John Gill (1697-1771), one of the greatest Baptist theologians, made a tremendous contribution to the establishment, education, and development of the Particular Baptists and Calvinistic Independents in his times. He stood firmly in the Reformed orthodox tradition in an age of theological turmoil. Despite such an enormous contribution, history, however, shows that he has been criticised as both deviating from the Reformed tradition and as a hinderer of the 'possible' growth of the Particular Baptists. He has been always recognised as a High or Hyper-Calvinist in a pejorative way. The crux of this evaluation or criticism is the claim that he put such extreme stress on the sovereign grace of God to the extent that human responsibility is limited or even eliminated, particularly with reference to salvation and evangelical piety. This criticism, however, has a weakness in that Gill has been always interpreted and criticised from an evangelistic perspective. As a result, all other significant doctrinal issues have been overshadowed. In particular, Gill's understanding of theology, Scripture, God, creation, and providence that shaped his concepts of salvation and evangelism, has been almost untouched. In addition, this criticism has distracted people from looking at Gill in the Reformed tradition out of which he emerged. This thesis raises a fundamental question concerning the criticism of Gill as a High or Hyper-Calvinist, in relation to the crucial question of the relationship between the sovereign grace of God and human responsibility. It does not directly deal with Gill's ideas of salvation and evangelism. Instead, it deals with more fundamental issues such as Gill's theological development and tradition, and the understanding of theology, Scripture, God, creation and providence that shaped his ideas of salvation and evangelism. In this process, we seek to prove that Gill maintained the typical Reformed balance between the sovereign grace of God and human responsibility, or between grace and nature, throughout his whole theological system. Finally, it identifies Gill as a Reformed orthodox theologian rather than as a High or Hyper-Calvinist.

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Although the eruption of religious dissent in Germany touched off by Martin Luther in 1517 began as a theological disagreement, the ensuring years would reveal that these religious ideas had important social consequences. They set into motion a process of reordering society and forming of confessional identities that had significant implications for the nuclear family. Reflecting John Calvin's assertion that "every individual Family ought to be a Little Church of Christ," Reformed Protestants sought to transform nuclear families into spiritual communities, creating domestic microcosms of the larger church. This project examines the religious formation of families among the French Reformed (Huguenot) Churches, demonstrating that this was a cultural offensive as much as it was a religious one. Huguenot leaders wanted far more than their congregants to attend church: this programme transformed the roles and responsibilities of family members, shaped the activities and routines of the household, circumscribed and defined the appropriate associations of family members, and reorganized the family schedule. This study illuminates the Huguenots' conception of a "holy household" by analyzing the four primary characteristics of these godly families - ordered, educational, pure, and pious - and describes how they were conceived of and implemented in Reformed communities across early modern France. In order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the French Reformed family, this dissertation bridges the divide between intellectual history and social history. There was no greater intellectual source for French Protestantism than John Calvin and Geneva: Calvin was one of the primary theologians influencing the development of Protestantism in France, and the Genevan Church served as an advisor and template for many of the Huguenot churches. Accordingly, each chapter examines in depth the theological underpinnings of this effort, analyzing Calvin's sermons, commentaries, Institutes of the Christian Religion, and written correspondence with leaders of the Huguenot churches. This investigation, in turn, provides an understanding of the religious sources for this new emphasis holy family and domestic piety in France, without which it would be impossible to fully appreciate. To balance these prescriptive sources, I analyze descriptive records to understand how the actual reform of the family was carried out on the local level. In particular, my research relies extensively on church discipline records (consistory registers) from churches throughout France: Albenc (1606-1682), Archiac (1600-1637), Blois (1574-1579), Coutras (1582-1584), Die (1639-1686), Le Mans (1560-1561), Mussidan (1593-1599), Nîmes (1561-1564), Pont-de-Camares (1574-1579), Rochechouart (1596-1635), and Saint-Gervais (1564-1568). These records reveal the complex and messy manner of this reform, which was often marked by contestation and negotiation. Throughout, I compare these records to Genevan discipline records to compare and contrast how Calvin's own church instituted this familial reform in the Genevan context. My project, in sum, reveals the heretofore overlooked religious role and significance of the family and home in Reformed churches of early modern France.

This study examines sources of clergy stress and ministers' coping strategies. The aim was to investigate Calvinist worldviews and their effects on Presbyterian ministers' choice of coping and stress levels. Specific hypotheses and questions were derived from process-stress theory and applications in the psychology of religion, as well as from secularisation theory. The author designed and conducted three separate, related studies. The first used 54 theological students comprising the pre-ministry stage. The second, focal study was of 65 parish ministers of the Presbyterian Church in NSW. These groups were chosen for an intensive study of the influence of Calvinist beliefs on stress and coping over two stages of ministry. The third surveyed 363 adult church attenders of Presbyterian congregations in NSW for specific analyses of stress-coping processes. Data were obtained through scales, questionnaires and interviews with parish ministers. Presbyterian students scored high on religious commitment but low in their endorsement of Calvinist beliefs. Presbyterian congregations also scored high on religious commitment and moderately high on their endorsement of Presbyterian beliefs. Major findings related to attributions and religious coping. Congregational members attributed life crises and hassles to God's allowing the situation, together with other human causes. Ministers had high religious commitment and agreement with Calvinist beliefs. One third scored at clinical levels of anxiety and burnout. Stress levels were strongly related to using an external locus of coping and less strongly to deficiencies in training and equipment for ministry. These stress levels were not directly related to role conflict or specific situational measures. Overall, findings pointed to inadequacies in process-stress theory for examining occupational stress. Ministry stress was best explained as a consequence of attempts to live out a Calvinist ideal in the absence of institutional and social legitimation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Evangelical reformism has always been recognized as a massive influence on early nineteenth-century culture. Philanthropic pressure groups dominated public life. But while much attention has recently been devoted to the language and ideas which informed the Evangelical mindset, too many historians have accepted the heroic emphases of nineteenth-century memoirists, and have concentrated on Wilberforce and the crusade against slavery. This thesis contends that the real strength of the movement lay in business, the professions and burgeoning officialdom, and traces the clerical and business networks that connected this metropolitan nexus with provincial Britain. As is shown in chapters on the Church and Universities, patronage and politics, the City of London, the Navy and colonial affairs, this was a dynamic, highly-organized milieu in which patronage, place and influence were used to the full.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This d~ssertation concerns the modernisation of Islam-oriented schooling in Cape Town and environs whereby Muslim Mission Primary Schools emerge as a socio-cultural compromise between community needs and State school provision policy. It proceeds from the recognition of the cultural diversity that has since the pioneering days characterised the social order of the Mother City. Two religious and cultural traditions have coexisted here in a superordinate and subordinate relationship; one developed a school system for domestication and cultural assimilation, and the other a covert instructional programme for an"alternative religious system and behaviour code. The thrust of the argument is that the Islamic community, developed on the periphery of society that excluded non-Christians, were in the main concerned with cultural transmission, first in the homes of Free Blacks during the Dutch regime, and later in the mosques that arose when religious freedom was obtained. Traditional schools for Islamic culture transmission were conducted by imams and tended to attract in large numbers the children of slaves and other non-white children causing concern among evangelists In 1863, a political understanding between the governments of Britain and Turkey resulted in Abu Bakr Effendi being assigned by the Sultan to conduct a school in Cape Town to effect some uniformity of Islamic instruction. A latent consequence of this Turkish funded school was the production of the first Afrikaans textbook on Islam, a step in the modernisation of cultural transmission. After Effendi's demise the school was discontinued. State education policy ensured that non-white children generally were educated only at State-funded Christian Mission schools. Most Muslim children received only Islamic instruction at the various madressahs (traditional schools) as a result. An increasingly rigid segregation of public schools oriented towards reproducing the superordinate-subordinate culture relationship resulted in a widening gap of literacy which was increasingly important for the economic and political dispensation. Concerned Muslims organised themselves to address the educational deficiency. The South African Moslem Association urged mOre educational opportunity but floundered before accomplishing anything noteworthy. Their importance lay in their making the Muslims more aware of the need to have a secular education in a changing social order. It was self-evident that education had to be seen in the political context: the weaker community was most likely to suffer the greatest lack of schools. Dr A. Abdurahman, foremost political figure of the first forty years of this century, took the first steps in establishing State-aided primary schools for Muslim children. Whatever success he had in this regard was entirely due to his personali ty and political acumen. In contrast to Abdurahman was the philanthropic effort of Hajee Sullaiman Shah Mohamed to build a school with an Islamic ethos. Why he failed is considered against the social historical background of the Cape Muslims and the communities' manifest needs. Politically, Abdurahman was in a better position and better equipped to address the problem. He served as manager of three Muslim primary schools, the development of which form a substantial part of this study. Abdurahman could harness the creative energies and resources of immigrant and indigenous Muslims in creating these schools. But the Cape Malay Association, disenchanted with Abdurahman's perceived partisanship, politically sought to advance Malay communal interests in the political patronage of the Afrikaner political faction in power. In terms of schooling policy they were to be disillusioned.

This thesis investigates the establishment and development of a religious community of immigrants from the Netherlands to Canada, whose lives centered around a small denomination called the Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRC). The purpose of this thesis was to explore major reasons for the insularity of the FRC community in Southern Ontario between 1950 and 1976. Primary sources for the research were the FRC???s denominational newspaper, The Messenger, and oral interviews of FRC members. The first chapter draws on the life stories of interviewees to explore the challenges of their early years of settlement in Canada, and the comfort they found in the church community. Chapter two focuses on the history, structure and leadership of the church, the faith and beliefs of members, and the connections between church and faith. The third chapter delves into the FRC???s perspectives on and relationships with other churches and Canadian culture. Chapter four considers beliefs about women???s roles and the experiences of FRC women at church, home and work. This thesis argues that the following factors contributed to the FRC???s sustained insularity and isolation: the church, its activities, leaders and laws; the individual faith of members; the strong ideological resistance of leaders and members to change and ???outside??? influence; and the social support and pressure of friends, family, and fellow members of the church community.