The Question of Identity

This dissertation researches the identities of Chinese Christians in West Malaysia who are members of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia (LCM). Most of them are first-generation Christians and have turned from Chinese religious and secular backgrounds to the Christian faith. The focus is on the expression of their denominational identities compared with the identity of the LCM as expressed in official statements of the church or in Lutheran theology. The sociological, psychological, and theological foundations of Lutheran identity provide the theoretical framework within which the individual identities of these members and LCM's communal identity are examined. These foundations include biblical, historical, and contemporary theological concepts from Asia.