Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

Uncovers what Christian seminaries taught about Islam in their formative years Throughout the nineteenth century, Islam appeared regularly in the curricula of American Protestant seminaries. Islam was not only the focus of Christian missions, but was studied as part of the history of the Church as well as in the new field of comparative religions. Moreover, Arabic was taught as a cognate biblical language to help students better understand biblical Hebrew. Passages from the Qur’an were sometimes read as part of language instruction. Christian seminaries were themselves new institutions in the nineteenth century. Though Islam had already been present in the Americas since the beginning of the slave trade, it was only in the nineteenth century that the American public became more aware of Islam and had increasing contact with Muslims. It was during this period that extensive trade with the Ottoman empire emerged and more feasible travel opportunities to the Middle East became available due to the development of the steamship. Providing an in-depth look at the information about Islam that was available in seminaries throughout the nineteenth century, Muhammad in the Seminary examines what Protestant seminaries were teaching about this tradition in the formative years of pastoral education. In charting how American Christian leaders’ ideas about Islam were shaped by their seminary experiences, this volume offers new insight into American religious history and the study of Christian-Muslim relations.

Robert Prichard examines both high-church and evangelical theology in the nineteenth-century Episcopal church, claiming a commonality between the two that has been neglected in the study of Anglican history. Parting company with the interpretation dominant among historians of the Episcopal church for more than sixty years, he focuses on shared theological assumptions rather than on liturgical divisions. By focusing on these shared theological assumptions, he sheds new light on the Episcopal church, helping the reader to see the evangelical and high-church parties as concerned with theological as well as liturgical topics. Prichard's approach avoids overemphasis on division and opens the way for a broader comparison of the Episcopal church's relationship to other Protestant churches.