Jnl of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. , No. , January . © Cambridge University Press doi:./S Origins of Anglo-Catholic Missions: Fr Richard Benson and the Initial Missions of the Society of St John the Evangelist, – by ROWAN STRONG Murdoch University E-mail:
[email protected] This paper investigates the origins of Anglican Anglo-Catholic missions, through the missionary theology and practice of the founder of the Society of St John the Evangelist, Fr Richard Benson, and an exploration of its initial missionary endeavours: the Twelve-Day Mission to London in , and two missions in India from . The Indian missions comprised an institutional mission at Bombay and Pune, and a unique ascetic enculturated mission at Indore by Fr Samuel Wilberforce O’Neill SSJE. It is argued that Benson was a major figure in the inauguration of Anglo-Catholic missions; that his ritualist moderation was instrumental in the initial public success of Anglo-Catholic domestic mission; and that in overseas missions he had a clear theological preference for disconnecting evangelism from Europeanising. Benson’s approach, more radical than was normal in the second half of the nineteenth century, was a consequence of envisaging mission’s being undertaken by a religious order, an entirely new phenomenon for Anglican missions. The Oxford Movement and mission he original Tractarian leaders were not much interested in overseas mission. As an Evangelical the young John Henry Newman did exhibit some interest in the area, serving as secretary to Oxford’s T branch of the Church Mission Society for a year from to . But as a leader of the burgeoning Oxford Movement from he was SPG = Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; SSJE = Society of St John the Evangelist; UMCA = Universities’ Mission to Central Africa The letters and diaries of John Henry Newman, ed.