One of the concerns of the modern Christian church and dissident groups is to
ensure that the Church's fundamental doctrines, leadership, women's ministries
and religious practices conform with the early apostolic church teachings.
In this study the writer offers a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the
modern church in the light of the early church. The case of the modern Seventhday
Adventist (SDA) Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and
worldwide is examined and compared, basing its survey on numerous published
and unpublished documents from a combined use of primary, secondary
materials and individual statements.
Setting the early history of the SDA Church within the religious context of
nineteenth-century America, the writer describes how SDA doctrines, leadership,
women's ministries and religious practices link with those beliefs and practices in
the early apostolic church, showing whether the SDA Church has departed from
the early apostolic church’s Biblical, timeless principles or not.
Several pertinent issues however have stirred up as much controversy in recent
years within the Adventist dissident groups as that of the women’s ministries in
the church, the righteousness by faith doctrine, the monarchical leadership, and
various religious practices. Nevertheless, in the light of the early apostolic
teaching, some enlightenment has been achieved, and several critical
accusations from dissident groups were illuminated and confirmed.The accusation regarding the deterioration of Biblical doctrines appears not to
have been confirmed by the Biblical evaluation and the lifestyle of the SDA
believers. Rather, concerning this issue, it is confirmed that in the DRC and
worldwide, the SDA Church has not departed from the fundamental doctrines of
the early Apostolic church. / Thesis (D. TH. (Church History))
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/4100 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Kakule, Mithimbo Paul |
| Contributors | Gundani, Paul |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xv, 354 leaves) |
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