DOCSLIB.ORG

The History of Theological Education in Jamaica

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The History of Theological Education in Jamaica THE HISTORY OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN JAMAICA: THE UNITED THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE OF THE WEST INDIES AND ITS FOUR ANTECEDENT COLLEGES (1841-1966) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad tot doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr. H.O. Voorma ingevolge het besluit van het College van Decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 1 september 1998 des voormiddags te 10.30 uur door Edmund Davis geboren op 8 april 1939 te St. Catherine, Jamaica Promotor: Prof. Dr. J. A. B. Jongeneel CONTENTS Preface Abbreviations I. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Stating the problem 1.2 Rationale for the Study 1.3 Methods used in the Study 1.3.1 Historical Approach 1.3.2 Systematic Approach 1.3.3 Comparative Approach 1.4 Structure of the Study 1.5 Sources of the Study 1.5.1 Primary Sources 1.5.2 Secondary Sources 1.5.3 General Literature Part I. Jamaica, Its Churches and Indigenous Leaders II. THE GENERAL HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK 15 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Tainos Settlement (1494-1509) 2.3 Spanish Possession (1509-1655) 2.4 British Rule (1655-1962) 2.4.1 Conquest and Conflict (1655-1760) 2.4.2 Consolidation and Expansion (1760-1838) 2.4.3 Accommodation and Challenges (1838-1903) 2.4.4 The Transformation from Paternalism to Autonomy (1903- 1962) 2.5 Independent Nation (1962) 2.6 Educational Developments before and after Independence (1962) 2.6.1 Educational Developments during the Spanish Occupation (1509-1655) 2.6.2 Educational Developments during British Rule (1655-1962) 2.6.3 Educational Developments after Independence (1962) 2.7 Conclusion III. THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF FOUR JAMAICAN PROTESTANT CHURCHES 37 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Church of England in Jamaica (1655-1966) 3.2.1 The Arrival of the first English Chaplains (1655) 3.2.2 The Creation of the Diocese of Jamaica (1824) 3.2.3 Post-Emancipation Mission (1838-1870) 3.2.4 The Disestablishment of the Church (1870-1966) 3.2.5 Educational Missions 3.3 The Baptist Church (1783-1966) 3.3.1 The Genesis of the Baptist Missionary Work (1783) 3.3.2 The Formation of the Jamaica Baptist Union (1849) 3.3.3 Post-Emancipation Mission (1849-1966) 3.3.4 Educational Missions 3.4 The Methodist Church (1789-1966) 3.4.1 The Arrival of Thomas Coke (1789) 3.4.2 The Establishment of Societies (1789-1838) 3.4.3 Post-Emancipation Mission (1838-1966) 3.4.4 Educational Missions 3.5 The Presbyterian Church (1823-1966) 3.5.1 The Advent of the Scottish Missionaries (1823) 3.5.2 The Uniting of Two Missions (1849) 3.5.3 Post-Emancipation Mission (1849-1966) 3.5.4 Educational Missions 3.6 Conclusion IV. FOUR INDIGENOUS LEADERS 73 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Aemilius A. Barclay (1876-1926) 4.2.1 Biographical Sketch 4.2.2 Ecclesiastical Involvement 4.2.3 Educational Endeavours 4.3 Percival W. Gibson (1893-1970) 4.3.1 Biographical Sketch 4.3.2 Ecclesiastical Involvement 4.3.3 Educational Endeavours 4.4 Menzie E. W. Sawyers (1905-1980) 4.4.1 Biographical Sketch 4.4.2 Ecclesiastical Involvement 4.4.3 Educational Endeavours 4.5 Hugh B. Sherlock (1905-...) 4.5.1 Biographical Sketch 4.5.2 Ecclesiastical Involvement 4.5.3 Educational Endeavours 4.6 Conclusion Part II. Theological Education in Jamaica V. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION (1841-1966) 92 5.1 Introduction 5.2 History of the Location 5.3 The Staff 5.4 The Students 5.5 The Curriculum 5.6 The Spirituality 5.7 The Relationships 5.7.1 The Relationship with the Churches 5.7.2 The Relationship with other Colleges 5.8 Conclusion VI. BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION (1843-1966) 113 6.1 Introduction 6.2 History of the Location 6.3 The Staff 6.4 The Students 6.5 The Curriculum 6.6 The Spirituality 6.7 The Relationships 6.7.1 The Relationship with the Churches 6.7.2 The Relationship with other Colleges 6.8 Conclusion VII. ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION (1858-1966) 131 7.1 Introduction 7.2 History of the Location 7.3 The Staff 7.4 The Students 7.5 The Curriculum 7.6 The Spirituality 7.7 The Relationships 7.7.1 The Relationship with the Churches 7.7.2 The Relationship with other Colleges 7.8 Conclusion VIII. METHODIST THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION (1875-1966) 152 8.1 Introduction 8.2 History of the Location 8.3 The Staff 8.4 The Students 8.5 The Curriculum 8.6 The Spirituality 8.7 The Relationships 8.7.1 The Relationship with the Churches 8.7.2 The Relationship with other Colleges 8.8 Conclusion IX. THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE UNITED THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE OF THE WEST INDIES (1966) 165 9.1 Introduction 9.2 History of the Location 9.3 The Staff 9.4 The Students 9.5 The Curriculum 9.6 The Spirituality 9.7 The Relationships 9.7.1 The Relationship with the Churches 9.7.2 The Relationship with other Academic and Theological Institutions 9.8 Conclusion X. CONCLUSION: UNITED THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE OF THE WEST INDIES - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 177 10.1 Retrospection (1841-1966) 10.2 The Present Situation 10.3 Future Training for Ministry APPENDICES 186 1 Population of Jamaica (1844-1966) 2 Denominational Membership (1844-1881) 3 Percentages of Church Affiliation (1943-1966) 4 Tables of Years and Locations 4.1 Presbyterian Theological Colleges (1841-1966) 4.2 Baptist Theological Colleges (1843-1966) 4.3 Anglican Theological Colleges (1858-1966) 4.4 Methodist Theological Colleges (1875-1966) 4.5 The United Theological College of the West Indies (1966) 5 Data regarding the United Theological College of the West Indies 5.1 The Constitution (1966) 5.2 Percentage of Student Body by Territories (1966) 5.3 Percentages of Student Body by Communions (1966) 5.4 Staff, Nationalities and Denominations (1966) BIBLIOGRAPHY 196 1 Primary Sources 1.1 Jamaica Archives (Spanish Town) 1.1.1 Presbyterian Theological Institutions 1.1.2 Baptist Theological Institutions 1.1.3 Anglican Theological Institutions 1.1.4 Methodist Theological Institutions 1.2 National Library of Jamaica (Kingston) 1.2.1 Presbyterian Theological Institutions 1.2.2 Baptist Theological Institutions 1.2.3 Anglican Theological Institutions 1.2.4 Methodist Theological Institutions 1.3 Denominational Archives 1.3.1 Presbyterian Theological Institutions 1.3.2 Baptist Theological Institutions 1.3.3 Anglican Theological Institutions 1.3.4 Methodist Theological Institutions 1.4 Ecumenical Materials: United Theological College of the West Indies 2 Secondary Sources 3 General Literature Index Summary in Dutch Curriculum Vitae ABBREVIATIONS AC - Anglican Communion CADEC - Christian Action for Development and Education in the Caribbean CCC - Caribbean Conference of Churches CMS - Church Missionary Society CO - Colonial Office ECLOF - Ecumenical Church Loan Fund ed. - edition/editor IAMS - International Association of Mission Studies ISCPK - Indian Society for Christian Propagation of Knowledge JA - Jamaica MS/MSS - Manuscript/Manuscripts n.d. - no date of publication given or known n.p. - no place of publication, or no publisher, given or known SPCK - Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge SPG - Society for the Propagation of the Gospel UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation USPG - United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel UTCWI - United Theological College of the West Indies UWI - University of the West Indies vol./vols. - volume/volumes WCC - World Council of Churches WI - West Indies WMMS - Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society YMCA - Young Men's Christian Association PREFACE In 1977, I researched the development of theological education in the Anglican Church in Jamaica (1858-1970). Since then there has been a compelling urge to write a dissertation on the history of theological education in Jamaica, with reference to the four denominational colleges which merged into the United Theological College of the West Indies (1841-1966). In 1996, I met Dr. Jan A. B. Jongeneel at the ninth conference of the International Association of Mission Studies which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In a taxi to the airport after the conference, we discussed and decided to do this study. The preparation of this manuscript has been facilitated by the support received from many persons and institutions. Special appreciation is due Dr. Jan A. B. Jongeneel, Professor of Missions in the Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid, Universiteit Utrecht, who was most gracious in consenting to serve as advisor and rendered me invaluable service by his prudent counsel, helpful suggestions and professional guidance. He made it possible for me to make this submission on the history of missions. A debt of gratitude is owed to the staff of the Jamaica Archives, the National Library of Jamaica, the library of the University of the West Indies, the archives of the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman as well as the library of the United Theological College of the West Indies for their patience and courtesy in spite of many requests. Sincere thanks are due the Rt. Rev. the Hon. Dr. Neville de Souza, Bishop of Jamaica for granting me leave from the Diocese to pursue this study. Expressions of gratitude are also due Dr. Howard Gregory, President of the United Theological College of the West Indies and Dr. Ambrose Finlay, Dean of Studies of the college for providing me with useful information and prudent advice. To the translator of the Summary of the thesis in Dutch and to the foundations which sponsored the publication of my dissertation, I am deeply grateful. I have to mention the assistance received from Mr. T. O. B. Goldson and Mrs.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Downloaded4.0 License
    New West Indian Guide 94 (2020) 39–74 nwig brill.com/nwig A Disagreeable Text The Uncovered First Draft of Bryan Edwards’s Preface to The History of the British West Indies, c. 1792 Devin Leigh Department of History, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA [email protected] Abstract Bryan Edwards’s The History of the British West Indies is a text well known to histori- ans of the Caribbean and the early modern Atlantic World. First published in 1793, the work is widely considered to be a classic of British Caribbean literature. This article introduces an unpublished first draft of Edwards’s preface to that work. Housed in the archives of the West India Committee in Westminster, England, this preface has never been published or fully analyzed by scholars in print. It offers valuable insight into the production of West Indian history at the end of the eighteenth century. In particular, it shows how colonial planters confronted the challenges of their day by attempting to wrest the practice of writing West Indian history from their critics in Great Britain. Unlike these metropolitan writers, Edwards had lived in the West Indian colonies for many years. He positioned his personal experience as being a primary source of his historical legitimacy. Keywords Bryan Edwards – West Indian history – eighteenth century – slavery – abolition Bryan Edwards’s The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies is a text well known to scholars of the Caribbean (Edwards 1793). First published in June of 1793, the text was “among the most widely read and influential accounts of the British Caribbean for generations” (V.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Origins of the One-Drop Racial Rule in the United States
    Historical Origins of the One-Drop Racial Rule in the United States Winthrop D. Jordan1 Edited by Paul Spickard2 Editor’s Note Winthrop Jordan was one of the most honored US historians of the second half of the twentieth century. His subjects were race, gender, sex, slavery, and religion, and he wrote almost exclusively about the early centuries of American history. One of his first published articles, “American Chiaroscuro: The Status and Definition of Mulattoes in the British Colonies” (1962), may be considered an intellectual forerunner of multiracial studies, as it described the high degree of social and sexual mixing that occurred in the early centuries between Africans and Europeans in what later became the United States, and hinted at the subtle racial positionings of mixed people in those years.3 Jordan’s first book, White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812, was published in 1968 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement era. The product of years of painstaking archival research, attentive to the nuances of the thousands of documents that are its sources, and written in sparkling prose, White over Black showed as no previous book had done the subtle psycho-social origins of the American racial caste system.4 It won the National Book Award, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the Parkman Prize, and other honors. It has never been out of print since, and it remains a staple of the graduate school curriculum for American historians and scholars of ethnic studies. In 2005, the eminent public intellectual Gerald Early, at the request of the African American magazine American Legacy, listed what he believed to be the ten most influential books on African American history.
    [Show full text]
  • World Bank Document
    37587 Public Disclosure Authorized National and Regional Secondary Level Examinations and the Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE II)1 Public Disclosure Authorized Prepared for the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Culture Government of Jamaica January 2003 Public Disclosure Authorized Carol Anne Dwyer Abigail M. Harris and Loretta Anderson 1 This report is based on research conducted by Carol A. Dwyer and Loretta Anderson with funding from the Japan PHRD fund. It extends the earlier investigation to incorporate comments made at the presentation to stake- holders and additional data analyses and synthesis. The authors are grateful for the generous support of the Ministry Public Disclosure Authorized of Education, Youth, and Culture without whose contributions in time and effort this report would not have been possible. Acknowledgement is also given to W. Miles McPeek and Carol-Anne McPeek for their assistance in pre- paring the report. Findings and recommendations presented in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jamaican government or the World Bank. 2 A Study of Secondary Education in Jamaica Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures 3 Executive Summary 4 Recommendation 1 4 Recommendation 2 5 Introduction and Rationalization 8 Evaluation of the CXC and SSC examinations 10 CXC Examinations. 13 SSC Examinations. 13 CXC & SSC Design & Content Comparison. 13 Vocational and technical examinations. 15 JHSC Examinations. 15 Examinations and the Curriculum. 16 Junior High School and Upper Secondary Curricula. 18 The Impact Of Examinations On Students’ School Performance And Self- Perceptions. 19 Data on Student’s Non-Academic Traits.
    [Show full text]
  • Branding Jamaica's Tourism Product
    Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2015 Stepping out from the Crowd: (Re)branding Jamaica's Tourism Product through Sports and Culture Thelca Patrice White Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation White, Thelca Patrice, "Stepping out from the Crowd: (Re)branding Jamaica's Tourism Product through Sports and Culture" (2015). Masters Theses. 2367. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2367 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Graduate School~ U'II'El\.N ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY'" Thesis Maintenance and Reproduction Certificate FOR: Graduate Candidates Completing Theses in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree Graduate Faculty Advisors Directing the Theses RE: Preservation, Reproduction, and Distribution of Thesis Research Preserving, reproducing, and distributing thesis research is an important part of Booth Library's responsibility to provide access to scholarship. In order to further this goal, Booth Library makes all graduate theses completed as part of a degree program at Eastern Illinois University available for personal study, research, and other not-for-profit educational purposes. Under 17 U.S.C. § 108, the library may reproduce and distribute a copy without infringing on copyright; however, professional courtesy dictates that permission be requested from the author before doing so. Your signatures affirm the following: • The graduate candidate is the author of this thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by O'neal Anthony Mundle 2008
    Copyright by O’Neal Anthony Mundle 2008 The Dissertation Committee for O’Neal Anthony Mundle Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Characteristics of Music Education Programs in Public Schools of Jamaica Committee: Eugenia Costa-Giomi, Supervisor Leslie Cohen Jacqueline Henninger Judith Jellison Hunter March Laurie Scott Characteristics of Music Education Programs in Public Schools of Jamaica by O’Neal Anthony Mundle, BSc.; M.M. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2008 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Hylton and Valvis Mundle who recognized my musical abilities at an early stage and constantly supported and prayed for me. I also want to pay tribute to Calvin Wilson, Kenneth Neale, Eileen Francis, Noel Dexter, and Dr. Kaestner Robertson, who were my musical mentors. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to Colleen Brown and Joan Tyser-Mills who were principals that supported my development as a music educator. Acknowledgements I would like to thank God for giving me the mental capacity and the will to complete this exercise. Special thanks to Dr. Costa-Giomi for her expert supervision, mentorship and dedication to the project. Similarly, many thanks to the members of my committee for their guidance throughout my graduate school experience. Thanks to Deron who spent countless hours reviewing and editing my work and to Paul for his insightful contributions. Likewise, credit is due to Monica for her tremendous support and sacrifice especially in addressing many of my technological challenges, and Marie for encouragement and constant willingness to tackle any task.
    [Show full text]
  • Queens Students Handbook
    DIOCESE OF JAMAICA & THE CAYMAN ISLANDS THE QUEEN’S SCHOOL 4-10 Central Avenue Camperdown P.O. Box 199 Kingston 8 Tel: 924-6877/2997 Fax: 924-1804 [email protected] © The Queen’s School. All rights reserved — June 2014 CONTENTS PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE .......................................................................... 3 OUR SCHOOL CREST AND MOTTO.................................................... 5 VISION STATEMENT ................................................................................ 5 THE MISSION STATEMENT ................................................................... 5 CORE VALUES .............................................................................................. 6 SCHOOL’S PHILOSOPHY ........................................................................ 6 AIM .................................................................................................................... 6 OUR HISTORY .............................................................................................. 8 THE ANGLICAN CHURCH .................................................................. 11 THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN JAMAICA ...................................... 12 BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH ................................................................... 13 THE LITURGICAL YEAR ....................................................................... 14 HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II ............................................ 15 “THE BEAST BLOCK” INSIGNIA ........................................................ 16
    [Show full text]
  • The Rt Revd the Bishop of Southwark by Email Only Dear Bishop Mission
    The Rt Revd the Bishop of Southwark Rex Andrew Pastoral By email only Our ref: NB37/256b 30 October 2020 Dear Bishop Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011 Benefice and parish of All Saints, Spring Park; and parishes of St George, Shirley; and Shirley (also known locally as St John, Shirley) Proposed Pastoral Scheme Following the publication of the draft Pastoral Scheme providing for: (i) the dissolution of the benefice and parish of All Saints, Spring Park and the division of the area of its parish between the parishes of St George, Shirley; and Shirley (also known locally as St John, Shirley); (ii) the parish church of All Saints, Spring Park to become a chapel of ease in the parish of Shirley; (iii) the transfer of the parsonage house of the benefice of All Saints, Spring Park to the Southwark Diocesan Board of Finance as diocesan glebe we received 45 representations against the draft Scheme, 12 in favour, three letters of comment and five which were received out of time (one of which consists of photographs supplementing a representation made within time). The draft Scheme carried the following as the diocesan rationale for your proposals: As the result of ongoing concerns about the financial viability and capacity for governance and mission going forward, the Bishop of Southwark held a Visitation to the parish of All Saints, Spring Park in 2016. This was conducted by the Bishop and Archdeacon of Croydon. A series of Directions were issued as a result of this, designed to help the parish to address these areas. There has sadly been no evidence that this has been the case nor has the parish demonstrated the future capacity to do so.
    [Show full text]
  • Community Report Trench Town June 2020
    Conducting Baseline Studies for Seventeen Vulnerable and Volatile Communities in support of the Community Renewal Programme Financing Agreement No.: GA 43/JAM Community Report Trench Town June 2020 Submitted by: 4 Altamont Terrace, Suite #1’ Kingston 5, Jamaica W.I. Telephone, 876-616-8040, 876-929-5736, 876- 322- 3227, Email: [email protected] or [email protected] URL: www.Bracconsultants.com 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 2 1.1. Sample Size ...................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Demographic Profile of Household Respondents ................................................... 5 2.0. OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Description of Community Boundaries ................................................................... 6 2.2. Estimated Population ............................................................................................ 7 2.3. Housing Characteristics ......................................................................................... 7 2.4. Development Priorities .......................................................................................... 8 3.0. PRESENTATION OF BASELINE DATA ............................................................... 10 3.1. GOVERNANCE ...............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Total of 10 Pages Only May Be Xeroxed
    CENTRE FOR NeWFOUNDLAND STlll>lfS TOTAL OF 10 PAGES ONLY MAY BE XEROXED Evangelicalism in the Anglican Church in Nineteenth-Century Newfoundland by Heather Rose Russell A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department ofReligious Studies Memorial University ofNewfoundland November, 2005 St. John's Newfoundland Library and Bibliotheque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de !'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-19393-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-19393-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a Ia Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par !'Internet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve Ia propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni Ia these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Em Powering and Engendering Hidden H Istories in Caribbean Peasant Com M Unities
    Empowering and Engendering Hidden Histories in Caribbean Peasant Communities Jean Besson (London) Reflecting on the United States South in the 1970s, Eugene Genovese observed that ‘the history of the lower classes has yet to be written’ (1971:102). In the 1980s, the anthropologist Eric Wolf wrote of Eu­ rope and the People Without History, arguing th at ‘[W]e ... need to un­ cover the history of “the people without history”- the active histories of “primitives”, peasantries, labourers, immigrants, and besieged minorities’ (1982:v). Keesing likewise noted that Third World peasant communities were still being regarded as ‘more or less closed and self-contained, and often as devoid of known history’ (1981:423). While significant progress in these fields has since been made, academics, journalists and Native Americans all felt it necessary to point to the hidden histories of the post- Columbian Americas in the context of the ‘New World’ quincentenary in 1992 (e.g. Ellwood 1991; Menchú 1992; Besson 1992a, 1992b). This theme was again highlighted in 1994 by the 48th International Congress of Americanists.1 This neglect of ‘the people without history’ has perhaps been nowhere more pronounced than in the Caribbean Region, which has been variously described as the ‘Third World’s third world’ (Naipaul 1973), the ‘oldest colonial sphere’ (Mintz 1971a:17), the ‘gateway to Europe’s New World’ (Besson 1994c), and the ‘core area’ of African America (Mintz 1989:22). Here the Native Americans were virtually wiped out, and post-Conquest societies manufactured through European colonialism, American planta­ tions, Euro-Asian indenture, and African slavery. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mintz highlighted the neglect, by both anthropologists and historians, of the region’s history and emergent contemporary cultures (1970, 1971b, 1975, 1989).
    [Show full text]
  • The Building on History Project 5-6
    www.open.ac.uk/buildingonhistory engaging with the past to shape the future the experience of building on history: the church in london BOH_pages_v2.indd 1 01/12/2011 10:38 BOH_pages_v2.indd 2 01/12/2011 10:38 Foreword Foreword “He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.” [Psalm CVI] The Bible unfolds a historical drama whose author is ultimately God and the community of faith continually rehearses its story as a way of discerning the deep structure of the theo-drama and gathering energy for fresh adventures. The story of Jesus Christ himself is repeatedly related in the New Testament to previous actors in drama, notably Moses. Now is the time when the contemporary community of faith needs to refresh its understanding of the way the church has travelled or we shall lurch between unreasonable optimism and unwarranted despair. The past does not teach directly applicable lessons but it rhymes and serves to reveal perennial themes and temptations. A sense of the history in which we are involved can help us to see more clearly the contemporary roles we are being called to play. It is often said that “mission and ministry should be under girded with theology” but the understanding of what constitutes “theology” is frequently thin and a-historical. Theology is also distilled from the narrative of God’s dealings with the people he has called throughout the history of the church and the cultures in which she has been set. In my experience the church has lacked candour and sophistication in reflecting on and evaluating its own fashions and strategies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Baptist Thought in the Jamaican Context
    THE DEVELOPMENT OF BAPTIST THOUGHT IN THE JAMAICAN CONTEXT A Case Study by MICHAEL OLIVER FISHER Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Theology) Acadia University Spring Convocation 2010 © by MICHAEL OLIVER FISHER, 2010. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………...................................…………… vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………….………………..…. vii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………………….…...… viii INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………....……………..... 1 CHAPTERS: 1. BAPTIST LIFE AND THOUGHT AS CONTEXT…………………………………………... 5 1.1 The Polygenetic Nature of Baptist Origins……………….…………… 7 1.2 A Genetic History of Baptist Thought…………………………………… 13 1.3 General Patterns in Baptist Thought…………………………….…….... 25 1.4 Relevant Themes in Baptist Life and Thought……......………...…... 34 2. THE HISTORY OF BAPTISTS IN JAMAICA………………….…………………………....... 41 2.1 A Chronological History of Jamaica………………..…………..………… 42 2.2 An Introduction to the Baptist Mission……....……………….………… 51 2.2.1 American Influences…………………..…………………………….. 53 2.2.2 British Influences……………………...……………………………… 59 2.3 The Development of the Baptist Mission in Jamaica...………….…. 72 3. FOUNDATIONS OF AFRO‐CHRISTIAN THOUGHT IN JAMAICA……………….… 91 3.1 Bases of Jamaican Religious Thought………………………...………..... 93 3.1.1 African Religious Traditions……………………………...….…… 94 3.1.2 Missiological Religious Thought…………………………….…... 101 3.2 The Great Revival and the Rise of Afro‐Christian Theology......... 118 3.3 Features of Jamaica Religious
    [Show full text]