Christian missions have been integral to the making of the modern world. Unsurprisingly, the rise of global history over the past two decades has been accompanied by a growing historiography of Christian missions. Yet several key milestones and dynamics in mission history remain insufficiently explored. The first aim of this article is to shed light on one such milestone: the reform of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (1918–1922), the principal—then and now—Catholic association dedicated to financing missionary activities. Drawing on previously unpublished Vatican documents, the article demonstrates that this reform was closely linked to the need to compete with Protestant missionary organizations. The second, more ambitious aim is to argue that religious—and particularly inter-Christian—competition played a crucial role in the global expansion of missionary activity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and consequently in the making and continual remaking of the modern world.
The Protestant Menace: Catholic Missionary Anti-Protestantism during and after the First World War (1918–1922)*
lesti sante
2026-01-01
Abstract
Christian missions have been integral to the making of the modern world. Unsurprisingly, the rise of global history over the past two decades has been accompanied by a growing historiography of Christian missions. Yet several key milestones and dynamics in mission history remain insufficiently explored. The first aim of this article is to shed light on one such milestone: the reform of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (1918–1922), the principal—then and now—Catholic association dedicated to financing missionary activities. Drawing on previously unpublished Vatican documents, the article demonstrates that this reform was closely linked to the need to compete with Protestant missionary organizations. The second, more ambitious aim is to argue that religious—and particularly inter-Christian—competition played a crucial role in the global expansion of missionary activity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and consequently in the making and continual remaking of the modern world.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
