This thesis maps a qualitative empirical investigation of the talk, dynamics and theological practice of Bible-study groups. Chapter 2 locates this in the field of practical theology, demonstrating only a rather tenuous link between practical theological reflection on biblical interpretation and the practice of churches. This clarifies the aim of the thesis: to investigate the practice of Bible-study groups, as a contribution to the practical theology of biblical interpretation. Chapters 3 and 4 consider the methodology of the investigation (including in operation), bringing together interests from ethnography and discourse analysis, in relation to a wider frame of action research. Chapters 5 to 7 of the thesis account for the field work of the research, carried out through meetings with the three Bible-study groups, recording of data, transcription, coding and further analysis. Analytical concerns include the speech-exchange patterns of group meetings and the linguistic resources employed, in order to investigate how interpretative activity is achieved in the interaction between group participants. A particular interest is in the way different voices interrupt each other, and re-contextualise the conversation but also contribute to dialogue, especially between authoritative interpretations and critical questions from participants' experience. Comparisons are drawn with discourse in medical contexts and of scientists. Chapters 8 and 9 offer a comparative study of the three groups: of group dynamics and of the dynamics of interpretative dialogue. They also provide a rich picture of the practice of Bible-study, which includes sensual, ritual, relational and theological dimensions, key to which is the critical recruitment of texts and other voices, in order to interpret the relationship between God, group participants and others. God is experienced as incarnate in this interaction but also transcends the dialogue. Chapter 10 concludes the thesis, identifying questions for further research and offering suggestions designed to enhance Bible-study practice.

Clergy working in the Church of England are a rich opportunity for research. Their employment situation is anomalous and from the perspective of my own epistemological location in Human Resource Management there is little tradition of exploring the employment relationship within the Church of England. This scenario provided a unique environment for research. I teach Human Resource Management (HRM) in a university business school. I am also married to a clergyman. The catalyst for the research was bringing together these two different aspects of my life. In my research I use the frameworks of HRM to explore and understand working in the Church of England. I use the psychological contract, a well established concept in HRM. The psychological contract is a concept that can be used to explore the non-contractual elements of the employment relationship. Initially I explore the employment relationship through a series of group interviews. My research then documents through narrative inquiry the individual working lives of the clergy. I generate insights and understanding of both working in the Church of England in the twenty-first century and the psychological contract. I explore my own stance in relation to the participants. I come to understand my stance as a ‘conversant associate’. I am conversant with their ‘world’ and inhabit a role that associates me with the clergy while not being fully a member of the group. My original contribution is in two areas; Human Resources (HR) and the psychological contract and understanding the Church of England. My findings challenge the existing concept of the psychological contract for being too narrow and requiring revision. My participants work in a role and organisation with a long history. My findings indicate the power of this historical role on the expectations of the contemporary work. By expanding the scope of the psychological contract my findings challenge existing approaches to teaching and practising HR. HR is currently only identified with the business performance model. My findings indicate that this association is far too limited in scope. My research documents my participants’ perception of change in the Church of England. I report a stable understanding of the relationship and expectations between clergy and senior staff. This finding challenges contemporary understanding of the effect of change on the psychological contract. By giving voice to the current parish clergy I explore and make a contribution to the Church of England’s understanding of working as contemporary parish clergy. The Church of England is on the cusp of reforming its historical employment system, known as freehold. My findings indicate that the clergy’s understanding of the past paradoxically strengthens their understanding of contemporary working life and I report a ‘narrative of regret’. Clergy perceive that they are unable to fulfil their own expectations. As indicated above my research contributes to knowledge in two ways: understanding the psychological contract and working in the Church of England. These two areas of original contribution coalesce. Simultaneously I document working life in the Church of England and explore the psychological contract of contemporary clergy.

This thesis contributes originally to pentecostal historiography through bringing a pre-eminent figure in early British Pentecostalism into the limelight showing how Pentecostalism in Belgian Congo was pioneered by him alongside local agency. Together they furthered its development in the southeastern Katanga and Kasai provinces. Central to W.F.P. Burton’s contradictory and complex personality was a passionate desire to see the emancipation of humankind from the spiritual powers of darkness believing only Spirit-empowered local agency would enduringly prove effective. This thesis unevenly portrays Burton’s Congolese years by parsing biographical landmarks alongside his persistent attempts to co-labour with local agency. Burton’s ambitions might have been circumscribed by his birth into a notable family. Burton though, lived with a faith which believed for Spirit intervention in church communities converting lives, bringing physical healing and transforming regions. In the maelstrom following Congolese Independence, Burton’s belief in his own brand of indigenisation made him an outlier even among Pentecostals. This thesis argues such pentecostal faith engendered an idealism which frustratingly conflicted with those not sharing it in the way he understood and pursued it. It thus serves Pentecostals (holding a similar faith) and historians by clarifying his ideals and revealing the reasons for his frustrations.

Using a collaborative action research methodology and a liberation theology approach, the thesis draws on the psychology of anorexia, the insights of Isaiah 58:1-12 and its socio-religious setting, the contextual setting of the Parish Church and the community of Moreton, to develop new insights into the breakdown and restoration of community. It devises what it terms “diagnostic theology” to aid in the understanding of complex forces acting on communities and individuals. Developing from a grassroots exegesis, the signs and symptoms of both breakdown and restoration are clearly delineated, always with a view to celebration, in the knowledge that full restoration can never be achieved. It is posited both that this work will be of value to other communities of faith, and that the methodology can be applied in other situations.

Interdisciplinary work is of the essence of pastoral theology, most obviously where theology and the human sciences interact. Such work carries with it a number of risks that are not always addressed or even recognised. The principal risk is that a facile attempt to forge links between disciplines may lead to serious distortions of the meanings of both. This thesis examines gestalt therapy and feminist theology as possible candidates for interdisciplinary work. By reading and interrogating the literature of both disciplines, it identifies their origins and analyses their core ideas. The thesis affirms disputed links between gestalt philosophy, psychology and the later therapy, and examines other contributors to the development of gestalt and its core ideas. It next examines the development and scope of feminist theology before analysing core ideas across the range of voices in feminist writing. From these core ideas it is possible to establish the values that writers and practitioners find important in their lives (practical-values). On this basis, it is shown that these two disciplines, despite differences of history and purpose, are compatible with each other and therefore suitable candidates for interdisciplinary work.

This research studied the applicability of Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of ‘Aṣabiyyah in a modern context, by choosing the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia as a case study. Although the theory was introduced by Ibn Khaldūn in the 14th century and has been discussed by numerous scholars, only recently has its relevance to the modern situation been reviewed. The current situation of the Muslim community in general and Malay Muslims in Malaysia in particular, who are mainly associated with the issues of moral degradation, misunderstanding of religion, economic stagnation, political division and lack of intellectuality, directs us to examine the theory of ‘Aṣabiyyah in the modern context and to reflect on its relevance to the issues listed above. To achieve the research objective, the theory was reviewed via library study and fieldwork. The current situation of the Malay Muslim community, comprising its problems and challenges, was studied with this approach. In particular, a group of students of the University of Malaya undertook to distribute questionnaires and conduct interviews. To obtain further information regarding the applicability of Aṣabiyyah at the present time to the context of the Malay Muslim community, interviews were also conducted among Malaysian scholars who have expertise in the related area. The results of the fieldwork show that most of the respondents have a general and average understanding of the theory of ‘Aṣabiyyah. Furthermore, most of the feedback from the respondents suggests that the current condition of the Malay Muslim community is at an ‘average’ level, with the exception of the political and social aspects, which are viewed as problematic and worrying.

Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of Christian faith among Christian Brethren churches of northern Tanzania are the focus of this study. By tracing the historical developments of the Open Brethren and Pentecostal Movements, the work highlights similarities and distinctives which continue in the present to shape a new rising African Christianity that has been defined as 'pentecostal evangelicalism'. Historical origins in mission endeavour shed light on the indigenous development of these Charismatic Brethren and Pentecostal Evangelicals. This new expression of faith is shown to be well adjusted to an African religious and cultural milieu in the given Tanzanian context. It is not denominationally situated but rather bears the marks of revivalist movements. The study incorporates an analysis of opinions expressed by Tanzanians through use of a Q Method survey and thereby attempts to define 'pentecostal evangelicalism'. The thesis concludes by pointing to shema and shalom as theological nodes which describe these charismatic Brethren and suggests their understanding may have value beyond the shores of the African continent.

This thesis considers the practice of Bible translation from the perspective of contemporary translation studies and provides a fresh translation and accompanying commentary of aspects of Paul's Letter to the Romans. The emergence of functionalism, particularly skopos theory, in the latter part of the 20th century is seen as a key moment in the development of translation theory. The thesis argues that it has significant advantages over source text orientated approaches which have traditionally dominated Bible translation practice. An essential history documents this evolution of theoretical developments in translation study. The advantages of skopos theory over equivalence-based approaches are discussed with particular reference to Bible translation theory and the work of E. A. Nida. The functionalist approach increases the range of possible translations, with this thesis adopting a foreignising purpose in a new translation of Romans 1:1-15, 15:14-16:27. The foreignising approach owes its origins to F. Schleiermacher (popularised more recently by L. Venuti among others) and involves rendering a text so as to preserve or heighten the sense of otherness of the source text, thereby retaining something of the foreignness of the original. An accompanying commentary is provided to explain the translator's choices.

This thesis explores various trajectories of contextual theology as they have developed in the two Chinese enlightenments of twentieth and twenty-first century China. Drawing methodologically from the typological works of historian Justo González and the missiologists Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder, one of the main aims of this study is to map and evaluate the various types of Chinese theology. An analysis of three major Chinese Protestant representatives will identify the tendencies of each type, highlight the importance of a contextual theology in dealing with a context’s socio-political concerns and religiophilosophical tradition, and show a bias in Chinese theology towards Latin Christianity. This leads to the second major aim of the study to explore the usefulness of Eastern Orthodox category of theosis and related subjects in the Second Chinese Enlightenment. It will highlight the tendencies of Chinese philosophy and religion, inclusive of Chinese Protestantism, to exhibit many themes from Byzantine Christianity. It will also call attention to the potential usefulness of this other “Eastern” theology in China’s socio-political concerns. This study will conclude by discussing the possibilities of Eastern Orthodoxy in playing an important role in complementing and supplementing future developments of a Chinese contextual theology.

Present day Methodists are often surprised to learn that ‘women in the Ministry’ is not a twentieth century phenomenon; that the Bible Christians and Primitive Methodists had the flexibility and foresight to make valuable use of female preaching talents. This research has concentrated on the women travelling preachers of Primitive Methodism, starting from the premise that there were doubtless far more than was immediately apparent; searching them out; looking at their life and work; their value and influence within the context of the movement itself and in relation to the strata of society to which it chiefly appealed. I have sought to weigh the contemporary arguments about the merits and demerits of female preaching; to look at the gradual decline and ultimate demise of the female itinerant; to see if an explanation for their disappearance could be found in the prevailing social conditions or if the answer lay within Primitive Methodism itself. As Primitive Methodism moved from enthusiastic evangelism towards consolidation so its emphasis shifted and its attitudes developed and changed. The female travelling preachers played a vital, though often little acknowledged, role in the Connexional evolution and it is this role which I have tried to explore and evaluate.