This thesis considers the question of how to communicate orally and effectively in an audio-visual culture. It investigates what preachers can learn from the work of selected British and American religious radio broadcasters, in a social context where a whole range of audio-visual stimuli compete for the congregations' and audiences' attention. In the first part of the dissertation (Chapters 1, 2 and 3), it is argued that preachers hoping to be heard in an audio-visual culture have much to learn from radio broadcasters. The case is made by investigating three fields: homiletics, radio and aspects of our audio-visual culture. It is argued in the first chapter that homileticians have already responded in a variety of ways to the challenge of communicating orally and effectively in a media-saturated society. Whilst many have drawn upon the language of television and film, radio has been almost entirely ignored. The second chapter shows how radio broadcasters have constantly adapted their techniques in order to survive continually changing conditions. It claims that preachers have much to learn from the theory and practice of radio broadcasting. It is suggested, for example, that Ed Murrow and Richard Dimbleby's aptitude for creating pictures with words, have lessons for preachers aiming to connect with their listeners today. An important strand of the argument in the third chapter is the suggestion that the skill of creating pictures with words remains a powerful tool for preachers seeking to be heard in an audio-visual culture. In particular, it is concluded that the use of pictorial language may assist preachers as they attempt to act as critical interpreters, orally deconstructing or building upon televisual stereotypes. In the second part of this dissertation (Chapters 4, 5 and 6), a number of specific homiletical lessons are discerned from the practice of various religious radio broadcasters. Both positive and negative insights are drawn from speakers operating in a range of cultural and communicative settings.

This research was designed to examine how pastoral communication can be enhanced with confused elderly people. The model under-pinning this research is one which acknowledges the dynamic inter-relationship between theory and practice. It brings theoretical understanding from practical theology, pastoral care and speech and language therapy to bear on the experience of offering pastoral care to the confused elderly individual. The relating of theory and practice in this way demanded that a variety of methods be used in the gathering and interpretation of data. The triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods fosters a more complete description and understanding of practice. The research design was of five inter-related stages. These stages take the form of literature review, structured interviews with speech therapists, structured interviews with people involved with the care of confused elderly people, a postal questionnaire sent to pastors, and in-depth interviews with 11 of the respondents to the questionnaire. This investigation examines issues which include theological perspectives on dementia, speech and language characteristics of the dementia's, the purpose of pastoral care and the spiritual needs of a person with dementia. The evidence is that in addition to the well documented linguistic changes, dementia also results in spiritual changes. The nature of that change is discussed and related to the spirituality of the confused person. The large amount of information which was elicited by the research, is correlated with pastoral, theological and linguistic perspectives and a model and method for the pastoral care of confused elderly people is developed. Rooted in pastoral experience, and refined by theological reflection, it is maintained that this model and method will be a practical tool for pastors, ordained and lay, useful both for recognising the significant spiritual needs of the confused elderly person and as a means of offering sensitive pastoral care in this context.

The objective of this thesis is to discover if it is possible to develop a Biblically -based solution to the pastoral and missiological problem associated with ancestor practice. There are three parts in the thesis. The aim of Part I is to trace the origin and development of ancestor practice up to the present. I propose that: (1) ancestor practice has its socio- political, religious and cultural dimensions, (2) its origin lies in the ancestor quest, and (3) it has undergone three historical developments: an orientation period, a de- orientation period and a re- orientation period. From this study, it is better to hold a holistic approach to ancestor practice and avoid any reductionism. The purpose of Part II is to describe missionaries in China and their encounter with ancestor practice. Their entries are explained as three encounters: with the Nestorians a religious encounter, with the Catholics a cultural encounter and with the Protestants a socio- political encounter. I conclude that from the experience of these historical encounters the best possible way to tackle the issue of the acceptability of ancestor practices for Christians is to approach the problem from a `both /and' perspective. The plan of Part III is to apply some Biblical principles to the issue of ancestor practice and work out a theological model (with Chinese characteristics) to tackle it. Three suggestions are proposed: (1) a biblical -theological perspective towards its socio- political dimension, (2) a pastoral perspective towards its religious dimension, and finally (3) a missiological perspective towards its cultural dimension. I argue for the potential acceptability of the veneration of the ancestors for Christians but I also discuss the `fallen' state of the traditional rites. In transforming traditional ancestor practice, a ritual transcendence is proposed to demythologise the beliefs of ancestor veneration and transform its traditional practices into modern social and civil practices in accordance with both the Christian faith and Chinese tradition.

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were used to obtain in-depth parental reflections. Four main spiritual themes were identified from parents’ descriptions of their grief - social isolation, loss of meaning and purpose, loss of control and a loss of self worth. Parents’ expectations of chaplains and rituals they performed were anxiety inducing. The process of ritualising their baby’s life and death enabled parents’ spiritual needs to be met by: aiding deeper communication within families and wider social reintegration; providing an opportunity to find meaning and purpose through parenting; helping parents to regain some control, order and sense of reality in their situation; validating their grief and offering them a safe space in which to express feelings; and helping to create memories which aided establishment of continuing bonds with their baby. Co-authoring their baby’s ritual with a chaplain enabled parental affirmation and personalisation of rituals. Whilst relevant words spoken during ritual were appreciated it was being able to act out their relationship with their baby and the chaplain’s performance which were of most significance. Parents requested chaplaincy involvement because they perceived them to have ritual authority and enhance ritual efficacy. They perceived chaplains to have both priestly and shamanistic roles during rituals, creating an atmosphere in which families could express or act out their feelings as required. Contextually, of significance was the reverential attitude and approach of those present which affirmed a baby’s uniqueness and enabled creation of a sacred time and space. Baby death <i>in-utero</i> causes considerable parental spiritual distress. Ritual and its co-construction helps to meet spiritual needs and facilitates grieving. Chaplains have a distinctive role to play as part of a healthcare team addressing parents’ holistic needs.

The thesis is concerned with the changing role of the prison chaplain in the Scottish prison system and includes an empirical investigation of the current role of chaplaincy. The first chapter of the thesis offers some historical perspectives on the role of religion and the role of the prison chaplain at a time in the mid to late 19<SUP>th</SUP> century when the role of religion was a primary influence on penal policy and practice. The prison chaplain was regarded along with the Governor and the Medical officer as one of the 'superior' officers in a penal establishment and his influence was a major one. The chapter summarises briefly how the Christian religion and the role of the prison chaplain became important influences upon penal policy and practice as a possible way of reforming offenders and reducing crime. By the early years of the 20<SUP>th</SUP> century, it had become clear that the Christian religious philosophy which had strongly influenced penal theory and practice in the 19<SUP>th</SUP> century had not been effective in the control of crime and the reformation of those who were imprisoned. So it was that the influence of the Christian religion in the penal setting, both in theory and in practice through the work of chaplains, became increasingly discredited. The marginalisation of chaplaincy began to occur and the second chapter discusses the possible reasons for this marginality within the context of developing social, welfare and penal reforms which took place during the latter half of this century. Chapter three looks further at the role of prison chaplaincy during a period of disruption and crisis in the Scottish prison system in the 1980's and early 1990's. It summarises the causes and characteristics of the crisis and discusses the nature of the concomitant crisis which occurred in prison chaplaincy and how the Scottish Prison Service and the churches attempted to resolve these crises.

From a conversation between selected authors and documents from the Roman Catholic Magisterium, this thesis suggests that the Roman Catholic Church is one who is given by God to be an assurance of faith to the church. In the first part of the thesis the author reflects on the image of the ordained priest as leader of the community and considers the questions raised in the recent debate as to the identity of the ordained as acting in the person of Christ and in the person of the church. Also considered is the identity of the ordained as emerging from the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church especially in relation to the document ‘Pastores Dabo Vobis’ of John Paul II. The definition of the presbyter as distinct from that of bishop is also explored in relationship to the parish and the local bishop. In the second part of the thesis, under the title of ‘Gift and Return’, the author examines some recent theological theories which underline the sacraments as encounters between God and humanity and show how they are participations in the life of God. Recent theological work concerning the post modern challenge to an understanding of how God and the human are mutually present to one another is also undertaken. The final part draws the first two parts together, again with reference to assurance, authenticity, and authority but this time with explicit reference to the three offices of priest, prophet, and pastor. The conclusion is that the presbyter as the gift of assurance is a model that can complement and further explain other images used of the ordained priesthood in general and the presbyterate in particular, such as shepherd and steward.

This thesis examines theologies of social ministry among Taiwan’s Chinese Protestant communities between 1945 and 2000. This covers the period the nationalist Kuomingtang Party governed Taiwan, and includes the rise of the democratization movement. The Eden Social Welfare Foundation and its founder, Liu Hsia, are featured as representatives of an innovative contextual theology of social ministry generated on the margins of the Protestant churches. The main argument is that Eden and Liu represent an approach to social ministry that draws from local cultural resources in developing a holistic theology that combines spiritual and social dimensions of social ministry, and thus offers an alternative to the emphasis on either individual evangelism or social action that characterizes the Protestant churches. This argument is based on the hypothesis that the ecclesiastical and political context of Taiwan has affected the theologies of social ministry of the Protestant churches with the result that these theologies have been divided into two distinct factions: those of the churches with origins in China, those of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. This thesis will subject the theologies of social ministry prevalent in each of these entities to critical analysis, assessing their differences and evaluating their respective strengths and weaknesses. This thesis has been built on primary sources that include interviews with leaders from the Chinese Protestant community and published and unpublished materials in the Chinese language, with special attention to the previously unresearched miscellaneous writings of Liu Hsia in the Chinese genre <i>sanwen</i> (essays). The thesis belongs to the fields of practical theology, cultural anthropology, and history of missions.

This thesis discloses research on the topic of second generation Korean American preaching based on fieldwork conducted with Korean American pastors and second generation young adult respondents in three geographic regions of the United States (Midwest, West Coast, and East Coast). I employ social psychologists Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius’ theory of possible selves as my primary conceptual framework to facilitate the process of congregational exegesis in the second generation Korean American church context. The research methods employed in this study include questionnaires and semi-structured qualitative interviews. Four research questions guide this study: (1) what are the possible selves of second generation Korean American congregants; (2) what is the present status of the preaching ministry within participating second generation Korean American congregations; (3) what homiletical strategies are Korean American preachers currently implementing to assess their second generation Korean American audiences during sermon preparation; and (4) what can Korean American preachers learn from the social psychological construct of possible selves as they explore the lives of their second generation hearers? This research identifies three findings: (1) second generation Korean American congregations are presently undergoing a period of cultural transition and change as non-established and marginalized ethno-religious communities; (2) second generation Korean Americans’ possible selves typify cultural anthropologist Gerald Arbuckle’s descriptors of “cultural chaos” and “liminality” which require naming and analysis from Korean American preachers; and (3) the Korean American ethnic and cultural context requires further examination by Korean American preachers within these second generation Korean American congregations. Accordingly, this study seeks to offer a new contextual homiletic model that enables Korean American preachers to engage in deeper levels of ethnic and cultural analysis in their sermonic preparation and simultaneously reconstructs conventional preaching roles of Korean American preachers and second generation listeners so that they may co-creatively imagine new possible selves that radically advance Christian mission and practice in the world.

The African Understanding of marriage is undoubtedly to be numbered among those customs and usages which must be integrated into the Christian tradition to help towards the creation of a genuinely African Christianity. Christian marriage in Africa finds itself torn between three major demands, namely: the claim of the Gospel as interpreted by Western Christianity, the claims of African tradition, and the claims of modern men and women. This is due to the problem created by the standard which the African Church inherited from the Western Christian Community and its past, made worse by much uncertainty as to the place or implications of the standard for men and women in Africa today. For many decades, Western Scholars have defined and described the African traditional beliefs, institutions and practices in terms contrary to their own faiths and experiences. Early missionaries, explorers, and other foreign investigators branded the religious practices and traditional institutions of the African peoples in such unacceptable and derogatory terms as animism, paganism, heathenism and fetishism. Anything that did not come from the "civilised" world was labelled "primitive". Modern researches based on more thorough sociological, anthropological, linguistic, and theological verifications have demonstrated the inadequacies of the former theories. Through this study, the researcher has demonstrated that the traditional Yoruba institutions and practices like marriage and family life, can and should serve as a point of contact for a kerygmatic proclamation. We must continue to explore ways to put such cultural information at the disposal of the reflecting minister and faith community both critically and practically. The study has suggested at least three postures from which the conversation between the religious tradition and cultural information might begin: (a) the religious tradition challenges the culture; (b) the religious tradition is challenged by the culture; (c) the religious tradition uses the resources of the culture in pursuit of its own religious mission.

In this thesis I consider the contribution that the apostle Paul can make to a theological critique of Christian news handling. In the opening chapter I describe the complex context in which Christian communicators, both professional and lay, find themselves handling news stories and suggest why their task is a demanding one, not least because of the significant theological questions it raises. I conclude that such a critique of this communicative practice is overdue. The study then proceeds in two stages. In part one I make the case for including Paul in a research field where he has now been overlooked, and then discuss a number of texts in the apostle’s Corinthian correspondence which focus on its own hardship and suffering. I suggest that these passages are not only examples of Paul handling news but also, when read in the light of 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, indicate a theologically coherent approach to this practice on the part of the apostle. I conclude that the Corinthian hardship narratives involve an understanding of news handling that can be described as cruciform, that is, informed both in style and content by the cross of Christ. In the second part I use this Pauline model to inform a critique of two examples of contemporary news handling, analysed using qualitative research methodology: the Church of England’s handling of its own attendance statistics, and the newspaper <i>Alpha News, </i>published by Holy Trinity Brompton. Through interviews with those responsible for handling the news, textual analysis and focus group-led reception analysis, I explore the wider issues raised by each example of news handling and then show how a model of cruciform news can shed significant theological light on these issues and thus the challenges facing the faithful Christian communicator. I conclude the apostle Paul has a distinctive and significant contribution to make to contemporary Christian news handling, and that a cruciform model of news might help transform our understanding of this important communicative practice.