Conservative in Theology, Liberal in Spirit

""Karl Dahlfred's study of the effects of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy on missions in Thailand offers a fascinating example of what makes Christianity a world religion: its kinetic interaction across cultural borders. This book offers much more than its title suggests. It is a carefully wrought view of how engagement with Thai people affected Western missionaries."" --Joel Carpenter, senior research fellow, Calvin University ""This fascinating book fills two major gaps. First, it directs attention to Thailand, a country neglected by mission historians. Second, it uncovers the ambiguities surrounding the concepts of modernism and modernization that figured prominently in missionary discourse."" --Brian Stanley, professor emeritus of world Christianity, University of Edinburgh ""Karl Dahlfred's Conservative in Theology, Liberal in Spirit has admirably met the long felt need for a single volume book that shows how the church in Thailand evolved in the half century from 1890 to 1940. I recommend this book to all who want to understand the church in Thailand today."" --Neel Roberts, missionary to Thailand ""With a missionary's heart, a theologian's mind, and a historian's pen, Karl Dahlfred opens a window into the relationship between theological controversy and missiological methodology. He traces the effects of the early twentieth-century modernist controversy on the missionaries of Thailand and their theological formulation and cultural adaptation within the unique Thai context. A fascinating study."" --E. D. Burns, professor of spirituality and missiology, Asia Biblical Theological Seminary-Thailand