日志
海外传教
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The foreign missionary movement of the 19th century was a major global phenomenon, deeply tied to religion, imperialism, and modernization. It involved large numbers of Christian missionaries—especially Protestant—traveling from Europe and North America to Asia, Africa, and the Pacific with the goal of spreading Christianity and "civilization."
Here’s an overview of the movement:
1. Origins and Growth
Sparked by the Evangelical revival in Britain and the Second Great Awakening in the U.S., the movement gained momentum in the early 1800s.
Missionary societies were founded, such as:
London Missionary Society (1795)
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1810)
Church Missionary Society (1799)
Missionaries were sent to China, India, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, and Latin America.
2. Motivations
Religious conviction: A belief in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19)—to convert all nations to Christianity.
Moral reform: Missionaries believed they were bringing education, health, and modernity.
Imperial ideology: Often seen as part of the “civilizing mission” that accompanied European and American colonial expansion.
3. Activities and Strategies
Preaching and evangelism: Translating the Bible, distributing tracts, holding services.
Education: Founding schools, colleges, and literacy programs, often the first formal education systems in mission areas.
Medicine: Building hospitals and clinics; many missionaries were also doctors or nurses.
Social work: Assisting orphans, women, the poor, and lepers.
4. Regions of Focus
China: A major target after the Opium Wars opened treaty ports; famous missionaries include Hudson Taylor and the American Board’s work.
Africa: David Livingstone symbolized both missionary zeal and exploration.
India: Missions faced stiff resistance but established schools and fought practices like sati.
Pacific Islands: Rapid conversions occurred, but also significant cultural disruptions.
5. Challenges and Criticism
Cultural clashes: Locals often resisted efforts to suppress indigenous religions, customs, or social structures.
Dependency on colonial powers: Missionaries often relied on colonial infrastructure, unintentionally (or deliberately) aligning themselves with empire.
Backlash and resistance: Indigenous revivals, nationalist movements, and anti-Christian uprisings (e.g., Boxer Rebellion in China) challenged missionary presence.
6. Legacy
The foreign missionary movement reshaped global Christianity—contributing to the growth of indigenous churches, Bible translations, and cross-cultural connections.
It also laid the groundwork for modern NGOs, especially in health and education.
However, it left a mixed legacy, criticized for cultural imperialism and complicity in colonial domination.
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The 19th-century foreign missionary movement is closely related to the concept of Manifest Destiny, though they operated in different spheres—one religious, the other political-territorial. Here's how they connect:
1. Shared Ideology of Expansion and Superiority
Both Manifest Destiny and the missionary movement were driven by a deep belief in Anglo-American cultural, racial, and religious superiority.
Manifest Destiny justified U.S. territorial expansion across North America as divinely ordained.
Missionaries saw the spread of Christianity and Western values as a moral duty to “uplift” non-Christian, non-Western peoples.
In both cases, expansion—territorial or spiritual—was seen as a moral imperative.
2. Religious Justification for Empire and Conquest
Manifest Destiny often used religious language to justify westward expansion, especially the notion that the U.S. had a God-given mission to spread liberty and Christianity.
Missionaries reinforced this idea by treating indigenous and non-Western peoples as “heathens” in need of salvation.
They provided a moral cover for imperialism and colonization, helping to legitimize American and European global ambitions.
3. Overlap in Domestic and Foreign Missions
Many missionaries worked first among Native Americans and later went abroad. Their view of Native peoples as "uncivilized" mirrored their attitudes toward Asians and Africans.
The foreign missionary movement was an international extension of the domestic mission effort, which itself was deeply entwined with the ideology of Manifest Destiny.
4. Support from the Same Social Classes and Institutions
The middle-class Protestants who championed Manifest Destiny were the same groups supporting and funding foreign missions.
Missionary societies often received support from government figures, and their goals often aligned with U.S. foreign policy, particularly in places like China after the Opium Wars.
5. Civilizing Mission and Nation-Building
Just as Manifest Destiny aimed to remake the West in the image of Anglo-American values, missionaries aimed to remake the world in the image of Protestant, Western civilization.
Both movements helped lay the ideological foundation for American imperialism at the end of the 19th century (e.g., in the Philippines and Hawaii).
In short, the missionary movement and Manifest Destiny were ideologically intertwined, both rooted in expansionist visions of Christian, racial, and cultural supremacy—one turning westward across the continent, the other outward across the globe.
