Abstract
This thesis is a study of Thai Protestant Christianity, with a focus on cultural and
theological interactions among western missionaries of the American Presbyterian
Mission (APM) and the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF), and the indigenous
Thai churches that the missionaries created: the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT)
and the Associated Churches of Thailand -Central (ACTC).
The thesis offers a comprehensive historical analysis ofthe growth of Protestant
Christianity in Thailand since the arrival ofthe first American Presbyterian
missionaries in 1840. Recognising that the pre-Second World War history ofAPM,
and the early history of CCT, founded in 1932, already exist, the research
concentrates on the post-1945 history ofProtestantism in Thailand. This includes the
work of OMF that established itself in Thailand in 1952 following the closure ofthe
work ofits predecessor organisation, the China Inland Mission, in China. The
primary focus on the more recent history of Protestant Christianity in Thailand
means that equal attention is given to the emergence of indigenous Thai Christianity,
both in CCT, and in ACTC that was constituted in 1985.
Within this historical perspective, the thesis concentrates on the different ways in
which missionaries and indigenous Christians have related Christianity to Thai
Buddhist culture within the matrix of Thai Buddhism. The thesis compares and
contrasts approaches adopted toward Thai Buddhist culture and Thai Buddhism by
the missionaries, analysing differences ofperspective between APM and OMF
missionaries. It goes on to compare these with the evolving patterns of engagement
with Thai Buddhism and Thai Buddhist culture among Thai Christians ofCCT and
ACTC. The thesis demonstrates that there is a distinct difference of approach
between APM and OMF missionaries, but that these differences are being resolved in
the emerging consensus among Thai Christians ofthe two traditions as they reinterpret their Christian faith in the Thai context.
