Former PhD Theses

The Centre is proud of the approximately 150 students who have completed PhD studies with us, both in Edinburgh and in its earlier incarnation in Aberdeen. Those marked with a diesis (‡) can be found in hard copy form in the Centre archives, although some have subsequently been digitised.

2020s

2010s

2000s

1990s

1980s

  • B. Violet James (1989), ‘American Protestant missions and the Vietnam war’ ‡
  • Robert L. Kennedy (1989), ‘Best intentions: contacts between German Pietists and Anglo-American Evangelicals 1945-54’ ‡
  • Robert L. Kennedy (1988), ‘Turning westward. Anglo-American Evangelical and Pietist interactions through 1954’ ‡
  • Gerishon N. M. Kirika (1988), ‘Aspects of the religion of the Gikuyu of Central Kenya before and after the European contact, with special reference to prayer and sacrifice’ ‡
  • Samuel S. Simbandumwe (1988), ‘Israel in two African prophet movements: an inquiry into the Mount Zion-Jerusalem concept as reflected in the aspects of hymns and prayer-songs of the Kimbangu and Shembe prophet movements’ ‡
  • Philippa J. Baylis (1987), ‘Andrew Lang and the study of religion in the Victorian era with special reference to his high god theory’ ‡
  • Murumba Jem Oguogho (1987), ‘A critique of African liberation theologies from the perspective of Latin American liberation theology and North American black theology’ ‡
  • Theodore Paul Christian Gabriel (1986), ‘Inter-religious conflict in India: the dynamics of Hindu-Muslim relations in North Malabar 1498-1947’ ‡
  • Mark Onesosan Ogharaerumi (1986), ‘The translation of the Bible into Yoruba, Igbo and Isekiri languages of Nigeria, with special reference to the contributions of mother-tongue speakers’ ‡
  • Donald John Mackay (1985), ‘The once and future kingdom: Kongo models of renewal in the Church at Ngombe Lutete and in the Kimbanguist Movement’ ‡
  • John Mason Hitchen (1984), ‘Training ‘Tamate’: formation of the nineteenth century missionary worldview: the case of James Chalmers’ ‡
  • Aaron Chikwendu Owoh (1984), ‘Church growth and self-reliance in Zambia: the indigenous United Church in Zambia’ ‡
  • Ismail bin Ab-Rahman (1983), ‘Inter-religious controversy in India; the interpretation of Jesus in theworks of Rammohun Roy and Sayyid Ahmad Khan’ ‡
  • Kwame Bediako (1983), ‘Identity and integration: an enquiry into the nature and problems of theological indigenization in selected early Hellenistic and modern African writers’ ‡
  • Amran Bin Kasimin (1983), ‘Religion and social change amongst the indigenous peoples of the Malay peninsula’ ‡
  • Gerald John Pillay (1983), ‘A historico-theological study of Pentecostalism as a phenomenon within a South African community’ ‡
  • Jonathon James Bonk (1982), ‘“All things to all men”? Protestant missionary identification in theory and in practice, 1860-1910, with special reference to the London Missionary Society in Central Africa and Central China’
  • J. R. Cabbage (1982), ‘Order and chaos in Mende religion’ ‡
  • Daniel Iwayo Ilega (1982), ‘Gideon M. Urhobo and the God’s Kingdom society in Nigeria’ ‡
  • Cyril Chukwunqnyerem Okorqcha (1982), ‘Salvation in Igbo religious experience: its relation on Igbo Christianity’ ‡
  • David A. Shank (1980), ‘A prophet of modern times: the thought of William Wade Harris, West African precursor of the Reign of Christ’ ‡

1960s–1970s

  • Michael Bame Bame (1978), ‘Pastoral care and the ontic reality of the incorporeal components of man’s being’ ‡
  • Samuel Onwo Onyeidu (1978), ‘The African lay agents of the Church Missionary Society in West Africa 1810-1850’ ‡
  • William John Roxborough (1978), ‘Thomas Chalmers and the mission of the Church with special reference to the rise of the missionary movement in Scotland’ ‡
  • Chee Pang Choong (1977), ‘Doctrinal and exegetical issues in the Hindu-Christian debate during the nineteenth century Bengal renaissance with special reference to St. Paul’s teaching on the religions of the nations’ ‡
  • James Leland Cox (1977), ‘The development of A. G. Hogg’s theology in relation to non-Christian faith: its significance for the Tambaram meeting of the International Missionary Council, 1938’ ‡
  • David Chidiebele Okeke (1977), ‘Policy and practice of the Church Missionary Society in Igboland 1857-1929’ ‡
  • Samuel Prempeh (1977), ‘The Basel and Bremen missions and their successors in the Gold Coast and Togoland, 1914-1926: a study in Protestant missions and the First World War’ ‡
  • Gabre Ammanuel Mikre-Sellassie (1976), ‘Church and missions in Ethiopia in relation to the Italian war and occupation and the Second World War’ ‡
  • Godwin Onyemaechi Mgbechi Tasie (1969), ‘Christianity in the Niger Delta, 1864-1918’ ‡
  • J. M. Orr (1967), ‘The contribution of Scottish Missions to the rise of responsible churches in India’ ‡

Recent Posts

Forthcoming Yale-Edinburgh 2027

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We are pleased to share the Yale-Edinburgh Conference theme and dates below. We are grateful to our colleagues in Nairobi who have begun preparing for the conference and look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

Economies, Power, and Mission in World Christianity
3–5 June 2027 ‧ Kenya ‧ #YaleEdin2027
Yale-Edinburgh Conference on World Christianity and the History of Mission

Christian mission has been shaped by both trade and imperial expansion, at times serving and at other times contesting the prevailing geopolitical realities of its age. Some mission models have depended heavily on economic strength, while others pursued mendicant means, demonstrating an aversion to the use of financial power in the work of conversion. This conference offers a critical space for examining the ways in which historical legacies and contemporary economic realities continue to shape Christian witness around the world.

Discourses on economies are also discussions of wealth and poverty. Shifting patterns of financial exchange have produced inequalities and power differentials, inspiring such responses as liberation theology and integral mission. In some cases, currencies, policies, and economic ideologies advanced mission; in others, they constrained or undermined it. Shifting global power dynamics, economic realignments, and the demographic growth of the Global South continue to reshape the distribution of ecclesial authority and mission resources. Theologies, liturgies, and strategies have emerged both in response to and in spite of prevailing economic conditions, revealing patterns of innovation and agency that continue to inform the study of World Christianity.

The conference welcomes assessments, in conversation with the social sciences, of how commercial enterprise at national, regional, and transcontinental scales has affected Christian expansion in its various forms. Papers may examine the mechanisms through which economic resources were mobilized and influence exercised, or explore historical, theological, and other responses to these dynamics and the imaginative practices they inspired.

The call for papers will be announced later. The conference will be hosted in Kenya by Pan African Christian University, St. Paul’s University and Africa International University, and held at the St. Paul’s University campus in Limuru.

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