Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / Cover title: John Wesley, 18th century pragmatist; Christianity rejuvenated for faith and justice. Includes bibliographical references (p. [69]-[73]) Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / Problem: How a selected group of Methodist laymen evaluate themselves as Sunday church school teachers. Procedure: A historical review of the evolvement of Methodist laymen as church school teachers furnished the background for the study. Then a survey was made of teachers from fifty churches within the New England Conference of the Methodist Church. A questionnaire was developed around four areas of the teachers' understanding and performance of their roles: the content taught, the methods used, the understanding of the teaching-learning processes, and the teacher-student relationships. The laymen were asked also the source of their criteria for judging a "good" church school teacher, what were the most important qualifications of such a teacher, who should be teachers of church school classes, their reasons for teaching and continuing to teach, their rewards and dissatisfactions in teaching, and their suggestions for improvement of their local church school. [TRUNCATED]

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This thesis addresses the problem of the fragmentation of conversion and discipleship in the theology and practice of evangelism within the Wesleyan tradition. Fragmentation is understood as the process of splintering or separating elements that were previously united. It is argued that this fragmentation results in large part from the lack of a unifying vision for conversion and discipleship, and that recovering the significance of Christian perfection can present a way forward. The work of Alisdair MacIntyre is used to interpret the doctrine of Christian perfection as providing a telos and vision for evangelism. The work of Ellen Charry is also drawn upon to show how the doctrine of Christian perfection is sapiential in nature, and shapes the practice of evangelism to that end. This thesis argues that the renewing of Christian perfection as a vision of evangelism can hold the elements of conversion and discipleship in tension, thus repairing the fragmentation. On the one hand, evangelism that aims at making disciples who press on to perfection will intentionally seek conversion as a necessary but incomplete goal. On the other hand, spiritual formation that aims at perfection must be rooted in the reality of conversion itself, and cannot proceed without effective evangelism. Drawing upon evidence from the theology of John Wesley and the early Methodist movement supports the argument, and the problem is further explored by a critical analysis of contemporary scholarship in the Wesleyan tradition. The implications of the thesis include the need for an evangelistic message that communicates the good news in terms of holy love, capturing both the need for personal conversion and the pursuit of Christian perfection. A second implication is the need for an approach to evangelism that restores the link between conversion and discipleship. A third implication is for a new or renewed set of evangelistic practices that guide persons through the experience of conversion, and on toward the telos of Christian perfection.

From its inception in 1881 until its activities were subsumed under the missionary mandate of the United Church of Canada in 1925, the Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church of Canada energetically promoted the Church's gospel of social reform and individual salvation in its far-flung mission fields in West China, in Japan, in Canada's western frontier settlements and its inner-city immigrant ghettos. The Society's agents were 300 single women caretully chosen on the basis of age, educational background, related work experience and spiritual commitment. The thesis argues that these women missionaries, broadly representative of small-town, middle-class, Protestant Canada in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, found in tne W. M. S. an appealing alternative to both domesticity and the limited opportunities for women in secular careers. Nurtured by the structural and political autonomy of the w. M. S within the Methodist Church of Canada, by an aggressive Board of Managers, by the developing sense of sisterhood among the Society's recruits, and by the freedom to act independently according to the circumstances of remote mission fields, missionaries became more than mere proselytizers, social workers and teach9rs. They became professional career women with vested interests in the management, funding, success and rewards of their activities who were ultimately judged as much on the basis of their professional development as on the evidence of their spiritual commitment or their record of conversions. Within this context, career commitment on the part of individual missionaries was dependent on several factors, including educational background, administrative skill and, not least of all, field location. Japan in the throes of industrialization and modernization was the Society's showcase. Its most skilled recruits were sent there; and it is not surprising that the Japanese mission field produced the largest number of life-long employees. The Horne mission field, in contrast, enjoyed the lowest priority for funding and personnel, most of whom were drawn from a group of less skilled recruits for whom mission work was an interlude between school-leaving and marriage. West China, with its litany of political, social and physical hardships, arguably demanded, and produced, a degree of dedication and resoluteness unmatched in the recruits who served elsewhere. At a time when Canadian society was widely debating the related questions of women's proper sphere and the social role of organized Christianity,the w. M. S. created for its women missionaries a separate sphere in which, freed from the sexual politics of both the home and the workplace, they could pursue Christian activism as a fulfilling and rewarding career. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 1. THE PROBLEM OF THE DISSERTATION The problem of this dissertation is to discover the origin of "The Wesley Foundation Idea," to trace its development, and to show how through "The Wesley Foundation Idea" The Methodist Church has expressed its concern for the students on the state university campus from the year 1886 to 1960. 2. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study shows how the early concept of religious student work by the Methodist Episcopal Church on three representative state campuses was the forerunner of the Wesley Foundation Movement in The Methodist Church today. The study points up those distinctive events within the organization of three early foundations, at the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin, that had to do with the growth and the development of the foundation "Idea." It also provides the first reasonably comprehensive history of The Wesley Foundation Movement from its founding to 1960. 3. THE METHODOLOGY USED IN THIS STUDY The historical method of research is employed in this study. The primary, as well as the secondary, sources of historical information regarding the early beginnings of The Wesley Foundation Idea are used in writing the history. The procedure followed has been: a. Each of the three foundations that formed the basis for this study was visited. All available records, minutes of meetings, letters, local publications and historical records were critically examined. b. Interviews were held with some of the persons who are still living and who were on these campuses during the early years of the foundations. c. The Daily Christian Advocate, The Journal of the General Conference and The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1900 - 1936 and The Doctrines and Discipline of The Methodist Church, 1940 - 1960 were examined, tracing legislation and subsequent action of the Church. The records of the General Board of Education on Wesley Foundations were also examined. 4. CONCLUSIONS First, "The Wesley Foundation Idea" started at the University of Michigan in 1886 under the name "The Wesleyan Guild." Second, the name "Wesley Foundation" was first officially used at the University of Illinois in 1913 under James c. Baker nearly thirteen years after student work was started at this campus. Third, The Methodist Church first recognized its responsibility to the students with the shift in attitude, (1916-1924) when it ceased to regard the state university as a "Godless institution." Fourth, lack of adequate financial support has plagued the Wesley Foundation since its inception in 1886. Not until 1956 did The Methodist Church undertake a major financial campaign supporting the Wesley Foundations. Fifth, the "campus minister" must be as thoroughly prepared in his own field as are his faculty and administrative counterparts. Sixth, the program emphasis has changed since the beginning of the "Idea" from one of providing a social center for the students to that of study and serious confrontation with the role of the Church and the Christians in the world today. Seventh, the students were frequently found to be ahead of the Church in such matters as social concern, social action, and ecumenical commitments. Eighth, the strength of "The Wesley Foundation Idea" has been in the linking of the resources of the larger church with the needs of the local campus. The Wesley Foundation Idea as originally conceived was too narrow. The shift from "following the students," to "being with the students," to the "total campus ministry" was a historical, philosophical and educational necessity. The ideal of the total campus ministry is as yet unfulfilled. However, "The Wesley Foundation Idea" is still emerging, involving continuing attention to the needs of the whole campus. / 2999-01-01

The purposes of the historical study are to describe Methodist education in Texas from 1840 to 1900; to find the reasons behind the proliferation of Methodist institutions after the Civil War and the problems involved in this development; to analyze centralization efforts after 1900 as a pattern of Methodist educational institutions emerged; to describe the evolution of Southern Methodist University as a regional college West of the Mississippi; to give brief descriptive overviews of the other six Methodist institutions in Texas; to describe the current status of Methodist higher education in Texas; to discuss Methodist higher education in Texas at the present and to project the possible future development of Methodist higher education in Texas.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Asbury Theological Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-190).

Project (D. Min.)--Iliff School of Theology, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [114]-[119]).