HIS 218 & REL 218 Church History II: Reformation to the Present

Blood Ground traces the transition from religion to race as the basis for policing the boundaries of the "white" community. Elbourne shows that while the Khoekhoe used Christianity as a tool to combat aspects of colonialism, throughout the nineteenth century there were broad shifts in the relationship of missions to colonialism as the British missionary movement became less internationalist, more respectable, and more emblematic of the British imperial project. She argues that it is symptomatic of the ambiguities of this relationship that many Christian Khoekhoe ultimately rebelled against the South African colony.

The great, pre-Civil War attempt of Protestant missionaries to Christianize Native Americans is found by Berkofer to be a significant point of contact. The irony displayed by this relationship did not truly lie in the disparity between Anglo-Saxon ideals and actions but in the failure of all to see that both sides had ultimately behaved according to their values. Using the records of missions to sixteen tribes in various regions of the United States, Berkofer has carefully followed the hopeful efforts of sixty-five years.

In 1812, eight American missionaries sailed from the United States to South Asia. The plans that motivated their voyage were no less grand than taking part in the Protestant conversion of the entire world. Over the next several decades, these men and women were joined by hundreds more American missionaries at stations all over the globe. Conroy-Krutz shows the surprising demonstrates that American evangelical Protestants of the early nineteenth century were motivated by Christian imperialism.

In Building God's Kingdom Karina Hestad Skeie analyzes Malagasy influence on the nineteenth century Norwegian mission in highland Madagascar. Exploring the encounters' material, spatial and symbolic aspects, the study reveals the complex dynamics of mission encounters.

The globalization of Christianity is a well-known phenomenon. Scholars increasingly realize the importance of natives rather than foreign missionaries in the process of evangelization. This volume contributes to the understanding of this process through case studies of encounters with Christianity from the perspectives of the indigenous peoples who converted. More importantly, by exploring overarching, general terms such as conversion and syncretism and by showing the variety of strategies and processes that actually take place, these studies lead to a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural religious interactions in general.

Missionary medicine flourished during the period of high European imperialism, from the late-1800s to the 1960s. Although the figure of mission doctor - exemplified by David Livingstone and Albert Schweitzer - exercised a powerful influence on the Western imagination during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, few historians have examined the history of this important aspect of the missionary movement. This collection of articles on Asia and Africa uses the extensive archives that exist on medical missions to both enrich and challenge existing histories of the clinic in colonial terri.

This book makes visible an important but neglected aspect of Christian missions: its transnational character. Missionaries considered themselves global actors, yet they operated within a variety of nation-states. The volume demonstrates how processes on a national level are closely linked to larger transnational processes.

This monograph studies a significant episode in Chinese Christianity. Focusing on the origins of Protestantism in South Fujian, it investigates the evolution of the churches which pioneered in indigenization and ecclesiastical union in China during the 19th century.