work throughout his discussions of the knowledge of God. Part III goes to the heart of Torrance’s epistemology, the Triune God. This section begins by examining how the persons and relations of the ontological Trinity exercise a governing influence upon Torrance’s theological epistemology. From this Trinitarian framework, this section then turns to expand and appraise three epistemological dynamics which consequently become centrally important: knowledge of God as personal, relational, and participatory. This section contends that these forms of knowledge involve the whole person and a way of life. This vision of participation extends the Trinitarian epistemology of Torrance with priorities to which his theological writings clearly point but which he himself did not develop. Part IV concludes the thesis by drawing together the assessments made along the way concerning knowledge of God in a postmodern, scientific age and proposing an epistemological model that moves beyond the problems of reductionism.

People and Place: A Spatial Analysis of the Kingdom in Matthew

Abstract: PEOPLE AND PLACE: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE KINGDOM IN MATTHEW Patrick James Schreiner, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Chair: Dr. Jonathan T. Pennington This dissertation seeks to answer the following question: how do recent spatial theories help one interpret Jesus’ bringing of the kingdom in Matthew? The thesis argued that Jesus comes to reorder the space of the earth in Matthew uniting the two realms of heaven and earth through his body and through the body of his community. Chapter 1 demonstrates that although a resurgence in examining the land and spatial dimensions in the Scripture are underway, scholars in biblical studies still view space too narrowly. The conversation surrounding the spatial kingdom has been stunted in part due to the influence of Gustaf Dalman and George Eldon Ladd’s definition of the kingdom. Chapter 2 examines two of Matthew’s distinct themes, his focus on the spatial nature of the kingdom and the presence of Jesus. References to οὐρανός and γη and the Immanuel theme both provide warrant for examining the spatial kingdom in Matthew’s