En écrivant son Histoire universelle, Agrippa d’Aubigné reprend l’étiquette d’un genre ancien qui consiste à recenser les événements de l’antiquité jusqu’au siècle de l’écrivain en considérant le plus grand champ spatial possible. Or, l’auteur des Tragiques se démarque nettement de cette tradition en composant un texte centré sur une période historique étroite, celle des guerres de religion, et dont le décor presque exclusif est la France. La défense du parti protestant s’appuie, dans l’Histoire universelle, sur le parcours d’Henri de Navarre, placé à la tête des réformés et qui parvient, en devenant roi de France, à mettre un terme aux guerres civiles. Pour expliquer cette appropriation du genre et comprendre le nouveau sens qu’Aubigné entend donner à « universelle », nous nous intéresserons au traitement de l’espace à travers une déclinaison thématique. Pour mettre en évidence l’intention partisane en faveur des protestants, nous commencerons par nous intéresser à l’espace physique (en particulier avec l’utilisation du cadre naturel). Nous examinerons ensuite l’espace que constituent les hommes en nous attardant notamment sur la manière dont les autres (sauvages, barbares, Européens) sont perçus. L’étude de l’espace national sera dans un troisième temps l’occasion de voir la mise en place d’une corrélation entre protestantisme et patriotisme. L’espace militaire nous permettra également de constater une grande bienveillance de l’historien pour ses coreligionnaires. Enfin, nous considèrerons l’œuvre elle-même comme un espace dont le sens de lecture contribue à la vocation partisane. / With his Histoire Universelle, Agrippa d'Aubigné revives the label of an ancient literary genre which consisted of cataloguing events dating from antiquity through to the author's time and relating to the widest possible geographical space. However, the author of Les Tragiques distances himself clearly from this tradition by focussing his attention in the text on a confined historical period, that of the 16th Century Wars of Religion, and almost entirely on a single setting, France. The preservation of the Protestant cause relies, in l'Histoire Universelle, on the career path taken by Henri de Navarre, at first a Protestant leader and then a King of France who succeeds in putting an end to the civil wars. In order to explain the appropriation of the genre and understand the new meaning which Aubigné gives to "universelle", we shall study the way in which space is treated in its different forms and through a range of thematic concerns. In the first place, the study of physical space will highlight the author's Protestant partisanship (particularly through the use of natural settings). We will then examine space as an inhabited place, especially the way in which other people (savages, barbarian, Europeans) are seen. The specific study of French national space will allow us to observe a connection being established between Protestantism and patriotism. Military space will provide further evidence of the author's great goodwill towards his fellow believers. Lastly, the work itself will be treated as a space where wandering as well as its own reading contributes to the partisan intention.

In pursuit of the conversion of others, cross-cultural missionaries often experience their own “conversions.” This thesis explores the ways in which one particular missionary, the Welshman Timothy Richard (1845–1919), was transformed by his encounter with China. Focusing specifically on the evolution of his understanding and practice of Christian mission during the first half of his career with the Baptist Missionary Society, the study is structured chronologically in order to capture the important ways in which Richard’s experiences shaped his adaptations in mission. Each of Richard’s adaptations is examined within its appropriate historical and cultural context through analysis of his published and unpublished writings—all while paying careful attention to Richard’s identity as a Welsh Baptist missionary. This approach reveals that rather than softening his commitment to conversion in response to his encounters with China, Richard was driven by his persistent evangelical convictions to adapt his missionary methods in pursuit of greater results. When his experiences in Shandong and Shanxi provinces convinced him that Christianity fulfilled China’s own religious past and that God’s Kingdom promised blessings for souls in this life as well as in the next, Richard widened his theological horizons to incorporate these ideas without abandoning his essential understanding of the Christian gospel. As Richard adjusted to the realities of mission in the Chinese context, his growing empathy for Chinese people and their culture increasingly shaped his adaptations, ultimately leading him to advocate methods and emphases on the moral evidences for Christianity that were unacceptable to some of his missionary colleagues and to leaders in other missions, notably James Hudson Taylor. As the first critical work of length to focus on the early half of Richard’s missionary career, this thesis fills a gap in current scholarship on Victorian Protestant missions in China, offering a challenge to the simplistic conservative/liberal dichotomies often used to categorize missionaries. The revised picture of Richard that emerges reveals his original understanding of “the worthy” in Matthew 10, his indebtedness to Chinese sectarian religion, his early application of indigenous principles, his integration of evangelism and famine relief work, his relative unimportance in the China Inland Mission “Shanxi spirit” controversies of the 1880s, and—most significantly—his instrumental rather than evangelistic interest in the scholar-officials of China. By highlighting the priority of the Chinese (religious) context for Richard’s transformation, this thesis also contributes to the growing volume of historiography on Christianity in modern China that emphasizes the multidirectional influences present in the encounters between Christianity and Chinese culture and religion. Finally, connections between Richard’s evolution and changes taking place within the larger missionary community are also explored, situating Richard within wider discussions of accommodationism in mission, the rise of social Christianity, and evangelistic precursors to fulfillment theology.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / George Müller of Bristol (1805-1898) was widely celebrated in the nineteenth century as the founder of the Ashley Down Orphan Homes in Bristol, England. He was a German immigrant to Great Britain who was at the vanguard of evangelical philanthropic care of children. The object of his charitable work, orphans, influenced the establishment of Christian orphanages in Great Britain, North America, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. However, what brought Müller widespread public acclaim was his assertion that he supported his orphan homes solely by relying on faith and prayer. According to Müller, he prayed to God for the material needs of the orphans and he believed, in faith, that those needs were supplied by God, without resort to direct solicitation, through donations given to him. He employed his method as a means to strengthen the faith of his fellow Christians and published an ongoing chronicle of his answered prayers that served as evidence. Müller’s method of financial support brought him to the forefront of public debate in the nineteenth century about the efficacy of prayer and the supernatural claims of Christianity. His use of prayer to provide for the orphans made his name a “household word the world round.” This dissertation is a study of Müller’s influence on evangelicals that analyzes Müller’s enduring legacy as a hero of the faith among evangelicals around the world. For evangelicals Müller was an exemplary Christian—a Protestant saint—who embodied a simple but pure form of biblical piety. To explore his influence from the nineteenth century through the twentieth century, this study, as a social biography, investigates how evangelicals remember individuals and how that memory, in this case Müller, influenced the practice of prayer in evangelical piety. The dissertation affirms a link between evangelicals and eighteenth-century German Pietism, while also showing that evangelicals used publications to celebrate and to informally canonize individuals esteemed for their piety. The dissertation, ultimately, is concerned with how evangelicals identified heroes of the faith and why these heroes were and are widely used as models for edification and for emulation in everyday life.

This study examined the associations between personality, identity, and protestant fundamentalism (subscales included inerrancy, evangelism, premillennialism, and separatism). 440 college students between the ages of 18 and 29 participated in the study, and self-identified as protestant. A step-wise regression revealed the following findings. Neuroticism was negatively associated with inerrancy, evangelism, and separatism; extroversion was negatively related to separatism; and agreeableness was positively related to inerrancy, evangelisms, and premillennialism. Exploration in depth was positively associated with evangelism, premillennialism, and separatism; identification with commitment was positively related with separatism; and rumination was positively associated with premillennialism, and separatism.

Esta tese perscruta o modo como Max Weber, na segunda edição de A ética protestante e o espírito do capitalismo, recorre a dois conceitos oriundos da psicanálise freudiana, a saber, os conceitos de angústia e ab-reação. Defende, além disso, que estes devem ser compreendidos como parte de uma constelação na qual estão incluídos ainda dois conceitos de lavra propriamente weberiana: os de desencantamento do mundo e prêmios psicológicos. Com isso, por um lado, joga-se luz sobre uma relação jamais discutida explicitamente por Weber e virtualmente negligenciada pela literatura especializada. Por outro, busca-se sustentar uma compreensão da obra em seu núcleo distinta da atualmente dominante na weberologia, que compreende a explicação weberiana da gênese do espírito capitalista moderno na chave de uma ação racional puramente orientada a valores. / This thesis examines how Max Weber, in the second edition of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, makes use of two concepts derived from Freudian psychoanalysis, namely, the concepts of anxiety and ab-reaction. It further argues that these concepts should be understood as part of a constellation in which two other Weberian concepts are included: the disenchantment of the world and psychological premiums. Thus, on the one hand, it sheds light on a relationship that was never explicitly discussed by Weber and has been virtually neglected by specialized literature. On the other, it seeks to maintain an understanding of the core of Webers work distinct from its current dominant reading in Weberology, which understands the Weberian explanation of the genesis of the modern capitalist spirit in the key of a pure value-rational action.

Na segunda metade do século XIX, entre os anos de 1870-1900, a cidade de Sorocaba começa a experimentar um acentuado processo de modernização articulada por agentes sociais que faziam parte do campo político sorocabano. Este período é caracterizado pela replanejamento do espaço urbano, fim da mão de obra escrava para a mão de obra assalariada, início do processo de industrialização e estabelecimento da República. Neste contexto histórico-social, várias instituições escolares faziam parte do campo educacional sorocabano, entre elas, a Escola Protestante de confissão de fé Presbiteriana. Segundo a perspectiva adotada neste trabalho, esta escola manteve relações de poder com vários campos sociais, pois sua proposta vinha ao encontro dos ideais modernizadores e republicanos postulados pela elite sorocabana, formada por maçons, comerciantes, industriais, negociantes, professores, intelectuais e outros, que via a educação como instrumento capaz de solidificar os seus ideais. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho é investigar como a proposta educacional protestante norteamericana de confissão presbiteriana (1876-1896) contribuiu com o processo de modernização da cidade de Sorocaba, para a configuração do campo religioso sorocabano e para a estruturação das relações de poder construídas por vários agentes sociais. Acentua-se, ainda, que o presbiterianismo em Sorocaba não somente disputou o campo religioso, mas também o educacional, e para tanto, posicionou-se politicamente (campo político) optando por legitimar os ideais de matriz republicano-maçônica. / In the second half of the nineteenth century between the years 1870-1900, the city of Sorocaba begins to experience a strong process of modernization articulated by social workers who were part of the political Sorocaba. This period is characterized by the redesign of urban space, end of slave labor to wage labor, beginning the process of industrialization and the establishment of the Republic. This socio-historical context several educational institutions were part of the educational Sorocaba, including the School of Protestant confession of the Presbyterian faith. According to the perspective adopted in this study, this school has maintained relations of power with various social fields, for his proposal met the modernizing ideals and Republicans demanded by elite sorocabana formed by masons, merchants, industrialists, merchants, teachers, intellectuals and others, I saw education as an instrument to solidify its ideals. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate how the proposed educational Protestant North American Presbyterian confession (1876-1896) contributed to the modernization of the city of Sorocaba, in the setting of a religious Sorocaba and the structuring of power relations made by various social actors. Emphasis is also that Presbyterianism in Sorocaba not only played in the religious field, but also educational, and to this end, positioned himself politically (the political) choosing to legitimize the Republican ideals of matrix-Masonic

No description available.

This thesis defends two arguments. First, it is argued that new atheism and Protestant fundamentalism in Britain and America share a common historical root in the English Reformation and its aftermath. This common historical root gave rise to two presuppositions instrumental in their genesis: a literal, univocal, and perspicuous understanding of Scripture, and a disruptive and substitutionary conception of divine activity in nature. Second, it is argued that these two presuppositions continue to structure both forms of thought, and support a range of shared biblical, hermeneutical, and theological beliefs. In advancing these arguments, a number of substantive conclusions regarding atheism, Protestant fundamentalism, and the lineage of Protestant thought in Britain and America are reached. First, it is argued that, while lacking detail, popular comparisons between new atheism and Protestant fundamentalism are cogent. Second, it is argued that atheism in Britain and America grew out of intellectual and social problems within Protestantism. Third, it is argued that Protestant fundamentalism was itself a response to the same train of problems that gave rise to atheism. Fourth, it is argued that new atheism is not an areligious movement but an atheological one, which finds it necessary to engage in the task of theology in order to reject the existence of God and the truth of the Christian faith. Fifth, this study casts doubt on the self-understanding of both Protestant fundamentalism and new atheism, showing that Protestant fundamentalism is not truly biblical, nor new atheism scientific, but that both are indebted to presuppositions that neither can properly justify, and which render both self-contradictory.

Orientador: Milton Carlos Costa / Banca: Lauri Emilio Wirth / Banca: Karina Kosicki Bellotti / Banca: Karina Anhezini de Araújo / Banca: Ricardo Gião Bortolotti / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar os livros de história do protestantismo brasileiro produzidos no período de 1928 a 1982. A partir do referencial teórico de Michel de Certeau relativo à "operação historiográfica", analisamos os livros de história denominacional produzidos por três grupos evangélicos: a Igreja Batista (Convenção Batista Brasileira), Igreja Metodista e Igreja Presbiteriana (Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil e Igreja Presbiteriana Independente), bem como os primeiros textos acadêmicos sobre o protestantismo escritos por Émile-Guilhaume Léonard. Acreditamos que a escrita e a publicação desses livros apontam para algumas das principais mudanças ocorridas no cenário religioso e historiográfico brasileiro. Os livros serão a representação de momentos em que a memória institucional das igrejas evangélicas passou por redefinições e questionamentos (sendo os livros importante peça legitimadora de posturas e reafirmação de valores institucionais), bem como revelam algumas das mudanças e, principalmente, permanências na historiografia brasileira. No caso dos livros de história eclesiástica denominacional, eles constituíram um tipo próprio de escrita que transita entre a tradição dos Institutos Históricos e Geográficos, agrega argumentos da tradição teológica do grupo; é marcada pelo amadorismo dos seus pesquisadores e do apego deles em relação ao seu objeto de estudo. No específico dos textos de Émile-G. Léonard relativos ao protestantismo brasileiro, eles serão representativos do primeiro historiador dos Annales a ter o Brasil como objeto de estudo; da influência francesa nos primórdios do departamento de História da USP; o momento de experimentação de novas metodologias, objetos e espaços, por parte dos Annales; e seus textos representação dos dilemas que o protestantismo francês atravessava no pós-guerra / Abstract: This study aims to analyse Brazilian Protestant History books built from 1928 to 1982. Based on Michel de Certau's theoretical reference related to the "historiographical operation", we studied denominational history books written by three protestant groups: Baptist Church (Brazilian Baptist Convention), Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church of Brazil and Independent Presbyterian Church); moreover, we assessed the first academic texts regarding to protestantism written by Émile-Guilhaume Léonard. We believe the writing and publication of these books point out some of the main changes occurred both in religious and historiographical Brazilian scenery. These books will be the representation of moments when the institutional memory from protestant churches went through redefinitions and questionings (in fact books played an important role as legitimating instruments for positions and reassurance of institutional values), as well as revealing some changes and, principally, permanencies in Brazilian historiography. In case of ecclesiastical denominational history books, they have their own type of writing that ride between the tradition of Historiographical and Geographical Institutes, setting up arguments from theological tradition of the group; it is characterized by researchers' amateurism and their addiction to the object of study. In specific to Émile-G Léonard's texts related to Brazilian protestantism, they are representatives of the first historian of the Annales to consider Brazil as an object of study; of the French influence at the beginning of the department of History in USP (University of São Paulo); of the moment related to experimentation of new methodologies, objects and spaces by Annales'; and of dilemmas that French Protestantism faced in the post-war period / Doutor

Magister Theologiae - MTh / A number of biblical scholars have observed that the Bible has been used by dominant groups in certain societies to justify and condone discrimination and oppression. Slavery, colonialism and apartheid are often cited as examples of racial oppression based on particular understandings of the Bible. Some biblical scholars have pointed to the fact that theologians who work in contexts of racially liberated societies, such as South Africa, are slow in recognizing the injustices caused by gender discrimination. Instead, male privilege continues to be upheld particularly through the Biblical justification of male headship. The popularity of the 'Mighty Men' Conference is a case in point as it encourages men to take their supposedly rightful, "God-given" place as prophet, priest and king in marriage and family relationships. The emerging popularity of male-headship theology thwarts whatever gains have been made in the areas of gender justice and equality in various spheres of society, including the church. Headship theology often goes unquestioned because it is supported by particular interpretation/understanding of biblical texts which are quoted out of context to support and justify male dominance. For example, Luke 7: 36-50 is often interpreted in showing the "sinful" woman as one who needs forgiveness.