Early modern Protestant mission currently enjoys increased interest, witness for instance a special issue of the Journal of Early Modern History and a volume edited by Jenna Gibbs on Global Protestant missions. Many of these publications connect seamlessly with the increased interest in the histories of globalisation, of developmental aid and of the slave trade. The editors of British Protestant missions and the conversion of Europe seek to shift the focus away from global history and concentrate on mission in continental Europe. As various authors justifiably argue, Europe as a mission field is deeply under-researched. This volume succeeds in its aim to correct this.
The editors, Simone Maghenzani (Cambridge) and Stefano Villani (Maryland), are both specialists in early modern religious history, interested in the connections between Britain and Italy, and are obviously well placed to edit this volume. There is a good line-up of authors, of whom however, remarkably (given the theme of the volume), only two are affiliated with a continental European university
The volume consists of five parts. In part i on missionary models, Simon Ditchfield contributes an excellent panoramic article in which he questions the paradigm of early modern global Catholicism. Whereas early modern Protestants regarded their own confession as beleaguered and cornered by Catholicism, Ditchfield believes that early modern Catholicism as a world religion was a ‘myth’. John Coffey focuses on the ambivalent attitude of Protestants towards Catholic mission: on the one hand, Jesuits were vilified for the wrong sort of mission (superficial and superstitious); on the other, their energy and drive were hailed as examples for godly lives.
Part ii deals with the early modern roots of global mission. Joan Redmond studies how early modern Ireland became a ‘laboratory’ for British Protestants for conversion and provided a blueprint for global mission. Sünne Juterczenka studies early modern Quaker mission in continental Europe. Her emphasis on the spatiality of mission travels – the marking of boundaries and the counting of miles – is particularly illuminating. Simone Maghenzani focuses on Italian bible translations and British support for Waldensians.
Part iii focuses on mission and Church in the Enlightenment age. Sugiko Nishikawa picks up Maghenzani's theme by investigating the support networks of the SPCK with Protestant minorities in Europe in the eighteenth century. Adelisa Malena likewise studies the roots of the SPCK by analysing the theology of the Universal Church of the German Pietist H. W. Ludolf. Catherine Arnold researches a remarkable rapprochement between the Anglican and Gallican Churches in the aftermath of the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, a plan at odds with the usual support for Protestant minorities on continental Europe described by Nishikawa and Maghenzani. Nishikawa sees a declining interest in European missions halfway through the eighteenth century and a shift in focus towards the British Empire.
The fourth part takes the reader into the nineteenth century and the emergence of modern missionary societies. David Bebbington explains the renewed urge and energy for mission from the Evangelical revivals from the mid-eighteenth century that were characterised by a drive for conversion and activism. He also sees a relation with Enlightenment values, such as optimism and pragmatism. These combined equipped a massive missionary enterprise in the early nineteenth century in Europe. Brent Sirota and Gareth Atkins explore less familiar territory: the relationships with Jews and with the Greek Orthodox Church.
The final section focuses on propaganda. Michael Ledger-Lomas studies the writings of Robert McAll on mission in France. G. A. Bremmer's contribution is worth mentioning for its art historical angle, which explores Protestant mission in Rome and Constantinople through the lens of the architecture of church buildings.
Altogether these articles present a well-researched argument to validate the claim that British Protestants were deeply involved in European mission in a wide variety of ways and with different foci: on Catholics, lapsed Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Jews and Protestant minorities. This important conclusion lessens the relevance of the thematic sections, that frequently overlap and seem to be constructed mainly on the grounds of chronological progress. The fact that the introduction speaks of five parts but the actual contents lists only four sections underscores their somewhat arbitrary nature.
Three questions remain. Firstly, the chronological scope of the book, 1600–1900, which at no place in the volume is justified. The starting date needs little defence, but to stop in 1900 begs for explanation, especially since some articles, like the one by Coffey, offer a glimpse of the late twentieth-century status of Protestant mission. The ‘(re-)conversion’ of Europe became a major theme in US foreign policy and mission immediately after World War II, and the Alpha Course, developed in a London church in 1977, is one of the most spectacular successes of British Protestant mission in continental Europe.
The second question concerns geography. The focus is on the impact of British mission in Europe, but one may wonder whether Britain was uniquely situated in Europe. After all, it was from Germany and France in the early and mid-sixteenth century that the Protestant conversion of Europe commenced. How does this relate to the theme of this volume?
Thirdly, several articles adhere to a ‘framework of failure’, since British mission in continental Europe was often unsuccessful, especially in the early modern period. The question is how we define success and failure and in what sense short-term successes were important, or whether interventions helped European communities to survive. If we view the long history of British Protestant mission in continental Europe, what patterns of success and failure emerge?
These questions are raised not to criticise, but to suggest that this important volume succeeds in opening new avenues of research for mission history.
