{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20496"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20496","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The rhetoric of Abraham's faith in Romans 4","abstract":"The situation in the Letter to the Romans is one of dissension between Judean and gentile Christians. This dissension is deep seated because it occurs along the fault lines of Judean ethnic identity. Here, Judean Christians define their ethnic identity in terms of possessing the Mosaic law. Two factors aggravate this dissension. First, ethnic identity resists changes. Second, the audience is situated within the Mediterranean agonistic culture where honour is the most sought after limited good. This moves Judean Christians to use the Mosaic law to gain honour from gentile Christians. From a Judean emic perspective, the Mosaic law gains them righteousness. This righteousness is not only a social marker. More importantly, it is a socio-ethical construct that seeks to gain them honour in the eyes of the significant other, God. Consequently, gentile Christians are considered as inferior by Judean Christians. To alleviate this dissension, Paul uses the rhetoric of Abraham's trust (faith) that takes a two-pronged approach. He first undermines the Mosaic law as a means for Abraham to attain a worldwide fatherhood that makes Judeans Abraham's descendants. Paul next explains how trust in God gains Abraham a worldwide fatherhood so that both Judean and gentile Christians can become descendants of Abraham. In this way, Judean Christians' boast toward gentile Christians, and hence, dissension between these two groups are removed.","abstract_html":"The situation in the Letter to the Romans is one of dissension between Judean and gentile Christians. This dissension is deep seated because it occurs along the fault lines of Judean ethnic identity. Here, Judean Christians define their ethnic identity in terms of possessing the Mosaic law. Two factors aggravate this dissension. First, ethnic identity resists changes. Second, the audience is situated within the Mediterranean agonistic culture where honour is the most sought after limited good. This moves Judean Christians to use the Mosaic law to gain honour from gentile Christians. From a Judean emic perspective, the Mosaic law gains them righteousness. This righteousness is not only a social marker. More importantly, it is a socio-ethical construct that seeks to gain them honour in the eyes of the significant other, God. Consequently, gentile Christians are considered as inferior by Judean Christians. To alleviate this dissension, Paul uses the rhetoric of Abraham's trust (faith) that takes a two-pronged approach. He first undermines the Mosaic law as a means for Abraham to attain a worldwide fatherhood that makes Judeans Abraham's descendants. Paul next explains how trust in God gains Abraham a worldwide fatherhood so that both Judean and gentile Christians can become descendants of Abraham. In this way, Judean Christians' boast toward gentile Christians, and hence, dissension between these two groups are removed.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tan, Andrew Kim Seng"],"institution":"Department of Religious Studies","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Wanamaker, Charles A"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016","date_published":"2016","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:54Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20496","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Wanamaker, Charles A"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tan, Andrew Kim Seng"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-07-20T07:00:12Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-07-20T07:00:12Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2016"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Religious Studies"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20496"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The situation in the Letter to the Romans is one of dissension between Judean and gentile Christians. This dissension is deep seated because it occurs along the fault lines of Judean ethnic identity. Here, Judean Christians define their ethnic identity in terms of possessing the Mosaic law. Two factors aggravate this dissension. First, ethnic identity resists changes. Second, the audience is situated within the Mediterranean agonistic culture where honour is the most sought after limited good. This moves Judean Christians to use the Mosaic law to gain honour from gentile Christians. From a Judean emic perspective, the Mosaic law gains them righteousness. This righteousness is not only a social marker. More importantly, it is a socio-ethical construct that seeks to gain them honour in the eyes of the significant other, God. Consequently, gentile Christians are considered as inferior by Judean Christians. To alleviate this dissension, Paul uses the rhetoric of Abraham's trust (faith) that takes a two-pronged approach. He first undermines the Mosaic law as a means for Abraham to attain a worldwide fatherhood that makes Judeans Abraham's descendants. Paul next explains how trust in God gains Abraham a worldwide fatherhood so that both Judean and gentile Christians can become descendants of Abraham. In this way, Judean Christians' boast toward gentile Christians, and hence, dissension between these two groups are removed."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The rhetoric of Abraham's faith in Romans 4"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Wanamaker, Charles A"],"dc:creator":["Tan, Andrew Kim Seng"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-07-20T07:00:12Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-07-20T07:00:12Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2016"],"dc:description.abstract":["The situation in the Letter to the Romans is one of dissension between Judean and gentile Christians. This dissension is deep seated because it occurs along the fault lines of Judean ethnic identity. Here, Judean Christians define their ethnic identity in terms of possessing the Mosaic law. Two factors aggravate this dissension. First, ethnic identity resists changes. Second, the audience is situated within the Mediterranean agonistic culture where honour is the most sought after limited good. This moves Judean Christians to use the Mosaic law to gain honour from gentile Christians. From a Judean emic perspective, the Mosaic law gains them righteousness. This righteousness is not only a social marker. More importantly, it is a socio-ethical construct that seeks to gain them honour in the eyes of the significant other, God. Consequently, gentile Christians are considered as inferior by Judean Christians. To alleviate this dissension, Paul uses the rhetoric of Abraham's trust (faith) that takes a two-pronged approach. He first undermines the Mosaic law as a means for Abraham to attain a worldwide fatherhood that makes Judeans Abraham's descendants. Paul next explains how trust in God gains Abraham a worldwide fatherhood so that both Judean and gentile Christians can become descendants of Abraham. In this way, Judean Christians' boast toward gentile Christians, and hence, dissension between these two groups are removed."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20496"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Religious Studies"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["The rhetoric of Abraham's faith in Romans 4"],"dc:type":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:54Z"}