The Expansion of American Missionary Activities in the Ottoman State under Nathaniel G. Clark

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 2, 263 - 285, 30.08.2025

Necdet Eker

Öz

Nathaniel G. Clark served as Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), one of the most influential Protestant missionary organizations in the United States between 1865 and 1894. In this position, he conducted the organization’s external correspondence with missionaries and other agencies and assumed direct responsibility for missionaries in the station areas. Through these relations, Clark influenced missionaries in line with his own ideology and shaped the missionary policies of the American Board. During his tenure, Clark replaced Rufus Anderson’s church-centered approach and laid the base for James L. Barton’s humanitarian and medical programs. This study examines the American Board missionary policies in the Ottoman State during N. G. Clark’s tenure. Initially, the study focuses on Nathaniel G. Clark’s tenure and compares Clark’s policies with his predecessor, Rufus Anderson, and his successor, James L. Barton. Afterwards, the Central Turkey College in Aintab and the American College for Girls at Constantinople, which were established with Clark support, are examined, and their impact on Ottoman society is analyzed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

American Board (ABCFM) , Nathaniel G. Clark , Higher Education , Central Turkey College , American College for Girls at Constantinople

Nathaniel G. Clark’ın Görev Süresi Boyunca Amerikan Misyonerlik Faaliyetlerinin Osmanlı Devleti’nde Genişlemesi

Öz

1865-1894 yılları arasında Nathaniel G. Clark, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin en etkili Protestan misyoner kuruluşlarından biri olan American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) bünyesinde Sorumlu Sekreter olarak görev yapmıştır. Bu pozisyonda, örgütün misyonerler ve diğer kurumlarla yürüttüğü dış yazışmaları idare etmiş ve istasyon bölgelerindeki misyonerlerin doğrudan sorumluluğunu üstlenmiştir. Bu ilişkiler sayesinde, misyonerleri kendi görüşleri doğrultusunda etkileyerek Amerikan Board’un misyonerlik politikalarının şekillenmesinde rol oynamıştır. Görev süresi boyunca Clark, Rufus Anderson’ın kilise merkezli yaklaşımını değiştirerek James L. Barton’ın insanî ve tıbbi yardım programlarının temelini atmıştır.Bu çalışma, N. G. Clark’ın görev süresi boyunca Osmanlı Devleti’ndeki American Board misyoner politikalarını incelemektedir. Çalışma ilk olarak Nathaniel G. Clark’ın dönemine odaklanmakta ve Clark’ın politikalarını selefi Rufus Anderson ve halefi James L. Barton’ın politikalarıyla karşılaştırmaktadır. Daha sonra, Clark’ın öncülüğünde kurulan Antep’teki Merkezi Türkiye Koleji ile İstanbul’daki Amerikan Kız Koleji ele alınmakta ve bu kurumların Osmanlı toplumundaki etkileri incelenmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Amerikan Board (ABCFM) , Nathaniel G. Clark , Yüksek Öğretim , Merkezi Türkiye Koleji , İstanbul Amerikan Kız Koleji

Destekleyen Kurum

Bu çalışma Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Bilimsel Araştırma Projeleri Koordinasyon Birimi tarafından desteklenmiştir.

Kaynakça

• ABCFM. (1894). Charter of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions: With additional enactments, and by-laws. https://archive.org/details/charterofamerica00amer_1
• ABCFM. (1929). The annual report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079429225&seq=781&q1=Barton
• Aksu, A. (2010). Amerikalı misyonerlerin Osmanlı Anadolusu’ndaki eğitim faaliyetleri (1820–1900) ve bunun Osmanlı toplum yapısına etkileri [Doctoral dissertation]. Marmara University.
• Alan, G. (2002). Merzifon Amerikan Koleji ve Anadolu’daki etkileri [Doctoral dissertation]. Erciyes University.
• Alan, G., & Bolat, G. (2011). The American Board and Ottoman women’s education. History Studies, Relationships of the USA and the Great Middle East Special Issue, 105–117.
• Anderson, R. (1861). Memorial volume of the first fifty years of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Geo C. Rand and Avery.
• Barton, J. L. (1908). Daybreak in Turkey. The Pilgrim Press.
• Barton, J. L. (1912). Human progress through missions. Fleming H. Revell Company.
• Barton, J. L. (1913). Educational missions. Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.
• Barton, J. L. (1915). Survey of the fields, 1914–1915. Congregational House.
• Blaufuss, M. S. (2000). Goals of the American Madura Mission: A study of changing mission goals in the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions during the nineteenth century [Doctoral dissertation]. Princeton Theological Seminary.
• Central Turkey College. (1914). Central Turkey College: The year before the war. College Press.
• Clark, E. S. (1897). Memorial of the Rev. Nathaniel G. Clark, D.D., LL.D.: For twenty-nine years corresponding secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Pilgrim Press.
• Clark, N. G. (1878). The gospel in the Ottoman Empire. The Riverside Press.
• Clark, N. G. (1890). Higher Christian education as related to foreign missionary work. In E. S. Clark (Ed.), Memorial of the Rev. Nathaniel G. Clark, D.D., LL.D. (pp. 188–202). The Pilgrim Press.
• Clark, N. G. (1894). A retrospect. In E. S. Clark (Ed.), Memorial of the Rev. Nathaniel G. Clark, D.D., LL.D. (pp. 111–146). The Pilgrim Press.
• Çoban Döşkaya, F. (2020). Amerikan Board misyoneri Laura Farnham’ın Osmanlı Devleti’ndeki faaliyetleri. Turkish Studies – History, 15(4), 1055–1079.
• Çoban Döşkaya, F. (2021). Amerikan Board’un kadın misyonerleri ve kadın boardları. In I. I. Bostancı, A. G. Hüseyniklioğlu, A. Değerli, & O. Kılıç (Eds.), Prof. Dr. Mustafa Öztürk onuruna tarih yazıları I (pp. 523–532). İdeal Kültür Yayıncılık.
• Demir, C. (2012). Amerikan Board belgelerine göre Talas Amerikan kız ve erkek kolejleri. Turkish Studies, 7(4), 1405–1420.
• Eker, N. (2025). The dissemination of American culture through missionaries: American Board Secretary Nathaniel G. Clark, 1865–1894 [Master’s thesis]. Dokuz Eylül University.
• Fensham, F. A. (1902). The Alumnae Association of the American College at Constantinople. Life and Light, 32(1), 12–15.
• Hayes, S. H. (1880). Our work: The need—the call—the method. Life and Light, 10(4), 121–127.
• Kieser, H. L. (2005). Iskalanmış barış. İletişim Yayınları.
• Kocabaşoğlu, U. (1989). Anadolu’daki Amerika: Kendi belgeleriyle 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndaki Amerikan misyoner okulları. Arba Yayınları.
• Köse, A. (2003). Yabancı okullarda kızların din eğitimi (Arnavutköy Amerikan Kız Koleji örneği) [Master’s thesis]. Marmara University.
• Latta, M. C. (1936). The background for the social gospel in American Protestantism. Church History, 5(3), 256–270.
• Narin, R. (2018). Amerikan Board’un kadın misyonerleri ve Adapazarı Ermeni Kız Okulu. Vakanüvis, 3(Özel Sayı), 249–286.
• Norton, M. B., et al. (2012). A people & a nation, Volume 1: To 1877. Cengage.
• Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Public Affairs.
• Özpala, A. Ö. (2017). Gender and identity construction at the American College for Girls in Istanbul in late-Ottoman and early-Republican era [Master’s thesis]. Istanbul Bilgi University.
• PABCFM (Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). Reel 583, No. 183, 230–234.
• PABCFM (Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). Reel 603, No. 360, 1476–1480.
• PABCFM (Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). Reel 641, No. 170, 199–207.
• PABCFM (Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). Reel 642, No. 397, 1089–1094.
• PABCFM (Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions). Reel 673, No. 487, 761–763.
• Patrick, M. M. (1934). A Bosphorus adventure. Stanford University Press.
• Reeves-Ellington, B. (2015). Constantinople Woman’s College: Constructing gendered, religious, and political identities in an American institution in the late Ottoman Empire. Women’s History Review, 24(1), 53–71.
• Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. A Division of Random House.
• Stone, F. A. (2006). Academies for Anatolia: A study of the rationale, program, and impact of the educational institutions sponsored by the American Board in Turkey, 1830–2005. Caddo Gap Press.
• Strong, W. E. (1910). The story of the American Board: An account of the first hundred years of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Plimpton Press.
• Taşkın, F. (2012). Antep’te bir misyoner üniversitesi: Merkezi Türkiye Koleji. History Studies, 4(4), 415–431.
• Woman’s Board of Missions. (1876). The Constantinople Home. Life and Light, 6(10), 289–298.
• Yazıcı, S. (2014). Sultan II. Abdülhamid örneğinde tarihsel algılamanın değişimi. History Studies, 6(5), 233–247.
• Zipf, K. L. (1997). “Among these American heathens”: Congregationalist missionaries and African American evangelicals during Reconstruction, 1865–1878. The North Carolina Historical Review, 74(2), 111–134.