Benjamin Haydon, The AnTi-SlAvery SocieTy convenTion, 1840 —national Portrait Gallery / [PuBlic domain] Wikimedia
Misunderstood missionaries ColoniAl enABlerS or pioneerS oF SoCiAl And eConomiC reForm? Robert D. Woodberry The carToon’s poinT is clear. Two members of a native South American tribe confront a missionary holding a large Bible and tell him: “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you come visit the temple tomorrow, and we’ll teach you how to live a life of sacrifice?” Such a caricature of Western missionaries has taken hold recently—those whose religious zeal leads them to misunderstand local cultures, sometimes with tragic results. But a closer look reveals a far more complex picture of missionaries who fought colonial governments for more just treatment and less financial exploitation—and who sometimes won. the bridge between Nineteenth-century missionaries held a unique bridging position between the colonized they intended to reach and the colonizers whose culture they shared. Widely dispersed in the colonies, they directly witnessed colonizers abusing indigenous people. Such abuses hampered missionary work by turning locals against Westerners and against Christianity. But missionaries had power in the West through religious supporters and
Issue 137
Listen to the missionaries The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society meets in 1840; missionary reports helped drive economic and social reforms.
funders that they wrote to regularly and could mobilize. Prior to modern international human rights organizations and news organizations, missionaries and their supporters stood at the forefront in this fight. Most missionaries were not against the idea of colonialism—it allowed them to enter many countries. But they wanted a moderate form. For example, prior to the First Opium War (1839–1842), missionaries had not openly resisted the British opium trade; to gain access to China, some worked as translators for opium trading companies. However, the Opium Wars changed two things. First, missionaries could now enter China without working for trading companies. Second, they saw the consequences of addiction; spurred to compassion they became the main group mobilizing Europeans and Americans against the opium trade. Missionaries strove to evangelize the poor and marginalized as well as the wealthy and powerful, and
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