Missions are an important topic in the history of modern Britain and of even wider importance in the modern history of Africa and many parts of Asia. Yet, despite the perennial subject matter, and the publication of a large number of studies of particular aspects of missions, there is no recent, balanced overview of the history of the missionary moment during the last three hundred years. The British Missionary Enterprise since 1700 moves away from the partisan approach that characterizes so many writers in field and instead views missionaries primarily as institution builders rather than imperialists or heroes of social reform. This balanced survey examines both Britain as the home base of missions and the impact of the missions themselves, while also evaluating the independent initiatives by African and Asia Christians. Also addressed are the previously ignored issues of missionary rhetoric, the predominantly female nature of missions, and comparisons between British missions and those from other predominantly Protestant countries including the United States. Jeffrey Cox brings a fresh and much needed overview to this large, fascinating and controversial subject.

A fresh and much needed overview of the fascinating and controversial subject that is history of the missionary, Jeffrey Cox presents a balanced survey which examines Britain as the home base of missions and the impact of the missions themselves.

This is the only book that addresses the relations between religion, Protestant missions, and empire building, linking together all three fields of study by taking as its starting point the early eighteenth century Anglican initiatives in colonial North America and the Caribbean. It considers how the early societies of the 1790s built on this inheritance, and extended their own interests to the Pacific, India, the Far East, and Africa. Fluctuations in the vigor and commitment of the missions, changing missionary theologies, and the emergence of alternative missionary strategies, are all examined for their impact on imperial expansion. Other themes include the international character of the missionary movement, Christianity's encounter with Islam, and major figures such as David Livingstone, the state and politics, and humanitarianism, all of which are viewed in a fresh light.

"The book also features cross-references throughout, a bibliography accompanying each entry, an elaborate appendix listing biographies according to particular categories of interest, and a comprehensive index."--BOOK JACKET.

In the decades before colonial partition in Africa, the Church Missionary Society embarked on the first serious effort to evangelize in an independent Muslim state. Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther led an all-African field staff to convert the people of the Upper Niger and Confluence area, whose communities were threatened or already conquered by an expanding jihadist Nupe state. In this book, Femi J. Kolapo examines the significance of the mission as an African—rather than European—undertaking, assessing its impact on missionary practice, local engagement, and Christian conversion prospects. By offering a fuller history of this overlooked mission in the history of Christianity in Nigeria, this book reaffirms indigenous agency and rethinks the mission as an experiment ahead of its time.