Dissertation Research: Spiritual Growth: The Development of Religious and Cultural Variation Among Philippine Baptists

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9816518Bowen, John & Brian HowellThis project involves the dissertation research of a cultural anthropology student from Washington University in St. Louis. The study examines the spread of Protestantism in the third world through an ethnographic comparison of three Philippine Baptist congregations in the city of Baguio. By comparing a middle-class group with a relatively lower-class minority congregation and a Philippine-born Chinese congregation, the student will look at the relative importance of church doctrine, local history, and social context in shaping religious behavior. The methods include participant observation and formal as well as informal interviews with respondents ranging from the entire small congregation to 50-60 person samples of larger groups. This project will advance our understanding of how local religious communities draw upon translocal traditions and networks to establish local variants of global Protestant religious communities. The project will also contribute to the training of a young social scientist and advance our knowledge about this important region of the world.