Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Presbyterian reformed church'

Background to the Research. In his enthronement sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942 William Temple famously declared the ecumenical movement to be ‘the great new fact of our era’. For much of the twentieth century it was the major metanarrative of Church renewal. By the end of the century however the enthusiasm had largely dissipated, the organizations which represented it were in decline, and the hoped for organic unity looked further away than ever. Surprisingly little has been written on the attempt to achieve organic unity in England, what it hoped to achieve and why, at least in terms of its expectations, it failed. I propose to come at this major topic by focusing on the creation of the United Reformed Church, which was formed in 1972 by a union of the majority of congregations of the Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church in England and saw its formation as a catalyst for the ecumenical renewal of the British churches. Methodology. This thesis, which is mainly resourced by documentary evidence and interviews, comes into the category of qualitative research but also uses statistics where they are relevant, for example when dealing with Church decline. Since I am a United Reformed Church minister, and have worked ecumenically, my role here draws upon the perspective of an observing participant. Conclusions. The research revealed that the hopes of the United Reformed Church to be a catalyst for church renewal were illusory and that the effects of its ecumenical priority were partially negative in the Church’s life. With the failure of its ecumenical hope the Church had little idea of its purpose and found great difficulty establishing an identity. It suffered from severe membership loss and the hoped for missionary advantage promised by its ecumenical strategy did not materialize. The thesis will analyse the reasons for failure, while noting that what failed was not ecumenism as such but a particular model of ecumenism.

The purpose of this study is to find a solution to a weak sense of unity and a weak ecclesiology in the Presbyterian Church in Korea (PCK) which is in serious disunity, divided into more than 200 denominations. This research has attempted to assess the unity and catholicity of the PCK using a Reformed criteria shaped through doctrinal affirmation on the basis of the exegesis of Ephesians, and the review of the two ecumenical creeds, the WCF and Calvin s ecumenicity in his Institutes and ecumenical efforts. For the historical investigation of the disunity and ecumenical efforts in the PCK, the three main schisms were examined, and the three leading pastors views on unity were analysed and assessed. Assessment of disunity in the PCK indicated three factors that obstruct the unity of the PCK: weak recognition of the Reformed view on unity, immaturity and secularisation of the PCK. The ecclesiology in relation to the unity of the PCK was analysed and assessed in its
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
tm2016
Dogmatics and Christian Ethics
PhD
Unrestricted

The Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (IPM) has its origins in the Swiss Mission and the European Reformed Church. An ethnomusicological study was conducted on the music of the IPM in order to uncover its musical influences. The musical influences were found to pertain to an indigenous Tsonga musical character, as well as to a Reformed Church musical tradition. By situating the discussion in this thesis within the perspective that music may reflect that which is not explicitly spoken about in words, the music of the IPM was shown to reflect the dual-heritage of the members of the IPM. Thus, this thesis attempts to answer the questions: how is the music of the IPM a reflection of the Tsonga Presbyterians’ dual-heritage?; and how do the Tsonga Presbyterians negotiate their dual-heritage? It was found that the Tsonga Presbyterians negotiate their dual-heritage by blending a Reformed Church performance style with a Tsonga one. For example, the music in the form of hymns and church songs, performed by church choirs, is shown to be didactic in nature where the lyrics are the most important aspect of the music. The didactic nature of the music is a principle of the Reformation carried forth in the music of the IPM. Although music serves to transmit the Christian message and is used as a means of praising the Christian God in the IPM, it also exists on the level in which the indigenous Tsonga heritage may be incorporated into the Christian lives of the members of the IPM without having an impact on the Reformed Church belief system. This is where the members have the freedom to blend their musical heritages. Music, in this instance, is shown to be a powerful tool by which the importance of an indigenous, and an appropriated, heritage may be garnered and observed.Looking to the historical aspects of the IPM, the music and language literacy education, provided by Swiss missionaries on the mission stations, was shown to have had an influence on Tsonga hymn composition. Along with the mobile phone, the observed decrease in music literacy at Antioka was situated within a discussion that looked at the influence of these aspects on the transmission, conservation and continuation of music in the IPM. Throughout the thesis, social transformation is referred to and the manner in which the music of the IPM is conserved or continued is an indication of how musical transformation may reflect social transformation.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Esta dissertação busca investigar a existência de uma Teologia Reformada brasileira no âmbito da eclesiologia e da relação com a cultura, trabalhando com a Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil como base de dados para tal investigação. Na primeira parte, pesquisa-se como se formou o reformador João Calvino e que relação a sua formação humanista teve com os ensinos que desenvolveu, bem como tais ensinos poderiam ser aplicados à Teologia Reformada brasileira, escolhendo-se a graça comum para entender a relação com a cultura e buscando-se compreender a abrangência de sua eclesiologia. Na segunda parte, calvinismo, puritanismo e neopuritanismo são analisados sob a perspectiva de compreenderem-se possíveis rupturas ou continuidades. Tais situações serão verificadas na influência cultural do silogismo prático dos calvinistas e da relação de Calvino e dos puritanos com a ciência. A terceira parte apresenta Richard Shaull como contraponto ao modo de ser reformado designado como neopuritano, aplicado à boa parte dos reformados brasileiros da IPB, na medida em que tenta construir uma Teologia Reformada da revolução, que seus seguidores, possivelmente seu maior legado, transformariam em Teologia da Libertação. Ele será comparado em sua visão eclesiológica com Ashbel Green Simonton, pioneiro da IPB no Brasil. Por fim, à guisa de conclusão, a quarta e última parte estudará a construção da atual Teologia Reformada da IPB, sua possível relação com o fundamentalismo, a partir dos puritanos ou não, e acima de tudo o grande receio quanto a sua brasilidade, buscando pistas para responder que tipo de eclesiologia afinal tem produzido a Teologia Reformada da IPB.
This dissertation seeks to investigate the existence of a Brazilian Reformed Theology in the area of ecclesiology and its relation to culture by using the Presbyterian Church of Brazil as the object of investigation. The first part investigates how the reformer John Calvin was educated and how his humanism related to the teaching he developed, as also its possible application to Brazilian Reformed Theology, choosing common Grace to understand this relation to culture in seeking to understand how wide was its influence in his ecclesiology. In the second part, Calvinism, Puritanism and Neopuritanism are analyzed toward possible divisions or continuity. Such situations will be studied as a possible cultural influence of the practical rationalization of the Calvinists and of the relation of Calvin and the puritans with science. The third part presents Richard Shaull as a contradiction to the style of being reformed neopuritans, applical to a good part of the Brazilian reformed of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, to the extent that he attempted to construct a Reformed Theology of Revolution that his followers, perhaps his major contribution, could transform into a Theology of Liberation. His ecclesiastical vision will be compared to that of Ashbel Green Simonton, pioneer of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. The fourth and final part will study the construction of Reformed Theology in the Presbyterian Church of Brazil today, its possible relation to fundamentalism, beginning or not with the puritans, above all a real fear as to its Brazilianity, seeking ways to respond to the kind of ecclesiology the Reformed Theology of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil has produced.

Bibliography: p. 229-245.
This thesis defines conversion as a process of change management. Individuals and groups mobilise resources and formulate strategies for individual identity and group formation. Strategies are also formulated to manage the process of change for members. In the research done among two churches, one conventionally classified as African indigenous and the other classified as mainline, two models of conversion emerged, the crisis model at St John's and the growth model at the Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCSA). In the crisis model individuals join the group because of some crisis in their lives, e.g., illness or misfortune. The healing practices and rituals serve to manage and mediate the crisis for individuals. Healing is at the heart of the recruitment strategy at St John's and other African Indigenous Churches (AICs). It is through hearing about the efficacy of the healing powers of the leader that people are attracted to the church. On the other hand, the growth model as represented by the RPCSA, is about organic growth and development where new members are mostly recruited among the children of members. Children are groomed from baptism through Sunday school and confirmation classes to membership in full communion. For them conversion is a process of growth and development, where they keep on learning all the time about their faith and who they are. In scholarship the AICs have always been treated ethnographically while, on the other hand, the mainline churches have been treated historically. However, this thesis is a comparative study of the AIC and a mainline church with a special emphasis on their conceptions of conversion. The two churches are both African and Christian. They each draw from both these resources for self-definition. Christianity has become part of the South African religious landscape. None of the members in the two churches consider it as an alien or foreign religion but they consider it as an indigenous one. The two models mobilise resources and formulate strategies for self-definition and what it means to be human in a hostile environment.

This thesis examines developments within the ministry of the Congregational churches of the north-west of England in the period 1689-1829, with a number of aims in mind. In focusing on the role of Scottish-born and Scottish-trained ministers within these churches the attempt had been made to get away from the narrow national and denominational dogmas that have constrained our understanding of English Congregationalism. In line with recent historiographical attempts to produce historical explanations that recognise the inter-connectedness of the nations of the Union, this study attempts to assess the contribution of other national church traditions within one English region and to understand the development of British Evangelicalism amongst British Reformed churches, of which the Congregational Churches of Lancashire in the 1830s were such examples. After providing the historical background of the Protestant Dissenting churches of Lancashire, an attempt to quantify the number of churches within emerging church traditions in the eighteenth century will be made and to assess the survival of orthodox Reformed churchmanship. The argument followed here, in contradistinction to the vast majority of denominational historians, is that denominational theories are poor in explaining the survival of orthodox piety amongst Dissent and that the social and economic profile of congregations provides a far better explanation of the ecclesiology of these churches. Cumberland and Westmorland are examined and an understanding of the geographical spread of Dissent is attempted, noting particularly the survival of orthodox piety in the rural north of the region and in particular the dependence of the churches of Cumberland on Scottish ministers, without whom Protestant Dissent in that county would have disappeared. Finally an attempt is made to assess the contribution of Scottish-born and Scottish-trained ministers in the emergent Congregational tradition in Lancashire in the period 1770-1829. Throughout the study an attempt is made to test all assumptions concerning the ministry by utilising a database of biographical information on ministers within these churches and thus providing figures on nationality and training, attempting to see whether the Scottish cohort within the sample was statistically significant before moving on to more qualitative assessments of their influence.

碩士
玄奘大學
宗教學系碩士在職專班
98
Although the ratio of Christians in Taiwan to Taiwanese is less than others, there are still 4% of Taiwanese believe Jesus Christ. It motivates author to study the course of conversion motifs from the viewpoint of Christians himself. The thesis is a case study of the Hsin-Chu Reformed Presbyterian Church. Author visits fourteen Christians by means of in-depth interview. The comparison between conversion before and after and the reason of conversion are investigated. An outline of interview is designed according to the target of investigation before visit. Author generalizes a conclusion from the course of conversion and find out the reason of conversion. Besides, the comparison between conversion before and after is included. In order to know the course of conversion through, several auxiliary questions are created such as “What is the characteristic of the key person who make conversion true?” and “Do you hope your children accept baptism?”. Finally, author refers to conversion models built by Lofland and conversion models of Snow and Philips to find out the consistency between real cases and models as well as inconsistency. Future work and limitation of this study will be mentioned.

The renewal of interest in religious healing methods in the past few decades, in response to various perspectives of illnesses, is ‘blowing’ through the PCC-one of the reformed churches in Africa. There are two underlying assumptions in this project: the first is that sickness constitutes a major threat to good health and the second is that the ministry of healing in the PCC is not contextual in view of respecting and incorporating the cultural, social, religious beliefs and values of its people in the formation of meaningful healing ministry. The healing ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is lacking in efficacy and essence because it does not make much meaning in the lives of the sick and their relatives. This project gives an overview of some of the causes of tensions that exist in the PCC concerning its ministry of healing. It critically analysis, interprets and discusses the empirical results of 26 (20 laity and six clergy) members of the Musang congregation alongside some theological reflections. The project explored and highlighted the importance of the traditional worldview regarding health, illness, healing and defines healing as the work of God and that it is imperative for the Church to focus on a more meaningful healing ministry that includes physical, spiritual, social and psychological aspects, thus healing needs to be holistic. Putting together the results of the literature review, the empirical research and the critical and theological reflections, the project suggests and affirms that there are theological, practical and socio-cultural reasons for the PCC to rethink, reformulate and reshape its healing ministry in the light of Jesus’ healing ministry. The project points out the theological, practical and cultural basis for a more meaningful ministry of healing within the PCC. These results reveal that the PCC has no choice but to embrace this emerging biblical healing ministry if it truly wants to remain faithful and in obedience to Jesus’ three but inseparable ministries of preaching, teaching and healing. Finally, the project proposes an integrated healing service as one of the ways towards a more practical and meaningful ministry of healing in the PCC at home and in the diaspora. Some objective comments and recommendations are also made.
Practical Theology
D. Th. (Practical Theology)

The function of patterns of faith experience and theology in religion and society forms part of the whole complex system of God, life and world views which operate amongst Zambian Presbyterians Christians. The dissertation endeavors to make an assessment of the place of faith and theology within the ambit of a Black Zambian and Presbyterian God-life-world view. This home grown African God-life-world view of Zambian Reformed Presbyterian making, is similar in some respects and differs in others with European and Western God, life and world views of the Reformed and Presbyterian brand. In the first chapter the stage for this dissertation is set. I do not claim to be exhaustive or definitive in discussing the mixture of faith patterns and theories of faith (theologies) from different parts of the Reformed/Presbyterian world. What plays an important operational role in this analysis and synthesis are what can be called a God, life and world pattern or view which is more or less the same as a sense making system, an ideology or a belief system. Therefore quite a number of pages are allotted to this phenomenon in the first chapter. Furthermore a broad outline of the basic points of departure of a contextual-historical approach which operate with a radical, integral and differential view of God, human life, and the physical world is spelled out. The last part of the chapter is devoted to provisional comments on a view of the experience of everyday faith and a theory of faith. The latter is the designation for what is usually called theology. In here I have tackled the problem of theology and human experience of faith from the angle of the traditional double sided or dualistic view of faith as a extraordinary supernatural and ordinary natural support structure for a discipline like theology. Theology is not intrinsically involved in people's faith experience and thus is not a real reflection of their everyday faith experience. When one is however emphasising that a faith (belief) pattern includes belief towards God, belief of the self (self-confidence) and belief towards the many neighbours as well as belief towards the physical-organic environment then one is closer in the neighbourhood of a radical and integral black African faith pattern and what we call a theory of faith. In chapter two the Reformed/Presbyterian legacy is discussed and reflected upon in terms of nine features of a Reformed/Presbyterian sense making system, ethos or God, life and world view which emerged in Reformed history since the days of John Calvin (1509-1564). Reformed-Presbyterian theologies, theories of faith and philosophies are examined as well as the major impact of Calvin on the characteristic features of Reformed God, life and world views or sense making systems. Some of the main features of these Reformed/Presbyterian sense making systems repetitively recur in the majority of Reformed experiential settings, communities and churches. The nine features or characteristics of a Reformed-Presbyterian ethos are the following: the well known soft duality of special and general; the social attitude of accepting every phenomenon and immediately start to criticize it; the tendency of pilgrimage through life; the idea of the extra-calvinisticum; the dual idea of special and general determination, that is the doctrine of election and the doctrine of providence and its strong encapsulation by a very strong theology of covenantal duality; the idea that a Reformed community or church is always in the process of reformation (ecclesia reformanda semper reformata); the doctrine of the dispensation of the gifts of the Spirit; the idea of a presbyter system and the democratic legacy that flows from it; and the regulative principle of the Church or the Kingdom of God? In chapter three the black-African-Zambian-Reformed-Presbyterian heritage is discussed in terms of the nine features discussed in chapter two. The idea in this chapter is to acknowledge the fact that an interchange, exchange and mixed appropriation between Reformed/Presbyterian contextual settings has taken and is taking place and that a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos is already incorporated and accommodated within the African milieu and experience. Our task in this chapter is to deal with the African reflections on faith and theology looking for black African similarities with the nine main features that we have detected as determinative of a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos. The predicament of non-African (European Western, Eastern and others) and Bantu-speaking black African experience manifests their differences in the realness and concreteness of their God-life-world views. Generally speaking, one of the main differences in the experience of faith and theology in the European Western and Black African Southern hemisphere contexts amount to the difference between reflective thinking experience as typically European Western and action directed reflective experience as the main emphasis of Black African experience. This entails that we must identify the foremost traits of European Western Reformed-Presbyterian theology and compare and contrast these with Black African, specifically Zambian Reformed-Presbyterian experience. The comparison and contrasting of these two broad contexts, that is European Western Reformed and Zambian Reformed are caught up in the complexities of a to and fro networking of Reformed ideas, clues and cues all over the world. There is more than one view of faith and theology and more than one God-life-world view in both the European cum Western and African ways of life. The existence of various views of faith, theology and God, life and the world explains the co-existence of these views of faith and theology and God, life and world views amongst African Christians. Africans and African Christians are not only Bantuspeaking and black because even if we take our white African counterparts out of the equation about who and what an African is, the Moroccans, the Egyptians, Algerians, Felani Hausas, Wollofs and others would surely disclaim such a statement. In chapter four theology as a theory of faith is discussed as aware reflection of everyday experiences of faith and belief that is far more important than doctrinal ideas that hover abstractly in the minds of ministers, pastors and theologians and is thus not intrinsically part of people's day to day experiences of faith and belief. A few markers on the way to a theory of faith as a functional paradigm is discussed. In order to do this four things have been touched upon: Firstly themes are compared in the Christian theological and philosophical world from both Eurocentric as well as the Afrocentric worlds. Secondly, theology as theory of faith is discussed as a concrete enterprise of aware reflection in the midst of the experience of a faith community or a church. Thirdly, some issues are highlighted which are analysed and synthesised in an attempt to expand a Reformed ethos and agenda by using clues, cues and hues from both Eurocentric and Afrocentric experiences of faith, belief and trust as well as the written and oral theological and faith theoretical reflections of these experiences. Finally, an attempt is made to interweave theories of faith from both contextual worlds as a functional paradigm. The desire to know God, oneself and other human beings as well as the physical-organic environment in this life in tandem and coterminously has a great bearing as a black African contribution to the ongoing building of a holistic Reformed/Presbyterian ethos or sense making system.
Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics
M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

In modern day American Protestant churches, both conservative and liberal ministers, pastors, theologians and lay leadership struggle over how to arrange and conduct worship services (liturgy) and how to integrate contemporary or traditional hymns. Many characterize this struggle as ?Worship Wars?. This dissertation concerns the poetic imagination of the Trinity Hymnal (1990), the hymnal of conservative Presbyterian churches that was originally published as a reaction to the liberal stream of Presbyterianism. Thus, the dissertation presents the Anglo-American debate in poetic theology, focusing on the poetic imagination of Presbyterian spirituality and its development to the Czech environment. The first section concerns the concept of Poetic theology focusing on the Protestant poetic theology as defined by W. A. Dyrness. The Presbyterian spirituality is then characterized by McGrath typology. His Theological foundations for spiritualiy are first determined by the teaching of Presbyterianism (especially Calvinism and the Westminster Confession of Faith), and then examined in the poetic imagination of hymns found in the Trinity Hymnal. The poetic imagination of the hymns, which is based primarily on the poetic imagination of Scripture and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, demonstrates the intermingling of the Christian traditions of the songs and suggests the theological value of poetic language. This dissertation presents and analyzes the issue of Presbyterian search for adequate expression of hymns in worship. The method applied here offers a new basis for further exploration of current trends in the American worship tradition of Presbyterianism. In this respect it concerns a unique exploration of the interconnection of the poetic language of Presbyterian hymns with the Anglican liturgy. It also presents the research of poetic imagination of spiritual hymns and linking of the traditions as a topic to enrich ecumenical discussion.