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The Payap University Archives contains a set of six microfilm reels of the "Dispatches from United States Consuls in Bangkok, Siam, 1856-1906" (United States National Archives Microcopy 448). Although not precisely a "rich" source for the study of Protestant church history in Thailand, these microfilms do contain important information and insights not found anywhere else. They reveal the political and diplomatic role of the American missionaries, which was influential in terms of American diplomacy in Siam, especially for earlier decades. They contain a few letters written by missionaries, including especially Daniel McGilvary, to American consuls, which letters were forwarded by the consuls to the U. S. State Department for the diplomatic intelligence they contained regarding Siam's northern dependencies (notably, Chiang Mai). This set of records is especially helpful in the study of the two Presbyterian missions, the Siam and Laos Missions.

Just as HeRB 8 was going to press back in December 2003, I received a copy of Asian Christian Theologies: A Research Guide to Authors, Movements, Sources, volume 2, Southeast Asia (Delhi: ISPCK, 2003). From start to finish, the volume runs to some 730 pages and contains brief histories of the nations of Southeast Asia and commentary on theological movements, trends, issues, and ideas, as well as descriptions of key theologians and Christian scholars of Asia. The whole tome is well seasoned with bibliographies. Not having seen either volumes 1 or 3, the size of volume 2 alone indicates what a large undertaking the entire three-volume project was. The editorial team, headed up by John England, is to be congratulated and thanked for what they have accomplished.

The editors are to be particularly commended for their all but heroic efforts to see that Thailand is fairly and adequately represented. While the Thailand chapter is still appreciably the smallest of all of the chapters in this volume except for a very short one on contextual theology in Laos and Cambodia, Thailand for once takes its place alongside the other nations of Asia as having a recognized, documented theological tradition of its own. There are, inevitably, minor errors of fact and interpretation in the Thailand chapter, but they do not detract in the least from the over all quality of the material presented. Anyone interested in Thai Catholic and Thai Protestant ecumenical theologies simply must make use of this volume.

On a Christmas shopping trip to the DK Bookstore in Chiang Mai last December (2003), I came across a curious publication loosely formatted as a journal and entitled Akha Voices. Published by a Mr. Matthew McDaniel, the publication, which runs to 272 pages, contains repeated attacks on Protestant missionary attitudes towards and treatment of the Akha people. The tone is frequently strident, nearly always angry, and at points abusive, which is unfortunate and unhelpful as the publication actually voices legitimate concerns but so over does its attacks on just about anyone who isn't Akha as to throw serious doubt on its entire position. The genuine issues include Christian attitudes against people of other faiths, the not

In any event, Akha Voices is a resource for the study of the church in Thailand, one that offers one form of data for those studying especially tribal churches. While I can hardly recommend this publication itself, it surely raises issues that need to be addressed.

Although completed some five years, in 1999, I have just received a copy of J. Mark Hensman's Th.D.. dissertation, written for the Melbourne College of Divinity. It has the imposingly long title of, "Beyond Talk: the Dialogue of Life, Set in the Context of Two Communities in Western Thailand. Communication and Cognitive Theories Provide the Theoretical Framework. Two Villages in Which a Buddhist Community and a Catholic Community Live as Neighbours, Provide the Case Study." The dissertation is an important contribution to the understanding of how Buddhists and Christians in Thailand communicate their faith to each other in every day life. It also contains a large amount of theoretical and background material on the subject of "dialogue of life.

This dissertation is unique, so far as I know, within the increasingly large body of theses and dissertations written by Westerners on the church in Thailand. It documents the actual behavior of a local Christian community without advocating supposedly needed changes or pointing to real or imagined flaws in Thai church life. The central argument of the dissertation is that Thai churches dialogue with people of other faiths on a virtually daily basis through the ways their members and leaders interact with their neighbors (hence the term "dialogue of life").

Dr. Edwin Roy Zehner has finished his doctoral studies at Cornell University with the completion of his long-pending dissertation entitled "Unavoidably Hybrid: Thai Buddhist Conversions to Evangelical Christianity" (2003). The body of the text runs to 270 pages, and Ed argues in the dissertation that even such avowedly "anti-syncretistic" faiths as those of evangelical Protestants are still fundamentally and irrevocably influenced by local values and beliefs. He writes, "…the stance of [evangelical] anti-syncretism contains within itself the very seeds of hybridity." (p. 27)
Ed's dissertation is available through University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 48106 (800-521-0600 or www.umi.com). Copies have also been placed at both the Payap University Archives and the library of Bangkok Bible College.

Another doctoral study completed at the end of 2003 is Seung Ho Son's Th.D. dissertation on the topic of "Christian Revival in the Presbyterian Church of Thailand between 1900 and 1941: an Ecclesiological Analysis and Evaluation," which was written for the University of Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa. The whole work including bibliography runs to 210 pages. The first paragraph of the dissertation's abstract states, "This study deals with Christian revival and specifically Christian revival in the Presbyterian Church of Thailand. Above all, it is an in-depth ecclesiological analysis and evaluation of the Thai revival through John Sung's campaigns of 1938-1939. This is a first attempt to examine this revival from a holistic point of view." By "Presbyterian Church of Thailand," the author means the churches founded by the American Presbyterian Mission, which became a part of the CCT in 1934.

A copy of Dr. Son's dissertation has been deposited with the Payap University Archives.

Young Chul Oh completed a thesis in May 2002 entitled "Forming a Mission Strategy for Thai Karen in a Remote Region: Research into Effective Communication in Evangelism," which has also just recently come to my attention. He wrote this dissertation for a "diploma in postgraduate theological studies in missiology" awarded by the Free Church of Scotland College. The thesis runs to 100 pages including bibliography, and the author briefly summarizes the purpose of the thesis by stating, "This study suggests a method of communication that is suitable for evangelism and a mission strategy for Thai Karen living in remote regions." It provides background information on and an analysis of the evangelistic work done by the OMF, WEC, "God for Karen" Hong Kong Mission, Korean Reformed Presbyterian Church, Anglican Church, Agape Mission, and the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention among the Karen in remote areas of the provinces of Tak, Mae Hong Son, and Chiang Mai.