| The purpose of this dissertation was two-fold: to defend the proposition that the concept of world Christianity was central to W. O. Carver's thought, and to examine the consequences of this conviction within the intellectual, denominational and institutional spheres of his professional life. World Christianity was defined in chapter 1 as the assertion that a unified Christianity would eventually unite the world under the reign of Jesus Christ.;Chapter 2 laid out the essential features of W. O. Carver's missions theology. It was argued that Carver's exegesis of scripture, his philosophy of history, his ecclesiology, his ecumenical vision, and his conception of appropriate missions strategy were all shaped by his commitment to the idea of world Christianity.;A third chapter emphasized the roots of the idea of world Christianity in the intellectual milieu of the late nineteenth century missions community. Particular attention was payed to Carver's relation to John R. Mott and Robert E. Speer, two prominent contemporaries who shared his commitment to the idea of world Christianity. Carver's response to premillennialist, modernist, neo-orthodox, and ecumenical missions philosophies, it was asserted, were largely tied to the proximity of these various movements to his controlling idea.;Chapter 4 examined the tension between the inclusive, progressive and international implications of Carver's conception of world Christianity, and the exclusive, provincial and sectional outlook of leading Southern Baptists.;A fifth chapter argued that Carver identified two traditions at work within the life of Southern Seminary: the cautious conservative tradition of the founding fathers, James P. Boyce, John A. Broadus, and Basil Manly, Jr., and the creative and objective tradition of the Seminary's martyrs, Crawford H. Toy and William Heth Whitsitt. It was suggested that Carver learned to live in the tension between these two traditions.;A concluding chapter argued that Carver's idea of world Christianity possesses abiding value when interpreted as a prescription for the present life of the churches, rather than as a prediction of future events. |
