herbswanson.com

I would like to call readers' attention to three new items that have been recently added to the Stack Section of this website. The first is a research paper entitled,"Northern Thai Protestant Attitudes Towards Other Faiths: Analysis of a Questionnaire," which reports in considerable detail on the results of a questionnaire on northern Thai Protestant attitudes towards Buddhism and Buddhists, which I originally intended to be an article for this HeRB. As it turned out, the paper is far too long for that purpose, and I have placed it in the stacks as being a more appropriate location for it.

The second new item is the "History of the Laurel Presbyterian Church ." While in grad school at the University of Maryland in the 1980s, my family and I attended the Laurel Presbyterian Church, Laurel, MD. In the course of things, I ended up writing a substantial history of that congregation, which the church published itself in 1986. I was surprised and gratified to learn that the Laurel Church has placed the whole volume on its website ( Link ), and I have taken the opportunity to copy it onto this website as well. Although this history has nothing to do with Thai church history as such, it represents an important personal experience in local church research that had a definite influence on the way in which I have since conducted my work in Thailand.

The third addition to herbswanson.com is a Bibliography of Materials Related to Orientalism. During my last two summers at the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, I have collected a good deal of material on the work of Dr. Edward Said. This bibliography is based on that collection plus citations of other important works. Unlike the history of the Laurel Church, this bibliography is directly related to the study of Christianity in Thailand, at least in my own thinking. Said's work and the debate that still swirls around his classic book, Orientalism (1978) is useful for understanding especially the nature of missionary discourse in Thailand.

HeRB takes great pleasure in announcing that Dr. Don Swearer has recently been appointed as the new Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University. This appointment follows his official retirement from Swarthmore College. Don took up his new duties as of September 1st, and we wish him Godspeed in his new position.

One. For those interested in the Christian & Missionary Alliance missions in general and in Thailand in particular, a helpful source is Ayer's bibliography on the CMA (full citation below),which contains 2,352 annotated entries for books, essays,

articles, and theses plus another 179 entries for periodical sources. It is a part of the American Theological Library Association's bibliography series. The subject index entry for "Thailand" shows ten items, all of which may (now) be found in this website's Bibliography. While that is not a large number, the items shown under "Missions" and other nations, notably Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos is substantial. It is also gratifying to note that this bibliography gives attention to the thought and theology of the CMA. All in all, the bibliography is well organized and easy to use.

Citation: Ayer, H. D. The Christian and Missionary Alliance : An Annotated Bibliography of Textual Sources. Lanham, Maryland : Scarecrow Press, 2001.

Two. Just as this issue of HeRB was going "to press," I received an email from Dale Sahlberg concerning a website his parents have created. The Sahlbergs were long-time C&MA missionaries in Thailand, and their new website contains film and audio clips on a wide variety of topics of interest regarding both missionary work and life in Thailand generally. The website's address is: www.ecsahlberg.com.

The July 2004 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (vol. 28, No. 3, pages 107-112) contains an article I wrote entitled, "Said's Orientalism and the Study of Christian Missions." Since the article is not about Thailand Christianity, it does not appear in the website Bibliography of materials related to the study of Thai Christianity. It does, however, appear in the Bibliography related to the debate over orientalism, described above.

Although dated 2003, the second edition of David K. Wyatt's, Thailand: A Short History did not hit bookstores here in Thailand until mid-year 2004. The first edition of this book has been for twenty years the standard textbook on Thai history to the point that if a library were to have only one English-language book on Thailand, it should be Wyatt's Short History. The publication of this second edition, thus, is an important and welcome event for students and scholars of Thailand. The book includes revisions in the text, a new chapter on recent events, a new set of maps, and the addition of some recent works of scholarship to the bibliographical essay on further readings. The book is handsomely published by Silkworm Books.

The citation is: David K. Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History. 2nd ed. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2003.

Dr. Ed Zehner has recently mailed out an email circular announcing the start-up of a new editing and consulting service that he will offer to those working on books, theses, articles, and any other written work. Ed has considerable experience as a professional editor. I asked him to be an informal reader for sections of my own dissertation and found his comments very helpful, esp. in terms of organizing arguments and maintaining their consistency. He also picks up on nitty-gritty details that help give a work a more professional tone. Readers who would like further information may be in touch with Ed at zehner1234@aol.com. A further recent email from Ed says that those interested in his services may also consult his website, which is up and running but still under construction; the address is: www.expressitwell.com.