Thesis (M.A.)--Harding University Graduate School of Religion, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-187).

Habilitationsschrift--Universität Göttingen, 1980. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-221).

Thesis (M.A.)--Harding University Graduate School of Religion, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-187).

No description available.

The underlying question explored by this thesis is whether missiology, applied as a lens to examine Christian mission in the early middle ages, can reveal new insights from historical sources. This approach has raised new questions and has revealed new tensions such as that between the group and individual, that between top-down and bottom-up mission, and that between syncretism and contextualization. One of the key insights is the need to hold the group and individual in tension, that is· not to choose to interpret sources as either group or individual oriented but as moving between the two. Taking one's identity from a group did not negate the individual, it only meant that the individual submitted to group decisions. This tension, it is argued, needs to be highlighted and held in balance in order to understand how groups and individuals in the early middle ages reacted to, and interacted with, the Christian gospel message. To make this case mission, baptism and conversion, as foundational to Christian mission, are examined. An examination of a selection of the writings of the Church Fathers, Saints' Vitae, Church councils and synods, and other correspondence of the early middle ages in light of syncretism and contextualization has raised questions about definition and content. With Rome and Constantinople setting the standard of content and practice, often anything that looked different was labelled as heretical, barbaric or pagan and this has usually been defined as syncretism. However, if the central core content of the Christian gospel message was not compromised, what was happening could be contextualization (that is, the working out of the Christian gospel message in an appropriate cultural manner). Although these are contemporary labels, early medieval sources do reveal an underlying concern about the loss of correct belief and practices. The common interpretation of missional work as a top-down movement often fails to take into account the evidence for the bottom-up, or organic, spread of the Christian gospel message. This is not to say that the official accounts should be set aside, but rather these need to be balanced with the evidence for bottom-up growth. To put some of these insights into an appropriate context, the Vitae of Boniface, Anskar, and Cyril and Methodius are examined as case studies. Each of these men represents different cultural starting points, different geographical areas, and different emphases in mission work. However, in each of these Vitae the tensions between the group and the individual, a top-down or bottom-up approach to mission, and syncretism versus contextualization can be examined, especially in light of the issues of baptism and conversion. The conclusion is that missiology has much to offer early medieval studies. It is a field of study that is broadly interdisciplinary in its approach which gives it an elasticity which allows it to illuminate this period of history valuably. On the basis of this thesis, the discipline of missiology deserves to be applied much more frequently to the study of early medieval history.

This dissertation analyses resistance to a regional development programme, which centred on the construction of a dam at Cerro de Oro, Ojitlan, Oaxaca, Mexico and the resettlement of the affected Chinantec population into an area of Uxpanapa, Veracruz. The resistance of the people of Ojitlan took various forms over a seven year period (1972-9), including political action, a syncretic millenarian movement, a reassertion of traditional forms of community fiestas and passive resistance to resettlement. Ojitlan has been affected by national economic and political changes since before the Spanish Conquest. Large plantations established in the tropical lowland areas in the 19th century ceded place to small "ejido" communities, set up under land reform in the 1930s. Control of land and the economic relationships of production are seen as factors affecting the patterns of resistance in Ojitlan. The dissertation reviews the anthropological literature on resistance and on ethnicity. The series of forms of resistance studied can be seen as multiple cultural articulations - attempts to "bridge the gap" between the established Ojitec life and the "modern" systems of work and life introduced by the development project of the Papaloapan River Commission. The Ojitec struggle with modernity involved dealing not just with the question of resettlement in the collective ejidos of Uxpanapa, but also with the reforms promoted in the Oaxacan Catholic Church. The traditional ritual of indigenous Catholicism offered a sphere of legitimate agency and autonomy for the Ojitec in the face of new models of agency and power. The dissertation suggests the usefulness of the concept of resistance, tempered with an analysis of accompanying processes of accommodation to change. Evidence from the 1990s indicates that ethnic identity continues to be important in political resistance to the state in Uxpanapa, a sign of the resilience of forms of Ojitec culture.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-298). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (D.D.)(Science of Religion and Missiology))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.M.)--Bowling Green State University, 2005. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 96 p. : music. Includes bibliographical references.

Monotheism and its development in Israelite religion is a topic that continues to invite scholarly engagement. Some of the key talking points around it involve whether or not it was developed before or after the exilic period. At the same time, and irrespective of when it was introduced into Israelite religion, the circumstances that facilitated its development have never been acknowledged with unanimity. The purpose of the present study is two-fold: first, it seeks to prove that pre-exilic Israelite religion was as syncretistic as any other ancient Near Eastern tradition, and that exclusive monotheism only became a reality in Persian period Yehud. Secondly, the study is also intended to authenticate the hypothesis that in the wake of the development of monotheism in Yehud, all deities other than Yahweh were demoted to the status of מלאכים, messengers (angels) leaving Yahweh as the only legitimate God. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Old Testament Department - University of Pretoria / Old Testament Studies / PhD / Unrestricted