Dissertation
The Lord Will Provide 7.pdf
(2007)
Abstract
ABSTRACT
By 1890 the Churches of Christ had earned the reputation of being “anti- missionary” because they opposed as unbiblical the American Christian Missionary Society. This thesis contends that James A. Harding reversed the anti-missionary trend of the Churches of Christ by appropriating faith missions as an alternative model for missionary support. He and his followers propagated and refined his teachings so that his “trust principles” embodied a missionary identity for the Churches of Christ in the twentieth century.
The method of investigation is historical, including use of archives and primary sources. The dissertation employs a “lived religion” approach to examining the exchange of ideas between a leader and two practitioners, along with their associates, in order to construct a history of the first decades of the foreign missionary enterprise of the Churches of Christ. The first chapter establishes the social and religious context in which Harding formed his trust theory and examines his influence as a preacher, educator, and writer in helping the anti-missionary society churches to engage in global evangelism without compromising their commitment to congregational autonomy. The second chapter describes the work of the churches’ first cross-cultural missionary, John Moody McCaleb, who popularized Harding’s ideals through his prolific writing and extensive travel. The third chapter demonstrates that the tragic death of missionary William J. Bishop both challenged and validated the full implementation of Harding’s concepts.
Social historians have contended that the Churches of Christ were primarily a product of the Age of Reason, but those judgments have failed to account for the pietistic missionaries that the movement increasingly produced in the early twentieth century. In contrast, this dissertation highlights the role that faith, holiness, and an otherworldly perspective played in the mobilization of its first generation of missionaries. One implication of this study is that the rationalistic paradigm associated with this religious group is insufficient; as such, a re-examination of the churches’ overall history, in light of the spirituality of its faith-based missions, is imperative. In addition, by reconstructing how the trust theory took hold of and emboldened missionaries of the Churches of Christ, historians gain a positive rather than reactive framework through which to analyze the history of the movement.
Keywords
- Faith missions,
- missions,
- Churches of Christ,
- History of the Churches of Christ,
- History of the Stone-Campbell Movement,
- History of the Restoration Movement
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring May 7, 2007
Degree
Ph.D., Boston University
Field of study
History of Missions
Department
School of Theology
Advisors
Dr. Dana Robert
Citation Information
Shawn Daggett. "The Lord Will Provide 7.pdf" (2007) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sdaggett/1/