American Protestant Missionaries Research Articles

From Frozen Ponds to Organized Competitions: The Growth of Skating and Ice Hockey in Korea, 1886–1938

The encounter of American Protestant evangelicalism and Japanese imperialism formed in Korean society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries became a steppingstone for the acceptance of modern winter sports in Korea. In particular, skates introduced by American Protestant missionaries and the Young Men’s Christian Association formed an imaginary space to counter Japanese imperialism in Korea during Japanese colonial era. Ice hockey introduced along with skating is a representative product that evolved in this process. The history of the introduction of American ice hockey to Korea also had a dual imperial influence between the United States and Japan, and in another direction, there was a voluntary acceptance process by Koreans who recognized ice hockey as a modern product.

Astronomy for Girls

Abstract In 1874–75 American Protestant missionaries in Beirut published two astronomy textbooks in Arabic. While male students at the Syrian Protestant College studied Cornelius Van Dyck’s Foundations of Astronomy, girls at secondary schools—the highest level of female education—studied Eliza Everett’s Principles of Astronomy: For Use in Schools. These texts appeared at the height of a cross-cultural encounter between American Protestants and the inhabitants of Beirut and Mount Lebanon that added new meanings to the Arabic concept of science (ʿilm). Historians have analyzed men’s discussions to chart how ʿilm, once a broad category akin to “knowledge” in English, came to include a neo-Baconian understanding of the modern English “science.” This article turns to science pedagogy, a field that included both men and women, to argue that the conceptual transformation of ʿilm also entailed an epistemological division along lines of gender and age. Overall, the story reveals how a study of women in science sheds light on the gendered history of science in Arabic.

Gender Politics at Home and Abroad: Protestant Modernity in Colonial-Era Korea

Gender Politics at Home and Abroad: Protestant Modernity in Colonial-Era Korea

Saving the Overlooked Continent: American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975

Saving the Overlooked Continent: American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975

H. Fujimoto, <i>Medicine and Christianity: American Protestant Missionaries and their Medical Work in Japan</i>

H. Fujimoto, <i>Medicine and Christianity: American Protestant Missionaries and their Medical Work in Japan</i>

A statistical measurement of diseases recorded in The Quarterly Reports of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton

The Quarterly Reports of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton written by Rev. Peter Parker, an American protestant missionary in China, were serialised in The Chinese Repository from 1836 to 1850. Each report provided the number of patients treated in the corresponding period and described in detail the treatment of diseases which were difficult to deal with. However, due to historical conditions, these reports were inconsistent in terms of the disease classification standards, let alone the statistical deficiencies. This paper aims to regroup the diseases recorded in the 15 reports according to the classification from the eleventh to fifteenth report and recount the patient number of each disease systematically in different periods, with reliable historical data to support such relevant studies as the history of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton and the introduction of Western Medicine into China and the development of International Classification of Diseases.

Around the World in 283 Days: Traveling with the Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry Commission of Appraisal

The Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry was an ambitious attempt by seven mainline Protestant denominations to evaluate the state of American foreign missions in 1931–32. It consisted of two parts, a fact-finding mission and the Commission of Appraisal, the findings of which are known as the Hocking Report. The Report stirred quite a bit of controversy and helped shape American Protestant missions for years to come. This article is based on a collection of letters written by the secretary of the Commission; it offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the Commission as it traveled around the world.

American Philhellenes, Protestant Missionaries and the “Orphans” of the 1821 Hellenic War of Independence: The Case of Christodoulos Evangelides

The declaration of the Greek War of Independence and emancipation from the long Turkish enslavement was heralded by enthusiasts, romantics, abolitionists and philhellenists in both Europe and the United States of America. Eventually, most of them assumed the role of philhellenes, and contributed to the success of the Greek cause either by their actual presence, or by their fund raising campaign, or by the personal influence they exercised on hesitant American governments. American Philhellenism took many forms, one of which was that of the protestant denominational committee support whose endowment, although open to interpretation, contributed significantly to both the civilians’ relief and to the development of the Greek educational system. The particular paper discusses the role the American Protestant missionaries played within this wider atmosphere of support and their Greek “orphans” project pertaining to several boys being taken by American missionaries back to their homeland to be given a new home, education and job opportunities either in the United States or in Greece. In my discussion of the American Protestant contribution to the Greek War of Independence in 1821, I have chosen to discuss Christodoulos Evangelides’ American experience as he is one of the very few “orphans” who left a diary behind shedding light to the conditions of the particular project.

Hans Krabbendam, Saving the Overlooked Continent. American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940-1975

Hans Krabbendam, Saving the Overlooked Continent. American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940-1975

The effect of social capital on organizational repertoires of American Protestant missions

A religious organization’s choice of activities is shaped not only by theological goals but also the capital available to it. Prior research has shown how economic and religious capital influence Protestant missionary organizations’ repertoires of activism but has largely ignored the role of social capital. Using the most recent data on transnational American Protestant mission agencies, this study aims to fill this gap. Using a Bourdieuian field approach and multiple correspondence analysis, the study finds that linking and bonding social capital both shape whether an agency generalizes rather than specializes in specific ministry activities. Both bonding and bridging social capital, in turn, prompt a more other-worldly than this-worldly ministry orientation, but this is a pattern most characteristic of Evangelical agencies, suggesting an intersection between religious identity and organizational network size. The study concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for interorganizational collaboration and resource use.

Hans Krabbendam, Saving the Overlooked Continent. American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975. Leuven, Leuven University Press 2020

Article Hans Krabbendam, Saving the Overlooked Continent. American Protestant Missions in Western Europe, 1940–1975. Leuven, Leuven University Press 2020 was published on December 1, 2021 in the journal Historische Zeitschrift (volume 313, issue 3).

Saving the Overlooked Continent: American Protestant Missions in Western Europe 1940–1975. By Hans Krabbendam. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2020. 248 pp. $59.00 paper.

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Saving the Overlooked Continent. American Protestant Missions in Western Europe 1940-1975 Hans Krabbendam

Summary This book presents research into North-American evangelical missionary initiatives in Europe between 1940 and 1975. It investigates the motives and aims of the American interest in Europe and describes the further development of the American-European relationship among evangelicals. Regarding the first decades, the author deals with the competition within the conservative American camp between traditional fundamentalists and evangelicals for influence in Europe (which the fundamentalists lost) and contrasts developments in the evangelical space with those of traditional inter-church relations in the context of the World Council of Churches between North America and Europe. Krabbendam makes an important contribution to the history of the evangelical movement in Europe and the influence of North America. Zusammenfassung Dieses Buch präsentiert nordamerikanische evangelikale Missionsinitiativen in Europa in den Jahren zwischen 1940 und 1975. Es erarbeitet Motive und Ziele des amerikanischen Missionsinteresses an Europa und schildert die verschiedenen Phasen der weiteren Entwicklung des amerikanisch-europäischen Verhältnisses unter Evangelikalen. Dabei geht der Autor hinsichtlich der ersten Jahrzehnte auf den Wettstreit innerhalb des konservativen US-amerikanischen Lagers zwischen traditionellen Fundamentalisten und Evangelikalen um Einfluss in Europa ein (den das fundamentalistische Lager verlor) und stellt die Entwicklungen im evangelikalen Raum denen traditioneller zwischenkirchlicher Beziehungen im Umfeld des Weltkirchenrates zwischen Nordamerika und Europa gegenüber. Krabbendam legt einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Geschichte der evangelikalen Bewegung in Europa und des Einflusses Nordamerikas in diesen Jahrzehnten vor. Résumé Ce livre traite des initiatives missionnaires évangéliques nord-américaines en Europe entre 1940 et 1975. Il examine les motifs et les objectifs de l’intérêt américain pour l’Europe et décrit le développement de la relation américano-européenne dans la sphère évangélique. S’intéressant aux premières décennies, l’auteur étudie la compétition opposant, au sein même du camp américain conservateur, fondamentalistes traditionnels et évangéliques pour le gain d’une influence prépondérante en Europe (compétition perdue par les fondamentalistes) et compare les développements perceptibles dans l’espace évangélique à ceux des relations inter-Églises traditionnelles dans le cadre du Conseil Œcuménique des Églises entre l’Amérique et l’Europe. Krabbendam apporte une contribution importante à l’histoire du mouvement évangélique en Europe et de l’influence nord-américaine.

Diversity within Protestant Transnationalism: Differences in the Scope and Reach of Pentecostal/Charismatic and Evangelical Missions

Background: A growing number of studies have begun to emphasize differences between Pentecostals and Charismatics (P/Cs), on the one hand, and Evangelicals, on the other. Yet few of these studies have considered differences in transnational missions. Purpose: This study explores the extent to which P/C and Evangelical organizations vary in their transnational outreach, both in terms of what they do and where they operate. Methods: To examine these differences, I explore data on transnational American Protestant mission agencies using descriptions of trends over time and time series logistic regressions. Results: Although both P/Cs and Evangelicals tend to be concerned with otherworldly soteriological issues, I find that P/Cs are even more likely to engage in otherworldly types of activities that allow for the propagation and proliferation of the Gospel, especially with respect to evangelism and the publication and distribution of Christian literature. In addition, although both P/C and Evangelical agencies gravitate towards countries where the percentage of Protestants is low, P/C agencies are comparatively less active in countries with the lowest percentages. However, there is little evidence of differences between P/C and Evangelical agencies’ ministries when it comes to countries’ varying levels of development. Conclusions and Implications: The study concludes with several implications. First, although many differences may be more salient when distinguishing Evangelicals and P/Cs together from other Protestant traditions, there are sufficient important variations between the two former traditions to warrant treating them as analytically distinct, at least with respect to their organized transnational activism. Second, at the same time, non-findings in the study also suggest that differences between Evangelicals and P/Cs are not as pronounced at the organizational as compared to the individual level. Finally, the study reflects on the limitations of the data with recommendations for further research.

Protestants, Gender, and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria, by Deanna Ferree Womack

<i>Protestants, Gender, and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria</i>, by Deanna Ferree Womack

Distinction through Religious Activism: How Capital Shapes the Organizational Repertoires of Transnational Protestant Outreach

AbstractHow religious organizations distinguish themselves from one another influences the extent to which they compete (or cooperate) with other similar organizations, thus serving to shape both their survivability and efficacy in achieving their goals. Although theological differences provide one source of distinction, organizations also strategically distinguish themselves not only by what they do but also what they avoid doing. Adopting a Bourdieu(s)ian field theory approach to the study of transnational American Protestant mission agencies, this article explores how agencies’ ministry activities are organized into symbolically distinctive repertoires of activism that vary by agencies’ differing levels of religious and economic capital. Based on how these repertoires are diversified (versus concentrated) and focused on inner- (as opposed to other-worldly) goals, the article discusses the implications of these organizational patterns for the survivability and efficacy of agencies in the transnational missions field, as well as their prospects for interorganizational cooperation and coordination.

Inner-worldly and other-worldly outreach: organizational repertoires of protestant mission agencies

Over the last few decades, an increasing number of American Protestant mission agencies have been engaging in evangelism and humanitarian activities. What explains this growth and what are its future implications? Applying theories of organizational ecology and religious identity, I examine intra- and inter-organizational factors influencing rates of engagement in theEvangelismandRelief &amp; Developmentsectors. The study finds that ecological theories, especially of density dependence, that have more commonly been used to study secular organizational foundings and deaths prove compelling in explaining mission agencies’ transnational behaviors. Second, contrary to some common assumptions, Evangelical agencies are no different than Mainline Protestant agencies in expanding their activism to include evangelistic or humanitarian activism, suggesting that despite their theological differences, agencies that are commonly dedicated to transnationalism have more that unites than divides them. I conclude by reflecting on what these patterns imply about continued growth prospects in each sector.

Black Hand [黑手]/ Red List [红名单]: China, Law and the Foreigner; Mutual Engagements on a Global Scale

This essay considers the cultural and discursive tropes, their political and social effects, that have marked the way in which comprehensible mutual engagement between China and foreigner have been constructed. These forms of engagement with the “foreign” has ancient discursive roots in China. It suggests the character of the mutual engagement between China and foreigners (especially foreigners viewed as representatives of equal or dangerous powers) as a form of cultural discourse that reflects an oscillation between caution and utility for which a set of definitive cultural tropes of the foreigner have been constructed with the participation of those foreigners who have embraced or at least utilized these discursive tropes. After an Introduction, Part 2 examines the model through the lens of a 1911 essay authored by Edward Capen, an American protestant missionary. Capen’s report suggests the seven archetypes of the foreigner around which engagement is constructed: (1) the missionary; (2) the expert; (3) the sycophant; (4) the colonizer; (5) the expatriate; (6) the entrepreneur; and (7) the company person (or salaryman). Part 3 then suggests internal and external lessons that might be drawn. Internal lessons are first centered on the challenges for those designated to receive and transpose such knowledge — Chinese scholars who serve as the internal intermediaries for foreign knowledge. The second relates to the mechanics for managing acceptable and dangerous knowledge for intermediaries and for the masses. The external lessons will be more difficult — these center on the consequences of replication of the patterns of Chinese engagement with foreigners when China itself becomes the foreigner. The dangers of the inverse replication of these archetypes is already lurking in China’s Belt and Road Initiative relations. But one might acquire a more definitive sense of those challenges in the Chinese “Black Hand” campaign in Hong Kong in 2019.

Agency, Identity and Ecumenicalism in the American Missionary Schools of Tripoli, Lebanon

ABSTRACTWhen the American Protestant Mission in Syria entered the educational arena of nineteenth-century Tripoli, its administrators founded long-lasting educational institutions primarily for the purpose of converting souls to Protestant Christianity. Secondarily, missionaries sought to impose ideas of gender and class on their students. Through previously unexamined memoirs, school records, and missionary writings, this article offers a microhistorical analysis of the Tripoli Girls' School (est. 1873) and the Tripoli Boys' Boarding School (est. 1904). This study begins by situating the schools within the broader context of an increasingly peripheralized and predominantly Sunni Muslim city, showing that the geographical, social, and educational environment of Tripoli shaped and was shaped by the boarding schools. It explores two trends within the Tripoli schools, namely, the ‘professionalization’ of female students, and the reification of class divisions, as Tripoli was integrated into a system of global capitalism. Finally, it moves beyond narratives of ‘secularization’ and argues that students played a significant role in shifting the emphasis of missionary education away from religious conversion to an educational model of interreligious cooperation that saw Muslims and Christians as partners in a syncretic endeavour.

Women, missionaries, and medical professions: the history of overseas female students in Meiji Japan

The Meiji government did little to develop higher education for women in Japan, leading ambitious women, such as Tsuda Umeko, to cross the Pacific Ocean to seek opportunities for advanced studies. In the field of medicine, male physicians received training from their German counterparts, while female physicians, such as Yoshioka Yayoi, studied medicine under Japanese instructors. Nevertheless, some women did study medicine at American medical colleges in Meiji Japan. This article sheds light on seven American-educated female physicians who took advantage of a globalising trend – the rise of American Protestant missions. American female missionaries provided opportunities for Japanese women in both the teaching and medical professions. However, women’s overseas medical studies were short-lived because of the changing political climate and evolution in the medical domain at the end of the nineteenth century. At this point, as the likelihood of Japanese women going abroad for medical studies diminished, American missionaries shifted their focus to nursing education.