Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Explanations of the failure of unity in the Stone-Campbell movement -- Rhetorical flexibility in common sense philosophy -- Rhetoric about women in the first half of the 19th century -- Rhetoric about women in the second half of the 19th century -- Developing a new rhetorical practice. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of English

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Bibliography: leaves 255-295 / The study of the Church of Christ’s ‘Identity- and Mission-Continuity’ in the Zimbabwean context explores how the Christian faith should be interpreted and contextualised in Africa. The Church of Christ in Zimbabe (COCZ) is a Christian movement claiming to be representative of the ethos of the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ on the day of Pentcost. The thesis raises critical questions of Christian identity and transformation in missionary founded churches like the COCZ in an attempt to contribute towards a locally based study of the Church. Consciousness to being a Church founded by Jesus Christ has implications for Christian unity (oneness) and ecumenism in the COCZ, and its wider Christian networks1. Use of its theological tenets, which are indeed congruent with its projected identity, to explore its history when it came to Zimbabwe in relationship to its founding charism helped because of scarcity of literature on the history of Christian denominations in Zimbabwe. This thesis has followed four objectives that are related to the four stages of experiences by the Church Jesus Christ founded, namely, the (1) early Church, (2) reformation evangelism, (3) missionary enterprise and, (4) contemporary (African) expressions of the faith. This study has investigated the origin and reasons for the formation of the Church in the midst of others; and why its missionaries chose Zimbabwe where there were other denominations. Local experiences of the Church after the departure of white missionaries motivated this study with questions on how the process of inculturating the gospel in the COCZ raised, especially the tension between continuity and discontinuity, linking and delinking, similarity and dissimilarity as well as diversity and diference. Creative synthesis on what Jesus intended; what missionaries brought; and what the God of history is doing in the contemporary life and efforts of the Church were implied and/or explicated. Using a two-pronged approach to the study, the thesis has, first, unearthed (primary) documents like minutes from church board meetings by Europeans (with misionary thinking that developed from these origins), to contextual (secondary) documents (on how local theologians in the context have engaged the different Christian doctrines in the Zimbabwean context). Secondly, an empirical method was used to interview and distribute questionnaires to a number of individuals, inclusive of those who were in the COCZ leadership and ordinary members. Data collection tools were semi-structured, giving respondents freedom to express themselves and/or their views on what the COCZ was doing and what they believe must be done. Data from interviews and questionnaires were correlated with views expressed in the written sources. The data was interpreted heuristically, in order to give light to new knowledge that was being formed in the process. As an interpretive tool, hermeneutics (the phenomenological approach using Atlas.ti 8 (SPSS, Nvivo 8) - for verbatim transcription) was made key in looking into the context, culture and religion of the COCZ. The thesis attempted to create a dialogue by relating identity, communal ontology and epistemology to the empirical study findings, literature and the methodology. Ecology and gender were some of the indispensable aspects of theology, crucial for human survival, harmony and peace that were discussed because they were neglected in the COCZ. The thesis also revisted differences and similitudes found in the gospel in relationship to the intended and unintended 1 Unity and oneness expressed in John 17 [“Et Unum Sint” – That they may be one], emphasise the sociality of the Godhood through the doctrine of perichoresis, which is unity of the Godhead in the economy (our) of salvation. xiii cultural contributions of the Ndebele and Shona so far, with the purpose of repositioning the COCZ within its own transformative framework. This helps the Church with a strategy of how to model its theology in an African context and how to learn from its past with the view to transform itself for the 21st century Zimbabwe. The study is not exhaustive on the nature, history and mission of the COCZ, and many avenues like hermeneutics, church polity, public theology, conflict studies and church doctrine can be carried out using the COCZ as a case study. In all, the study has laid a foundation for the contextualization, evangelization, inculturation and incarnation of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the COCZ in a postmodernist society. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Phil. (Systematic Theology)

This thesis examines the challenges faced by the ministers of religion in Churches of Christ (Restoration Movement) in Bicol, Philippines. The goal is to do theology from below, not from above, as pastoral ministry must come from the experience of those who practice it, not from textbooks. The pastoral perspectives of the dilemmas that the ministers raise are heard, observed, documented, and then reflected upon. To do this, case studies of four preachers are used and the mga problema that they present are explored with them. As a result, first, I introduce some of those challenges which are perplexing on the ground level and which appear to be under-researched in serious theological circles, especially in an Asian context. Second, I hope that these case studies can be used to stimulate reflection in ministerial and spiritual formation. Third, I document some of the theology and methodology of the Churches of Christ, particularly as practiced in the Philippines. Chapter 1 explores the dichotomy between the perceived satisfaction in the pastoral ministry with the crisis of role and identity. In particular, issues such as forced exits and stress are presented while baptism and preaching are scrutinized. Chapter 2 centres on the conundrums experienced in planting a new church and being the lone planter. Chapter 3 examines three challenges–the task of ministering in a home congregation, the issue of accreditation in ministerial training, and how the minister can be a success and grow the church. Never far from the thoughts and actions of any of the Bicolano ministers is the problema of poverty, so Chapter 4 considers some of the Filipino, personal, and spiritual complexities of poverty, delineates a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration in any effort to overcome this malady and concludes with a particular reference to ministry.

In dieser Dissertation wird die historische Genese einer Entwicklung untersucht, die zum Entstehen eines „evangelikalen Ethos“ in Teilen der US-Streitkräfte und weiteren Bereichen des National Security State geführt hat. Den Ausgangspunkt dieser Arbeit bilden Daten zur religiösen Zusammensetzung der amerikanischen Streitkräfte aus dem Jahr 2009. Sie verweisen auf einen überproportional hohen Anteil evangelikaler Protestanten in den amerikanischen Streitkräften. Der Untersuchungszeitraum reicht vom Aufbau des National Security State im Zweiten Weltkrieg bis zum Ende des Vietnamkrieges. Die Annäherung evangelikaler Protestanten an den nationalen Sicherheitsstaat fand bereits im Zweiten Weltkrieg statt. Vor allem im Kontext des Kalten Krieges setzte zudem die Erkenntnis einer ideologischen und kulturellen Nähe zwischen beiden Sphären ein, während die neoevangelikale Erweckungsbewegung zu neuer Blüte gelangte und eine religiöse Mobilisierung der Vereinigten Staaten im frühen Kalten Krieg stattfand. Die Arbeit beruht u.a. auf teil unveröffentlichten Archivbeständen des Billy Graham Center und des Wheaton College. Methodisch ist die Untersuchung der von Philip Sarasin geprägten Wissensgeschichte verpflichtet. Damit kann eine Vielfalt von Wissensbeständen analytisch gegriffen und ihre Bedeutung für politisches und militärisches Handeln entsprechend gefasst werden. Die Arbeit endet mit einem Ausblick auf die Gegenwart: Das missionarische Sendungsbewusstsein evangelikaler Gläubiger führt zu Konflikten innerhalb der Streitkräfte. Auch im Rahmen der Auslandseinsätze der amerikanischen Streitkräfte ereignen sich bedenkliche Vorfälle, in denen etwa das Verbot der Missionierung durch Militärangehörige missachtet wird. / This dissertation examines the historical genesis of a development that lead to an „Evangelical ethos“ within the U.S. Arnmed Forces and other institutions of the National Security State. The starting point for this dissertation are empirical data from 2009 about the religious composition of the U.S. military. This data refers to a disproportional quota of Evangelical Protestants in the military. The period investigated reaches from the creation of the National Security State during World War 2 until the end of the war in Vietnam. The convergence of Evangelical Protestants and the National Security State began with World War 2. Furthermore, in the context of the Cold War a sense of shared ideological and cultural values developed, while the Neoevangelical revival movement blossomed and a religious mobilization of the United States during the early Cold War took place. This work is based on partly unpublished material from the Billy Graham Center and Wheaton College archives, among others. Methodically, it is committed to Philipp Sarasins approach of a history of knowledge. In this way, a variety of stocks of knowledge can be grasped analytically and their significance for political and military action can be grasped accordingly. This dissertation ends with an outlook on the present times: the evangelical zeal of the believers in uniform leads to conflicts within the military. Furthermore, during assigments abroad highly problematic incidents take place, e.g. the disregard of the prohibition of proselytizing by members of the military.