Christian Imperialism: Converting the World in the Early American Republic
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Christian Imperialism tells a new story about the way that Americans understood the role of their nation in a global context in the years before the Civil War by focusing on foreign missionaries and their supporters. These figures saw the US as the inheritor of Britain's role as a moral guide for the world; in joining the work of global missions, they believed, the US became Britain's peer. Their goal was to export an evangelical Protestantism that was Anglo-American in its roots and culture, and in so doing they made claims about the proper role of the United States in the world. They hoped that their nation would embody what I have called “Christian imperialism,” an active engagement with the rest of the world that involved cultural change and evangelization. Motivated by deep faith as well as cultural chauvinism, they attempted to export their religion, gender norms, and labor practices to the entire globe. They were aided in their work by the construction of what I have termed a “hierarchy of heathenism,” which ordered the peoples of the world according to assumptions about their culture, race, and likelihood of becoming “civilized.” I argue that strong Anglo-American and global connections persisted through the early republic, in spite of the era’s reputation for Anglophobia and continental isolation.
The book traces the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) around the world in the years between 1790 and 1850, with chapters that focus particularly on Americans in India, the Cherokee Nation, Hawaii, Liberia, and Singapore. In all of these places, American missionaries encountered different forms of imperialism and empire, both European and American. Their experiences helped them to develop their ideas about how the United States and its citizens ought to relate to the world around them, and what God expected Christian nations to do with their empires overseas. Purchase at Cornell, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble (25% off at Cornell using promo code CAU6) |
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"Christian Imperialism offers a fresh and discerning exploration of the links between evangelicalism and empire in the early republic. Emily Conroy-Krutz raises big questions about the impact of the formative decades of the American foreign missions movement and sets forth informed, challenging answers." -Christine Ruth Heyrman, University of Delaware, author of Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt and American Apostles: When Evangelicals Entered the World of Islam
"This is a terrific contribution to our understanding of the early republic. In Christian Imperialism, Emily Conroy-Krutz shows how the growth of evangelical religion in the early nineteenth century had an outward-looking face as well as a domestic one. Religious identity both complemented and competed with national identity. Conroy-Krutz argues that from a very early date Americans had imperial aspirations that extended beyond the borders of the United States and the limits of North America and reached across the globe." -Rosemarie Zagarri, George Mason University, author of The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776-1850
"These pages are populated by idealistic Americans whose dreams of remaking the world became tangled up in uncomfortably familiar contradictions. Moved by heartfelt universalist convictions, their program nevertheless presupposed clear racial and civilizational hierarchies. Gratefully traveling in the wake of imperialists, many soon found themselves bitterly opposing colonialism and empire. Through telling comparisons and strikingly fresh connections, Emily Conroy-Krutz artfully recovers the audacious global horizons of U.S. missionaries in the first half of the nineteenth century." -Brian DeLay, University of California, Berkeley, author of War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War
"This is a terrific contribution to our understanding of the early republic. In Christian Imperialism, Emily Conroy-Krutz shows how the growth of evangelical religion in the early nineteenth century had an outward-looking face as well as a domestic one. Religious identity both complemented and competed with national identity. Conroy-Krutz argues that from a very early date Americans had imperial aspirations that extended beyond the borders of the United States and the limits of North America and reached across the globe." -Rosemarie Zagarri, George Mason University, author of The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776-1850
"These pages are populated by idealistic Americans whose dreams of remaking the world became tangled up in uncomfortably familiar contradictions. Moved by heartfelt universalist convictions, their program nevertheless presupposed clear racial and civilizational hierarchies. Gratefully traveling in the wake of imperialists, many soon found themselves bitterly opposing colonialism and empire. Through telling comparisons and strikingly fresh connections, Emily Conroy-Krutz artfully recovers the audacious global horizons of U.S. missionaries in the first half of the nineteenth century." -Brian DeLay, University of California, Berkeley, author of War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War
Listen to Emily talk about Christian Imperialism on the Ben Franklin's World Podcast with Liz Covart
Interview at the Author's Corner with John Fea
"Over 200 Years, How Has the Missionary Map Changed?" The Christian Century
Interview at the Author's Corner with John Fea
"Over 200 Years, How Has the Missionary Map Changed?" The Christian Century
Reviews
Andrew Preston, "Review: Christian Imperialism," Church History (May 2017)
Christopher Jones, "Review: Emily Conroy-Krutz, Christian Imperialism," Junto (August 18, 2016)
Linford Fisher, "Review" Christian Imperialism," American Historical Review (Oct. 2016)
Edward E. Andrews, "Review: Christian Imperialism," Journal of Church and State (Online Access, July 2016)
Connie Shemo, "The Gospel of the Kingdom," Diplomatic History vol. 40, no.4 (Sept. 2016)
Roberta Wollons, "Review: Christian Imperialism," New England Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Sept. 2016)
Maureen Santelli, "American Missionaries in a Global Early American Republic," Reviews in American History vol. 44, no. 3 (Sept. 2016)
Rosemarie Zagarri, Nicholas Guyatt, Kariann Yokota, Stephen Tuffnell, and Katherine Carté Engel, H-Diplo Roundtable (Dec. 2016)
Erik R. Seeman, "Review: Christian Imperialism," Journal of American History (Dec. 2016)
Christopher Jones, "Review: Emily Conroy-Krutz, Christian Imperialism," Junto (August 18, 2016)
Linford Fisher, "Review" Christian Imperialism," American Historical Review (Oct. 2016)
Edward E. Andrews, "Review: Christian Imperialism," Journal of Church and State (Online Access, July 2016)
Connie Shemo, "The Gospel of the Kingdom," Diplomatic History vol. 40, no.4 (Sept. 2016)
Roberta Wollons, "Review: Christian Imperialism," New England Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Sept. 2016)
Maureen Santelli, "American Missionaries in a Global Early American Republic," Reviews in American History vol. 44, no. 3 (Sept. 2016)
Rosemarie Zagarri, Nicholas Guyatt, Kariann Yokota, Stephen Tuffnell, and Katherine Carté Engel, H-Diplo Roundtable (Dec. 2016)
Erik R. Seeman, "Review: Christian Imperialism," Journal of American History (Dec. 2016)