Interesting Read- Latourette- Europe Part 1

The Great Century in Europe and the United States: A.D. 1800 – A.D. 1914 by Kenneth Scott Latourette is volume 4 of  The History of the Expansion of Christianity and deals with Christian history up to the end of World War II. It is a worthy read, so I'll only briefly highlight some of the content in these posts. Although the other volumes cover Christianity’s expansion in Europe, his fourth volume entails the expansion of Christianity during "the Great Century in Europe and the United States of America," as the subtitle suggests. Optimistically, he begins his survey of nineteenth century Christianity as a “burst of religious life” (4). Due to western European’s “denial and rejection of Christianity” (6), this burst was primarily in Protestantism. However, Latourette’s examination of the great century also incorporates the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy.

            Latourette establishes the inquiry for his fourth volume by asking qualitative questions. He seeks to identify “what was the Christianity that was spread” and why it spread. He is interested in discovering the process by which it spread and why it failed in some places. He is also interested in establishing some key indicators that show the effect Christianity had on the secular atmosphere as well as what effect that environment had on Christianity’s development. Latourettes questions provide a good framework for studying church growth and trends in Christianity still today.

            He immediately lays the secular backdrop against which Christian expansion is highlighted. During the nineteenth century, there was an explosive growth of man’s knowledge about the physical universe. Mankind began to master his environment and took broad steps to eliminate poverty. With an increased trust in the scientific method and an emphasis on objectivity and the individual, Latourette believes there was a dulling effect on the Christian faith. The entire structure of man’s life changed as did the ideology of society as a whole. The intellectual emphasis of rationalism seemed to hurt Christianity, while Latourette believes romanticism had helped. Moreover, world peace helped missions efforts as did a greater sense of optimism that the world could actually be reached for Christ. As western & northern people groups expanded in Europe, there was a transformation of non-European cultures. Consequently, there developed a world culture with English serving as the major global language.

            These socio-economic and political/idealogical elements either worked for or against Christianity’s evangelistic thrust, but without judging them Latourette sees them as role players in the larger scene. He identifies new movements which expanded Christianity. These movements had the cumulative effect of helping nineteenth century Protestantism to become “more purely religious than ever before” (330).

            Amidst an underlying religious skepticism of the day, several new revivals or organizations were formed in the west. The Salvation Army began its work at this time. The YMCA was formed. Sunday School became a staple of church education. The individualist spirit of the west filtered through the western church and several new denominations were formed as a result. Disciples of Christ, Free Baptists, Mormons and Christian Science were among those who enjoyed this newfound religious expression, as did the Pietists and Wesleyans.

In the same way, the western church began to deal with a growing criticism from European Christian thinkers. In Germany a critical historical study of the Bible gained popularity as men like Schleiermacher and Hegel made their mark on society. And although there was a revival in the Russian Orthodox Church, the overwhelming growth in the nineteenth century in Europe was still within Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church.

            Latourette identifies several methods of expansion. Because there was an “absence of action assistance by governments” (47), churches began to take a greater responsibility for missions. Average lay Christians saw their involvement in missions as extremely important. Women began to see their own role expand in missions. Because missionaries raised a high standard for church membership, salvation was celebrated as the result of an individual personal decision.

Specifically within the Roman Catholic Church, missionary work expanded. Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, for example, rose in the ranks of those Catholics who actively involved themselves in mission. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Holy Childhood became leaders in collecting funds for Catholic missions. This led to mission stations, a prefecture apostolic, a vicariate apostolic and revamped diocese structures specifically geared toward missions. There was an unprecedented support of Roman Catholic missions.

Protestant missions took on a whole new dimension as well. The Baptist Missionary Society and individual mission leaders like William Carey, David Brainerd and Zinzendorf led in the pursuit of active missions engagement. The Religious Tract Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts also created new opportunities for Protestant missions. This increase in missions emphasis led to Evangelicalism as a movement where conversion of the individual, greater education of church members and healing the sick was stressed. American missionaries sought to transform society as a whole and not just convert individuals. Missionaries like Samuel Mills, Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice became heroes of the faith.

As Protestantism spread other missions organizations were founded. As mission societies multiplied, the United States emerged as a leader in protestant missions. College students and women developed their own missions organizations. Laymen like D.L. Moody raised the bar in average church members’ engaging the lost. There was an exponential rise in nondenominational societies, and universities themselves sent out missionary bands. As a result, more Christian colleges were formed, and a greater cooperation in Protestant missions efforts was forged.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, there was also an increase in missions emphasis with the main difference being the financial support of the state. The Orthodox Missionary Society began to raise additional funds for missions which led to new churches in Siberia. With the combined efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church, “the total of all the organizations, local, regional, and national, must have mounted into the thousands” (94).

In chapter five Latourette turns his attention to the people groups being reached. Protestants began to actively target Jews, the most prominent organization being the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. Britain accounted for ore than half of all Protestant organizations in Europe that were actively engaging Jews, and the largest number of Jewish conversions to Protestant Christianity was in the British Isles. Germany held second place, and together these two countries accounted for three out of every four Jewish baptisms for the years between 1815 and 1914. Latourette points out that nineteenth century Christianity saw the largest number of Jews converted since first century. Most Jews of the world lived in European Russia where they experienced what Latourette calls “conversion by coercion” (117). Unfortunately in Southern Europe, little headway was made to advance the gospel to Jews.

Russia had its own rich Protestant history. While German Mennonites went to southern Russia to advance the gospel among Russian peasants, Lord Radstock began to reach the upper class who consequently reached the common people of northern Russia. Shtundists and others who emphasized ecstatic manifestations of the Spirit marked a Protestant awakening in Russia. Nonetheless, “scores of zealous missionaries laboured, and yet, except in few rare cases where they took advantage of non-religious factors and in Russia, where the state gave determined support to Orthodox missions, only a relatively few thousands of converts were made" (143). Mark Edworthy, in his book The Wall that Remains: A Fascinating Account of God's Faithfulness, gives another good backdrop to the Eastern European and Russian protestant movement.

In other places in Europe, missionary evangelists like Florence Nightingale and George Mueller who emphasized the humanitarian aspect of the gospel also made headway. Consequently, social involvement of missionaries led to reform movements and the temperance movement. This in turn moved toward total abstinence in places where alcoholism was rampant.

Latourette also discusses the cultural impact of these reforms and their opponents. With the concept of revolution, Karl Marx made his mark on the world. There was a progressive Liberalism growing. Interestingly, Latourette identifies modern democracy as a direct result of Protestant Christianity. Nineteenth century culture was impacted greatly by a strong Christian influence on nationalism, architecture, art and sculpture. Writers like Tennyson, Browning, Dostoevski and Dickens included elements of Christian influence in their own writings.

I'll continue in the next post with Latourette's some specifics about the Russian Christian movement during this century.