Building a Protestant Church on Ottoman Armenian Soil

Year 2024, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 129 - 157, 30.04.2024

David Barchard

https://doi.org/10.52792/tws.1474831

Abstract

The presence of American missionaries in late Ottoman territory, exemplified by figures like Smith and Dwight, marked a significant chapter in the region's history. Their legacy, spanning a century, left indelible marks on Turkey's cultural and educational landscape, including the establishment of institutions like Robert College and the Redhouse press. However, their engagement was not without complexities, as they found themselves embroiled in the intricate interplay between the Ottoman government and the burgeoning nationalist movements among its Christian populace. This paper examines the missionaries' dual roles as contributors to Turkey's development and intermediaries in the dialogue between nationalist aspirations and Western sympathizers, such as James Bryce. Delving into their initial harmonious coexistence with Ottoman authorities and subsequent entanglements, it sheds light on the missionaries' confrontations not with the government but with the Armenian Gregorian patriarchate, as they navigated the delicate terrain of religion and politics in Ottoman Armenian soil.

Keywords

American missionaries, Protestant Church, Ottoman Armenian soil

Osmanlı Ermeni Topraklarında Bir Protestan Kilisesi İnşa Etmek

Abstract

Smith ve Dwight gibi isimlerle örneklenen Amerikalı misyonerlerin geç dönem Osmanlı topraklarındaki varlığı, bölge tarihinde önemli bir döneme işaret etmektedir. Bir asra yayılan mirasları, Robert Kolej ve Redhouse basını gibi kurumların kurulması da dahil olmak üzere, Türkiye'nin kültür ve eğitim manzarasında silinmez izler bıraktı. Bununla birlikte, kendilerini Osmanlı hükümeti ile Hıristiyan halk arasında filizlenmekte olan milliyetçi hareketler arasındaki karmaşık etkileşimin içinde bulan misyonerlerin faaliyetleri karmaşık bir hal almıştır. Bu makale, misyonerlerin Türkiye'nin kalkınmasına katkıda bulunan ve milliyetçi arzular ile James Bryce gibi Batılı sempatizanlar arasındaki diyalogda aracı olan ikili rollerini incelemektedir. Misyonerlerin Osmanlı yetkilileriyle başlangıçtaki uyumlu birlikteliklerine ve daha sonraki karışıklıklarına değinerek, misyonerlerin Osmanlı Ermenistanı topraklarında din ve siyasetin hassas arazisinde gezinirken hükümetle değil, Ermeni Gregoryen patrikhanesiyle karşı karşıya gelmelerine ışık tutuyor.

Keywords

Amerikan misyonerleri, Protestan Klisesi, Osmanlı Ermeni toprakları

References

• Durham University Library, Ponsonby Papers
• National Archives (UK)
• Church Missionary Intelligencer
• Eclectic Review
• The Times NewsPaper
• Secondary Sources
• Arpee, Leon, The Armenian Awakening: a history of the Armenian Church 1820-1860, Chicago, 1909.
• Barchard, David, “Veli Pasha and Consul Ongley: A Diplomatic Relationship that Got Too Close” in Sinan Kuneralp, ed. A Bridge Between Cultures, Istanbul, 2007.
• Barchard, David, “Bedirhan Bey in Crete” in Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Diyarbakır, ed. Bahaeddin Yediyıldız and Kerstin Tomenendahl, Ankara, 2008
• Barsoumian, Hagop Levon, "The Armenian Amira Class of Istanbul," Ph.D. diss, Columbia Univ., 1980.
• Bloxham, Donald, The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction of the Ottoman Christians, Oxford, 2005.
• Bryer, Anthony, The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos, London, 1980.
• Bryer, Anthony and Winfield, David, The Byzantine monuments and topography of the Pontos, Vol. 1, London, 1985.
• Census of the Armenian population of the city of Calcutta; Calcutta, 1837.
• Deringil, Selim, “‘There Is No Compulsion in Religion’: On Conversion and Apostasy in the Late Ottoman Empire: 1839-1856” Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 42, No. 3. (Jul., 2000).
• Dwight, H.G.O., Christianity in Turkey: A Narrative of the Protestant Reformation of the Armenian Church, London 1854.
• Eardley, Sir Culling, Christianity in Turkey, Correspondence of the Goverments of Christendom relating to executions in Turkey for Apostacy from Islam, London, 1855.
• Engelhardt, Édouard, La Turquie et le Tanzimat, Paris, 1882.
• Frazee, Charles A., Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923‎, Cambridge, 1983 and 2006.
• Freeze, Charles A., Catholics and Sultans, Cambridge, 1983.
• Goodell, William, Forty Years in the Turkish Empire, ed. Edward D.G. Prime, New York 1876.
• Grabill, Joseph L., Protestant diplomacy and the Near East: missionary influence on American Policy, 1810-1927, University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 1971
• Hall, Samuel Carter, The Amulet or Christian and Literary Remembrancer, London, 1827.
• Hamlin, Cyrus, My Life and Times, Boston, 1893.
• Kling, David W., “The New Divinity and the Origins of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions”, Church History, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Dec., 2003), pp. 791-819.
• Kay, James de, Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832, New York, 1833.
• Lybyer, Albert, America's Missionary Record in Turkey, Current History, New York, 1924.
• MacFarlane, Charles, Kismet or the Doom of Turkey, London, 1853.
• Marshall, T. W. M., Christian Missions: their agents, their method, and their results; London and Brussels, 1862.
• McCarthy, Justin, Death and Exile, Princeton, 1995.
• McCarthy, Justin, Muslims and Minorities, New York, 1983.
• New Testament
• Saloutos, Theodore, “American Missionaries in Greece: 1820-1869”, Church History, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun., 1955), 152-174.
• Smith, Eli and Dwight, H.G.O., Missionary Researches in Armenia, London, 1844.
• Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1851.