Hellenism and Empire explores identity, politics, and culture in the Greek world of the first three centuries AD, the period known as the second sophistic. The sources of this identity were the words and deeds of classical Greece, and the emphasis placed on Greekness and Greek heritage was far greater now than at any other time. Yet this period is often seen as a time of happy consensualism between the Greek and Roman halves of the Roman Empire. The first part of the book shows that Greek identity came before any loyalty to Rome (and was indeed partly a reaction to Rome), while the views of the major authors of the period, which are studies in the second part, confirm and restate the prior claims of Hellenism.

Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, A. D. 50-250

UP FROM SEA AND EARTH: REVELATION 13:1, 11 IN CONTEXT by Hugo Antonio Cotro Adviser: Ranko Stefanovic ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCHOF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH

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Up from Sea and Earth: Revelation 13:1, 11 in Context

Part I. Introduction: 1. The question of wealth in the Apocalypse Part II. The Language of Wealth and Poverty in the Second Temple Period: Introduction 2. Dead Sea Scrolls: non-sectarian Aramaic documents 3. Dead Sea Scrolls: non-sectarian Hebrew documents 4. Dead Sea Scrolls: sectarian Hebrew documents 5. Other Jewish literature Preliminary conclusions Part III. Wealth, Poverty, and the Faithful Community in the Apocalypse of John: Introduction 6. The language of wealth and poverty in the seven messages - Rev 2-3 7. The present eschatological age - Rev 4-6 8. Buying and selling in Satan's world - Rev 12-13, 18 9. Final conclusions.

Riches, Poverty, and the Faithful: Perspectives on Wealth in the Second Temple Period and the Apocalypse of John

Hellenism and Empire. Language, Classicism and Power in the Greek World. S Swain

“CONFIDENT OF BETTER THINGS”: ASSURANCE OF SALVATION IN THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS Christopher Wade Cowan, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chair: Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner This dissertation contends that interpreters have underestimated assurance of salvation in the Letter to the Hebrews and the author’s confidence in his recipients’ salvation. Chapter 1 considers the history of research, examining how several recent commentators and interpreters have understood the warnings and assurance in the letter. Special attention is given to their interpretation of the perfection of believers and the new covenant promises, as well as the author’s confidence, God’s promise, and the believer’s hope in Hebrews 6:9-20. Chapter 2 examines the concept of perfection in Hebrews—with respect to Christ and believers—and specifically considers its relationship to the promises of the new covenant as prophesied in Jeremiah 31, quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:16-17. I analyze several relevant texts, including 3:7-4:13; 7:11-28; 8:1-13; 9:1-10; 10:1-18, 22; 11:39-40; 12:18-24; and 13:20-21, and consider implications for assurance of salvation. Chapter 3 provides an exegetical analysis of Hebrews 6:9-20, seeking to understand the author’s confidence in the recipients and the contribution the passage makes to assurance of salvation in Hebrews. Chapter 4 offers an explanation of the warnings of Hebrews that can account for the findings of chapters 2 and 3. I consider and evaluate the three most common interpretations of the warnings: the loss-of-rewards view, the false-believer view, and the loss-of-salvation view. Building on this, I present the “means-of-salvation” view, responding to criticisms of the view and demonstrating how it best integrates the warnings with the passages and themes that promote Christian assurance. Thus, I defend the thesis that interpreters of Hebrews have greatly underestimated assurance of salvation in the letter (1) by demonstrating that the author implicitly affirms his readers can have assurance of salvation in light of the sacrificial work of Christ and (2) by demonstrating that the means-of-salvation view offers the best means of integrating assurance of salvation with the warnings against Christian apostasy in the

"Confident of Better Things": Assurance of Salvation in the Letter to the Hebrews

Despite their many differences, John the Seer of Patmos and Dio the rhetorphilosopher of Prusa share a basic critique of the Roman Empire. Limiting the comparison to Rev. 18 and Dio's twelfth Olympic Oration (with an important reference to Dio's thirteenth Oration), this essay concludes that John and Dio critique the violence, exploitation and luxury of Rome, grounding their analysis in divine sovereignty over earthly rulers. This common critique suggests that John's message may have been sympathetically heard by a wider audience than simply a few Christian communities, and that Revelation should be reevaluated in this light.

Critiquing the excess of empire : A Synkrisis of john of patmos and Dio of Prusa

The author of Hebrews directly shames his audience in 5.11-12: ‘you have become νωθρoί in hearing ... you need someone to teach you ... You need milk not solid food’. Taking into account occurrence...

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0142064X09339645

Making Fear Personal: Hebrews 5.11―6.12 and the Argument from Shame

Relevance theory (RT) describes human communication as a cognitive process that tends to maximize contextual effects while minimizing processing effort. From an RT perspective, translation is a com...

Relevance Theory in the Performance of Revelation 17–19:

The book of Revelation shows an unexpected interest in trees, and not only for their symbolic or anthropocentric value. Relevance theory helps compare various interpretive options an audience might...

Peter S. Perry

Papers

Critiquing the excess of empire : A Synkrisis of john of patmos and Dio of Prusa

Making Fear Personal: Hebrews 5.11―6.12 and the Argument from Shame

Relevance Theory in the Performance of Revelation 17–19:

“Do not harm the trees!” Ecology, Empire, and Translation in the Book of Revelation: