Thesis (D. Min.)--Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-146).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-68).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Logos Evangelical Seminary, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 348-374).

When Protestant missionaries first arrived on the Korean peninsula in the 1880s they encountered religious syncretism being practiced in a socio-cultural environment which prohibited all interaction between the predominantly male missionaries and the local females. To remedy this situation, the women missionaries converted and recruited a small number of indigenous women to augment evangelical outreach to other women. In addition to serving as the catalysts of an unprecedented Christian transformation, these "Bible Women" laid the foundation of a cultural transformation that enlightened Korean women from an oppressive social structure that totally marginalized them. Through a detailed literature review, this dissertation examines the major religions actively being practiced during the Choson Dynasty and how they affected women. It details the challenges faced by the early missionaries that led them to employ the Bible Women method. Several case studies detail the process of converting, recruiting, and training indigenous women to serve as female evangelists, including the persecution that they suffered for choosing to follow Christ and the enormous impact that they made both spreading the gospel and breaking down social barriers. Finally, a proposal is provided for how this same approach may be employed in evangelical outreach in similar cultural contexts.

There has been much discussion on the roles of men and women in the church today. One of the crucial questions being asked is whether women should be ordained as ministers. Many debates have been centered on the question, "Should women teach?" "Should women exercise authority with men?" "Are men and women equal?" These questions have been approached from different angles. In recent years many denominations have increased opportunities for women in ministry. This thesis sets out to look at opportunities for women in ministry in the Evangelical Church of South Africa (ECSA). It is important to discover what Scripture says about the role of women in the church. The desire to be totally involved in ministry in the church has prompted women's struggle for emancipation. By looking at the culture and background of Indian women in South Africa we are able to ascertain some of the problems facing Indian women in ministry. In order to do this, Old Testament teachings, teachings of Jesus in the gospels and doctrinal teachings in the New Testament have been considered. Various views of those who have written on women in ministry have also been considered. This thesis is not an attempt to undermine the leadership of the ECSA, but rather it wishes to bring clarity on the issue of the ministry of women in the ECSA. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Abstract available in pdf file.

There exists a gender distortion in the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) concerning the participation of women in the ministry, mainly because of the biased patriarchal images about women and their role in church and society. To achieve the goal of women participation, the UCZ has to re-image their understanding of women from a historical bias to that of a fair, balanced, and historical inclusion of both genders. Consequently, this thesis called for the initiation of such a paradigm shift within the church. To achieve this, the UCZ Theological Seminary needed to realign its programmes and curricula in order to be more gender sensitive and thereby include more women scholars as partners in theological education. Such a theology of partnership between women and men was explored through the feminist discourse using ecclesiology and gender partnership theories. This study is located within the United Church of Zambia (UCZ). It set out to explore the unequal partnership between the ordained women and men in the United Church of Zambia from a gendered perspective. Its focus was to address the praxis of partnership between women and men as reflected in the following areas: first, in the church policies on the ordination of women; second, in the experiences of patriarchy by the ordained women; and third, in the theological curriculum at the UCZ Theological Seminary. In view of the above, the UCZ needed to work out interventions to control those leadership structures that are dominated by men and which only represent male interests. Even the theological curriculum offered at the UCZ Theological Seminary was not gender mainstreamed to assist both the clergy and laity to fully embrace the ordination and service of women. Consequently, the study addressed the key question as to how the church had promoted the unequal partnership between women and men in its policies and practices. This was guided by the hypothesis that although the UCZ had encouraged the ordination of women, yet there were no clear policies and practices that supported the partnership of women and men in the church structures and in the theological curriculum. The data analysed in this study was obtained through in-depth interviews with representatives of Synod officers as policy-makers and ordained women. A survey questionnaire was used to generate a mixture of qualitative data with members of staff and students resident at the UCZ Theological Seminary. While previous studies on gender justice theory and praxis had been based upon rhetoric in addressing the gender justice issue in the UCZ, this present study availed a body of knowledge based on the recorded patriarchy experiences by women ordained ministers because of lack of a clear gender policy and gender mainstreaming of the theological education at the UCZ Theological Seminary. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.

This mini-thesis is a small-scale exploratory case study into the experiences of eight mature women members of a particular parish in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA) situated in the Diocese of Cape Town. Using qualitative feminist research methodologies, this study sets out to explore how this group of non-ordained women perceives their roles in the church structure. The study examines what initially attracted the participants to this parish and what motivates them, despite the challenges, to continue performing their voluntary licensed and unlicensed roles in the church. It then goes on to consider the contradictory ways in which their roles as individuals, gendered as women, serve to simultaneously reinforce and challenge the patriarchy of the church. In this respect the participants often held conflicting views within themselves, thus demonstrating the complexities surrounding such issues. Upon reflection the researcher acknowledges that, similar to the participants, she also holds contradictory views on some of these issues. The research therefore identifies and explores three main themes in this regard, firstly the reasons why women originally joined the parish church, secondly the ways in which these women are active in the church and lastly the ways in which women&rsquo / s activities simultaneously challenge and reinforce the patriarchy and continued male domination of church.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-75).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-61).