Date

5-23-2025

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)

Chair

Robert Wayne Talley

Keywords

nuptial metaphor, biblical theology, bridal theology, divine romance, betrothal type-scene

Disciplines

Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the nuptial metaphor is not merely a marginally interesting literary motif but deeply embedded in the meta-narrative of the text of the Bible and hermeneutically significant in providing an interpretive thematic framework for rightly reading the Scriptures. In other words, this study is a literary and thematic biblical theological study, utilizing historical, biblical, grammatical, and canonical theological approaches to the entire biblical text, of the nuptial metaphor found throughout Scripture as a thematic framework that is hermeneutically significant. Contemporary studies of the nuptial metaphor that recognize and value the nuptial metaphor of God marrying His people have been typically limited to select portions of the Scriptures such as Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Song of Songs, the Fourth Gospel, and Revelation, where the nuptial metaphor is more or less easily identifiable. This study, building upon the work of previous studies of the nuptial metaphor in Scripture, argues that the nuptial metaphor is a hermeneutically significant theme throughout the entirety of Scripture by filling in some of the gaps where the nuptial metaphor is less easily identifiable and presenting evidence that the nuptial metaphor is woven both explicitly and behind the scenes throughout every part of Scripture from the Old Testament, the Law to the Former Prophets, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets, and the Writings, to the New Testament.

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