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Cleansing the Cosmos CLEANSING THE COSMOS: A BIBLICAL MODEL FOR CONCEPTUALIZING AND COUNTERACTING EVIL By E. Janet Warren A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham November 14, 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSRACT Understanding evil spiritual forces is essential for Christian theology. Evil has typically been studied either from a philosophical perspective or through the lens of ‘spiritual warfare’. The first seldom considers demonology; the second is flawed by poor methodology. Furthermore, warfare language is problematic, being very dualistic, associated with violence and poorly applicable to ministry. This study addresses these issues by developing a new model for conceptualizing and counteracting evil using ‘non-warfare’ biblical metaphors, and relying on contemporary metaphor theory, which claims that metaphors are cognitive and can depict reality. In developing this model, I examine four biblical themes with respect to alternate metaphors for evil: Creation, Cult, Christ and Church. Insights from anthropology (binary oppositions), theology (dualism, nothingness) and science (chaos-complexity theory) contribute to the construction of the model, and the concepts of profane space, sacred space and sacred actions (divine initiative and human responsibility) guide the investigation. The role of the Holy Spirit in maintaining the boundaries of divine reality is emphasized, and the ontology of evil minimized (considered quasi-real). This model incorporates concentric circles, evil being considered peripheral to godly reality. I suggest metaphors of cleansing, ordering, separating and limiting evil, and discuss potential applications of this model. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to my PhD supervisors, Mark Cartledge and Andrew Davies. Mark for pointing me towards metaphor theory and challenging me on theological issues; Andrew for his biblical knowledge, attention to detail and advice regarding clarity. Their critique and patience with the process has been tremendously helpful. I am also thankful to Mark Boda for encouraging my ‘boundaries’ idea, suggesting research into priestly theology, and for feedback on Chapters 4 and 5. Fellow students at the University of Birmingham Research Seminars have helped develop my ideas; I especially appreciated dialogue with Graham Smith and Jennifer Miskov. Thanks also to Roy Matheson for his continuing encouragement and to Scott Moreau for his comments on Chapter 1. Portions of Chapters 1, 2 and 3 have been published as ‘Chaos and Chaos-Complexity: Understanding Evil Forces with Insight from Contemporary Science and Linguistics’, in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 63/4, Dec 2011, 255–266. CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION: ‘SPIRITUAL WARFARE’? .............................................. 1 1.1. ‘Spiritual Warfare’: A Brief History.................................................................................... 4 1.1.1. Historical Review ......................................................................................................... 4 1.1.2. Contemporary Popular Literature .............................................................................. 7 1.1.3. Contemporary Academic Literature ......................................................................... 14 1.1.3.1. Boyd’s ‘God at War’ ............................................................................................. 14 1.1.3.2. Other Academic Literature ................................................................................. 18 1.2. ‘Spiritual Warfare’: Critiques ........................................................................................... 22 1.2.1. Theology and Method ................................................................................................ 23 1.2.2. Warfare Language ...................................................................................................... 26 1.3. The Need for an Alternative Model ................................................................................. 34 1.3.1. Objectives and Outline of Thesis............................................................................... 36 CHAPTER TWO. METHOD, METAPHOR, MODEL AND MEANING .................................. 38 2.1. Types of Figurative Language .......................................................................................... 39 2.1.1. Symbols ....................................................................................................................... 40 2.1.2. Metaphors ................................................................................................................... 42 2.1.2.1. The Classical View of Metaphor .......................................................................... 42 2.1.2.2. The Interaction View of Metaphor ....................................................................... 43 2.1.2.3. Conceptual Metaphors .......................................................................................... 46 2.1.2.4. Semantic Domains .............................................................................................. 49 2.1.2.5. Summary .............................................................................................................. 50 2.1.3. Models ......................................................................................................................... 50 2.1.4. Simile, Analogy… ........................................................................................................ 53 2.1.5. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 56 2.2. Figurative Language and Theology ................................................................................. 57 2.2.1. Symbols and Myth ....................................................................................................... 58 2.2.2. Metaphors .................................................................................................................... 60 2.2.3. Models ......................................................................................................................... 63 2.2.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 64 2.3. Models, Metaphors, History, Truth and Reality .............................................................. 64 2.3.1. Literal-Historical ........................................................................................................ 65 2.3.2. Truth and Reality ......................................................................................................... 67 2.3.3. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 70 2.4. Metaphors, Models and ‘Spiritual Warfare’ .................................................................... 70 2.5. Conclusion and Application.............................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER THREE. CHAOS: EVIL IN OPPOSITION TO GOD .............................................. 75 3.1. Chaos and Biblical Metaphors .......................................................................................... 77 3.2. Chaos and Theology .......................................................................................................... 81 3.2.1. Theodicy ..................................................................................................................... 81 3.2.2. Ontology ...................................................................................................................... 84 3.3. Chaos and Anthropology .................................................................................................. 89 3.4. Chaos and Science ............................................................................................................. 94 3.4.1. Chaos-Complexity Theory ......................................................................................... 96 3.4.1.1. Nonlinearity ......................................................................................................... 98 3.4.1.2. Self-Organization ................................................................................................ 98 3.4.1.3. Applications ....................................................................................................... 100 3.4.2. Chaos-Complexity and Theology ............................................................................ 101 3.4.3. Dark Matter and Nothing......................................................................................... 104 3.5. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 105 CHAPTER
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