Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

140 SPECIALPROYIDENCE

Statestotheworld,inthatoftheworldtotheUnitedStates,andinthe
growingsenseofa worldcommunitythanisgenerallyrecognized.Yet
themissionaryendeavor,oneofthegreatestandmostsustainedefforts
evermadebylargenumbersoftheAmericanpeopleinanyfield,andone
withvastconsequencesforthiscentury,isinintellectualeclipse.Femi-
nisthistoriansareminingitsrichoresforthesakeofuncoveringtherole
womenplayedinthisventure.SomeAfricanAmericanhistorians,like-
wise,arelookingintothewaysinwhichgrassrootsAfricanAmerican
churchcommunitieswereabletoplanandsustainaninternationalpro-
gramevenbeforetheabolitionofslavery.Therehavebeenstrongsurveys
ofmissionaryactivityinparticularcountriessuchas a 1974 studyof
ChinesemissionseditedbyJohnK.Fairbanks.DanielJ.Boorstin'sThe
DemocraticExperiencerecognizesthecentralityofthemissionaryexperi-
enceforunderstandingtheAmericanengagementwiththeworld.But
ingeneral,missionhistoryhaslosttheimportanceitoncehadinthe
field-when,forexample, thegreathistorianofAmericanmissions,
KennethScottLatourette,servedaspresidentoftheAmericanHistorical
Associationin1948.
Aneclipsethisdarkofa subjectthisimportantrequiresexplana-
tion,andthereareseveralreasonswhysofewcontemporaryhistorians
turntheirattentiontothisvital subject.Thegeneralindifference to
nineteenth-centuryAmericanforeign policyplays a role. Eurocentric
historiansignoremissionhistorybecauseitdealsprimarilywithevents
inwhatarenowdevelopingcountries.Elite-orientedhistoriansoffor-
eignpolicypassoverwhatwasalwaysprimarilya grassrootsmovement.
Historianssympathetictotheaspirationsofthedevelopingworldfind
thesubjectinherentlydistasteful:Froma certainanglemissionsappear
asa particularlyodiousvarietyofculturalimperialism,onewithclose
linkstopoliticalandeconomicimperialism. Additionally,untilvery
recentlymanymainstreampostwarAmericanhistorianshavelargelydis-
countedtheimportanceofreligiousmattersinAmericanhistory.Partly
formethodologicalreasonsandpartlyforculturalandideologicalones,
thosehistorianshaveconcentratedonseculartopics.Missionaryhistory-
complex, crossingdenominationalandgeographical boundaries,with
its original documents often scattered in obscure denominational
archives-has beeneven more seriously neglected. Furthermore, the
missionaryenterprise is distinctlyunfashionableinthemulticultural
worldofthecontemporarycampus.Thecontemplationofa prolonged
AmericanattempttoexportChristianvaluesandbeliefstothedevelop-