Theses/Dissertations - Religion
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Browsing Theses/Dissertations - Religion by Author "Brackney, William H."
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Item Congregational dynamics in the early tradition of independency.(2006-12-06T16:20:36Z) Griswold, Barbara Stone.; Brackney, William H.; Religion.; Baylor University. Dept. of Religion.This study investigates the nature of congregational care within the membership of the earliest congregational-style churches in England during the period 1550-1689. The purpose of this research is to analyze the causes of their survival or demise that may be found within the congregational dynamics of the early separating churches. Having separated from the Church of England, and living on the fringes of the Puritan movement, these congregations experimented with new forms of polity and created unique roles for their pastors and members. New membership dynamics thus emerged. This research answers the question: What were the early manifestations of separatist ideology and independency that allowed some independent congregations to thrive under Tudor and Stuart repression, while others failed to survive? The uniqueness of this study is its search through primary documents for the bases on which the body-life of the congregations were predicated, and for specific indications within their records as to how this body-life was lived out in mutual support and care of members for each other. Previously no other study has brought this information together in one project. Nor has anyone revealed the correlation between membership nurture and care, and local church polity as a cause for the growth or demise of a congregation. My hypothesis was that, where faithfulness to one’s gathered community of faith was implemented through the dynamics of mutual care and support, survival through jeopardous circumstances was possible, even while church leaders were imprisoned. However, where the dynamics of mutual care and support failed, the group failed to thrive, or even survive. The conclusion is that, in order for these churches to have survived and grown into stable congregations and associative bodies, they entertained a unique ecclesiology, a theology of suffering, and a form of mutual congregational nurture and care, beyond what could have been carried out by the pastors and elders alone, which occurred within the congregations, and they formed supportive associations among independent churches. The records of the early congregational-type churches, such as those at Gainsborough, Scrooby, Spitalfields, Southwark, London, Bristol, and others presented herein, substantiates this conclusion.Item One Christian's plea : the life, ministry, and controversies of Francis Johnson.(2006-10-13T16:51:01Z) Culpepper, Kenneth Scott.; Brackney, William H.; Religion.; Baylor University. Dept. of Religion.Francis Johnson (1562-1618) served as pastor of the English Separatist congregation that became known as the "Ancient Church" from 1592 until his death in 1618. The congregation was first gathered in London under the guidance of Henry Barrow and John Greenwood before its members fled to Amsterdam in 1593 under Johnson's leadership to escape persecution by English civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Johnson joined his flock in 1597 after being released from prison. His ministry was filled with strife and conflict as he sought to implement the Separatist ecclesiological ideal of a congregational polity. Despite the turbulence of his early years in Amsterdam, Johnson's Ancient Church finally enjoyed a period of relative peace and growth from 1604-1608. Johnson caused a split within his own congregation in 1610. This fissure was created by his determination to pursue a more congregational rather than presbyterian polity in response to external conflicts with his former Cambridge pupil, John Smyth. After a self-imposed period of exile from 1613-1617 at Emden, East Friesland, Johnson returned to Amsterdam in 1617 to publish his final polemical work. He died at Amsterdam in 1618. In this research project, the author explored the evolving theological views, career, social context, polemical exhanges, controversies, and writings of Francis Johnson with two primary objectives. The first of these objectives was to analyze the course of Francis Johnson's ecclesiological views as he transitioned from an early presbyterian position to congregationalism and back to presbyterianism before he finally came to moderate his original hard-line Separatism. The second major objective of this project was to assess Johnson's contributions to the religious and social context of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Even though Johnson held such an important place in the development of English Separatism and Nonconformity, there has not been a major study of his ministry. Assessments of Johnson's career have been scattered throughout various general studies of English Separatism that have contributed much to our knowledge of Francis Johnson, but have not focused primarily on him. The purpose of this research project is to fill that unfortunate lacuna with a comprehensive treatment of Johnson's life, influence and theology.Item Pentecost without Azusa: an historical and theological analysis of the Akorino Church in Kenya.(2007-03-08T15:34:38Z) Waigwa, Solomon W.; Brackney, William H.; Religion.; Baylor University. Dept. of Religion.The address - 312 Azusa Street - is recognized as the locus for the creation of modern pentecostal movement. From there, the pentecostal message and experience spread world-wide through the agency of missionaries, sparking revivals that begun pentecostal churches. In Central Kenya, however, a "Pentecost" happened in the 1920s whose provenance and agency had no historical or theological connection with the Azusa Street revival. That "Pentecost without Azusa" gave rise to the Arathi movement which developed into what is now known as the Akorino Church, an African indigenous church in Kenya. This dissertation provides a historical and theological analysis of the Akorino Church, showing that although it is not connected historically or theologically to the Azusa Street revival, it exhibits beliefs and practices that are authentically penecostal and essentially African. It is characterized by emotional repentance of sins accompanied by loud prayers and weeping. It will be shown that central to that Pentecost is the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues, dreams, visions and auditions, and a sustained healing ministry. That doctrine influences their interpretation of Christian theology, their understanding of the scriptures, their relations with the rest of the world, and their participation in the life of their society.Item The prevenient piety of Samuel Wesley, Sr.(2006-10-26T19:03:10Z) Torpy, Arthur Alan.; Brackney, William H.; Religion.; Baylor University. Dept. of Religion.The life and times of Samuel Wesley, Sr. have been addressed since the time of John and Charles Wesley as an absentee father with little positive influence on the Wesley family. However, the literary contributins of Samuel have been overlooked. Having examined his writings, this dissertation offers a fuller protrait of Samuel Wesley. The thesis of this work is that Samuel Wesley was a complex person whose thoughts, actions, and postions were based on his traditions, experience, scripture, and reasoning. A key to understanding Wesley's life and though can be found in the Pietist strains evident in his writings, published and unpublished, which formed the basis of his dicisions and actions. The chapters explore the dynamics of late seventeenth-century England's cultural milieu where Wesley was raised and educated within post-Uniformity Dissent and provided his rationale for gradually conforming to the Established Church. The origins of Continental Pietism is summarized and its influence on the Established Church through Anthony Horneck. Also discussed is Samuel's view of scripture within the context of the nascent critical apparatus introduced by Richard Simon and Baruch Spinoza. Samuel's rejection of this critical approach is a key to understanding his scriptural hermeneutic which formed the basis of his actions. The overarching characteristic of Samuel Wesley's life and thought was his understanding of Piety which he passed along to his sons, most notably John and Charles, but also Samuel, Jr. Samuel's life is examined using Ernest Stoeffler's tenets of Pietism: the experiential, perfectionism, biblicism, and the oppositive or prophetic, and concludes that Samuel passed these on and had a profound influence on his sons. This work presents a revised portrait of Samuel as reflected in his literary contributions, rather than one based on an anachronistic moral template imposed on aspects of his behavior. The most familiar sketch of Samuel is the profile on the frontispiece in his commentary on Job. The paper seeks to move from the one-sided portrayals of Samuel Wesley, Sr. toward a fuller understanding of his life, thought, and actions which were emulated by his sons.Item Syncretism: the presence of Roman augury in the consecration of English monarchs.(2007-12-04T20:04:24Z) Karlson, William R.; Brackney, William H.; Religion.; Baylor University. Dept. of Religion.The purpose of this study is to offer insight into the reason for an eagle’s presence in the English royal consecration of the monarch. This trans-era study examines the impact of the Roman practice of augury on the ecclesiastical history of the early Church and the medieval French and English churches. Fresh insight is also provided regarding the possible meanings of the dove at Jesus’ baptism for Luke’s authorial audience. The prevalence of augury in the milieu of the early church likely led the first-century readers of the gospels to interpret the descent of the dove at Jesus’ baptism to be functionally the same as Roman augury regarding royal inauguration but antithetical in form from the bird usually associated with divine confirmation of emperors, the eagle. Several times in the early church, the flight of a dove functioned in the likeness of Roman augury in the selection and divine confirmation of ecclesiastical leaders. This study provides information on additional examples on how the Greco-Roman culture influenced the early and medieval Christian Church and the impact of augury on Christian thinking. There is little doubt that the English eagle Ampulla was an adaptation of the French Sainte Ampoule. This ninth-century French myth was preceded by the miraculous Visigothic royal anointing of Wamba in an effort to bolster the royal claims of the king over would-be contenders. The French legend followed with the account of miraculous avian delivered oil, which first appeared during the reign of Charles the Bald as a means of strengthening the French king’s assert to the throne and later bolstering French claims to having the supreme Christian King of the world. The English adapted the French legend with the myth of St Thomas’ Holy Oil under the reign of Edward II. Richard II later altered the story once again to include the Roman symbolism of an eagle that reflected his imperial aspirations. The eagle Ampulla failed to secure Richard’s kingship and never reached the political significance that he French Sainte Ampulla achieved.