Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-202) / This dissertation addresses the problem of toxic leadership, especially in Christian contexts. Toxic leadership behaviors of narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive leaders will be emphasized. To counteract toxic Christian leadership, this dissertation proposes a leadership development model, called formational leadership, which is based on Wesleyan spirituality. Formational leadership emphasizes the spiritual, emotional, and ethical development processes in the leader and includes an analysis of orthokardia, orthodynamis, and orthopraxis. These components have a circular relationship with one another. Orthokardia includes the concepts of spiritual and emotional maturity that a Christian leader needs to develop in order to become an ethical and effective leader. Orthodynamis includes right power and influence motives based on Christian affections that should inform formational leadership. Orthopraxis refers to right and just leadership behaviors informed by Wesley’s social holiness and justice values that need to be adopted as organizational core values. The implications of these components for leadership development are outlined in chapters 4-6 that include practical steps for helping toxic leaders change their dysfunctional and sinful intentions and behaviors. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Theological ethics with specialisation in Christian Leadership in context)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican priest who became the leader of Wesleyan Methodism, a renewal movement within the Church of England that began in the late 1730s. Although Wesley was not isolated from his enlightened age, historians of the Enlightenment and theologians of John Wesley have only recently begun to consider Wesley in the historical context of the Enlightenment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between a man, John Wesley, and an intellectual movement, the Enlightenment. As a comparative history, this study will analyze the juxtaposition of two historiographies, Wesley studies and Enlightenment studies. Surprisingly, Wesley scholars did not study John Wesley as an important theologian until the mid-1960s. Moreover, because social historians in the 1970s began to explore the unique ways people experienced the Enlightenment in different local, regional and national contexts, the plausibility of an English Enlightenment emerged for the first time in the early 1980s. As a result, in the late 1980s, scholars began to integrate the study of John Wesley and the Enlightenment. In other words, historians and theologians began to consider Wesley as a serious thinker in the context of an English Enlightenment that was not hostile to Christianity. From a review of the historical literature, this dissertation details six links that scholars have introduced in their study of Wesley’s relation to the Enlightenment. However, the review also reveals two problems, one obstacle and one omission, that hinder new innovation and further study. Therefore, as a solution, this study introduces five lenses adapted from the recent scholarship of four historians and one historical theologian that provide new vantage points for considering the enlightenment of Wesley and Wesleyan Methodists, which together form the Wesleyan Enlightenment. Finally, based on the evidence gathered by using these new lenses, this study argues that because Wesley not only engaged the Enlightenment, but also addressed the spiritual needs and practical concerns of Wesleyan Methodists for more than fifty years in what he referred to as an enlightened age, John Wesley was a central figure in the eighteenth-century English Enlightenment.

This thesis examines the practice of the camp meeting as a significant factor in the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in nineteenth-century New England. Such a comprehensive investigation into camp meetings in New England has never been done before. Also, with the exception of one book and one other recent dissertation, the general history of Methodism in New England is a topic that was overlooked for nearly a century. This research helps to fill those gaps. Many scholars give credit to camp meetings for fostering conversion, though the focus has generally been on camps held in the American South and the western frontier. After briefly recounting the rise of Methodism and camp meetings in the United States, the thesis turns to a more specific focus on the rise of Methodism and camp meetings in New England prior to 1823. Zion's Herald newspaper provides a steady and previously untapped source of primary information about camp meetings in New England from its first appearance in 1823 to well into the twentieth century. After discussion of some key developments of New England Methodism relevant to camp meetings between 1823 and 1871, a thick description of one camp meeting in 1823 is presented to show how the many parts worked together. This is followed by an account of aspects of the camp meetings that might be classified broadly as ritual, how these changed over time, and the impact they had on the process of identity formation at the camps. The spotlight is then directed toward the liturgical aspects of camp meetings as practiced in New England. These include components of worship practices common to Methodist congregations of the period as they gathered for prayer meetings, Sunday worship and quarterly conferences, such as preaching, praying, singing, and love feasts, and also those acts of worship developed specifically for camp meetings such as dedicating the grounds, and the closing ritual procession and "parting hand." As with the ritual practices, attention is again given both to how these worship practices influenced worshippers, and how they changed over time. Finally the interpretive framework of "poetic discourse" offered by Stephen Cooley is used to analyze the most potent ritual elements involved in the process of conversion and church growth in conversation with contemporary scholars in the fields of sociology and ritual studies. In the end this study shows not only the factors that fostered conversions and church growth, but also how the camp meetings gradually lost their potency as they changed over time. / 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2001. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 250-276).

Three significant theories have been advanced to explain the development of 19th century Canadian Church history: frontierism, metropolitanism and the church-sect typology. Consequently, the conclusion is that revivalism in Central Canada began to decline with the disappearance of the frontier from about 1820 or with the emergence of a complex society. For example, S. D. Clark suggested that the British Methodist organization had a profound influence on the Canadian Wesleyan Methodists, thereby resulting in the development of a sophisticated Methodist organization in Central Canada after 1832 and the decline of revivals. / No detailed studies of revivalism in Central Canada have been made for the period from 1830 to 1860. By studying the Wesleyan Methodist Church during the period delineated, this thesis demonstrates that the revival movement in Central Canada survived until at least 1860. Its success was determined more by Methodist preaching, programmes and doctrine than by any external factors.

The study describes the founding and growth of professional nursing at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, from the program's initial planning in 1972 to 1992. The review of literature traces the historical development of professional nursing education schools in the United States from early 1800 training schools to teaching advanced nursing technology in 1992. A chronological approach involving both primary and secondary sources will be used to identify educational and developmental changes in administration, facilities, faculty positions and qualifications, curriculum, policies related to students and graduates, accreditation by the state of Indiana and the National League for Nursing, and the impact of religious-based program on student graduates.The historical research study will show the development of professional nursing education at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. The development of the baccalaureate degree curriculum was facilitated by its founders with a goal to enable the school to meet accreditation requirements.The findings indicated that professional nursing education at Marion College/Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, followed the average trend in the development of a baccalaureate of science degree in nursing in the United States. A strength was Marion College/Indiana Wesleyan University developed a nursing program that had a strong Christian, multicultural foundation. This theme was interwoven throughout the curriculum, the uniqueness of the program lay in its development when compared to other nursing programs in Indiana and across the nation.The nursing directors and faculty members contributed to the quality of the education that was offered to nursing students. The nursing program expanded in 1981, and a graduate program in community health nursing was offered. / School of Nursing

The purpose of the study was to examine nineteenth century church music practices. This was done by 1) studying the attitudes displayed in the church periodical of The Wesleyan Methodist Connection (later, Church) of America; 2) locating and analyzing 44 tunes suggested in Miriam's Timbrel, a hymnal published for the Connection in 1853. This church was formed by people who seceded from a number of different denominations over the issue of slavery. It therefore represented the music practices of several American Protestant groups of the time.Findings1. Vocal music dominated music worship practices.2. Congregational singing was emphasized; every worshipper was urged to participate.3. Choirs were permitted but were often criticized and many thought their membership and music should be carefully regulated.4. There was much controversy over instrumental music; from 1845 to 1899 the church Discipline recommended that congregations dispense with its use.5. The history of each suggested tune was studied. Sources were discovered to be primarily European, either by actual composition or by influence.6. The tunes were grouped in categories according to origin: 1) the "better music" school of Lowell Mason and his coworkers, twelve tunes; 2) parlor songs by known composers, twelve; 3) folk song origin, nine; 4) European sacred sources, six; 5) European secular sources, four; 6) early American hymn tune, one.Similar characteristics were discovered among the tunes.The majority displayed:A 6- or 7-tone scaleMelodic range o f a 7th-9thFour or eight line stanzasConjunct melody linesSyllabic or slightly neumatic settings Common duple, triple, or quadruple meters Repetitive rhythmic patternsGenerally slow harmonic rhythm Simple harmonic structuresMajor keys with less than four sharps/flatsNon-traditional poetic meters.The tunes were relatively simple, easily learned, and in the popular styles, sacred and secular, of the nineteenth century.

For recent church historians the nineteenth century has provided a study of the church in a developing industrial and secular society. An advantage of the Wesleyan Church in Victoria in such a study is its concentration in cities and towns during the nineteenth century, which made it more sensitive than other denomination to the secular society which accompanied urban development. Secularisation affected the church in two major ways; first in its relations with the state, and secondly in the shrinking of church attendances which accompanied the growth of cities. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-192).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2001. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 250-276).