This thesis examines the relationship between denominational affiliation, class and gender in the city of Edinburgh between 1850 and 1905. The period was chosen because socially it was a time of transition from a semi-rural economy to one of rapid population growth, urbanisation and economic diversification. Account has also been taken of the political context, as ministers and elders, especially from dissenting congregations, played a leading role in the movements for social and political reform, both locally and nationally. In ecclesiastical terms, the Established Church of Scotland was recovering from the effects of the Disruption of 1843, which had broken up the unity of the Church and led to intense inter-denominational strife. Towards the end of the period, the first steps leading to Presbyterian reunion were under way, culminating in the union of the United Presbyterian and Free Churches in 1900. This was also a time of religious revivals, first from 1858-60, then with Moody and Sankey, especially their first campaign in 1873-74. The so-called ‘Welsh’ revival of 1905 also impacted on some Edinburgh churches. The thesis also brings out the close links between these revival movements and social welfare concern among church members. Although Presbyterianism was the dominant form of church government in Scotland, other denominations also played their part in the religious life of the city. In the social analysis of congregations, special attention is given to a comparison of contrasting pairs of churches. St. Stephen’s Church of Scotland in the northern New Town is compared with Free St. George’s at the West End. Two Congregational churches, Augustine and Brighton Street, while near neighbours, had a different ethos, with the latter being more aggressively evangelical. Finally, two Baptist churches are examined. Bristo Place, the original Scotch Baptist church, had a plurality of elders or lay pastors, while Charlotte Chapel was founded on ‘English’ lines with one full-time minister. The memberships of these six churches are analysed to ascertain whether particular denominations appealed to different social groups. An important part of my thesis is the position of the poor, who have often been regarded as lacking interest in religion. I will show that, contrary to this perception, many indeed were Christian but preferred to worship in their own environment, attending mission halls rather than the fashionable city churches. These missions were usually operated as evangelical outreach from large charges, with some later becoming independent from the mother church, and calling their own minister. However, they remained firmly based in their own localities. In this way class divisions, which were such a hallmark of Edinburgh, were preserved. Two missions operated on a non-denominational basis, drawing practical and financial support from many different churches. Carrubber’s Close Mission in the High Street worked in the poorest district, while the Edinburgh City Mission operated across the city. These missions were examples of Christianity in action as they sought to improve the social and moral conditions of the poor.

This thesis is essentially an ethnographic examination of the instrumentalist and functionalist reading of African evangelical Christianity that is prevalent in a section of Western scholarship. Thus, it sets out to achieve two primary objectives: to investigate, describe and analyse Christian theological and socio-political consciousness within the context of oil and conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria from Baptist and Pentecostal perspectives; and to use the data to test the veracity of the prevalent account on African evangelical Christianity regarding social witness. This account is succinctly represented by Paul Gifford who claims, among other things, that such Christianity lacks social responsibility and is anti-development and a-political. In order to achieve these objectives, the thesis adopts approaches from practical theology, particularly the burgeoning field of congregational studies, with its focus on qualitative research, and African Christian Theology, with its emphasis on grassroots theology, or ‘theology from below’. Also, achieving these objectives requires an analysis and description of Nigeria’s political economy of oil and conflict, which forms the secondary goal of the study. Consequently, two local Baptist churches and a Pentecostal congregation were selected on theological, geographical, and pragmatic grounds. The thesis is in two parts. Part I, comprising Chapters One to Three, gives the background to the study. Chapter One is the introductory chapter. In Chapter Two an analysis of Gifford’s account of African evangelical and ‘fundamentalist’ Christianity is provided. Chapter Three identifies and critiques the prevalent perspectives on oil and conflict in Nigeria. Part II covered in Chapters Four to Eight comprises the core ethnographic data from the case studies and their description and analysis. Chapter Four is essentially a thick description of the three congregations. In Chapter Five the first set of theological themes from the case studies – God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – are discussed. Also included in the chapter is their theology of prayer. Chapter Six focuses on the theme of ecclesiology and also addresses their perspective on Christian socio-political role, as well as their theology of conversion. Chapter Seven offers a detailed analysis and description of their experiences, response and understanding of oil and conflict. Chapter Eight, which is the concluding chapter, sets the research findings against Gifford’s claims and concludes that most of them are at variance with the reality in the three congregations. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are offered, as well as some implications the study has for the scholarship on African Christianity and for the three churches. The chapter also includes the description and proposal of a contextual political theology for the Niger Delta.

The problem was (1) an analysis of the physical education program for men in Texas Baptist colleges offering a baccalaureate degree with a major in the area of physical education, and (2) a comparison of physical education programs in Texas Baptist colleges with selected Texas state colleges and universities.

This study was designed to identify the functional competencies necessary for a missionary to plant churches in the Philippines, to identify how those competencies can be recognized in individual missionaries, and to determine the percentage of personnel who possess specific functional competencies.

Lin, Tat Kit. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-221). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / List of Tables and Illustrations --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Significance and Goals --- p.2 / Fieldsite Specification --- p.10 / Literature Review --- p.14 / Theories of Ethnicity / Religion and Ethnicity / Ethnic Studies in Hong Kong / Christianity and Ethnicity in Hong Kong / Christian and other Religious Studies in Hong Kong / Theoretical Orientation --- p.25 / Interpretive Approach / Constructivist Approach / Research Methods --- p.29 / Personal Interviews / Informal Interviews with Church Members / Participant Observation / Review of Church Publications / Structure of the Thesis --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- "The Chaoshan Region, Chaozhou Immigrants, Swatow Baptists and the Compatriot Ethnic Churches in Hong Kong" --- p.37 / An Overview of the Chaoshan Region --- p.39 / Chaozhou Immigrants and the Teochiu in Hong Kong --- p.42 / The Compatriot Ethnic Churches in Hong Kong --- p.51 / Baptist Missionary Work in Hong Kong and the Chaoshan Region --- p.54 / Early Baptist Missionary Work in Hong Kong / Baptist Missionary Work in Shantou and Hong Kong / A Brief History of the Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church --- p.62 / Summary --- p.65 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Expressions of Chaozhou Identity in the Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church --- p.69 / The Label --- p.70 / The External Features of Ethnic Identity --- p.73 / The Use of Chaozhou Language / Objects and Activities Linked to Chaozhou Origin / The Transformed Expressions of the Traditional Chaozhou Identity / Subtle Group Boundaries in Church Structure / Subtle Group Boundaries in the Wider Baptist Circle / The Subjective Experience of Church Members --- p.97 / The Spirit of Ethnic Solidarity in the Church / The Affirmation of Chaozhou Identity / Summary --- p.112 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Reasons for Insisting on Chaozhou Language and Chaozhou Identity --- p.117 / Explanations Proposed by Church Members --- p.118 / "Explanation One---""Most people in this Church are Chaozhou; so of course we keep our Chaozhou identity """ / "Explanation Two----“We need to protect our Tradition """ / Explanation Three---“This is a practical way to absorb Chaozhou Christians and Chaozhou non-believers´ح / Explanation Four---“We need to take care of the aged Chaozhou members ´ة´ة / Explanation Five---“It's can opportunity to learn a language ´ة´ة / Psychocultural Interpretation --- p.132 / Psychocultural Explanation---“´ةm afraid of losing my Chaozhou identity´ح / Summary --- p.146 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Church Mechanisms Reinforcing Ethnicity --- p.149 / Mechanisms of Naturalization --- p.150 / Religious Meeting as Co-Ethnic Member Meeting / Attendance Numbers of the Morning Service / Annual Celebration Dinner / Mechanisms of Persuasion --- p.160 / Chaozhou Identity Contested / Chaozhou Identity Reinforced / Summary --- p.181 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion: The Role of Religion in Maintaining Ethnicity --- p.185 / Preserving Ethnicity in a Church Setting: Religion Helps --- p.186 / Maintaining Ethnicity under Disadvantageous Social Condition: Religion Stimulates --- p.196 / Insisting on Ethnicity without Flexibility: Religion Stunted --- p.201 / Bibliography --- p.208

In the first three centuries CE, the sacrament of baptism proved to be a universal tool which united people beyond age, race, or ethnicity as we understand it today. To put it simply, the theological meaning of baptism was reinforced by the sacrament of infant baptism. That is to say that the Christian faith was for all, irrespective of one’s race, age, or social-status. This openness to Christianity changed in the early modern period. In the seventeenth century the Baptists rejected infant baptism, for a more rational faith based on Enlightenment and Romantic assumptions. What the Baptists did not realize was just how embedded the social, political, economic, and other forms of human meaning and understanding were rooted in the sacrament of infant baptism. This thesis is an intellectual and social history on how Baptists contributed to the idea of race in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by their rejection of infant baptism. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Southern Baptists created a theology that supported racial superiority in North America. Once radical Protestant groups such as the Baptists rejected the inclusive baptismal theology of Irenaeus Lyon and Origen of Alexandria by leaving the Church of England, the incarnational and communal elements that once united Christianity would lead to racial divisions within Christian denominations in the modern period. Consequently, by rejecting the classical understanding of baptism-salvation, many Baptists looked elsewhere than baptism or religion for their identity and now looked to novel notions of species and race. These innovative explanations of identity outside of baptism led to racial superiority within North American Christendom in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. For the purpose of this study, I shall look at second century CE theologians Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 CE) and Origen of Alexandria (184-254 CE) and compare their thoughts to the theological interpretation of John Smyth of Nottinghamshire (1570-1612 CE), and how his theological approach indirectly contributed to the idea of racial superiority (i.e. skin color) within early North American Christendom.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-172).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-256)

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-141).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-126).