About Christian Missions to the Jews
British Christian missionaries, especially in the 19th Century, fanned out across the world looking for converts. Sometimes people converted out of sincere belief, sometimes for financial benefit, and more usually they did not convert at all. There were presumably missions from other Christian countries, and across denominations.
A sub-sector of missionary work targeted Jews. Many evangelical Christians saw Britain (sometimes literally) as the new Israel. Also, Christianity sees itself as a completion of Judaism. For a certain sub-sector of the population, who may today have found themselves working in computer programming, arguing about the arcane meaning of scriptural texts was a matter of the highest importance.
The Jewish Genealogist’s Guide to Christian Missions
The records of these Christian missions to the Jews can be quite useful in providing descriptions of Jewish communities and individuals at specific dates. Some of the missionaries were more perceptive than others. To our eyes many of the descriptions come across as deeply prejudiced, but often they are using the same language they might use to describe the poor of London or Edinburgh. Of course, there is often no escaping contemporary negative stereotypes about Jewish personalities and looks.
I find missionary records helpful for Sephardic communities around the Mediterranean. If nothing else, they provide a little colour for communities where the historic records may be thin.
Key Missionary Societies Targeting Jews
- London Missionary Society
- London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, later called the London Jews’ Society
- Edinburgh Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews
- Free Church of Scotland.
- The Hebrew-Christian Publication Society
- Student Volunteer Movement
- United Free Church of Scotland
Valuable Research Resources
- Google Books
- SOAS
- National Library of Scotland (try searching ‘Jewish mission’).
- Missiology website
- GenGuide to Missionary Society Records
- Online Jewish Missions History Project
- Missionary Periodicals Database” from the Yale Divinity Library
- The Jewish Herald and Record of Christian Effort for the Spiritual Good of God’s Ancient People (1846-1884). Publication of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews. Example.
- Bodleian Library at Oxford University holds olds the archives of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (1809-1991).
- Nathanael: Zeitschrift für die Arbeit der evangelischen Kirche an Israel (1885-1941), is a key German publication on missions to Jews.
- The Jewish Era (1891-1950), published by the Chicago Hebrew Mission, which provides insights into American missionary efforts.
- Internet Archive’s collection of missionary reports and periodicals (https://archive.org/details/missionary_periodicals)
Some Important Publications for Research
- The Encyclopaedia of missions : descriptive, historical, biographical, statistical : with a full assortment of maps, a complete bibliography, and lists of Bible versions, missionary societies, mission stations, and a general index / edited by Edwin Munsell Bliss.
- Jewish missionary intelligence magazine.
- The Church Missionary Review
- The Year-Book of Missions: Containing a Comprehensive Account of Missionary Societies, British, Continental and American. With a Particular Survey of the Stations, Arranged in Geographical Order, by Elijah HOOLE · 1847
The image below, from Elijah Hoole, shows the budgets of principle missionary societies in 1847. Of course, most of this was not targeted at Jews.
American Missionaries to the Jews
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The ABCFM was established in Boston in 1810. It was a collaborative effort among several Protestant denominations, including the Congregational Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Dutch Reformed Church. It was governed by a board of commissioners composed of representatives from participating denominations.
ABCFM archive locations
There archives are reported to be scattered between several libraries, but this has not been confirmed. Reported archives are:
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, Massachusetts
- Yale University Divinity School Library
- Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries
- World Mission Archive, Payap University.
German Missionaries to the Jews
The Berlin Society for the Propagation of Christianity Among the Jews (Berlinische Gesellschaft zur Beförderung des Christentums unter den Juden) was a Christian missionary society founded in Berlin, Germany, in 1821. It is reported that they were mostly active in Europe, but cooperated with other missionary societies in other regions, including the Ottoman Empire.
See the works of Johannes Friedrich Alexander de Le Roi
Potential locations of German Missionary Archives
- Evangelisches Zentralarchiv (Protestant Central Archive) in Berlin
- Archiv der Franckeschen Stiftungen zu Halle.
Scandinavian Missionaries to the Jews
The Scandinavian Mission to the Jews (Scandinaviska Judemissionen) may have been the largest group.
Using Missionary Records in Jewish Genealogy
These records often give us information and perspectives unavailable elsewhere. These include:
- Descriptions of Jewish communities and individuals
- Insights into specific dates and locations
- Cultural context and historical perspectives
Considerations When Using Missionary Records
- Potential bias in descriptions
- Contemporary stereotypes and prejudices
- Value for researching Sephardic communities around the Mediterranean
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