Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Dept. of Religion and Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-163).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-185).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-185).

In this essay I present the ecclesiology of the Salvation Army as it appears in Sweden today. One thesis that I examined is that the Salvation Army has changed its self-understanding from seeing itself as an Army from the beginning of the movement, to gradually understanding itself as a Church. The essay confirms this assumption and concludes that it is largely due to the challenges of ecumenical theology that developed with the publication of the BEM document in 1982, adopted by the World Council of Churches' Faith and Order Commission. Further, statistics show that 3 out of 4 new members of the Salvation Army in Sweden are what are Adherents, defined as a type of civilian membership, and not uniformed soldiers. The purpose of the essay has therefore been to explore what the change of membership, from soldiers to adherents, has meant for the ecclesiology of the movement. I have captured both of these assumptions, that the Army understands itself more and more as a church and that most new members are Adherents, when I have formulated the overarching research question: How does a growing proportion of Adherents play into the Salvation Army's gradually changing self-understanding from army to church? In the essay, I have used a qualitative research method which includes a hermeneutic approach where I interpret the changes and observe to understand its consequences for the ecclesiology that appears in the Salvation Army. The essay discusses the "army concept" which implies a “mission-oriented” ecclesiology and the "church concept" which implies a "community-oriented" ecclesiology. My source material consists of both written dogmatic material, observations of enrolling of both soldiers and adherents in Corps and interviews with new members. I note that the ecclesiological themes that appear in my materials are somewhat different. The written material has some army rhetoric, which means that in addition to a community-oriented ecclesiology one can also see a mission-oriented ecclesiology, while the observations and especially the interviews give a clearer picture of a communion-oriented ecclesiology where the congregation also appears as a sacramental communion. The likeness of ecclesiology between the Salvation Army to other free-churches in Sweden is so profound that I propose the idea of “free-church salvationists” in the army in Sweden. In the essay, I state that a probable further ecclesiological development may be that the more Adherents who become members, the more communion-oriented ecclesiology will implicitly appear in the Salvation Army in Sweden and at the same time the army rhetoric will gradually disappear. This means that the Salvation Army in Sweden may in the near future be described as "an army without soldiers".

In this thesis it is argued that a full and complete understanding of the eugenics movement may only be gained by examining those who were implicated in its criticisms. Using the example of three Christian missionary organisations that worked amongst largely poor and immigrant communities in London and New York, it is demonstrated that eugenics was a pervasive ideology outside its 'official' societies. Moving away from an understanding grounded in ideas of conflict and concession, it will be demonstrated that those whose work was challenged by eugenic claims were able to interpret the ideology according to their existing reformist agendas. Hereditarian ideas did not sound the death knell for reformers, and these organisations demonstrated both the willingness and capacity to shape eugenic ideas within and outside their organisations. From these examples it is argued there is a need to move beyond definitions of eugenics that limit the movement to a small subset of its methods. Far from being a peripheral aspect to the history of eugenics, it will be seen that these missionary agencies occupied a position at the centre of eugenicists' concerns. As prominent providers of charity, a work charged by eugenicists with unnaturally hindering the natural laws of selection, religious communities were, in part, one of the reasons that eugenics was deemed necessary in the first place. This picture is confirmed by an examination of two eugenics societies, one on each side of the Atlantic, where the impact of religious sentiment and ideas exerted a dramatic effect upon policies and propaganda work. There was no one-way flow of ideology from eugenicists towards reformers, but rather a two-way dialogue which created a marked impression on both groups.

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This thesis will focus on the oppression and genocide towards the ethnic minority of the Rohingya in Rakhine state of Myanmar. The interest is upon the ways in which Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) utilizes discourse around national liberation, security and vulnerability to communicate with the international community about the oppression that the ethnic minority in Myanmar faces. In order to explore and understand the ways in which ARSA has communicated with the international community the social media platform X is utilised for a discourse analysis. The findings of the thesis are that the most common discourses that can be found in ARSA’s X output is connected to national liberation and identity.

The Church Growth movement, originating with Donald McGavran in 1955 and popularised principally by C Peter Wagner since 1971, has influenced evangelical mission internationally. Though originating in the context of cross-cultural `missionary' work, it is perhaps now identified as a typically American approach, apparently relying on method and technique to accomplish its objective, which as the name implies, is the growth of the church, both locally and world-wide, since this is understood as the requirement of the `Great Commission' (Matthew 28: 18-20). The Salvation Army (founded 1865) has been in decline in Britain certainly since the Second World War, and probably since the 1930s. In 1986 the Army formally Espoused the Church Growth approach to mission. There has been little published research into the effectiveness of Church Growth methods, especially in the UK, despite voluminous outpourings of inspirational and motivational literature. Virtually the only test of the principles (Turning the Tide) was produced in 1981 by Paul Beasley-Murray and Alan Wilkinson, investigating the reliability of Wagner's` Vital Signs' in larger Baptist churches in England. This thesis follows Beasley-Murray and Wilkinson by testing the principles in the specific context of The Salvation Army in the UK. The approach adopted, a questionnaire survey with reference to statistical trends, follows the pragmatism of Church Growth itself, asking whether the approach works, rather than whether it is theologically sound, though such issues are considered where relevant. The opportunity has also been taken to consider specific Salvation Anny issues (uniform, music etc. ) and their effect on growth and decline. The work falls into four sections: - The Salvation Army; - The Church Growth Movement; - The Questionnaire Survey; - Conclusions and Recommendations.

Abstracts in German and English / 1 online resource (232 leaves : illustrations, some color) / Diese Masterarbeit behandelt das Thema der Spiritualität in der theologischen Ausbildung. Ausgehend von der Behauptung, dass ein Theologiestudium nicht nur in einer Anhäufung von theologischem Wissen und Einüben von kirchlicher Praxis bestehen soll, wird einer aktiv gelebten, christlichen Spiritualität eine zentrale Bedeutung zugewiesen. Um festzustellen, was für eine Spiritualität während der theologischen Ausbildung förderlich ist, werden Interviews mit ehemaligen und aktiven Studierenden des Heilsarmee Bildungszentrums auf Hinweise untersucht, wie Spiritualität verstanden und gelebt wird und welche Erfahrungen und Bedürfnisse diesbezüglich vorherrschen. Die Analyse dieser empirischen Forschung zeigt, dass eine bereichernde Spiritualität während dem Studium nicht nur vom Willen und Engagement der Studierenden abhängt, sondern im Wesentlichen ebenso durch Werte, Programme und Strukturen der Ausbildungsstätte, sowie durch das Vorbild und die Beziehungsfähigkeit der Dozierenden geprägt wird. Die Einsichten der Untersuchung bieten Hinweise für ein Konzept der Spiritual Formation, welches am Heilsarmee Bildungszentrum eingeführt werden soll. / This master thesis is about spirituality in theological education. Assuming that theological studies should not only consist in accumulating theological knowledge and practical experience, the author claims an active Christian spirituality to be of vital importance for students. To be able to understand which factors stimulate the personal spirituality of students, a number of former and active students of the Salvation Army Training College are interviewed, in order to observe their experiences and identify their needs. The results of this empirical research show that an enriching spirituality not only depends on the students’ willpower and efforts, but mainly also on the values, the structure and the programme of the college, as well as the example of the academic staff and their ability to relate to the students. Moreover, the results of the research mark the starting point for a concept of Spiritual Formation which the Salvation Army Training College aims to establish. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

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