This dissertation examines the christological thought of Thomas Todhunter Shields between the years 1894 to 1930, along with its influence on his view of the Bible and of the Christian's role within his/her culture. / T. T. Shields was one of the most prominent Fundamentalist leaders in the 1920's. While a popularizer rather than an academic his thought merits study due to his influence within Fundamentalism and his reputation for being one of the more "thoughtful" of Fundamentalists. / Shields' christology was monophysitic and docetic leading, in time, to a full blown christo-monism which effectively removed Christ from his mediatorial role. In place of Christ, Shields virtually substituted the Bible; and the characteristics that he had attributed to the Christ (viz., transcendence of error and 'the human element') he now attributed to the Scriptures. Shields' christology also resulted in a truncation of his conception the church, particularly with respect to the question of Christian mission.

Cyberspace has diversified and pluralized people’s daily experiences of religion in unprecedented ways. By studying several websites and weblogs that have a religious orientation, different layers of religious authority including “religious hierarchy, structures, ideology, and sources” (Campbell, 2009) can be identified. Also, using Weber’s definition of the three types of authority, “rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic” (1968), the specific type of authority that is being presented on blogosphere can be recognized. The Internet presents a level of liberty for the discussion of sensitive topics in any kind of religious cyberspace, specifically the Islamic one. In this way, the Internet is expanding the number and range of Muslim voices, which may pose problems for traditional forms of religious authority or may suggest new forms of authority in the Islamic world. The interaction between the Internet and religion is often perceived as contradictory, especially when it is religion at its most conservative practice. While the international and national applications of the Internet have increased vastly, local religious communities, especially fundamentalists, perceived this new technology as a threat to their local cultures and practices. If we look at the Internet as a central phenomenon of contemporary modernity that interacts with practiced fundamentalist religious traditions, we can ask how broad the interactions are between religious fundamentalism and the Internet and whether these relations can be reconciled. More specifically, this thesis presents a study of the junction of the Internet and religious fundamentalism reviewing the presentation of Shiite religious authority on the Persian blogosphere. As a case study, Persian weblogs are studied for content analysis for this thesis. Weblogs’ texts are analyzed to find evidences for Shiite beliefs and shared identity, usages and interpretations of the main Shiite religious texts, references to the role of recognized Shiite leaders, and descriptions of Shiite structural patterns of practices and organizations. This research will demonstrate how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the Iranian community’s needs and how the Shiite fundamentalist community of Iran has been affected by it. Based on one of the most structured research in this area, the study by Baezilai-Nahon and Barzilai (2005), in this article I identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been much concern among observers and analysts around the world over what role Islam is to play in the political, economic and social spheres of life in newly independent Central Asian states. Traditionally, Islam is the dominant faith, but had been strongly influenced by the Soviet atheist ideology during the last seven decades before Central Asia became independent in 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some observers in the West depicted Central Asia as an extension of the Middle East, invoking fears that Islamic fundamentalism was to pose a serious threat to the stability in the region of Central Asia. In this thesis I analyzed the dynamism of Islamic revival in Central Asia&rsquo / s two post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through the prism of the imported phenomenon of &lsquo / Islamic fundamentalism&rsquo / . The thesis demonstrates that Islam in Central Asia is a natural process determined primarily by internal socio-economic and political conditions and not influenced by outside forces. In order to support this argument, I approached the problem by analyzing both external factors and internal conditions. The concluding argument is that even if Islam is to be radicalized it will be because of internal factors, such as authoritarianism, violation of human rights and repression of moderate manifestations of Islam from within, rather than because of the influence of Islamic fundamentalist forces from abroad.

This study adds significantly to the literature on Christian fundamentalism, and specifically to understandings of how women are positioned within these faiths. It also provides an unusual glimpse into the inner world of Jehovah's Witnesses, and more specifically into the lived experiences of female adherents, a perspective which has been lacking in the small number of studies conducted into the faith. / By taking a sociological approach to the research, the Witnesses can be seen to occupy a unique position within Christian fundamentalism, an understanding which is crucial given their strong emphasis on the control of women. It is this emphasis on controlling women through the social structures of the faith that makes both joining and leaving the Witnesses such fraught processes, as is illuminated by the narratives of the female research participants. / Thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2006.

This thesis is concerned with the ideas of two of the most prominent thinkers within the 'fundamentalist' religious movements that have become so prominent over the last few decades in Pakistan and India; Maulana Maududi of the Muslim Jamaat-I-Islami and M.S. Golwalkar, of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Though both are now dead, their ideas live on in the thinking and deeds of others. This thesis explores a comparison of the ideas of these men and their radical/fundamentalist ideologies with a focus on the way they viewed the relationship between religon and the state. Others have established that such a comparison between significant individuals, who lived in the same historical timeframe, and in this case the same geographical and political contexts, offers valuable insight into the situations/nations in which they were directly involved. / Thesis (MArts(ReligionStudies))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bob Jones University, 1988. / Bibliography: leaves 365-369.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [118]-146). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Political Science, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Letitia Lawson, Jessica Piombo. Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-56). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 Jul 29.