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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 June 2018
This article examines the life and ideas of Josef Schmidlin, the founder of Catholic ‘missionary science’ and the most influential German Catholic missionary theorist of the first half of the twentieth century. An admirer of the German Protestant missionary theologian Gustav Warneck, Schmidlin often appears in the historiography as a forerunner of the Protestant–Catholic ecumenical collaboration that emerged after the Second World War. Yet a close examination of his writing reveals a vigorous critic of Protestantism and the Protestant ecumenical movement. A sceptic of transnational missionary organizations, he remained a firm supporter of the German nation and imperial project. This article gestures towards both the continuities and the discontinuities between the early attempts at fostering confessional cooperation between Protestants and Catholics and the later iterations. It also examines how nineteenth-century entanglements between missions and empire shaped the ideas of Catholic missionary theory during the interwar years.
I am grateful to Elisabeth Engel, James Kennedy, and Justin Reynolds for their invitation to contribute to this special issue. Udi Greenberg shared unpublished work that helped me sharpen my ideas about ecumenism and imperialism. The reviewers of the piece pointed out crucial errors and offered wonderful suggestions for revision. As always, I am thankful to Michelle Kuo for clarifying my muddled thinking.
1 Andrew Porter, ‘Missions and empire, c.1873–1914’, in Gilley, Sheridan and Stanley, Brian, eds., The Cambridge history of Christianity, volume 8: world Christianities c. 1815–1914, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, p. 568 Google Scholar.
2 The historical scholarship on the entangled relationship between Christian missionaries and Western imperialism is vast. An older strand of historiography posited missionaries as enthusiastic handmaidens of empire, while more recent revisions have stressed the complicated relationship between missionaries and the imperial project. For a good overview of these shifts in the British historiography, see Etherington, Norman, ‘Introduction’, in Norman Etherington, ed., Missions and empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 1–18 Google Scholar. On the German case, see van der Heyden, Ulrich, ‘Christian missionary societies in the German colonies, 1884/85–1914/15’, in Volker Langbehn and Mohammad Salama, eds., German colonialism: race, the Holocaust, and postwar Germany, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011, pp. 215–253 Google Scholar. For the French case, see White, Owen and Daughton, J. P., ‘Introduction: placing French missionaries in the modern world’, in Owen White and J. P. Daughton, eds., In God’s empire: French missionaries in the modern world, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 3–25 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 For the best overview of these pan-European anti-Catholic ‘culture wars’, see Clark, Christopher M. and Kaiser, Wolfram, eds., Culture wars: secular–Catholic conflict in nineteenth-century Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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5 Norman Etherington, ‘Afterword: the missionary experience in British and French empires’, in White and Daughton, In God’s empire, p. 282.
6 J. P. Daughton, for example, in An empire divided, expertly dissects the conflict between Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the French empire.
7 For a good overview of the expansion of missionary congregations in China, see Bays, Daniel, A new history of Christianity in China, Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2012, pp. 66–91 Google Scholar. Bays focuses more on the Protestant landscape. For more on the rivalries between Catholic missionary societies in the early nineteenth century, see Young, Ernest, Ecclesiastical colony: China’s Catholic church and the French religious protectorate, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 16–18 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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11 Thompson, David, ‘Ecumenism’, in Hugh McLeod, ed., The Cambridge history of Christianity, volume 9: world Christianities, c.1914–c.2000, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 50 Google Scholar. For the best account of the Edinburgh Conference, see Stanley, Brian, The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910, Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2009 Google Scholar.
12 Greenberg, Udi, ‘Protestants, decolonization, and European integration, 1885–1961’, Journal of Modern History, 89, 2, 2017, p. 316 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13 Thompson, ‘Ecumenism’, p. 68.
14 For more on the long-standing tensions between the German Protestant and Anglo-American missionaries, see Hutchison, William, ‘Innocence abroad: the “American religion” in Europe’, Church History, 51, 1, 1982, pp. 79–82 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
15 The most comprehensive biography of Schmidlin is Müller, Josef Schmidlin.
16 For more on German nation-building processes in Alsace, see Fischer, Christopher J., Alsace to the Alsatians? Visions and divisions of Alsatian regionalism, 1870–1939, New York: Berghahn Books, 2010 Google Scholar; Vlossak, Elizabeth, Marianne or Germania? Nationalizing women in Alsace, 1870–1946, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Josef Schmidlin’, in Erich Stange, ed., Die Religionswissenschaft der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen, v. 3, Leipzig: F. Meiner, 1927, p. 168 Google Scholar.
18 For more on the Catholic revival, see Clark, ‘The new Catholicism and the European culture wars’, in Clark and Kaiser, Culture wars, pp. 11–46.
19 For more on the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, see Daughton, An empire divided.
20 Schmidlin, Josef and Schmidlin, Augustin, Die katholischen Missionen und das Elsass, Mülhausen, Germany: Salvator-Verlag, 1924, p. 48 Google Scholar.
21 Ibid., p. 47.
22 Schmidlin, ‘Josef Schmidlin’, p. 168.
23 Schmidlin’s work remained a classic in the field. The Catholic theologian Felix Fellner, writing in 1934, listed Schmidlin’s Habilitation as one of the most important modern interpretations of Otto von Freising’s work. See Fellner, Felix, ‘The “Two cities” of Otto of Freising and its influence on the Catholic philosophy of history’, Catholic Historical Review, 20, 1934, pp. 154–174 Google Scholar.
24 Schmidlin, Joseph, Die geschichtsphilosophische und kirchenpolitische Weltanschauung Ottos von Freising: ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen Geistesgeschichte, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany: Herder, 1906, p. 162 Google Scholar.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., p. 163.
27 Quoted in Müller, Josef Schmidlin, p. 69.
28 Ibid.
29 Schmidlin, ‘Josef Schmidlin’, pp. 176–7.
30 Ibid.
31 Kasdorf, Hans, Gustav Warnecks missiologisches Erbe, Giessen: Brunnen Verlag, 1990, p. 6 Google Scholar. See also Best, ‘Godly, international, and independent’, pp. 591–5.
32 For a list of places and dates where chairs of Catholic missiology were established, see Collet, ‘German Catholic mission science’, pp. 105–6.
33 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Was wir wollen’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 1, 1911, p. 8 Google Scholar.
34 Yates, Timothy, Christian missions in the twentieth century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 35 Google Scholar.
35 Ibid.
36 Langhans, Ernst Friedrich, Pietismus und äussere Mission vor dem Richterstuhle ihrer Vertheidiger, Leipzig: Wigand, 1866, p. 395 Google Scholar.
37 Langhans, Ernst Friedrich, Pietismus und Christenthum im Spiegel der äußeren Mission. Erster Theil: der Pietismus, Leipzig: Verlag von Otto Wigand, 1864, p. 246 Google Scholar.
38 Ibid., p. 327.
39 Ibid., pp. 241–2.
40 Richter, Julius, Das Buch der deutschen Weltmission, Gotha, Germany: Klotz, 1934, p. 221 Google Scholar.
41 Langhans, Pietismus und Christenthum, p. 454.
42 Ludwig Knöpp, ‘Die Volkskirche auf dem Missionsfelde: die Antwort deutscher evangelischer Mission auf die Frage nach Aufgabe und Ziel’, PhD thesis, Giessen, 1938, pp. 84–5.
43 For a history of the academic study of comparative religion, see Sharpe, Eric J., Comparative religion: a history, La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1986 Google Scholar. For a critical examination of how religion was ‘invented’ in the crucible of Western imperialism, see Masuzawa, Tomoko, The invention of world religions, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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48 See Hoekendijk, Kirche und Volk, p. 79.
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51 Warneck, Gustav, Protestantische Beleuchtung der römischen Angriffe auf die evangelische Heidenmission: ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik ultramontaner Geschichtsschreibung, Gütersloh, Germany: C. Bertelsmann, 1884, p. 504 Google Scholar.
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53 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘System und Zweige der Missionswissenschaft’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 1, 1911, p. 106 Google Scholar.
54 Schmidlin, Josef, Die katholischen Missionen in den deutschen Schutzgebieten, Münster: Aschendorff, 1913, p. 9 Google Scholar.
55 Ibid.
56 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Die katholische Missionswissenschaft’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 1, 1911, p. 12 Google Scholar.
57 Ibid., p. 16.
58 Greenberg, ‘Protestants’, p. 319.
59 Ibid., p. 322.
60 Best, ‘Godly, international, and independent’, pp. 595–6.
61 For more on the French Protectorate and tensions with German Catholics, see Young, Ecclesiastical colony, pp. 62–8; Gründer, Horst, Christliche Mission und deutscher Imperialismus: eine politische Geschichte ihrer Beziehungen während der deutschen Kolonialzeit (1884–1914) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Afrikas und Chinas, Paderborn: Schöningh, 1982 Google Scholar; Rivinius, Karl Josef, Weltlicher Schutz und Mission: das Deutsche Protektorat über die Katholische Mission von Süd-Shantung, Cologne: Böhlau, 1987 Google Scholar.
62 Schubert, Michael, Der schwarze Fremd: das Bild des Schwarzafrikaners in der parlamentarischen und publizistischen Kolonialdiskussion in Deutschland von den 1870er bis in die 1930er Jahre, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2003, pp. 158–160 Google Scholar.
63 Warneck, Protestantische Beleuchtung, p. 1. See also Armin Owzar, ‘Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam in German East Africa’, in Dujardin and Prudhomme, Mission and science, p. 356.
64 For a good overview of the entire debate between Warneck and Troeltsch, see Berner, ‘Religionsgeschichte und Mission’.
65 Schmidlin, Die katholischen Missionen, p. XIV.
66 Ibid., p. 1.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid., pp. 1–2.
70 Ibid., p. 2.
71 Ibid., p. 10.
72 Ibid., p. 14.
73 Ibid., p. 30.
74 Schmidlin, ‘Die katholische Missionswissenschaft’, p. 16.
75 Schmidlin, Die katholischen Missionen, p. 2.
76 Schmidlin, Josef, Die christliche Weltmission im Weltkrieg, München-Gladbach: Volksvereins-Verlag, 1915, p. 70 Google Scholar.
77 Ibid., pp. 12–13.
78 Cited in Müller, Josef Schmidlin, p. 142.
79 Ibid., p. 159. As part of this campaign, Schmidlin refused to publish Jesuit opinions in the Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft.
80 Rivinius, Weltlicher Schutz und Mission, pp. 79–80.
81 Müller, Josef Schmidlin, p. 165.
82 Schmidlin, Die christliche Weltmission, p. 87. See also Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Rückblick auf die Kriegsgeschichte der Weltmission’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 9, 1919, p. 40 Google Scholar.
83 Schmidlin, Die christliche Weltmission, p. 87.
84 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Die Missionsfrage vor dem Völkerbund’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 16, 1926, p. 317 Google Scholar.
85 Ibid., p. 318.
86 Schmidlin, Die christliche Weltmission, p. 14.
87 Ibid., p. 16.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid., p. 79.
90 Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Weltfrieden und Weltmission’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 9, 1919, p. 2 Google Scholar.
91 Schmidlin, Die christliche Weltmission, p. 16.
92 Schmidlin, ‘Weltfrieden und Weltmission’, p. 3.
93 See Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Missionslage und Missionsaufgaben angesichts des Friedens’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 9, 1919, p. 78 Google Scholar.
94 On fears of the Russian Revolution, see Schmidlin, Josef, ‘Deutsche Missionsperspektiven’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 9, 1919, p. 62 Google Scholar. On fears of the Japanese, see Schmidlin, ‘Rückblick’, pp. 56–7.
95 For one detailed example, see ‘Missionsrundschau: die protestantischen Missionen (1932–1934)’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 25, 1935, pp. 37–51.
96 Thauren, Johannes, ‘Der protestantische Konferenzbericht des internationalen Missionsrates in Jerusalem’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 19, 1929, pp. 381–384 Google Scholar.
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99 Schmidlin, ‘Missionslage’, p. 74.
100 Schmidlin, Die christliche Weltmission, p. 16.
101 Ibid., p. 14.
102 Ibid., p. 87.
103 Benedict XV, ‘Maximum illud’, Apostolic Letter on the Propagation of the Faith throughout the World, 30 November 1919, §20, text available at http://www.svdcuria.org/public/mission/docs/encycl/mi-en.htm (consulted 20 March 2018).
104 For more on the founding of Belgian missiology, see An Vandenberghe, ‘Beyond Pierre Charles: the emergence of Belgian missiology refined’, in Dujardin and Prudhomme, Mission and science, pp. 151–70.
105 See, for example, Schmidlin, August, Katholische Weltmission und deutsche Kultur, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany: Herder, 1925, pp. 6–7 Google Scholar; and Charles, Pierre, Les dossiers de l’action missionaire: manuel de missiologie, Louvain: Editions de l’AUCAM, 1938, pp. 211–212 Google Scholar.
106 See Pham, Towards an ecumenical paradigm, pp. 141–4.
107 Charles, Pierre, Missiologie, Bruges: Desclée De Brouwer, 1939, p. 101 Google Scholar.
108 Ibid., p. 102.
109 Ibid., pp. 126–7.
110 Schmidlin, Joseph, Catholic mission theory, trans. Matthias Braun, Techny, IL: Mission Press, 1931, p. 294 Google Scholar.
111 Ibid. On Warneck’s ideas of European superiority, see Greenberg, ‘Protestants’, pp. 322–3.
112 Schmidlin, Katholische Weltmission, pp. 11–12.
113 Ibid., p. 61.
114 Schmidlin, Catholic mission theory, p. 337.
115 Schmidlin, Josef, Von meiner ostasiatischen Weltmissionsreise, Münster: Aschendorff, 1930, p. 30 Google Scholar.
116 See Robert, Dana L., Christian mission: how Christianity became a world religion, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2009, p. 71 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
117 Thompson, ‘Ecumenism’, p. 50.
118 Charles, Pierre, La robe sans couture: un essai de luthéranisme catholique, Bruges: Ch. Beyaert, 1923, pp. 23, 183 Google Scholar.
119 Charles, Les dossiers, p. 212.
120 Ibid., p. 410.
121 I am grateful to Udi Greenberg for pointing me to the reluctance on the part of Protestant missionaries to seek cross-confessional collaboration.
122 Similar arguments played out in the international diplomatic sphere, as European powers continued to argue that they should supervise the process of decolonization. See Pedersen, Susan, The guardians: the League of Nations and the crisis of empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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124 Collet, ‘German Catholic mission science’, p. 108.
