British Missionary Publishing, Missionary Celebrity, and Empire

Abstract

Examines the missionary press of the early nineteenth century using theories of mass media, celebrity, and the democratization of reading. Argues that London Missionary Society texts educated the religious British public about the subjects of empire who, it was believed, deserved evangelization as a component of British imperialism. Claims missionary texts constructed and maintained a community of evangelical Britons, missionary heroes, and colonial “heathens,” a community that provided financial and moral support for imperial missions and underpinned the acquisition of knowledge about colonized peoples and places.