Inaug.-dis.--Erlangen. / Lebenslauf. "Verzeichnis der benutzten literatur": p. [54].

The Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS), opened on March 4, 1976, exists to train men and women for Christian ministry. It offers four-year degree programs leading to bachelor of arts in theology, bachelor of arts in religious education, and bachelor of divinity. Three major periods characterized its growth and development. the first, from 1976 to 1989, was a period of growth and prosperity. the second, from 1990-2003, was a time of immense challenge for the seminary because of the Liberian Civil War. the final period, from 2003 to the present, shows the seminary attempting to re-position itself for the future as a premier Christian higher education institution in Liberia. One of the challenges remaining, however, is the lack of historical documentation on factors impacting the growth of the seminary. This historical case study research sought to provide a comprehensive overview of the LBTS within the context of theological higher education in Liberia and the Liberian Civil War. the four major purposes guiding this research were: 1. Historical—to document and evaluate the rise, survival, developments and achievements of LBTS; 2. Institutional—to gain insight into how the seminary operates; 3. to document the effects of the 13-year civil war on the seminary; and 4. to identify the perceived challenges and needs of the seminary. Study participants included administrators, faculty, staff, students, graduates, and trustees, both past and present. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. with thorough analysis of all data, seven major themes surfaced: 1.The lack of funding and qualified national faculty; 2.The relationship between missionaries and nationals; 3. the need for partnership development nationally and internationally; 4. the strong impact of the civil war on the seminary; 5. Realignment of seminary mission; and 6. the need for Bible training center and seminary perseverance during the war. As the seminary positions itself for the future, it continues to experience need in the areas of financial and educational resources, Internet technology, and the acquisition of qualified national faculty.

[pt] A presente pesquisa está compreendida no campo da História da Educação e tem como eixo teórico a História Cultural. Pretendida como um estudo dos relatos de atores escolares, orienta-se sob o signo da memória, tratando-se de um estudo margeado pela história das ideias e instituições escolares e, também, da profissão docente. Ocupa-se, mormente, do esforço por discernir a relação entre o pensamento educacional do grupo protestante de confissão batista e a plataforma educacional do período militar no Brasil, enfática, há que dizer, quanto ao civismo e ao nacionalismo. Para tanto, por meio dos instrumentais providos pela História Oral, e sob a égide da historiografia dedicada ao estudo da memória, foram entrevistados docentes atuantes em instituições da rede de escolas batistas no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, nas disciplinas de História, Educação Moral e Cívica e OSPB, tendo em perspectiva a inclinação política e ideológica que as referidas disciplinas assumiram à época. Como produto dessa investigação, observou-se que a efervescência política própria daquele contexto histórico, quando somada à natureza confessional das escolas batistas, bem como à formação religiosa dos professores entrevistados, tratou de engendrar tensões para dentro do espaço escolar, de modo a produzir episódios de regulação e constrangimento, mas, também, atos de contestação e resistência, quer aos conteúdos disciplinares definidos pelo Estado, quer a situações ideologicamente conflituosas, próprias do exercício cotidiano da docência e das relações entre os atores escolares. / [en] The present research study is comprised in the field of History of Education and has Cultural History as its theoretical axis. It is intended to be a study of the reports of school actors. It is guided by the emblem of memory, a study informed by the history of ideas and of school institutions, and also by the history of the teaching occupation. It is mostly concerned with an effort to discern the relationship between the educational thought of the protestant group of Baptist confession and the educational platform of the period of the military regime in Brazil, which emphasized civism and nationalism. Teachers from the network of Baptist schools in the state of Rio de Janeiro were interviewed, with the tools offered by the field of Oral History and the guidance of the field of historiography dedicated to the study of memory. The teachers who were interviewed taught subjects such as History, Moral and Civic Education, and OSPB [The Social and Political Organization of Brazil], considering the political and ideological inclinations that these disciplines took on, at the time. As a product of this investigation, it was noted that the political fervor characteristic of that historical context, when added to the confessional nature of the Baptist schools, as well as the religious educational background of the teachers interviewed, ended up creating tensions within the school space, generating moments of regulation and ideological constraint, but also of resistance and questioning, sometimes geared towards the content of the school disciplines as defined by the State or towards ideologically conflicting situations, part of the daily exercise of the teaching profession and the relationships among school actors.