Since the late 20th century information technology has changed the lives of individuals and relationships at local, nation and even global levels. In particular the internet is used by many religious groups for theological and spiritual purposes. Some parts of Christianity have confronted the issue of how to deal with the use of internet. As a result, an internet church has emerged, offering Eucharistic services online across the globe. Even though the numbers of internet churches/Eucharistic groups have sharply increased in the last two decades, the attitude of the established churches does not appear to have taken account of this change yet. To achieve this it is necessary for such initiatives to be guided by certain theological norms or church regulations. This may relate to the definition of church, Eucharistic theology, or how to deal with emerging cultures. However, no public theological agreement about the development of a cyberspace Eucharist ecumenically, or even within single denominations such as the Methodist church, has yet been achieved. This thesis sets out to explore the possibility of developing of an internet Eucharist within the context of John Wesley’s Eucharistic theology, practice and fervor for communion. Wesley’s Eucharistic theology and practice were not simply his own idea or preference. Rather he derived them from various resources from the early Christian to the period of his own life. He also understood the Eucharist in relation to his own engagement with the changing society of his own time. In this context he developed his Methodist Societies as Eucharistic communities within the understanding of the means of grace: instituted and prudential. This study will not only give justification for the online Eucharist, but will also try to investigate how Wesley’s theology and practice can inform the practice and theology of the online Eucharist.

Colossians 1:24 has throughout church history presented problems of interpretation. This thesis investigates the possibility that the author expresses a belief in vicarious suffering within the church, and begins with a thorough linguistic analysis of the text and vocabulary to produce a radical fresh translation which emphasises Paul’s ministry of suffering on the church’s behalf. Two chapters investigate the reception history of the passage, with particular emphasis on three periods: the Church Fathers, the Protestant Reformation, and the modern era. Following evaluation of the many interpretations, an excursus on attitudes to suffering in modern Western evangelical churches, and a discussion whether the passage applies only to Paul or is of universal Christian relevance, three key topics are investigated in depth: the 'woes of the Messiah' and related eschatological issues; attitudes to substitution in the ancient world; and the 'common life' or koinonia expressed in Pauline descriptions of the church. This study indicates the probability that the author and his first readers shared cultural and religious understandings which comfortably accommodated a belief in vicarious suffering. In conclusion, the theological implications of such a belief are discussed, and the consequent repercussions for pastoral care.

This inquiry combines consideration of the Context Group’s emphases regarding the honour and shame culture of first-century Palestine with careful analysis of ten narrative parables of Luke’s Jesus in order to allow the proposed cultural setting to form an appropriate background for reading and understanding the stories and, in turn, to use the parables as material for assessing the adequacy or inadequacy of the Context Group’s models. In this way the cultural context is in dialogue with the literary text, the cultural context facilitating a non-anachronistic and non-ethnocentric approach to Luke’s narratives, and the literary text serving as a means to evaluate the stereotypical models often taken as a given starting point for hermeneutical reflection. This exploration demonstrates that the emphasis of each particular Context Group model is often too limited in its scope and frequently at odds with the cultural orientation of the parables, thereby highlighting the value of using the literary text to refine the cultural models in question and to restrict the chances of misleading readings. This study shows how dialogue between social-scientific modelling and careful textual interpretation has the potential to enhance both the understanding of the cultural map and the significance of the written word.

This thesis examines the \(influence\) of music on the development of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). The dissertation is historically driven, but relies upon an interdisciplinary approach to draw on the insights of ecclesiology, theology, liturgiology, church development, and music. This thesis utilizes a chronological and systematic approach to the relationship between music and the Church of God in the United States during the first 125 years of the denomination’s history, from 1886 – 2011. The study focuses upon eight major themes: historical roots, education, publishing, evangelism, transition, nurturing, liturgiology, and worship, to show that music had a widespread influence on the development of the denomination. The musical underpinnings for these broad themes include: Spirited-singing and exuberant worship; traveling music groups for the purpose of promotion; the shaped-note tradition; technological advancements; the amalgamation of both music and the youth of the Church of God; the establishment of a leadership structure for music; the music styles used in the Church of God; and finally highlighting worship as a lifestyle. For over a century music has been an often-neglected dialogue partner at the table of academic discussion and literature, and this thesis argues for recognition and a proper place in Pentecostal history.

In many churches, congregational singing is a central component of corporate worship. The sung hymns encapsulate the congregation’s theological beliefs, reflect their historical heritage and underscore the musical biases of the congregation. This writer contends that because hymns are so essential to congregations, there is a correlation between a congregation’s hymnody and its identity, which is typically measured by factors such as its rituals, history, leadership and location. However, one variable that deserves greater attention is that of the role of congregational hymnody. Consequently, the aim of this study is to explore how congregational hymnody is a source of congregational identity. To achieve this, this writer applied a case study methodology to multiple sites. The first is historical and examines the 18th Century Fetter Lane Moravian congregation. The second is an ethnographic study of the St. Thomas Assemblies of God Pentecostal congregation. The third is a textual analysis of the sole Caribbean ecumenical hymnal ever published. Through this study, I advance the notion that as congregations sing hymns they are engaging in a unique activity (\(hymnic\) \(performativity\)) in which as they make music through hymn singing, the music is also at work shaping and forming the congregations’ communal identity.

The current study contributes to the development of a discourse surrounding the ways in which Pentecostal and Charismatic attitudes have been shaped and reshaped by issues at the core of Zambia’s civic concerns. Tracing the historical development of Pentecostalism in Zambia and exploring the nation's history of civic engagement, the primary areas of examination will include both political activism and various attempts at addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Attempts at Pentecostal civic engagement are traced in post-colonial Zambia, from independence in 1964 during the Kaunda era, until 2012. Between June 2009 and September 2013, the author engaged inter alia on both intensive and extensive ethnographic research in Lusaka, conducted over 50 interviews with major church leaders, distributed 300 questionnaires (with a response of 265), attended 20 gatherings of her focus group, and visited 3 HIV/AIDS clinics in Lusaka over a 4 year period. This research focused on leaders and members of mainly Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, and also on workers in integrated health care centres as well as in other institutions set up by some of these churches. To date, no comprehensive research has been conducted in the area of Pentecostal and Charismatic civic engagement in the Republic of Zambia.

In the light of the Mission-Shaped Church report (2004) and the foundation of the joint Anglican/Methodist Fresh Expressions Initiative (2005), churches were encouraged to seek ‘fresh expressions of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church’. The ecclesial reality of four case studies of new forms of worshipping communities across Methodist Churches in the Liverpool District was examined and analysed in relation to the official statements of the Methodist Church and the Fresh Expressions Initiative, questioning the rhetoric of “church for the unchurched”. Operating at the interface of ethnography and ecclesiology, this thesis employed ethnographic and negotiated research methods in order to establish why, in an age of declining church attendance, people are choosing to join groups that are doing church differently. From the evidence, I draw out characteristics of hospitality, participation and flexibility indicative of a grassroots experience of church. The thesis discovered, through detailed ethnographic research the ecclesial reality of these new Methodist groups, and presents previously unpublished evidence from grassroots participants. In listening to the voices of participants and their experience the research challenges the narrow understanding of a ‘Mission-Shaped Church’ and considers whether the ecclesial reality of the grassroots groups in this study bring a broader and more nuanced understanding of new ecclesial realities to the Methodist Church and the Fresh Expressions Initiative.

This thesis embodies the first systematic historical research of Black gospel music as a tradition in Britain, calling attention to the serious gap in knowledge so far concerning its growth amongst African Caribbean Pentecostals in Britain. Although it maintains that an underlying theme is the significance of Africa as the original birthplace of African descendants in Britain, the Caribbean and America; it opposes a one-size-fits-all universal historical account of Black gospel music, suggesting that historical knowledge so far is based on historical interpretations of the development of religious music amongst African ancestors in America. It makes the claim that African Caribbean Pentecostalism, in particular its worship practices, nurtured the musical talent of the youth in its congregations who were destined to advance Black gospel music as a tradition in Britain. Using first-hand accounts of African Caribbean Pentecostals of the post-war years in Britain, it identifies three main sources as retainers of “historical facts” representative of objects of the past that can help towards a new approach to history and heritage.

This thesis reveals, describes, and critically analyses the complex and little-studied lifeworld of elite Coptic Orthodox Christians living in Kuwait. As a sociotheological study, it contributes towards a greater understanding of the Coptic Orthodox Church's lived theology and diasporic situation on the Arabian Peninsula. Following a grounded theory, qualitative approach using interdisciplinary methods, the aim of the thesis was to describe Coptic Orthodoxy in Kuwait and then rescript the data to contest, complicate, and construct various sociological and theological theories. Material was gathered from St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church through participant observation, interviews, and literature analysis. The material was situated within the backdrop of the current literature, Coptic history, and the Kuwaiti context described as restrictive clientelism. Selected data were analysed sociologically and theologically. Randall Collins' Interaction Ritual theory was a primary tool. Data on prayer were analysed using a model based on a sociotheological reformulation of the theory of theosis grounded in the experienced activity of the Holy Spirit or pneumatic piety. The results of these analyses were placed in conversation with Pentecostalism for contextual, comparative, and dialogical purposes. The manuscript concludes with the contributions of this thesis while noting the future challenges and possibilities for continuing research.

This thesis comprises an introduction to the life and works of Victorinus of Pettau, a translation of his commentary on the Apocalypse and a select commentary on that work.