This thesis argues that the origins and evolution of Christian communities in Northern Italy between c. 250 and 381 are comprehensible only within the region's social environment. Whereas previous studies of early Christianity in Italy have sought to explain its origins in terms of modern diocesan structures, this thesis shows that the evidence for this view is untrustworthy and that a new methodology is needed to explain the rise of the church. To this end, the thesis describes the 'north Italian human environment', which consists not just of the physical landscape, but of the social networks within it. This environment allows an understanding of why Christian communities had developed in some places and not in others by c. 300. The development of the church continued to be influenced by this human environment in the fourth century. Christian diffusion remained a partial and variable phenomenon. In the cities Christians found themselves confronted by the adherents of other religions, notably Judaism. Thus, in the fourth century, Christians did not yet dominate the communities in which they lived. Moreover, the active participation in ecclesiastical affairs of emperors after Constantine - particularly the intervention of Constantius II in Italy during the 350s - added a new dimension to the human environment. Such interventions defined how north Italian Christianity came into contact with ecclesiastical and theological affairs throughout the empire. In sum, the history of early Christianity in northern Italy is circumscribed by the social environment within which it developed. This thesis argues that for northern Italy - indeed for the rest of the Mediterranean - a proper understanding of Christian growth can only come from an appreciation of the particular social context of the region within which it occurred.

黃健羒著. / 手稿本, 複本據手稿本影印. / 論文(神學學部神道學碩士)--香港中文大學硏究院. / 參考文獻: leaves 143-151. / Huang Jianfen zhu. / 論文撮要 --- p.ii / 謝詞 --- p.iv / 經文引述按語 --- p.v / 附表目錄 --- p.iii / Chapter 第一章 --- 導論 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 教牧書信作者問題 --- p.9 / Chapter 二、一節 --- 作者問題的重要性 --- p.10 / Chapter 二、二節 --- 推斷作者是否保羅的途徑 --- p.14 / Chapter 二、三節 --- 總論 --- p.23 / Chapter 第三章 --- 使徒性教會的本質 --- p.26 / Chapter 三、一節 --- 初期教會信經 --- p.29 / Chapter 三、二節 --- 使徒傳統 --- p.34 / Chapter 三、三節 --- 承繼使徒傳統的準則 --- p.43 / Chapter 第四章 --- 受按立之牧職 --- p.52 / Chapter 四、一節 --- 初期教會之情況 --- p.53 / Chapter 四、二節 --- 牧職之涵義 --- p.58 / Chapter 四、三節 --- 按立之涵義 --- p.66 / Chapter 四、四節 --- 長老、監督及執事 --- p.76 / Chapter 第五章 --- 受按立牧職之重要功能─教導 --- p.86 / Chapter 五、一節 --- 教牧書新重視教導 --- p.89 / Chapter 五、二節 --- 藉教導保持使徒性 --- p.97 / Chapter 五、三節 --- 如何在今日教會中推行教導 --- p.108 / Chapter 第六章 --- 結論 --- p.116 / 畧字表 --- p.122 / 註釋 --- p.124 / 書目 --- p.143

In the late antique West, every individual becoming Christian first entered the community as a catechumen (catechumenus). Many spent several years in this status called the catechumenate, only ending with baptism and the acquisition of the membership of the faithful (fideles). This thesis considers the catechumenate not only as an initiation but as a peculiar way of being Christian. It demonstrates the fluid nature of Christian membership and shows how clerics strove to develop their authority over catechumens to build a cohesive community in a context of rivalry between churches and polemical controversies. The catechumenate both enabled converts to adhere progressively to the community and constituted an opportunity for clerics to set a standard path of progression, enforce discipline and define what it meant to be a Christian. This thesis opens up new avenues to study the process of Christianisation by stressing the continuous significance of the catechumenate for the formation of Christian communities in late antiquity. After an introduction, Chapter Two focuses on Augustine's recollections of his time as a catechumen. Chapter Three looks at Augustine to investigate more broadly the practices of catechumeni, shedding light on the pervasive polemical context in which they are discussed. Chapter Four provides case studies on the cross put on the forehead to manifest Christian membership and the treatise De fide et operibus, exploring how Augustine aimed at shaping practices and ideas. Chapter Five investigates contemporary evidence: first an African canon regulating the ritual participation of catechumeni, then sermons describing unique rituals of the baptismal preparation and demonstrating that practices often varied locally. Chapter Six compares the sixth-century letter exchanges between Ferrandus and Fulgentius with John the Deacon's letter to Senarius, showing the enduring importance of the catechumenate in the West and the creative reception of earlier African sources addressing recurrent pastoral problems.

楊天恩. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2002. / 參考文獻 (p. 257-273). / 中英文摘要. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Yang Tian'en. / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2002. / Can kao wen xian (p. 257-273).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2001. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-267).

Thesis (M. Div. with Concentration: Church History)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2001. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-267).

Thesis (M. Div. with Concentration: Church History)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

Thesis (M. Div. with Concentration: Church History)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

The accompanying thesis forms a study of the General Assembly as an influence not only upon Scottish Politics but upon Scottish Representative Institutions. The majority of writers upon the history of the Scottish Church stress the private influence of individuals, which while interesting in itself was in many cases extraneous to the general movements both in the Kirk and in the development of the representative principle both as applied to Kirk institutions and to Parliament and Conventions. Several writers have seen in the General Assembly a thoroughly democratic institution, which represented all classes of social life and which prepared the way for the ideal of a universal franchise. I have endeavoured to show that the General Assembly for the greater part of its development had little of this universal character and was rather the expression of an "Opposition" which was no more democratic in actual composition than the Parliament itself. The period 1560-1618 represents only part of the period upon which I originally began investigation. To cope with the century 1560-1660 I found that it would have been necessary to omit much manuscript material which was valuable for purposes of detail. I therefore limited the present thesis to the 58 years after the Reformation which saw the rise of the Assembly to full power 1592-96 and its subsequent decline, both as a political force and as a representative institution.