British Protestant Missions and the Conversion of Europe, 1600–1900
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British Protestant Missions and the Conversion of Europe, 1600–1900 This book is the first account of British Protestant conversion initiatives directed towards continental Europe between 1600 and 1900. Continental Europe was considered a missionary land – another periphery of the world, whose centre was imperial Britain. British missions to Europe were informed by religious experiments in America, Africa, and Asia, rendering these offensives against Europe a true form of “imaginary colonialism.” British Protestant missionaries often understood themselves to be at the forefront of a civilising project directed at Catholics (and sometimes even at other Protestants). Their mission was further reinforced by Britain becoming a land of compassionate refuge for European dissenters and exiles. This book engages with the myth of International Protestantism, questioning its early origins and its narrative of transnational belonging, while also interrogating Britain as an imagined Protestant land of hope and glory. In the history of Western Christianities, “converting Europe” had a role that has not been adequately investigated. This is the story of the attempted, and ultimately failed, effort to convert a continent. Simone Maghenzani is Dame Marilyn Strathern Lecturer in History, and Fellow and Director of Studies at Girton College, University of Cambridge. Stefano Villani is Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Routledge Studies in Early Modern Religious Dissents and Radicalism Series editors: Federico Barbierato, Hannah Marcus, Stefano Villani and Xenia von Tippelskirch Titles in this series address the discursive constructions of religious dissent and the practices of radical movements in the early modern world. The series transcends traditional national and confessional historiographies to examine early modern reli- gious culture as a dynamic system that was essential in forging complex identities and encouraging dialogue among them. The editors seek manuscripts that consider questions of dissent, radicalism, dissidence, libertinism, heresy, and heterodoxy, and that examine these themes historically as socio-cultural constructions. British Protestant Missions and the Conversion of Europe, 1600–1900 Edited by Simone Maghenzani and Stefano Villani British Protestant Missions and the Conversion of Europe, 1600–1900 Edited by Simone Maghenzani and Stefano Villani First published 2021 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Taylor & Francis The right of Simone Maghenzani and Stefano Villani to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maghenzani, Simone, 1986– editor. | Villani, Stefano, 1968– editor. Title: British Protestant missions and the conversion of Europe, 1600–1900 / edited by Simone Maghenzani and Stefano Villani. Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge studies in early modern religious dissents and radicalism | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020015200 (print) | LCCN 2020015201 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367198510 (hbk) | ISBN 9780429243691 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Missions, British—History. | Protestant churches— Missions—History. | Conversion—Christianity—History. | Europe— Church history. Classification: LCC BV2420 .B75 2020 (print) | LCC BV2420 (ebook) | DDC 266/.0234104—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015200 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015201 ISBN: 978-0-367-19851-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-24369-1 (ebk) Typeset in Times by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of Figures viii Acknowledgments x List of Contributors xi Introduction 1 SIMONE MAGHENZANI AND STEFANO VILLANI SECTION I Missionary Models 13 1 “One World is Not Enough”: The “Myth” of Roman Catholicism as a “World Religion” 15 SIMON DITCHFIELD 2 “The Jesuits Have Shed Much Blood for Christ”: Early Modern Protestants and the Problem of Catholic Overseas Missions 35 JOHN COFFEY SECTION II The Origins of Global Protestantism 55 3 (Re)making Ireland British: Conversion and Civility in a Neglected 1643 Treatise 57 JOAN REDMOND 4 Charting the “Progress of Truth”: Quaker Missions and the Topography of Dissent in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Europe 79 SÜNNE JUTERCZENKA vi Contents 5 The English and the Italian Bible 102 SIMONE MAGHENZANI SECTION III Missions and Church Unifications in the Age of the Enlightenment 119 6 “True Catholic Unity”: The Church of England and the Project for Gallican Union, 1717–1719 121 CATHERINE ARNOLD 7 “Promoting the Common Interest of Christ”: H.W. Ludolf’s “Impartial” Projects and the Beginnings of the SPCK 140 ADELISA MALENA 8 Between Anti-popery and European Missions: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and its Networks 164 SUGIKO NISHIKAWA SECTION IV A British Missionary Land 181 9 The Evangelical Transformation of British Protestantism for Mission 183 DAVID BEBBINGTON 10 The London Jews’ Society and the Roots of Premillennialism, 1809–1829 198 BRENT S. SIROTA 11 Missions on the Fringes of Europe: British Protestants & the Orthodox Churches, c. 1800–1850 215 GARETH ATKINS 12 Sermons in Stone: Architecture and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts within the Diocese of Gibraltar, c. 1842–1882 235 G. A. BREMNER Contents vii 13 The Land of Calvin and Voltaire: British Missionaries in Nineteenth-Century Paris 262 MICHAEL LEDGER-LOMAS Index 279 Figures 1.1 Historia della Compagnia di Giesu del R.P. Daniello Bartoli della medesima Compagnia, Anteportam by Jan Miel and Cornelis Bloemaert (Roma: de Lazzeri) 1659, Courtesy of Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu. 20 4.1 Map of the Areas Visited by Quakers 81 5.1 Brethren Lantern Slides, John Rylands Library, copyright of the University of Manchester: Northern Italy. 112 5.2 Brethren Lantern Slides, John Rylands Library, copyright of the University of Manchester: Florence Sunday School 113 7.1 Portrait of Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf, Anon., Kunst-und Naturalienkammer, Franckeschen Stiftungen, Halle. 143 11.1 Thomas Stothard, Britannia Recommending the Sacred Records to the Attention of the Different Nations of the World, Etching by Henry William Worthington, c. 1824. The original painting was presented to the British and Foreign Bible Society, probably to celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 1824. Its location is now unknown. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. 216 12.1 G.E. Street’s Final Design (c.1880) for All Saints’, Rome, USPG Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford, C/EUR/21b: permission United Society Partners in the Gospel. 239 12.2 Henry Watson Wasse (1831–91), Chaplain of the All Saints’, Church of England Church, Rome, Vestry Archive, All Saints’ Church, Rome. 241 12.3 Photograph (c.1900) Showing Interior of All Saints’, Rome, PRJ/1/21, Paul Joyce Archive, GB3010 The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, UK 242 12.4 St Paul’s Within the Walls, Rome (1872–6), G.E. Street, PRJ/1/21, Paul Joyce Archive, GB3010 The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, UK. 243 12.5 Perspective Drawing of William Burges’s First Design for the Crimean War Memorial Church, Constantinople, from The Builder (1857) 250 Figures ix 12.6 Perspective Drawing and Plan of G.E. Street’s Final Design for the Crimean War Memorial Church, Constantinople, from The Building News (21 Aug. 1868). Street was commissioned to design the church after William Burges withdrew in 1863. 252 12.7 Plan of G.E. Street’s Final Design for the Crimean War Memorial Church, Constantinople, from The Building News (21 Aug. 1868). This shows a “cloister” wrapping around the nave section of the building, forming a narthex as it crosses the west front. 253 12.8 Photograph (c.1880) of the Interior of the Crimean War Memorial Church, Constantinople (Istanbul), looking west towards the entrance, USPG Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford: permission United Society Partners in the Gospel. 254 12.9 Crimean War Memorial Church (1864–8), by G.E. Street, as built, Constantinople (Istanbul), c.1880, USPG Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford: permission United Society Partners in the Gospel. 256 Acknowledgments The project of this volume started with a conference in 2016 entitled Converting Europe: Protestant Missions, Propaganda and Literature from the British Isles (1600–1900), held at Girton College, University of Cambridge. For their generous support, we wish to thank: The Trevelyan Fund (Cambridge History Faculty); The Lightfoot Fund (Cambridge History Faculty); The Spalding Trust; The Royal Historical Society; The University of Maryland, Department of History; and, in particular, the Mistress and Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge, for hosting our proceedings. The conference was organised in collaboration