ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes how the rise of transnational missionary movements during the first half of the 19th century laid the groundwork for later British colonial expansion. It explains how British foreign missions transformed from being a fringe activity amongst minority religious communities to becoming a feature of colonial policy. This significant shift took place relatively rapidly during the first half of the bifurcated century and was a result of extended theological debates within religious communities about Christianity’s relationship to the civilizing mission. In contrast to an assumption found in international relations scholarship that the missionary movement was driven by imperial interests, I argue that its success can be accounted for by the emergence of new theological beliefs about the obligations of Christians to distant others.
