Papers by Martin Samson PhD
Proceedings of the 7th National SCAPE Conference 28th -30th April 2006 Edited by Kaalii Cargill, 2006
It is also possible to take the methodology of analyzing the Biblical narrative to another level.... more It is also possible to take the methodology of analyzing the Biblical narrative to another level. In this paper I want to explore the whole narrative of the gospels in the interaction of all the various characters and events that enter the story as the symbol or archetype of the Self and ego, and their processes with various complexes, as understood in Jungian terms, or sub-personalities, as understood in Psychosynthesis. It will require the development of a methodology for creating composite pictures out of the four accounts in the Bible, and will draw on apocryphal texts to elucidate certain relationships. In this way I hope to show that the whole narrative is an amazing wealth of knowledge about the psychic processes within an individual. The relationships between Christ, as the Self and ego, and the other personalities, can reveal the nature of a complex or sub-personality, and how the relationship to the Self can bring the archetype into play within the soul. Thus a constructive co-working relationship between the ego and the Self can create health within a person’s journey.
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Thesis Chapters by Martin Samson PhD
In Christian anthropology the language about God, the nature of men and women, and the role of hu... more In Christian anthropology the language about God, the nature of men and women, and the role of human beings in creation have been subject to androcentric and anthropocentric interpretations of Genesis1:26.28. This interpretation has traditionally allowed subordination and domination of both women and creation. This interpretation was preferred by philosophy and theology from the time of Aristotle to Calvin. Augustine’s and Thomas Aquinas’ systematic theologies support this framework, and therefore I name this type of interpretation classic Christian anthropology.
In the minds of many Christians and observers of Christianity this model of interpretation is still the predominant anthropological picture. People perceive/believe that God created human beings and commanded us to go out and subdue and dominate creation to our own ends and that women are subordinate to men in both how they can image God and are less divine in their nature. This picture is acculturated through the language Christianity has used over the centuries. Currently feminist and ecological theologians have reframed language about God, the relationship of humanity to God’s nature and the understanding of how men and women can image God.
The first part of my thesis reflects my own journey of discovery through the readings of theologians and scholars. This journey has been one of realizing that the ‘classic Christian anthropology’ is no longer the frame work of current Christian theology. This part shows that the androcentric and anthropocentric models of anthropology have been replaced by a relational model.
Part two demonstrates how the ‘P’ source defined a model of interpretation that became an influential philosophical understanding in Christian theology. Here I show where philosophy has made a turn from the classic understandings of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas from associating the image of God with ‘reason’ to ‘relationality’. The consequence of this shift gives us an alternative hermeneutic to read Genesis 1:26-28
Part three offers a contemporary reading of Genesis 1:26-28. This part defines the parameters of the hermeneutic of ‘relationality’ through the work of Phyllis Trible, Terence E Fretheim, Denis Edwards, Phyllis Bird and Stanley Grenz.
Part four compares the language of ecological and feminist theology to show that what I did for myself through my readings in part one can become a language and grammar for the concept of Imago Dei. By summarizing the observations and ideas of Ernst Conradie and Michelle Gonzalez commonalties and complimentary ideas show that there is a relational/egalitarian language for God and the role of human beings in the world that honors our distinctive nature and task in an egalitarian fashion.
In summary the relational model is an inherent understanding of the Hebrew Bible, which was given a androcentric and anthropocentric direction by the ‘P’ source. In classic Christian theology following this line and model it remained distant from the more ecological and egalitarian understanding that other Hebrew (Yahwist) communities promoted. By revising the understanding to a relational model the language we use in our churches and writing can now reflect a model of Christian anthropology that respects all humans and creation as a part of God’s being in a way where we can care and cultivate rather than subdue and dominate.
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Drafts by Martin Samson PhD
Developing Pauline Christology as a Spiritual Quest for the Historical Jesus. Abstract The aim of... more Developing Pauline Christology as a Spiritual Quest for the Historical Jesus. Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore epistemologies and methodologies for making Christology relevant to theology and worship communities. It will include a development of theological scientific method that can bridge conversation with positivist methods. The Historical Critical approach and the four quests for the historical Jesus have placed Christology, the search for knowing how Christ works in our world, at risk of been seen as religious myth. However, for Paul, knowledge of the historical Jesus was not based on physical evidence, meetings with Jesus or reading texts. He based his knowing (pepeismai: persuaded through experience) on his spiritual experience at Damascus (Romans 8: 38-39). He gave us a Christian anthropology (1Cor:15) that tells us how Christ established a new basis for experiencing the spirit. I name the process of our coming to understand it: the spiritual quest for the historical Jesus. Paul did not create a theory of knowledge but his theological anthropology, based on the first and second Adam, creates the Christological basis for an epistemology, is one which restores the unity of reality which had been lost in the process of cognition. In 1 Cor: 15 Paul can be read as saying that through Christ the necessary changes in the human condition were brought about for cognition to overcome the duality of consciousness. The soma psychikon of the first Adam, as the protos, provides the physical body which is subject to the senses, sin and death, and the soma pneumatikon of Christ, as the eschatos, provides the spiritual preconditions generated by the resurrection body for a future humanity which is subject to charis, grace, reverence, freedom and beauty of the spirit. The Western Christian tradition of developing spiritual senses for perceiving God, correlate with the Eastern Christian tradition of Theosis or the Mystical Union with God. The term 'spiritual sense' is used to designate non-physical human perception, rather than the non-literal interpretation of scripture. The physical and spiritual senses could be seen as two different sets of powers or faculties, two states of the same fivefold sensorium directed at different aspects of the same object. This paper will propose that the transformation comes through Christ working within us. In this sense an epistemology correlating with Paul's saying: Not I but Christ within me (Gal 2:9-21) gives rise to a post-positivist theological scientific methodology that can provide spiritual evidence based/scientific studies of Christology.
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Developing epistemological faculties to experience God’s agency and intention within evolution without negating scientific knowledge, 2019
The first part of this paper will explore how we can come to valid perceptions to answer the ques... more The first part of this paper will explore how we can come to valid perceptions to answer the question: Does matter precede evolution and consciousness or does consciousness precede matter and evolution? I will focus on the aspects of how science and theology have approached understanding ‘agency of God’ and ‘God’s intent for creation.’ The idea of cooperation demands that we the can find how God intends to restore and heal creation. The work of humans gives a forum for God’s agency. The intention within evolution aligns with the Australian Aboriginal concept of ‘dreaming’ (albeit that is a western term).
The second part of this paper focuses on the Christian tradition of developing spiritual senses and practices from a spiritual scientific point of view. This means we need to define the religious spiritual practices that transform the physical sense into organs of perception to experience spiritual phenomenon and thereby come to knowledge of God’s intentions and perceive divine activity within evolution. This method can stand as a non-material scientific process in its own right and create a dialogue with positivist scientific method.
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In this paper I will explore how both of the Old Testament priestly lines do not find a progressi... more In this paper I will explore how both of the Old Testament priestly lines do not find a progression through the New Testament, but make an appearance later in early Christian History. I hope to show that there are traces of both priesthoods finding their expression in the more formal appearance. My underlying question is whether the ordained form of Christian priesthood, which appears later than the New Testament period, stand more in the lineage of the order of Melchizedek or as a continuation of expression of the Levitical forms and traditions, and what we can read from that.
I will do this by first looking at the various forms of church leadership established in the New Testament to establish that no priesthood was instituted. From there I want to explore the priesthood according to Melchizedek as told in the book of Hebrews in relation to what it may have to say about possibilities for Christian priesthood. As a third part I will compare the priestly offices in the Levitical tradition and of the Melchizedekian order to that of the early Christian church. In this part of the paper I will make brief reference to the appearance of ordained priesthoods, but cannot explore them in any depth as they warrant their own paper. Finally I will make some observations of what I think would be a constructive transformation of Priesthood in the modern Christian Community by exploring the role of the Christ as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (ps110:4; Heb5:6). This priesthood is described in no uncertain terms as replacing that of the Levitical order (Heb. 7:11- 28).
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the institutions, offices and roles of the priesthood as something that had undergone its own development beyond the outer changes of the reformation. I had really only accepted the forms of priesthood as I knew them as an age old
The institutions, offices and roles of the priesthood as something that had undergone its own dev... more The institutions, offices and roles of the priesthood as something that had undergone its own development beyond the outer changes of the reformation. I had really only accepted the forms of the priesthood as I knew them as an age-old God-given expression through Moses. Neither the second testament writings nor early Christian church documentation uses the word ‘priest’ in connection with Christ setting up, instituting or ordaining a priesthood or in connection with instituting any form of church minister. Again I realized that I had just accepted the form and expression of the priesthood, as I knew them, as immutable. These ideas have lived with me in the exploration of these themes; the unfolding of the functions, roles and offices of the priesthood - specifically in relationship to the changing religious practices and experiences of the people. Part one of this paper will focus on the unfolding of first testament priesthood while part two will be an excursion into trying to find the meaning of the parallel hidden story of the priesthood of Melchizedek.
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Papers by Martin Samson PhD
Thesis Chapters by Martin Samson PhD
In the minds of many Christians and observers of Christianity this model of interpretation is still the predominant anthropological picture. People perceive/believe that God created human beings and commanded us to go out and subdue and dominate creation to our own ends and that women are subordinate to men in both how they can image God and are less divine in their nature. This picture is acculturated through the language Christianity has used over the centuries. Currently feminist and ecological theologians have reframed language about God, the relationship of humanity to God’s nature and the understanding of how men and women can image God.
The first part of my thesis reflects my own journey of discovery through the readings of theologians and scholars. This journey has been one of realizing that the ‘classic Christian anthropology’ is no longer the frame work of current Christian theology. This part shows that the androcentric and anthropocentric models of anthropology have been replaced by a relational model.
Part two demonstrates how the ‘P’ source defined a model of interpretation that became an influential philosophical understanding in Christian theology. Here I show where philosophy has made a turn from the classic understandings of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas from associating the image of God with ‘reason’ to ‘relationality’. The consequence of this shift gives us an alternative hermeneutic to read Genesis 1:26-28
Part three offers a contemporary reading of Genesis 1:26-28. This part defines the parameters of the hermeneutic of ‘relationality’ through the work of Phyllis Trible, Terence E Fretheim, Denis Edwards, Phyllis Bird and Stanley Grenz.
Part four compares the language of ecological and feminist theology to show that what I did for myself through my readings in part one can become a language and grammar for the concept of Imago Dei. By summarizing the observations and ideas of Ernst Conradie and Michelle Gonzalez commonalties and complimentary ideas show that there is a relational/egalitarian language for God and the role of human beings in the world that honors our distinctive nature and task in an egalitarian fashion.
In summary the relational model is an inherent understanding of the Hebrew Bible, which was given a androcentric and anthropocentric direction by the ‘P’ source. In classic Christian theology following this line and model it remained distant from the more ecological and egalitarian understanding that other Hebrew (Yahwist) communities promoted. By revising the understanding to a relational model the language we use in our churches and writing can now reflect a model of Christian anthropology that respects all humans and creation as a part of God’s being in a way where we can care and cultivate rather than subdue and dominate.
Drafts by Martin Samson PhD
The second part of this paper focuses on the Christian tradition of developing spiritual senses and practices from a spiritual scientific point of view. This means we need to define the religious spiritual practices that transform the physical sense into organs of perception to experience spiritual phenomenon and thereby come to knowledge of God’s intentions and perceive divine activity within evolution. This method can stand as a non-material scientific process in its own right and create a dialogue with positivist scientific method.
I will do this by first looking at the various forms of church leadership established in the New Testament to establish that no priesthood was instituted. From there I want to explore the priesthood according to Melchizedek as told in the book of Hebrews in relation to what it may have to say about possibilities for Christian priesthood. As a third part I will compare the priestly offices in the Levitical tradition and of the Melchizedekian order to that of the early Christian church. In this part of the paper I will make brief reference to the appearance of ordained priesthoods, but cannot explore them in any depth as they warrant their own paper. Finally I will make some observations of what I think would be a constructive transformation of Priesthood in the modern Christian Community by exploring the role of the Christ as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (ps110:4; Heb5:6). This priesthood is described in no uncertain terms as replacing that of the Levitical order (Heb. 7:11- 28).
In the minds of many Christians and observers of Christianity this model of interpretation is still the predominant anthropological picture. People perceive/believe that God created human beings and commanded us to go out and subdue and dominate creation to our own ends and that women are subordinate to men in both how they can image God and are less divine in their nature. This picture is acculturated through the language Christianity has used over the centuries. Currently feminist and ecological theologians have reframed language about God, the relationship of humanity to God’s nature and the understanding of how men and women can image God.
The first part of my thesis reflects my own journey of discovery through the readings of theologians and scholars. This journey has been one of realizing that the ‘classic Christian anthropology’ is no longer the frame work of current Christian theology. This part shows that the androcentric and anthropocentric models of anthropology have been replaced by a relational model.
Part two demonstrates how the ‘P’ source defined a model of interpretation that became an influential philosophical understanding in Christian theology. Here I show where philosophy has made a turn from the classic understandings of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas from associating the image of God with ‘reason’ to ‘relationality’. The consequence of this shift gives us an alternative hermeneutic to read Genesis 1:26-28
Part three offers a contemporary reading of Genesis 1:26-28. This part defines the parameters of the hermeneutic of ‘relationality’ through the work of Phyllis Trible, Terence E Fretheim, Denis Edwards, Phyllis Bird and Stanley Grenz.
Part four compares the language of ecological and feminist theology to show that what I did for myself through my readings in part one can become a language and grammar for the concept of Imago Dei. By summarizing the observations and ideas of Ernst Conradie and Michelle Gonzalez commonalties and complimentary ideas show that there is a relational/egalitarian language for God and the role of human beings in the world that honors our distinctive nature and task in an egalitarian fashion.
In summary the relational model is an inherent understanding of the Hebrew Bible, which was given a androcentric and anthropocentric direction by the ‘P’ source. In classic Christian theology following this line and model it remained distant from the more ecological and egalitarian understanding that other Hebrew (Yahwist) communities promoted. By revising the understanding to a relational model the language we use in our churches and writing can now reflect a model of Christian anthropology that respects all humans and creation as a part of God’s being in a way where we can care and cultivate rather than subdue and dominate.
The second part of this paper focuses on the Christian tradition of developing spiritual senses and practices from a spiritual scientific point of view. This means we need to define the religious spiritual practices that transform the physical sense into organs of perception to experience spiritual phenomenon and thereby come to knowledge of God’s intentions and perceive divine activity within evolution. This method can stand as a non-material scientific process in its own right and create a dialogue with positivist scientific method.
I will do this by first looking at the various forms of church leadership established in the New Testament to establish that no priesthood was instituted. From there I want to explore the priesthood according to Melchizedek as told in the book of Hebrews in relation to what it may have to say about possibilities for Christian priesthood. As a third part I will compare the priestly offices in the Levitical tradition and of the Melchizedekian order to that of the early Christian church. In this part of the paper I will make brief reference to the appearance of ordained priesthoods, but cannot explore them in any depth as they warrant their own paper. Finally I will make some observations of what I think would be a constructive transformation of Priesthood in the modern Christian Community by exploring the role of the Christ as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (ps110:4; Heb5:6). This priesthood is described in no uncertain terms as replacing that of the Levitical order (Heb. 7:11- 28).