Protestant Missionaries Perspectives on the Arab Orthodox and Orthodoxy at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract

Some centuries after the onset of European missionaries to the East and their competition over winning converts, Protestants started their missionary work at the turn of the nineteenth century in an East which was then under the Ottoman Rule. From Aleppo to Palestine, they eventually promulgated across the entire Near and Middle East, with the purpose of instilling in the population there — both Muslim and Christian — what they believed to be the “true” Christian faith. In fact, their claim revolved around their firm conviction that both Catholics and Orthodox have gone astray in their basic elements of faith, which in turn have always dissuaded the Moslems to accept Christianity as the true religion. From primary protestant sources, this paper will focus on their perspective regarding the “degrading” Orthodox faith, and their “shallow” clerics and “obsolete” established traditions.