This study is devoted to a historical investigation of the causes, development and effects of the conflicts which affected Busoga Diocese, Church of Uganda between 1972 and 1999. It uses a predominantly historical-narrative research methodology, and argues that these conflicts were not caused by doctrinal differences, but by a combination of many disagreements and divisions, some of which were multi-faceted and sparked by ‘petty’ issues or events. It discusses chronologically, analytically and with considerable detail how these conflicts, though they were generally not so devastating as to prevent the diocese from growing spiritually and numerically, underscored by presence, in the church, of ambiguity and contradiction. It illustrates how several Christians took issues of the conflicts so personally that they deemed it necessary to resort to emotional and/or physical violence. It also demonstrates the general failure of conflicting groups and third parties in the church to prevent or resolve disputes through proper, constructive and reconciliatory measures. The thesis comprises six chapters. The first advances a case for the study of the conflicts in the diocese, explaining the problem, purpose, area, period, scope and methodology of the study. The second covers the historical, socio-political and religious setting of Busoga, and the origin and growth of the church. It discusses the disasters (both natural and human-made) and conflicts which have occurred inside and outside Busoga, and locates them within the wider studies of history, conflict, church, ethnicity and politics in Uganda. The third discusses the causes, course and consequence of the conflicts which raged in Busoga Diocese between 1972 and 1988. It illustrates how these conflicts, given the absence of constructive conflict management strategies, escalated and turned malevolent. It ends with a reflection on Anglican conflicts and system of church governance. The fourth discusses the historical and immediate events, irregularities and tensions which resulted in the occurrence of the Busoga Crisis. The fifth examines the outbreak, course, impact and implications of the Busoga Crisis, showing how accusations and counter-accusations made by both pro- and anti-Bamwoze factions, the coercive measures employed by the conflicting groups and third parties, and the power struggles that rocked the Church of Uganda at diocesan and provincial levels made it practically difficult to resolve this conflict. It discusses how it was finally settled and ends with a reflection on the conflict.

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Baptists in Hong Kong, originally a peripheral denomination before the World War II, had become the largest Protestant community by the time of the handover of the colony to China in July 1997. This study aims to narrate and explicate the formation of the church-state practice of Baptists in Hong Kong in the period of 1949 to 1984. The thesis is focused on the question of the extent to which the British colonial policy contributed to the rise of the Baptist community in Hong Kong. The thesis will uncover the roots of the British colonial strategy in the post-World War II era and how the Baptist denomination happened to be part of the scheme. The thesis will also attempt to account for the formation of the Baptist church-state practice. The thesis finally will employ John Howard Yoder’s criticism of Constantinianism to critique the Baptist church-state practice in the post-World War II period, and the core concepts of Yoder’s Jeremianic model will serve as an alternative of<i> </i>the Baptist church-state practice in the post-colonial era. The study will be based upon a theological and empirical research. The socio-political- ecclesiological context of Hong Kong in the post-World War II period and the British colonial policy in the territory will be scrutinised. The uniqueness of Baptist polity that has led to the emergence of the Baptist lay-leaders and the interactions between the laity and the pastors on the issue of Baptist educational institutions accepting the government subsidy, embodying the formalisation of the church-state practice, will be examined. The rationale behind the Baptist leaders’ willingness to become a partner with the government will be explored, by investigating the patron-client relationship between the colonial government and Baptists and <i>kuan-hsi </i>(network), a prominent feature of the Chinese cultural heritage. The practice of Baptist worship service will be investigated as it is regarded as the principal factor of the formation of spirituality. I will suggest that pietistic individualism focusing on personal religious and spiritual experience contributes to a problematic church-world dichotomy in the minds of Chinese Christians. A review of Chinese theology in the first half of the twentieth century will disclose a solid heritage of pietism among Chinese Christians.

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The process of Idema reception and development of Christianity was initiated by British Methodist missionaries in 1924. Such a process requires a cultural transformation through which Christianity is re-shaped to suit the Idema need, custom and traditions thereby regaining the lost cultural cohesion which the Idema need to adapt Christianity and spread it among themselves. Chapter one introduces the reasons for the choice of this study and the aims, purpose, and methodology of the research. It calls attention to the need to see the Idema as subjects of religious change and not merely as objects of evangelisation by overseas missionaries. Chapter two commences with the consideration of Idema ethnicity in which the problem of the origin and development of ethnicity is briefly addressed. Having defined Idema ethnicity, the chapter considers some cultural rites of passage common to all Idema namely: birth, marriage, death and burial. This leads to a discussion of Idema theology in Chapter three, in which it is defined, explained and compared to other types of primal African theology. Chapter four focuses on the overall history of how the Idema made contact with Christianity, and their reaction to the Methodist missionaries and their early activities. Chapter five begins one of the central arguments of this thesis, focusing on the spread of Christianity in Idema and the use of education as an agency of evangelism and church growth. The methods and aims of Methodist mission education in Idema and the messages that were passed on are critically examined and evaluated. Chapter six represents the heart of this thesis, focusing on contextual factors in the reception and development of Christianity in Idema, with particular reference to Bible translation. The chapter evaluates how the New Testament was translated, and argues that the problem of inculturating Christianity into Idema life and culture has not been sufficiently looked at either scientifically, ethnographically, linguistically, historically or culturally.

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The arrival and settlement of the Loyalists and their slaves in The Bahamas in 1784 effected a social, economic, and cultural revolution in this British colony. With the establishment of the Dioceses of Barbados and Jamaica in 1824, there dawned in The Bahamas, a part of the Diocese of Jamaica until 1861, a process of Anglicization hitherto unknown. As the raison d'être of its newly established Episcopal form of Church Government and in anticipation of slave emancipation in 1834, the Anglican Church was charged with the responsibility of preparing slaves in the British West Indies for responsible citizenship. The method employed was a process of civilization and conversion. The means were the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and Church sponsored English education. Through its educational system, however, the Church launched its greatest assault on the culture and identity of the Bahamian masses. By means of this system, the hierarchically structured world view of the English was substituted for the slaves' traditional West African world view. This initiated a process of destabilisation and trivialisation which could not but undermine Bahamian cultural identity. Yet, the meeting of the Evangelical and the Tractarian Traditions in the Anglican Church in The Bahamas, and the Ritual which followed in the wake of the Tractarian Movement gave rise to the rebirth of a powerful West African religious symbol, the circle, and the consequent role of the Ancestors in the mores and social reconstruction of Bahamian society. Through its education and its Liturgy, therefore, the Anglican Church facilitated and nurtured, albeit unwittingly, a Bahamian cultural identity which was consistent with both traditional West African religious culture, and the civilization and religion of England and the English Church.