I cannot hope here to do justice to all those who have made possible the completion of this book, but special mention must be made of the following: I am honoured to express my special gratitude to Professor Max Turner, for his sharp yet constructive advice, and for the model of scholarly competence combined with Christian commitment which I saw in him as supervisor of my PhD dissertation on which the book is based. (The dissertation was supervised at London Bible College and submitted to Brunel University in the spring of 1998.) Thanks are also due to my second supervisor, Dr Conrad Gempf, for his willingness to offer critical evaluation on certain areas of my research and to my friend James McGrath, who undertook the tedious task of proofreading the thesis.

Throughout the period of my research, the Romanian Missionary Society fully covered my tuition fees and several other costs – special thanks are due to Les and Dottie Tidball and Alan and Ann Penrose. Most of my living expenses were covered by the Emmanuel Church, Northwood; I shall never know all those who contributed, but Ann Bailey and Keith and Joan Alsop must be singled out for their constant help and affection. Generous gifts also came from the Keswick Convention, the Jerusalem Trust, and the Castle Street Church, Tredegar. To all these, I can only say a heartfelt ‘Thank you.’