CONNECTIONALISM AND PRINT: NETWORK, IDEAS AND COMMUNITY FORMATION IN THE CHINESE-SPEAKING METHODISTS OF MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE, 1936-1960

Abstract

This thesis studies the community-building process of the Chinese-speaking Methodists of Malaya and Singapore. Their sense of community and identity at each point of time was the product of the intersection of Chinese overseas identity, Christian theologizing, and the Church periodical that shaped their view of the world and themselves. The Chinese Methodists of Malaya and Singapore changed from a community that was highly concerned with events in China, to one that was localized within Southeast Asia, due largely to the needs and opportunities of the Malayan Emergency. Throughout this time, the Chinese Methodists of Malaya and Singapore were connected to a wider evangelical transnational network that became a key part of the Chinese Methodist identity. This thesis thus draws together the fields of Chinese overseas studies and world Christianity to explain the changing communal identity of the Chinese Methodists of Malaya and Singapore.