The aim of this thesis is to establish, from a historical and religious perspective, that the Presbyterian ethos and environment in which John Buchan was reared was the predominating influence in the writing of his novels. Presbyterianism was not the only influence on Buchan that determined the character of his stories. Buchan was by temperament a romantic, and this had considerable influence on his literature. His novels are romances, peopled by romantic figures who pursue romantic adventures. There are the signs of Buchan's romantic nature in the contents of the novels: creative imagination, sensitivity to nature, and expectations of the intrusion of other worlds, with destiny-determining events to follow. But Buchan had also an acquired classicism. His studies at Glasgow and Oxford Universities brought him in touch with a whole range of the master-pieces of classical literature, especially the works of Plato and Virgil. This discipline gave him clarity and conciseness in style, and balanced the romantic element in him, keeping his work within the bounds of reason. At the heart of Buchan's life and work, however, was his deeply religious nature and this, while influenced by romanticism and classicism, was the dominant force behind his work. Buchan did not accept in its entirety the Presbyterian doctrine conveyed to him by his father and his Church. He was moderate by temperament and shrank from excesses in religious matters, and, being a romantic, he shied away from any fixed creeds. He did embrace the fundamentals of Christianity, however, which he learned from his father and his Church, even if he did put aside the Rev. John's orthodox Calvinism. The basic Christianity which underlies all Buchan's novels has the stamp of Presbyterianism upon it, and that stamp is evident in his characters and their adventures. The expression of Christianity which Buchan embraced was the Christian Platonism of seventeenth century theologians, who taught and preached at Cambridge University, They gave prominence to the place of reason and conscience in man's search for God, They believed that reason and conscience were the ‘candle of the Lord’ which was existed every one. It was their conviction that, if that light was followed, it would lead men and women to God. They were against superstition and fanaticism in religion, against all forms of persecution for religious beliefs, and insisted that God could only be known by renouncing evil and setting oneself to live according to God’s will. This teaching Buchan received, but the stamp of his Presbyterianism was not obliterated. The basic doctrines which arose from his father's Presbyterianism and are to be found in Buchan's novels are as follows: a. the fear (or awe) of God, as life's basic religious attitude; b. the Providence of God as the ultimate determinative force in the outcome of events; c. the reality, malignity and universality of evil which must be forcefully and constantly resisted; d. the dignity of human beings in bearing God's image; e. the conviction that life has meaning and that its ultimate goal, therefore, is a spiritual one - as opposed to the accumulation of wealth, the achieving of recognition from society, and the gaining access to power; f. the necessity of challenge in life for growth and fulfilment, and the importance of fortitude in successfully meeting such challenge; g. the belief that, in the purpose of God, the weak confound the strong. These emphases of Presbyterianism are to be found in all Buchan's novels, to a greater or lesser degree. All his characters are serious people, with a moral purpose in life. Like the pilgrims of the Bible, they seek a country: true fulfilment. This quest becomes more spiritual and more dearly defined as Buchan grows in age and maturity. The progress is to be traced from his early novels, where fulfilment is sought in honour and self-approving competence, as advocated by classicism; to the novels of his middle years, where fulfilment is sought in adventures suggested by romanticism. In his final novel Sick Heart River. Buchan appears to have moved somewhat from his earlier classicism and his romanticism as the road to fulfilment. In this novel, Buchan expresses what, for him, is ultimate fulfilment: a conversion to God that produces self-sacrificing love for others. The terminally-ill Edward Leithen sets out on a romantic adventure that will enable him to die with dignity, and so, in classic style, justify his existence. He has a belief in God, but in a God who is almighty, distant and largely irrelevant to Leithen's life. In the frozen North of Canada, where he expects to find his meagre beliefs in God's absolute power confirmed by the icy majesty of mountain and plain, he finds instead God's mercy and it melts his heart. In a Christ-like way, he brings life to others through his death, believing that, through death, he will find life. There is sufficient evidence to give plausibility to the view that Buchan is describing in Leithen his own pilgrimage. If so, it means that Buchan found his way back to the fundamental experience of the Christian life, conversion, so strongly emphasised in his orthodox Presbyterianism home and Church. However, Buchan reaches this conclusion in a Christian Platonist way, through the natural world, rather than through the more orthodox pathway of Scripture.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, 2007.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-125).

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The Presbyterian Church in Australia, and in particular in the State of New South Wales, experienced a major disruption in 1977 with the formation of the Uniting Church of Australia. Since that time, under the influence of a revival of Puritan theology, the historic liturgical practices of the Church have been minimised to the point that older people such as myself no longer recognise many of the contemporary worship practices as Presbyterian. John Calvin’s notion of worship in which the worshipper is confronted with God’s unspeakable Majesty and Otherness, the divine transcendence of which leaves the soul awestruck and in a deep sense of humility has given way to informality and the absence of symbol. In what follows I shall argue that given this monumental paradigm shift the Church is facing a monumental crisis in its theological and philosophical assumptions. The awful tragedy is that there are many current ministers who are not aware that there is anything wrong. The crisis I allude to is changing the very nature of traditional Presbyterianism. Future generations will see this crisis as the watershed that changed the nature of the denomination and its institutional politics. In order to investigate the concept of liturgical minimisation, I will place the thesis in a historical context and then make explicit the implicit philosophical and theological underpinnings of this transitional period in the Church’s history. The liturgical minimisation process will be shown to have direct links to a specific epistemology that has its origins in the Enlightenment period. The application of an empirical based epistemology into the theological realm by scholars such as Thomas Chalmers, Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield and Broughton Knox opens the door to theological distortions. This thesis argues that the Church needs to continue to develop and practise a specific Christian epistemology that is grounded in the love of Jesus Christ in order to move ahead with a coherent Gospel which brings real connectivity with God, nature, historical Christianity and with one other. Apprehending the philosophical and theological underpinnings I will argue that it is necessary to consider a serious reconstruction of Theological Education in which the conceptual framework is located in a specific Christian epistemology, engendering the Lordship of Christ and encouraging a spirit of transformative love and connectedness. It is only in this context that the theology of worship and the beauty and usefulness of liturgical forms can be appreciated.

The role of mission educational enterprises in developing territories during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been examined in recent years. The relationship between mission schools and social, political and religious change has been reviewed in case studies of African, Asian and Pacific nations. The New Hebrides provides a unique opportunity to study the development of mission education policies in a territory in which government assistance and control over education was completely absent. On most of the islands of the New Hebrides group, the history of education from 1848 to 1948 is the history of Presbyterian Mission education.The New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission possessed neither the resources nor the policies necessary for the task of providing a broadly based national education system. Yet for more than a century, civil administrations left the entire responsibility for the provision of education in the hands of the Christian missions. The Presbyterian Mission willingly accepted this responsibility. It regarded education as an integral and essential part of its three-fold programme of evangelism, healing and teaching.(For complete abstract open document)

Between 1848 and 1920, sixty two ordained Presbyterian ministers drawn from Scotland, British North America, and the Australasian colonies were commissioned as missionaries to the New Hebrides. Though there was a considerable turnover, one half served less than ten years, a significant proportion, one third, served twenty years or more, and the average length of service was fourteen years. This thesis has as its subject the mission community established by these men, all but two of them married; a community in marginal contact with an alien culture, considered in comparison with their own culture to be degenerate. The mission community had as its fundamental purpose the regeneration of the heather through Christianisation. Attention will be given to the manner as well as the decisions of church government; to the family nature of the mission with particular emphasis on family concepts through a study of mission homes, wives and children; to the suffering endured and finally to quite obvious changes brought about in native life through the work of the mission community. As an introduction, this preface will outline the motivation of the missionaries, the geographical and cultural environment of the new Hebrides, as well as present a review of historical accounts and discussion of source materials available. Finally reasons for the time span chosen will be stated. / It was argued by those Protestants, such as Moderate Calvinists, who believed in the doctrine of universal atonement, the South Seas had been discovered through the Providence of God. It could be argued that there was an obligation to take the Gospel to the perishing heathen.1 Scottish and British North American Presbyterian churches, divided even though they were, both Reformed and Free were persuaded by men such as John Geddie to support missions to the heathen, though there was still a significant opposition to such activity, often on the grounds of greater need at home than on specific doctrinal grounds. (For complete preface open document)

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The Presbyterian Church in Australia, and in particular in the State of New South Wales, experienced a major disruption in 1977 with the formation of the Uniting Church of Australia. Since that time, under the influence of a revival of Puritan theology, the historic liturgical practices of the Church have been minimised to the point that older people such as myself no longer recognise many of the contemporary worship practices as Presbyterian. John Calvin’s notion of worship in which the worshipper is confronted with God’s unspeakable Majesty and Otherness, the divine transcendence of which leaves the soul awestruck and in a deep sense of humility has given way to informality and the absence of symbol. In what follows I shall argue that given this monumental paradigm shift the Church is facing a monumental crisis in its theological and philosophical assumptions. The awful tragedy is that there are many current ministers who are not aware that there is anything wrong. The crisis I allude to is changing the very nature of traditional Presbyterianism. Future generations will see this crisis as the watershed that changed the nature of the denomination and its institutional politics. In order to investigate the concept of liturgical minimisation, I will place the thesis in a historical context and then make explicit the implicit philosophical and theological underpinnings of this transitional period in the Church’s history. The liturgical minimisation process will be shown to have direct links to a specific epistemology that has its origins in the Enlightenment period. The application of an empirical based epistemology into the theological realm by scholars such as Thomas Chalmers, Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield and Broughton Knox opens the door to theological distortions. This thesis argues that the Church needs to continue to develop and practise a specific Christian epistemology that is grounded in the love of Jesus Christ in order to move ahead with a coherent Gospel which brings real connectivity with God, nature, historical Christianity and with one other. Apprehending the philosophical and theological underpinnings I will argue that it is necessary to consider a serious reconstruction of Theological Education in which the conceptual framework is located in a specific Christian epistemology, engendering the Lordship of Christ and encouraging a spirit of transformative love and connectedness. It is only in this context that the theology of worship and the beauty and usefulness of liturgical forms can be appreciated.

Thesis (Th. D.)--Concordia Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-251).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-109.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.