¡@¡@There had always been a close relationship between religions and drama. The early drama was used as part of the religious rituals. Since the Middle Age, drama has become as one of the ways for evangelizing. In the early development period of Taiwan, churches did not just provide the resources for medication and education; it also became a supportive force for the artistic development, alongside with the government. Christians with a passion for their faith formed gospel theatres to share the gospel. Among those groups, the role of faith for some is just a way to cultivate their members, for some it is the core value of the organizations. This research is aimed to analyze the gospel theatres through the literature review of the development of religious drama in Taiwan, the interviews with members of the current gospel theatres to understand their managements. Also base on the interviews, this thesis will provide a definition for gospel theatre and gospel drama. ¡@¡@This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is the literature review. The second part studies the different management of each case. After analysis these cases by theatre management and Mintzberg¡¦s theories, the third part also provides some suggestions for these theatres. ¡@¡@In this research, I has discovered that because the gospel theatres¡¦ main purpose is to share the gospel with their faith; it makes them different from general theatres.A gospel theater operates in a mission organization mode: 1. a special spiritual, evangelistic devotion or fellowship tem will cultivate the members¡¦ faith and keep the organization in the same purpose; 2. for the productions and marketing strategies, because of their religion, the gospel theatres often face the limitations in performing locations and forms, which may cause ¡§isolation¡¨ or ¡§compromise¡¨ with the society; 3. the gospel theatres members reduce their conflict through ¡§value sharing¡¨, therefore, the leader¡¦s attitude on faith will affect the performance of the team. ¡@¡@Because gospel theatres stand between ¡§faith¡¨ and ¡§arts¡¨, each theatre has a different viewpoint of what a gospel theatre should be, as some have a tendency toward faith-oriented, and the others are more arts-oriented. In this thesis, I attempts to define gospel theatre in four major areas, and believes these differences help bring varieties to arts and Christian evangelism. Furthermore, some suggestions for the gospel theatres and churches are raised for their future development and cooperation.

This dissertation proposes that the church plays an active role in the salvation of its members through the proclamation of the gospel. Chapter 1 introduces the topic of the dissertation by positioning it within its current academic and nonacademic context. It then details the thesis and methodology of the dissertation. Chapter 2 demonstrates that the church is viewed as playing an active role in the salvation of believers in church history. It examines the relationship between the soteriology and ecclesiology of four theologians who have significantly influenced the protestant reformed trajectory: Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, Calvin. It argues that through their usage of the "church as mother motif," Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin view the church as having an active role in salvation. Chapter 3 provides working definitions of the gospel and the church. It defines the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin based upon 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. Chapter 3 proceeds by defining the church as the regenerate people of God who have accepted the gospel message by faith in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Chapter 4 contends through scriptural exegesis that the proclamation of the gospel creates members of the church. The scriptural exegesis in this chapter goes in canonical order and focuses on exegeting passages that are recognized as being important in understanding the church's formation. It concludes with a summary of the scriptural data. Chapter 5 also argues through scriptural exegesis the church is the instrument that God uses to proclaim the gospel. Like Chapter 4, it focuses on exegeting recognized passages that indicate the church's instrumental role in the proclamation of the gospel. It also concludes with a summary of the scriptural data. Chapter 6 formulates systematically the scriptural data from Chapters 4 and 5 into a reciprocal relationship between the gospel and the church. Chapter 6 then frames the reciprocal relationship between the gospel and the church in terms of speech act theory. First, it briefly defines speech act theory and discusses why it can be applied to the reciprocal relationship between the gospel and the church. It then develops a speech act formulation of the reciprocal relationship in which the church proclaims both the locution and illocution of the gospel message and the Spirit creates the church, which is the perlocutionary effect of the church's gospel proclamation. It concludes by briefly detailing some of the theological implications of this formulation. Chapter 7 offers a conclusion to the dissertation in which the arguments from Chapters 1 to 6 are summarized. It then proposes areas for further research. It concludes by offering some potential applications of the speech act formulation of the reciprocal relationship between the gospel and the church to the current evangelical church.

<p>This dissertation introduces readers to the major figures and features of the twentieth-century American prosperity gospel. It argues that these diverse expressions of Christian faith-fuelled abundance can be understood as a movement, for they stem from a cohesive set of shared understandings. First, the movement centered on Faith. It conceived of faith as an "activator," a power given to believers that bound and loosed spiritual forces and turned the spoken word into reality. Second and third respectively, the movement depicted faith as palpably demonstrated in wealth and health. It could be measured in both in the wallet--one's personal wealth--and in the body--one's personal health--making material reality the measure of the success of immaterial faith. Last, the movement expected faith to be marked by victory. Believers trusted that culture held no political, social, or economic impediment to faith, and no circumstance could stop believers from living in total victory here on earth. Though its origins lay in the late nineteenth century, the prosperity gospel took root in the Pentecostal revivals of the post-World War II years. It reached maturity by the late 1970s as a robust pan-denominational movement, garnering a national platform and a robust network of churches, ministries, publications, and media outlets. Using the tools of ethnography and cultural history, this dissertation argues that faith, wealth, health, and victory served as the hallmarks of this American phenomenon.</p> / Dissertation

The Christian Writing in Chang Show-Foong's Literary Works Abstract Since the 19th century, Christian brings some degree of influence on modern Chinese literature. Chinese literati subsumed the terms and spirit of Christianity in their works. They achieved the development of Chinese Christian literature. Chang Show-Foong is one of Modern Chinese literature writers, whose literature works are outstanding in weight and depth. Her text is full of Christian faith dimension, attempting to manifest the thought of Christian. In the context of Chinese literature, her writings of Jesus Christ is her interpretation of the Christian faith. It is her experience as a Christian in person. This thesis uses Chang Show-Foong's literature as a subject of study. Probing into the depth and breadth of the Christian faith, I expound and explore her literary and artistic creation, and finds that her writings of Christ are unique and ground-breaking, digging out the apocalypse and artistry on literature. This thesis is divided into six chapters¡G Chapter 1 preface¡GTo describe the motivation, purpose, scope, term definition, methods, procedures, and the theology premise of Christian literature. Chapter 2 Chang Show-Foong who elucidate Christ's ethics¡GTo explore faith, hope and love that Chang Show-Foong interpret in Chinese situation on the exposition of humanity and divinity and the people to pray, repent, obey, serve to God. Chapter 3 Chang Show-Foong of the " Bible " of the use of text¡GTo explore the absorption, utilization on the" Bible "story¡Bword by Chang Show-Foong and explore the Chang Show-Foong follow up and expansion of the epistolary and the prayer of the " Bible ". Chapter 4 Chang Show-Foong inherited aesthetics of Christ¡GDivided into three parts to explore the beauty of natural¡Bthe beauty of human and the beauty of artistic. Chapter 5 Chang Show-Foong's the way of practice¡G To explore the course of the Gospel of Christ which Chang Show-Foong resoundes. Chapter 6 conclusion¡GA summarize interpretation of the research results of this thesis, in order to establish Chang Show-Foong's position and contribution of Chinese Christian literature history.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-150).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 314 p. : maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-314).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-301). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-110).

This study fills a gap in previous research concerning the portrayal of Peter in Matthew, especially the research of narrative-critical studies. Although narrative-critical studies generally recognize that Matthew has portrayed Peter and the disciples as recipients of revelation at points, they almost entirely neglect the apocalypses or apocalyptic literature more broadly as a potentially helpful background for this motif, nor does the motif itself figure significantly into their conclusions. Therefore, Part 1 of this study examines fourteen different Jewish and Christian apocalypses in order to determine generic aspects of how the apocalypses portray their seers, and to identify specific textual features that support these generic aspects of a seer’s portrayal. These specific textual features then provide the guiding coordinates for Part 2, which assesses the influence of the generic portrayal of apocalyptic seers on the portrayal of Peter and the disciples in Matthew’s Gospel and main source, Mark’s Gospel. Like the apocalypses, both Evangelists deploy the features of exclusionary statements, narrative isolation, dissemination details, and emphasis of cognitive humanity and emotional-physical humanity to portray Peter and the disciples as the exclusive recipients of revealed mysteries, and as humans who encounter the mysteries of the divine realm. This leads to the conclusion that both Evangelists envisaged Peter and the disciples as apocalyptic seers in some sense. However, Matthew’s redaction of Markan source material, incorporation of Q source material, and his own special material yield a more fully developed, or more explicit, portrayal of Peter and the disciples as apocalyptic seers than his Markan predecessor. The study concludes by focusing directly on Peter’s significance for Matthew and his earliest audience. The research suggests that Peter’s significance was, in part, as principal apocalyptic seer, which requires revision to the predominant scholarly conclusions about Peter in Matthew.

The concepts of "Life" and "Light" are prominent in the prologue of the fourth gospel (cf. John 1:4, 5, 7, 8, 9) and have been studied by various scholars as important themes. In the past years, the quest for the conceptual background of the prologue and the entire Gospel has led to converging and diverging opinions. But are all the proposed backgrounds important to the reader to understand and interpret the fourth gospel? Should we find the relevant religious background, could it help us understand and interpret the "Life" and "Light" concepts in the prologue and the rest of the Gospel? The aim of this study is to identify the most appropriate background against which to read and explore the concepts of "Life" and "Light" in the fourth gospel. We also wish to study other selected passages from the fourth gospel that relate to "Life" and "Light". The reason for doing this is to find out if they can add meaning to our understanding of "Life" and "Light" in the prologue. The study reviews and compares crucial literature on the fourth gospel. Attention is given to the development of the debate on the religious background that influenced John. It also seeks to discover if there are any fresh ideas on the religious background of the fourth gospel. Reference will be made to primary material like the Dead Sea Scrolls, first century Palestinian Judaism, Josephus, and Philo of Alexandria. The following proposed backgrounds will be reviewed: Hellenistic Judaism, Philo of Alexandria, Gnosticism, Hermetic Literature, Mandaism, the Old Testament, Rabbinic Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Samaritan background. This research is undertaken within the reformed evangelical tradition, and is informed by the historical critical method. The author argues that the Old Testament and its development in first century Palestinian Judaism is the most plausible background against which to understand the "Life" and "Light" concepts in the fourth gospel. The study concludes that "Life" in the fourth Gospel is understood as eternal life characterized by quality, happiness, blessedness and many other good characteristics. Believing in Jesus who is the true life leads one to enjoy the authentic life. The life that he gives triumphs over death through the resurrection. Concerning "Light" the study also concludes that to receive the light (Jesus) is to receive salvation accompanied by enlightenment, joy, blessings and victory. It is impossible to receive the "Light" that Jesus gives and to fail to have the "Life" that he gives. The absence of the "Life" and "Light" from him leads to suffering, hopelessness and death without hope. Thus, the Old Testament and Pharisaic Judaism meaning of these two concepts is fulfilled in Jesus the "Life" and the "Light" in the fourth Gospel. / Thesis (M.A. (New Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.