Dr. David Livingstone, the Victorian “missionary-explorer”, has attracted more written commentary than nearly any other heroic figure of the nineteenth century. In the years following his death, he rapidly became the subject of a major “biographical industry” and indeed he continues to sustain an academic industry as well. Yet, out of the extensive discourse that has installed itself around him, no single unified image of Livingstone emerges. Rather, he has been represented in diverse ways and put to work in a variety of socio-political contexts. This thesis interrogates the heterogeneous nature of Livingstone’s legacy and explores the plurality of identities that he has posthumously acquired. In approaching Livingstone’s “Lives” the methodology employed is that of metabiographical analysis, essentially a biography of biographies. This framework does not aim to uncover the true nature of the “biographee” but is rather concerned with the malleability and ideological embeddedness of biographical representation. The first chapter considers Livingstone’s own self-representation by critically analysing Missionary Travels, his best-selling travelogue. I argue that the text is more ambivalent than has hitherto been acknowledged and that its heterogeneity facilitated the diversity of Livingstone’s posthumous interpretations. The second chapter discusses Livingstone’s Victorian commemoration, exploring a body of hitherto unexamined remembrance literature, a wealth of obituaries and elegiac poetry. Focusing on a brief historical juncture, the year of his national memorial, presents an opportunity to reflect on some of the foundation stones of his legacy. The next chapter concerns itself with Livingstone’s imperialist construction, certainly his most persistent image. It discusses the way in which he was routinely re-presented in order to meet the evolving demands of empire. Yet, Livingstone was never constructed homogenously at any one colonial moment and so I argue that we should speak of his imperial legacies. The penultimate chapter considers the Scottish dimension of Livingstone’s reputation in a range of contexts, from the Celtic Revival to Kailyard. While some ignored his northern heritage, his national identity was of vital importance for others who used him to negotiate a Scottish national consciousness. The final chapter extends the concept of life-writing to include fictional portrayals of Livingstone. The focus here is primarily on postcolonial literature in which, as a cherished icon of empire, he became a focal point for critique and imaginative violence. The thesis contributes to the growing body of scholarship on life-writing and directs further attention to the changing nature and political efficacy of historical lives. Livingstone emerges as a site of competing meanings; the Victorian hero has himself become a colonised space.

Taking the transformative potential of education as its starting point, this thesis analyses Belgian attempts to use schools policy to strengthen the hegemony of the colonial state in the Congo during the interwar years. Through an empirical treatment of the development of the colonial school system, based largely on archival research, the study pursues two main contentions. The first is that the Belgian colonial authorities played a far more direct role in formulating and implementing education policy than is often believed. The second is that the state authorities’ interest in education was defined both by the economic imperative of colonial exploitation, which compelled them to train skilled workers, and the fear that access to education would fuel potential sedition. Six thematic chapters demonstrate that this paradox of necessity and fear shaped Belgian education policy in the Congo, looking at the reasons behind the fear of potential unrest, and at its ramifications. This thesis argues that these pressures caused the Belgian colonial authorities to try to mould Congolese society using education as a tool, by using specific streams of instruction to inculcate certain groups of Congolese, such as auxiliaries, healthcare workers, and women, with the principles of colonial rule. The thesis also considers how these policies were put into practice, focusing on relations between the colonial authorities and the Catholic and Protestant mission societies, and evaluates their efficacy. Moreover, this thesis attempts to establish, where possible, the reactions of colonized Congolese to European educational provision. Having analysed these issues, this thesis concludes that the colonial education system in the Congo during the interwar years failed to fulfil its main purpose and perpetuate Belgian colonial rule.

The primary objective of this study is to re-tell the story of a largely neglected figure in the history of Christian missions in China, James Legge (1815-1897), from a modern missiological perspective. As a Scottish missionary from the Congregational (nonconformist) church background, Legge worked for the London Missionary Society in Hong Kong, a British Crown Colony, for almost thirty years. He later became the first Professor of Chinese at the Oxford University and probably the most important sinologist of the nineteenth century. This study tries to apply the "translation principle" proposed by A. F. Walls to illustrate that the career of Legge in scholarship, translation and evangelization has undergone a process of "conversion" and "transformation" which resulted in Legge' s constant revision of his viewpoints on Chinese cul tu re. Legge' s genuine appreciation and sympathetic understanding of the Chinese cultural heritage grew gradually and as a "converted" missionary Legge was willing to criticize severely the deed of all "Christian nations". Through the monumental task of translating the Chinese Classics into English, Legge not only served as a bridge-builder between two spheres of culture; he also came to the conclusion that the ancient religion of China was monotheistic and that the teaching of the Chinese sages like Confucius, Mencius, and Lao-tze (Laozi) would suggest valuable lessons to those who claimed themselves as Christians. He also declared that the terms "Shang Ti" (Shangdi) and "T'ien" (Tian) found in the Chinese Classics actually stood for the idea of the one true God in the Christian Scriptures. Several of Legge's Chinese colleagues like Ho Tsunshin (1817-1871), Wang Tao (1828-1897), and Hung Jen-kan (1822-1864) were involved in the two way translation of integrating Western ideas into the social, religious, cultural and political scene of nineteenth century China as well as assisting Legge to let the West know more about China. Moreover, though Legge failed to develop any kind of Chinese theology himself, with its emphasis on restoring one's historical past, his legacy still serves to remind the present-day Christians in mainland China and Hong Kong to remember and to revive their own cultural traditions. Along with all the overseas Chinese Christian communities, they have to dig their own wells so as to drink from their own spiritual fountains which would serve as a solid base for a more inculturated and liberating Chinese Christianity.

In this holistic, multiple-case, replication study, key informant interviews, focus group interviews, documents, and field notes were gathered, coded, and analyzed from three stratified, randomly selected Hmong C&MA churches to discover the family ministry perceptions and practices of these Hmong churches. These family ministry perceptions and practices were then compared to the religious education of children within the traditional Hmong religion in order to identify areas for contextualization. The Hmong are a collective, clan-kinship, indigenous people group of southern China and Southeast Asia who converted to Christianity in 1949 through the missionary work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Prior to conversion, the Hmong practiced animism, shamanism, ancestral worship, and reincarnation. Children were religiously instructed through informal, oral, experiential, and intergenerational learning. The home was the central shrine for religious instruction via altars, offerings, sacrifices, and rituals. Fathers were the primary religious instructors of children, followed by clan spirit fathers, and the shaman and religious experts. Through this research, it was discovered that since conversion, the Hmong churches have experienced a paradigm shift in the religious education of their children: from an oral, informal, ritual-oriented, home-centered, father-led religious education paradigm to a literate, semi-formal, classroom-oriented, church-centered, pastor-led Christian education paradigm. The segmented programmatic model of family ministry was established in the early Hmong church by C&MA missionaries, and has continued to be perpetuated in the three case studies. The age-segmented children’s church and Sunday school were the principle Christian education programs utilized in these churches. The effects of the segmented programmatic family model in the Hmong churches have been both positive and negative. Some children have been evangelized and discipled in the Christian faith. Some have drifted from the Christian faith due to lack of parental involvement, and the lack of mature adult teachers. To develop a more contextualized family ministry within the Hmong church context, children need to be equally valued, fathers elevated as primary spiritual leaders, the home re-established as the center for Christian education, and intergenerational mentoring increased so that Christian faith can be transmitted to the next generations.

The present study focused on the educational and career experiences of four selected Swedish immigrant women at North Park College in Chicago from 1900-1920. There is a gap in the extant literature with regard to the Swedish immigrant women experiences, and this study attempted to shed some light on this fascinating topic.The study examined the lives of three selected Swedish immigrant women students at the College and their lives afterwards as missionaries in China. It also examined the life of Lena Sahlstrom, a faculty member at North Park College during the same period. The four women were exceptional individuals, each in her own way a pioneer. Hilma Johnson studied business for one year at North Park College before becoming the Covenant Church's first woman missionary to China in 1901, a commitment she maintained for 40 years. Hilda Rodberg was the first female graduate of the Swedish Covenant Hospital Nursing School in 1900, and she became a missionary in China for over thirty years. Victoria Welter was the first woman to graduate from North Park College's Seminary Department in 1903, after which she, too, left for China to serve as a missionary, where she married John Sjoquist, a medical missionary. Welter was the only one of the four to marry, and after the death of her husband in 1917 she returned to Chicago to complete her children's formal education.Caroline "Lena" Sahlstrom was the first female faculty member at North Park College. She was a teacher in the Primary Department and the Music Department, and she also served as the Dean of Women during part of her long tenure at North Park College. Her contributions to the school and the students were impressive, and she was a committed educator of her time.Each of the four women valued education and religion, and each was influenced in various ways by their experiences at North Park College. Hilma Johnson, Hilda Rodberg, and Victoria Welter chose professional careers as missionaries in China where they ministered to many people through teaching and health care. Influenced by her educational and religious background, Lena Sahlstrom chose to join the faculty at North Park College where her years of service and various roles impacted the lives of many students. While economic advancement was not a goal for any of the four, they all chose professional careers and lives of commitment that differed from the traditional roles filled by most women of their day. All four were role models who made a difference in many peoples lives.

This thesis explores the formative influences, development and impact of the theology of David Smith Cairns, Scottish minister, academic and writer, during the high point of British imperial expansion, and at a time of social tension caused by industrialisation. In particular, it describes and evaluates his role in the Church’s efforts to face major challenges relating to its relationships to the different world religions, its response to the First World War, and its attitude to the scientific disciplines that called into question some of its long-standing perceptions and suppositions. Examination of Cairns’s life and work reveals an eminent figure, born into the United Presbyterian Church and rooted in the Church in Scotland, but operating ecumenically and internationally. His apologetics challenged the prevailing assumptions of the day: that science provided the only intellectually legitimate means of exploring the world, and that scientific determinism ruled out the Christian conception of the world as governed by Providence. A major feature of his theology was the presentation of Christianity as a ‘reasonable’ faith, and throughout his life he maintained a particular concern for young people, having endured his own crisis of faith when a student in Edinburgh. He enjoyed a decades long involvement with the Student Christian Movement and the World Student Christian Federation, based on a mutually enriching relationship with one of its leading figures, the renowned American evangelist John Raleigh Mott. As chair of Commission IV of the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Cairns spearheaded efforts to encourage the Church to redefine its role in relation to the different world religions, and to adopt a fulfilment theology that allowed for a dialogical rather than confrontational model of mission. As leader of a Y.M.C.A. sponsored interdenominational enquiry into the effects of the First World War on the religious life of the nation and attitudes to the Churches, Cairns reported on the Churches’ failure to engage with a large section of the population, and in particular with the young men at the Front. The resulting report offered an important critique of the Church and its vision in the early twentieth century, and provided a call for reform and renewal in Church life, with an emphasis on the need for social witness. The thesis concludes that in these three major areas Cairns provided a prophetic voice for the Church as it entered the twentieth century and faced the challenges of that time.

Fréquente dans la vie et dans l’œuvre de Paul Claudel, la figure du missionnaire est emblématique de la vision universelle du monde conçue par le poète catholique qui s’est donné pour objectif d’intégrer l’immense pluralité du monde autant dans sa vie professionnelle que dans son œuvre. La première partie est consacrée à la découverte des Missions catholiques par le jeune consul durant son séjour en Chine, découverte qui lui a permis de se positionner devant le monde autre à la fois comme diplomate et comme poète. La deuxième partie met en évidence le fait que les Missions s’activent également en Europe, notamment dans une période particulière de la Grande Guerre. Ses activités diplomatiques et littéraires se superposent dans sa vision dualiste qui, opposant catholiques et protestants, n’apparaît pas incompatible avec son désir de la paix en Europe. La période au Japon, analysée dans la dernière partie, apparaît particulièrement fructueuse, comme en témoignent l’ampleur conséquente de son œuvre diplomatique et la réception favorable de son œuvre littéraire. Composée ainsi de trois périodes principales qui se distinguent aussi par les références géographiques, cette étude ne néglige pas d’autres pays où il a exercé des fonctions diplomatiques comme le Brésil et les États-Unis, se proposant, ainsi, de rendre compte de sa vision globale dans l’ensemble de sa carrière professionnelle. L’étude a pour but également d’éclaircir la dimension multiple de son monde missionnaire qui apparaît triple, comprenant la rencontre avec de nombreux religieux, les activités diplomatiques visant à unifier les pays et une écriture qui se fonde sur l’intuition d’une unification du monde. / Frequent in the life and work of Paul Claudel, the missionary figure is emblematic of the universal vision of the world conceived by the Catholic poet, who aims to integrate the earth’s immense plurality into his professional life as much as it is in his work. The first part is devoted to the discovery of the Catholic Missions by the young consul during his stay in China, a discovery that allowed him to position himself in front of the world as both a diplomat and a poet. The second part highlights that Missions are also active in Europe, especially in a particular period of the Great War. His diplomatic and literary activities are superimposed on his dualistic view which, contrary to what Catholics and Protestants think, does not seem incompatible with his desire for peace in Europe. The period in Japan, analyzed in the last part, appears particularly fruitful, as evidenced by the consequent magnitude of his diplomatic work and the favorable reception of his literary work. Composed of three main periods that are also distinguished by geographical references, this study includes other countries where he has exercised diplomatic functions such as Brazil and the United States thus emphasizing his global vision throughout his professional career. The purpose of the study is also to shed light on the multifaceted dimension of his three-fold missionary world, including meetings with many religious figures, diplomatic activities aimed at unifying countries, and writings based on the intuition of a unification of the world.

Esta tese tem como objetivo a análise de fontes escritas nos contextos das missões jesuítas estabelecidas na corte mogol e no Tibete. Abordamos também a presença da Ordem em Bengala, tecendo relações entre esse espaço e as missões supracitadas. Nosso recorte cronológico cobre o período de 1570 até 1721, isto é, iniciamos nossas investigações na década que antecede o estabelecimento dos religiosos na corte de Akbar, e encerramos nossas análises no ano em que Ippolito Desideri deixa Lhasa. Concentramo-nos principalmente na questão da necessária relação entre as estratégias de conversão adotadas nessas missões e a (re) elaboração de categorias que indicassem e respaldassem o diálogo, a persuasão e o convencimento como os mais prudentes métodos catequéticos / In this thesis, we aim to analyze written sources produced by jesuits stablished at the Mughal court and in Tibet. We shall also approach the presence of the Order in Bengal, weaving relations between this space and the aforementioned missions. Our chronological limits concerns the period from 1570 to 1721, i.e., we began our investigations in the decade preceding the establishment of the jesuits in Akbars court, and resume our survey in Ippolito Desideris last year in Lhasa. We focus mainly on the necessary relationship between the conversion strategies adopted in these missions and the (re) elaboration of categories that indicate dialogue and persuasion as the most prudent catechetical method

The problem of this study was to describe the operation and organization of Francophone Baptist Publications and to learn the publication needs of missionary personnel in the six countries served by the organization. Information for the study was gathered from Baptist history books, minutes from organizational meetings, questionnaires, and personal interviews with office and missionary personnel. The study revealed that although 47 per cent of those receiving questionnaires responded, only 28 per cent knew the materials and the organization sufficiently to evaluate them. This led to the conclusion that a lack of communication between the center and the missionaries exists and that the center should keep the market informed of materials available. The responses indicated that the present publications priorities do not reflect the real needs of the missionary personnel.

This dissertation argues that female piety and mission practices shaped the Evangelical Protestantism and the missionary movement that emerged from the Réveil [Revival] in nineteenth century France. It shows that women through their writings, their philanthropic initiatives, and their focus on education and social renewal on behalf of children laid the foundation for French Protestant mission and outreach. This study fills a gap in Anglophone scholarship on the role of women in French Protestant mission history and the history of the nineteenth century Evangelical Revival in France. After the Reformation, Protestant women preserved the Huguenot cultural identity of Protestants both at home and abroad. This continuity was manifested in the nineteenth century when the countries of the Huguenot Refuge sent missionaries of the Evangelical Revival back into France. The ethos of Jan Hus’ Dcerka [The Daughter] present in the work of French Protestant women in philanthropy, education, and social renewal demonstrates the continuity in piety and outreach from the Reformation to the nineteenth century. After the founding of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society in 1822, the Paris Mission women’s committee, led by Albertine de Broglie and Émilie Mallet, played a crucial role in promoting missions by mediating regional and class differences between Protestants. Late eighteenth century female initiatives on behalf of vulnerable women and children laid the foundation for the work of missions because, through them, women developed networks that served the goals of philanthropy, fundraising, and infant education. Infant school education, pioneered in the Lesotho Mission by Elizabeth Lyndall Rolland, was essential to women’s mission practice. The infant school pedagogy of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and Jean-Frédéric Oberlin, with its religious teaching, the centrality of the female role, and the emphasis on kindness was the key component in the work of the Lesotho Mission. In the 1830s, the arrival of missionary wives launched the work of the Lesotho Mission and energized French Protestant faith. In the 1840s, women once again sparked spiritual renewal with the creation of deaconess communities in Paris and Strasburg that served as models of Christian unity and self-sacrificial service. Overall, women’s piety and outreach were sources of revitalization in the Reformed Church and influenced early Evangelical Protestantism in nineteenth century France. Women’s mission practices that focused on works of mercy, education, and the nurturing of Christian families served as catalysts for renewal.