An Introduction and Welcome

Greetings!

As you know (this isn't really a public blog...I'm only telling certain people about it), I'm a rising junior History major at UNC-Chapel Hill. This summer, as a part of a scholarship program, I'll be conducting research in Uganda, South Africa, and England.

The topic of my research is the inculturation of Anglicanism in Uganda and South Africa, and I'll focus on worship. Essentially, I'll be studying how the traditionally non-Christian society affects the worship experience and how the Anglican church affects the society. In the end, I hope the study will place the worship differences into the greater discussion in the Anglican church regarding how to pull such new and diverse populations into the worldwide union of believers.

To conduct my research, I'll be meeting with priests and lay people and attending worship services. I'll also be conducting a comparision of the Books of Common Prayer of Uganda, South Africa and the Church of England. (After all, Lex orandi, lex credendi is a fundamental pillar of Anglicanism).

To prepare, I've spent the semester reading the works of Ian Douglas, Bruce Kaye, Miranda Hassett, Grant LeMarquand and others. Some have done similar research, and others have offered historical understanding of the Anglican church in each locale.

I'll also have the opporunity to travel more than I ever have in my life. I'll spend 17 days in Uganda (Fort Portal and Kampala), 17 days in South Africa (Cape Town), and 26 days in England (London, Canterbury, and Bristol).

Right now, I'm more than a little bit nervous about the travel (which will be competely new to me), but exceptionally excited about the opportunity to grow as a person through traveling on my own for 8 weeks, put together some coherent research results, and see some of the most interesting corners of our world.

I'll have fairly reliable email access through the eight weeks, and I'll look to post musings and updates here every week or so. Also feel free to contact me via email at willbondurant@gmail.com.