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This thesis explores various trajectories of contextual theology as they have developed in the two Chinese enlightenments of twentieth and twenty-first century China. Drawing methodologically from the typological works of historian Justo González and the missiologists Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder, one of the main aims of this study is to map and evaluate the various types of Chinese theology. An analysis of three major Chinese Protestant representatives will identify the tendencies of each type, highlight the importance of a contextual theology in dealing with a context’s socio-political concerns and religiophilosophical tradition, and show a bias in Chinese theology towards Latin Christianity. This leads to the second major aim of the study to explore the usefulness of Eastern Orthodox category of theosis and related subjects in the Second Chinese Enlightenment. It will highlight the tendencies of Chinese philosophy and religion, inclusive of Chinese Protestantism, to exhibit many themes from Byzantine Christianity. It will also call attention to the potential usefulness of this other “Eastern” theology in China’s socio-political concerns. This study will conclude by discussing the possibilities of Eastern Orthodoxy in playing an important role in complementing and supplementing future developments of a Chinese contextual theology.

This thesis engages the theological topic of the "gift" and "gift-giving" that has become popular within Euro-American theological discourse. While the academic discourse is traced back to an anthropological work that highlights the nature of gifts outside the West, the theological conversation remains mostly isolated to Western assumptions, concerns, and questions. I argue that this lacuna in the conversation can be partially attributed to the term "contextual theology." The term contextual theology is commonplace within contemporary Christian theology. The term possesses both a methodological and a descriptive value, meaning contextual theology is both a way of doing theology and also a way to describe the nature of all theologies as being products of their respective historio-cultural locations. In the twenty-first century, it is not always clear what is different about contextual theology other than it is often used to distinguish theologies developed outside the "Western tradition" (Euro-American). This thesis then argues that the term contextual theology, while at first useful, has now unintentionally assisted in siloing theologies developed in the Majority World from theologies developed in the West. To alleviate this gap, this thesis attempts to undertake a theological experiment at pursuing an intercontextual theology that seeks to treat all theologies explored as equal dialogue partners. To do this, it identifies a gift theology that is both absent from the wider discourse and provides the grounds for theological construction as found in Romanian Orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae's "World as a Gift." The thesis then explores Staniloae's World as a Gift and argues that it can be supplemented by placing it in dialogue with various Majority World theologies from a wide variety of geographical contexts due to these theologies's foci on the particular gifts found within creation due to their deep concerns that arise from particular geographic contexts. These particular gifts of matter, space, and time operate as the three themes around which the dialogue of this thesis takes place. In engaging in this exercise this thesis is able to engage four overarching transcontextual themes: 1) a relatively strong emphasis on human responsibility; 2) the interdependency of all creation; 3) the primacy of the past and present; 4) the lack of a stark division between the spiritual and material. Hence, this thesis moves in the direction of an intercontextual theology that offers the beginnings of a future "global theology" of the World as a Gift. Finally, by leveraging these themes found through dialogue, this thesis attempts to broadly apply these findings to the author's context of North America.

The thesis examines to what extent, and in what ways, modernism impacted the American Presbyterian Mission (APM) in Thailand between 1891 and 1941. At the end of the nineteenth century, an American Protestant missionary consensus assumed proselytization and social service as legitimate goals of mission but the spread of theological liberalism, later classed as modernism, eventually disturbed that consensus. The American Presbyterian mission, however, sought to preserve missionary consensus in Thailand even after it had broken down in China. The APM, which was virtually the only Protestant mission working in Thailand from the mid-nineteenth century until World War II, sought to project a broadly conservative image while engaging in evangelistic, educational, and medical work. The presence of modernism among the missionaries, however, impacted their relationships and work. There were four dimensions of modernist influence among the APM Thailand missionaries, 1) their responses to modern biblical criticism, 2) the influence of theological revisionism in the west, 3) the encounter with Thai Buddhism and its implications for Christian uniqueness, and 4) the desire to modernize Christianity to appeal to Thailand's educated elite. Though the APM Thailand missionaries were not always aware of the theological convictions of their fellow missionaries due to geographical separation and a pragmatic prioritization on their own work, tensions developed among them. Starting in the late 1920s, the nature and extent of these tensions were brought into relief by foreign visitors who interpreted what they found in Thailand through the lens of their own experience of modernism and fundamentalism in the United States and China. Unitarian journalist Charles Selden, American fundamentalist Donald Grey Barnhouse, and Chinese evangelist John Sung each brought their own unique perspectives, interpreting and engaging with the theological diversity they found among APM missionaries in Thailand. The PCUSA Board of Foreign Missions and the leaders of the APM Thailand mission worked hard to hold together missionaries whose theological differences became more evident over time. However, in the years just prior to World War II, controversy related to divergent theological convictions ultimately proved impossible to avoid. Though modernist thinking was not absent from changing missionary motivations and perceptions of non-Christian religions and evangelism, there was ultimately little explicitly doctrinal controversy in Thailand when compared to the United States and China. This thesis concludes that modernism was present among American Presbyterian missionaries in Thailand and contributed to tensions among them yet did not lead to significant modernist-fundamentalist controversy due to factors related to the Thailand mission context. In the area of world Christianity, the primary contribution of this research is to show how modernism intersected with the development of Protestant mission strategy in Thailand during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This thesis offers the first major study of the developments of Protestant public theology in Hong Kong. The thesis evaluates some of the major expressions of public theology that have arisen since 1997, referring to the period after which Hong Kong returned to China, and including the growing discourses of public theology during, but not limited to, the Umbrella Movement in 2014. The main groups of theologians investigated in this thesis are Anglican theologians, scholars in Sino-Christian theology, and evangelical theologians. These three groups tend to prioritise one of the three publics articulated by David Tracy-society, academia, and church-though they also engage other publics. Anglicans theologians have focused on the public of society, due to their commitment of collaborating with the state, the Hong Kong government and the People's Republic of China, which highlights the polity realm in this public. A key representative of this group is Paul Kwong, Archbishop of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, because of his active engagement with both the state and the Anglican Consultative Council as a way to testify God. Scholars in Sino-Christian theology are known for their development of public theology in the public of the academy. A key figure of the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, Lai Pan-chiu, a scholar in Sino-Christian theology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has produced a number of articles and a monograph about public theology under the umbrella of Sino-Christian theology. As relative latecomers in this discourse, evangelical theologians tend to develop public theologies for its main public, the church. Because of the political apathy for a number of evangelical churches in the Umbrella Movement, different theologians seek to create a theological response to the political crisis. While this type of public theology still has church as the primary audience, the church becomes a vehicle for a secondary audience, the society. Kwok Wai-luen, a theologian of Christian and Missionary Alliance at Hong Kong Baptist University, is a key figure among this group of theologians, due to his active partnership with different social movement organisations as well as his prolific writings on Protestant social participation. Along with evaluating these three groups, this thesis further argues that Stanley Hauerwas's emphasis on the church's communal witnesses can be employed to enrich the dialogue with these three groups of theologians, in relation to their primary publics. The alternative witness proposed by Hauerwas can be helpful for both Christians and non-Christians in Hong Kong for facing the political turbulence raised by the concerns of nonviolence and the church's engagement in democratic movements. Hauerwas's ecclesiology assists to connect the public theologies in these three different publics and suggests an approach to be distinct from the world, while not completely detached from society. The thesis also offers some preliminary observations of public theology for Hong Kong in the midst of the anti-extradition law protests, as public theologians continue their dialogue after the Umbrella Movement.

The thesis explores the question of the contribution of North Sami everyday Christianity to cosmologically-oriented Christian theology. The basic assumption underpinning the study is that a 'cosmological orientation' - that is, the way people enact and perceive their participation in the world - constitutes a deeply theological matter closely associated with their worldview. I argue that such worldview assumptions are not entirely given within the Christian faith itself but depending in part on the basic religio-philosophical dialogue partners informing a theological tradition. The study explores the cosmological orientation of Christian theology by privileging the tradition of North Sami everyday Christianity. The Sami are the indigenous people of Sápmi, a vast region in today's northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and north-west Russia. Despite the colonial ways in which Christianity was introduced, the North Sami developed a Christian culture informed by indigenous ways of relating to the world. The material core of the study is based on a qualitative insider's study of lived religion among North Sami everyday Christianity in four municipalities in Finnmark, Norway. Twenty-eight research participants of reindeer herding, settled inland / river Sami, and sea Sami backgrounds are interviewed in depth about the spiritual traditions they grew up with, and how they reflect on these today. The dominant overarching cosmological orientation coming out of the qualitative study (Chapters 4-5) is captured in the phrase 'nature-centered Ipmiláhčči-faith' (God the Father-faith). The overarching discussion is supported by diachronic analysis; that is, a critical deconstruction of historic Lutheran theological discourses on the Sami tradition from the Lutheran Reformation onwards (Chapter 3). The cosmological orientation of North Sami everyday Christianity is unpacked and theologically engaged through the lens of African and Native American theologies (Chapter 6). Its intersections with contemporary Norwegian Lutheranism is critically explored through a case study of a blessing ritual (Chapter 7). The thesis scrutinizes the complex negotiations between North Sami everyday Christianity and official Norwegian Lutheranism, informed by the historical encounter between two rather different cosmological orientations: Sami historical reception of Christianity, primarily filtered through the Sami indigenous tradition; official Norwegian Lutheran theology, primarily filtered through the philosophical traditions held by a European elite. The latter is seen as indebted to the medieval reception of the Greek Great Chain of Being conceptuality which sees the cosmos as a hierarchically ordered chain from 'God' on the top, downwards through 'spirts', 'humans', 'animals', 'plants', to 'dead matter' on the bottom. Foundational to this conceptuality is the spirit/matter divide at the middle of the chain, where the human being is located as the only being in cosmos being both spiritual and material. The Conclusion (Chapter 8) sums up the findings of the study in a discussion structured around the above-mentioned components of the Great Chain of Being. It is argued that the contribution of North Sami everyday Christianity to a cosmologically-oriented Christian theology is that the world is not seen as ordered along the same cosmological hierarchy and divisions. The indigenous imagination of North Sami everyday Christianity envisions spirit-matter relationships, visible-invisible relationships, human-nature relationships, and God-world relationships in a different way. A Sami perspective calls for a decolonization of Lutheran theology. An ontological turn in Christian theology is invited, where largely unquestioned, ontological taken-for-granted premises of hegemonic theologies are critically reconsidered. Indigenous methodology and contextual theology inform the overarching methodological framework of the study. Theoretical perspectives, methodological framework, qualitative methods, reflexivity, and ethical concerns are explained in a separate methodology chapter (Chapter 2).

This thesis explores the evolution of Evangelical socio-political approaches in contemporary China, arguing that Evangelicals in both the Three-Self church and the house churches have moved towards an increasing sense of social concern in the period from the 1980s to the 2010s. The period is divided into a former period (1980s to early-1990s) and a latter period (mid-1990s to 2010s). The late 1970s was the beginning of the Reform and Opening Up policy, which brought about a relatively open socio-political context and led to fast economic growth. Meanwhile, Protestant Christianity experienced fast growth in church numbers and Christian population. The mid-1990s marked a new phase of significant social change, which saw the growth of a socialist market economy partnered with moral decline and social injustice that continued to the 2010s. During this period, Protestant Christianity witnessed the rise of urban churches and growth of Christian intellectuals. The vast majority of Protestants during both periods would be considered Evangelical. This thesis is a study of historical theology, focusing on four Evangelical church figures as case studies. Among them, in the former period, the house church pastor Lin Xiangao focuses on a pious Christian life and rewards in eternity while disengaging with the socio-political context. Different from Lin's approach, the Three-Self church leader Wang Weifan aspires to a Chinese Christianity integrated with traditional Chinese culture, taking a culture-driven engagement with the sociopolitical context. In the latter period, the house church leader Sun Yi emphases the integrity and public nature of the church. He proposes to build the church as a model of moral integrity and organisational integrity, based on which the church should openly engage with the wider society. Contrastingly, the Three-Self church pastor Wu Weiqing emphasises a Christ-centred theology, by which he proposes faith in Christ as the solution to social injustice. Different from Sun's blueprint of church integrity, Wu directs the church's sense of social justice towards helping the poor through practical means like charity, social service and pastoral support. The present study reveals three trends of evolution in the Chinese church. The first trend is of house church Evangelicals, moving from a privatised faith to an open engagement with society. The second trend is of Three-Self church Evangelicals, moving from a culture-driven engagement to a society-oriented approach. The third trend is of Three-Self church and house church Evangelicals moving towards an increasing social concern across the two periods. Nevertheless, this increasing social concern has encountered changes under the state's new political leadership in the second half of the 2010s, leaving the Evangelical's quest for socio-political engagement to face new uncertainties in the near future.

Through a historical analysis of the mission theology and practice of SIM, an evangelical mission organisation that was originally dominated by North Americans but is now increasingly multi-national, this thesis seeks to understand where the organisation's vision and commitment to diversity originated and how it has adapted to accommodate its stated goal: 'strengthened through diversity'. Focusing on 1975- 2015, this research explores the experience of one 'faith mission' in the context of the growth of Christianity as a global religion and the developing mission vision of churches in countries which previously only received missionaries. It asks how SIM has adapted to embrace diversity, a process of change not previously addressed through academic research. Through archival research and interviews with past and present SIM leaders and serving missionaries, this thesis illuminates the challenges of cultural diversity SIM has faced. It reflects on the role of individuals in SIM's history who have worked out the lessons of their own mission experience during a later period of leadership at international level. Relating SIM's experience to other evangelical mission organisations, this thesis suggests that SIM's story is indicative of wider trends, and that it was at the forefront of organisations seeking to encourage cultural diversity. This study employs a primarily historical methodology, but also makes use where appropriate of anthropological perspectives and of concepts from management science in order to offer some theoretical exploration of issues faced by SIM in the outworking of everyday multiculturalism. After setting SIM in the context of conservative evangelical missions in the 20th century and wider debates taking place amongst mission thinkers, the thesis traces the origins of diversity in SIM and the process of internationalisation, demonstrating the way in which the emphasis on strength through diversity recaptured something of the original vision of SIM's founders. It then explores the ways in which diversity has been defined within SIM, recognising different understandings, the primary emphasis on cultural diversity, and the limitations to diversity. The following three chapters explore the effects of increased cultural diversity in SIM through examination of the changing shape of mission-church relations as the organisation broadened its approach to a new model for mission which supported missionaries from new sending nations; the governance and structural changes implemented to move from a shareholder to stakeholder model of governance, and give voice to an increasingly diverse mission workforce; and an exploration of the challenges and benefits of multicultural teams, highlighting the complex layers and nuances of culture and ethnicity. Two case studies of leaders - one Singaporean and one Nigerian - who made significant contributions to the organisation illuminate different contexts and attitudes towards the process of change in SIM as it intentionally pursued its aim of strength through diversity. The thesis concludes with wider reflections on the significance of the cultural diversification of SIM, and the potential applications of SIM's experience for other similar organisations.

This thesis is a comparative study of the practical theories of responsibility across different traditions. The two thinkers under comparison are the Christian theologian Karl Barth and the Confucian philosopher Mou Zongsan. The thesis demonstrates that, despite their significant divergence, both Barth and Mou place the conception of responsibility at the centre of their visions of the common life. Furthermore, their moral theories allow us to develop a constructive position on the character and practice of responsibility, that is, our genuine wills and actions of responsibility can only take form in dialogical relationships with the supreme person(s) and with each other. The comparative project includes four interrelated tasks. First, in the case of Karl Barth, we investigate the meaning and significance of the theological ethics of individuals called by the divine Word of God to be morally responsible for her life and the lives of others. Second, in the case of Mou Zongsan, we examine the Confucian conception of responsibility and its significance for moral exercises of extending the innate knowledge. Third, we compare two conceptions of responsibility in terms of its source and action and their practical relevance to the common life. Finally, we consider the potential for their approaches to refine the ethics of responsibility in conversations with its modern and traditional forms in moral philosophies and its extensions in political and social theories. Drawing from constructive dialogues across traditions and disciplines, we can pave the way for promising versions of responsibility and contribute to the enterprise of comparative ethics. The new formulations of responsibility are two ethical syntheses with teleological components under act-deontological frames which allow us to stress the practical dimension of responsibility without sacrificing its normative sources. Moral knowledge and moral action can also be reunited in accordance with their traditions. Furthermore, by offering mandates which secure the formal and constant character in the dynamic and contextualized process of moral formation, such conceptions can assist our contextual and virtuous action towards a common life. Finally, they provide nascent political languages which connect tradition and democracy without undermining each side, and moreover, articulate the purpose and means of moral formation in democratic politics.

Recent evangelical scholarship increasingly calls for ethnic theological perspectives in the American context; for just as the center of World Christianity has shifted from the West to the Majority World, the ethnic and cultural center of American evangelicalism is soon to shift - if it has not already. However, among the contextual theologies developed in the U.S., neither an explicitly Chinese American, nor a Chinese American evangelical theology have been pursued. This is surprising, given that Chinese Americans are the largest demographic of Asian Americans and that the majority of Chinese American Christians identify as evangelical. Thus, this thesis pursues a contextualized Chinese American evangelical theology. This thesis first begins by explaining the socio-historical factors behind the prevalence of conservative American evangelicalism amongst Chinese American Christians. Secondly, it identifies the most significant ill-effects of American evangelicalism amongst Chinese American Christians, and diagnoses these ill-effects as theologically rooted in anthropological uniformity, individualism vs. collectivism confusion, and a dualistic doctrine of creation. Thirdly, this thesis considers the "pent-evangelical" theology of Amos Yong as a possible path forward. However, this thesis concludes that while Yong has much to offer Chinese American evangelicals, the neo-Calvinist tradition can not only complement Yong at many points, but also bodes greater promise with less obstacles for a robust theology of ethnicity, a harmonic vision of individuals and collectives, and a holistic doctrine of creation that is still able to maintain distinctions. Hence, this thesis takes a step in the direction of a contextualized Chinese American evangelical theology that both critiques and benefits not only Chinese American evangelicals, but the broader swath of American Christians who have uncritically embraced some of the problematic assumptions found within popular and conservative American evangelical theology.

The discussion of divine action in the field of science and religion is largely divided into two schools of thought, compatibilism and incompatibilism. Incompatibilists, in the main, discuss the physical and spiritual as separate phenomena that relate across some manner of causal joint. These arguments, while theological, are often situated in the contemporary monism of Western scientific naturalism, wherein the universe is considered to be fully natural. However, Western sciences, such as physics and biology, focus upon empirical or measurable phenomena, and do not provide for metaphysical explanations. Theories of divine action in the world based in the monism of scientific naturalism are therefore often dualistic, with natural and supernatural phenomena considered separately. A worldview that offers scientific inquiry of supernatural phenomena may, I suggest, move incompatibilist theories from dualism to monism-providing for more clear discussions of God's immanent action in the universe. It is therefore the purpose of this thesis to present a manner in which the spirit field theory of Wolfhart Pannenberg may be beneficially interpreted so that incompatibilist scholars in science and religion may employ spirit field theory in the discussion of divine action. I have chosen to address the incompatabalist view for three reasons. First, the incompatibilist school of thought in science and religion is comprehensively discussed in extensive publications, and indeed presents many well-structured arguments. While the compatibilist school of thought also displays several persuasive arguments, the incompatibilists are more widely published, and therefore present a more dynamic conversation partner. Second, the most critical assessments of spirit field theory come from those who subscribe to the incompatibilist school of thought. And finally, the dualistic nature of incompatibilist thought is the primary issue that this thesis will address. This manner of dualism is not often written of in the compatibilist school, and as such, the compatibilist perspective of divine action may not be as positively impacted by this work. Spirit field theory may allow incompatibilists to view the immanent presence of God's actions in an intelligible manner. However, incompatibilists have largely rejected this theory, labeling it as inappropriate to science and theology. I offer, that if the spirit field is interpreted through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), then many of the questions from incompatibilists may be answered. The cosmology of TCM, as well as the particular view of Qi in relation to the human body in TCM, affords a comprehensive and intelligible presentation of Qi in which natural and supernatural are not separate. Therefore, I suggest, that the worldview and language of TCM affords an advantageous perspective from which the actions of the Spirit in spirit field theory may be beneficially interpreted, in order to augment the incompatibilist view of divine action. This argument will be presented by offering a comparative analysis between the actions of Qi in TCM and the actions of the Holy Spirit in spirit field theory. This comparison will be formatted in Jonathan Z. Smith's five-stage morphological comparative model. In this, I will employ comparative systematics, rather than simply compiling a list of isolated comparable data. I will also: ground the pattern of comparison in processes, develop a complex mechanism for the discussion of the comparison, balance generalities and particularities in a structure integrating both, and finally use the power of pattern as a device for interpretation. I will situate this comparative analysis in a Christian theological context through a critical discussion of the Qi and Holy Spirit comparison. In this, I will display various ways in which these phenomena have been considered similar. I will then advance the conversation by offering the perspective of TCM, suggesting that the TCM view of Qi may find consonance with Pannenberg's thoughts on divine action in relation to the human body. An important feature of TCM is to determine how the actions of Qi in the body may affect health and wellness; therefore, the function of Qi in this comparison will be primarily situated in the human body. I will also present Pannenberg's thought on the line of communication between God and humans, as this offers Pannenberg's perspective of the spirit field in relation to the human person. The primary aim of this thesis is to determine if the worldview and language of TCM pulse diagnosis can be fruitfully applied to the interpretation of spirit field theory. I will employ a comprehensive comparative analysis to place these views in conversation, suggesting that the TCM view of Qi may be a beneficial hermeneutical lens through which to better understand spirit field theory.

The main argument of this thesis is that neither ethnic-centred Christian nationalism, minjung discourse, nor an evangelism-focused approach toward the unification of Korea of South Korean Protestant churches has provided a theologically effective basis for the reconciliation and unification of the two Koreas among the South Korean populace who have been deeply influenced by anticommunism and anti-North Korean sentiment constructed through the modern history of Korea. Therefore, a critical assessment of, and a serious engagement with their manipulated memory and sentiment toward North Korea are essential for seeking justice, reconciliation and unification of Korea in accordance with the ethical imperatives of Christian tradition. Starting with the general history of political turmoil in South Korea after the division of Korea, and the emergence of nationalist discourses as well as the development of Minjung theology by South Korean liberal Christians, chapters 2 and 4 describe the unification discourses of the liberal camp of South Korean protestant churches which strove for the unification of Korea from a nationalist and minjung perspective. Chapters 3 and 5 examine the unification discourse of more conservative churches consisting of the majority of South Korean protestants who searched for national evangelisation which would make the North Korean communist regime collapse and eventually bring about the unification of Korea. Those chapters 2 to 5 show how the unification movement of the liberal camp of South Korean churches resulted in fractions and debates on anti-communism and the social responsibility of churches of South Korea, while that of conservative churches strengthened anti-communism among the South Korean populace as well as churches and impeded Christian discourse for peace and reconciliation of Korea. Following a historical and critical assessment of the unification discourse of the South Korean Protestant churches, chapter 7 explores how a Christian theology of memory and reconciliation could contribute to continuance of Christians' longing for reconciliation and the unification of Korea according to the changing scope of the social and political realms of South Korea in the 21st century. The thesis concludes with an argument that South Korean Christians could contribute to reshaping discourses of reconciliation and unification of Korea by searching for just, truthful, and communal memory, which has been neglected by previous theological approaches toward the problems of a divided Korea.

Debates concerning how churches in the developing world are best resourced in terms of their funding base and the implications of this for other aspects of church life have been conducted for over 150 years. The solutions offered have ranged from the Three-Self theory, with its advocacy of local self-support, to wholesale financial support from abroad, and in between a combination of those methods in a variety of configurations. This thesis focuses on the recent experiences of evangelical Christians in a southern Mozambican context, paying particular attention to three case studies: the Igreja Evangelica Arca da Salvação; the Ministério Centro de Louvor; and the Igreja Reformada em Moçambique. It asks why so many churches in Mozambique are seemingly locked into a dynamic of economic dependency on donors from abroad, but also why it is that in that shared and impoverished national context some churches are attempting, with some success, to resource their own activities. Using accounts and reflections obtained first-hand from Mozambican Christians, the thesis suggests that, alongside important factors such as the historical circumstances surrounding the emergence of each church group or denomination, the vision and agency of leaders in each local congregation are also fundamental to the resourcefulness of the members and the developmental trajectory of the church. In the context of self-governance, the role of such leadership is highlighted as crucial to the emergence of both self-funding and self-propagation. As well as contributing to the debate concerning the resourcing of churches in the developing world, this thesis addresses social theory that is concerned with how and why individuals invest their available resources in the religious communities of which they are part. It also contributes to the study of independent churches in southern Africa, concerning their potency for independent economic development. Finally, this thesis argues that, for the purposes of avoiding the cultivation of unhealthy dependency in national churches, international mission societies and para-church organizations in developed nations would do well to analyse the dynamics of which they are part. Where partnerships consist largely of sponsorship, it is argued, the risk of ongoing unhealthy dependency is high.

The 2011 Indian Census indicates that children under the age of 18 constitute more than 400 million, and most of them are Children at Risk (CAR). This study suggests that the care and protection of children at risk is not a twentieth- or twenty-first-century secular enterprise but has precedents in Protestant missions in India from the late eighteenth century. In the first section, the study focuses on evaluating contemporary Protestant mission contexts in India and a brief historical survey of Protestant missions to CAR in India through case studies. The evaluation concentrates on the implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for the predominant Protestant models of mission in contemporary India - which may be summarised as child evangelism, child compassion and child advocacy. The thesis argues that child care and protection is increasingly becoming secularised and professionalised. Moreover, with the emergence of new laws and with increasing, vigilance from international and national agencies, and from Hindu fundamentalists, Christian mission to CAR is itself at risk. Under these circumstances, the study also investigates whether there is a transition from ideas of 'saving' CAR to ideas of protecting the human rights of CAR. In the second section, this hypothesis is further substantiated by case studies of select Protestant churches and Christian NGOs engaging with CAR in the cities of Bangalore and Chennai. Using empirical data, it then claims that the predominant Protestant approaches of evangelism, compassion, and advocacy are still underdeveloped and inadequate primarily because the majority of caregivers working with children still perceive CAR as objects of their mission - an assumption that may be contrary to UNCRC (Articles 14 and 30). Further, it argues that the churches and agencies most active among CAR are from a 'conservative' background, who are often exclusively 'spiritual' and otherworldly in their concerns. The final and most constructive section, based on the evaluations of the empirical data, seeks to recommend a preliminary theology of mission in and through the idea of 'childness' based on Matthew 18: 2-5, an idea developed by Adrian Thatcher in the context of a theology of child participation. Based on these foundations, it suggests that UNCRC can be integrated as a set of principles for contemporary Christian missions with CAR in South India through a missiological process called 'dialogue,' emerging from a pluralistic Indian context. It further proposes that adults and children are to be perceived not as either independent (liberational) or dependent (paternalistic) agencies, but as interdependent agencies working together in God's mission. This thesis finally proposes basic principles for Christian mission to/for/with CAR - a multi-dimensional approach integrating CAR as subjects of God's mission and not just as objects.

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.