Religious and political interests of American missionaries in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century

Abstract

The main goal of the study is to comprehensively examine and present the history of Protestant missionary work in the Ottoman Empire in the context of religious and political interests. The study employs a range of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison, and generalization) and historical (historical-genetic, source analysis, comparative, structural-functional, and others) methods. Prior to the 19th century, the relationship between Protestantism and Orthodoxy in the Middle East, as well as the presence of Protestants in the region, was very limited. First of all, this was due to the bad foreign policy circumstances. Secondly, it was due to the lack of systemic initiatives from the Protestants themselves, whose missionary work only began to develop seriously in the next century. In the second half of the 19th century, the military and political weakening of the Ottoman Empire led to an increase in the influence of Western states in the Middle East. This resulted in the active development of Protestant missionary activities and organizations in the region. The leaders in this field were missionaries from the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Although the United Kingdom held a formal leadership position in Protestant religious activities at a certain stage, the leading role was soon taken over by American missionaries. The Americans established a broad and well-developed network of educational, medical, and other social institutions, which aimed to promote the conversion of the local population to Protestantism. However, the results of these efforts were far from the initial and ambitious goals.