Browsing by Author "MWANZIA, PETER"

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    THE CONCEPT OF DEATH IN THE BIBLE: FROM SEPARATION TO LIBERATION
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) MWANZIA, PETER
    From time immemorial, the mystery of death has remained subtle to man. Efforts have been made to understand this reality, but little light shade to the oddity of the mystery of death and the dread that accompany it. Struck by the same curiosity and lack of satisfactory answers about the mystery I thought of embarking on trying to grasp the concept of death in the Bible, as it is a reliable source of Christian faith. The research the first Chapter starts with the curiosity to understand the concept of death in the Old Testament. Before I enter in to the core of the study I will first research on the concept of death in the Ancient Near Eastern cultures, for these cultures had much influence on the understanding of the concept of death in the Old Testament. As it will be seen, death in these cultures is something to be feared, that which alienates one from the joy of living. In these cultures still man is to blame for the fate that begot humanity of lacking immortality. In the second and third parts of the chapter we shall focus on the Old Testament understanding of the concept of death. We shall see why death is said to be separation from God and from his people. We shall see the origin of death as effect of sin. Elaborate study will be given also to sanctions against dead and the historical development of the concept of death from creation to the inter-testamental period. In all these we shall see how death is understood as that which separates or rather divides people. Chapter two will give a substantial change of the concept of death from the idea of separation to means of liberation. We shall see how the understanding of death is spinned around the victorious death of Christ Jesus. Jesus transformative action of the vi concept of death will be dealt in length. We shall see the mysterious liberation concept of death which seen contradictory to Old Testament. In the third chapter we shall endeavor to present how we are to understand death today. We shall see how we are to conceive of death in a positive and more spiritual way and how we can apply the concept of death in our lives. Generally the research will be answering whether concept of death today is still the same as it was? Is death still the punishment for sin; is it still separation or means to liberation (way to eternity?