Philosophy and Religion

Many of the primary source collections published by British Online Archives (BOA) demonstrate the development and impact of key ideologies, secular and theological. Thus, they can be grouped under the broad theme of “Philosophy and Religion”. 

This theme illuminates one of BOA’s archival strengths: our extensive collections relating to Christian missionaries that operated throughout the globe—typically within British colonial contexts—throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. 

These collections chart the dissemination and development of Christianity, particularly Anglicanism, throughout the early modern and modern periods, casting light on the activities of missionaries, including the work of female evangelists. The collections likewise evidence the (at times hostile) reception that representatives of Christian missionary societies received in traditionally non-Christian cultures. Many of these evangelists hailed from Britain and Europe. There are, however, examples of people who chose to convert to Christianity and who themselves engaged in proselytism. 

Consequently, many of the collections located within this theme can be utilised in order to explore the varied contexts in which Christian missionaries operated and the differing reactions and outcomes that their work generated.