Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America

Abstract

In Protestants Abroad David Hollinger reminds us of the vital role of missionaries in American history. The book explores how overseas missions, though often linked with imperialism, produced a counterreaction against it in the course of the twentieth century. As a result of the “cascading self-interrogations” from the mission field, both the missionary enterprise and churches in America were challenged and changed. Missionaries, their children, and missionary-connected Americans helped their country come to grips with the traditions and modern realities of Asia, pioneered in the development of academic studies of Asia, and left distinct, cosmopolitan marks on America’s national life.