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The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge In British North America, 1730–1775

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Frederick V. Mills Sr
Frederick V. Mills Sr
Affiliation:
Mr. Mills is professor of history in LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia
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Extract

Three major Protestant missionary organizations—the Company for the ropagation of the Gospel in New England (the NEC, founded 1649), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG, founded 1701), and the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK, founded 1709)—all played significant roles in Christianizing and civilizing the inhabitants of British North America. The New England Company had the longest history and is the oldest Protestant missionary organization. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts sent no fewer than three hundred missionaries to America between 1701 and 1783. While the NEC and the SPG have received scholarly attention, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge has been virtually ignored.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 15 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1994

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References

1. A precise statistical tabulation of the SSPCK's contribution of missionaries, interpreters, assistants, students, and materials to British North America, though highly desirable, is not possible. The records of the colonial boards have not survived (or have yet to be found) in the United States or Great Britain. Because the SSPCK Directors in Edinburgh authorized the colonial boards to recruit their personnel, the local records are essential to the full story of the society's service in America. The researcher is dependent upon fragments of records that appear in letters, journals, etc., but primarily in the minutes of the parent body which are in the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh, Scotland. Although the society was dedicated to the purchase and distribution of books and related materials, the minutes contain only infrequently stated titles, and no list of quantities of materials sent to America has been found. Efforts to ascertain this type of data is more difficult after 1750 because some members of the SSPCK's London board became active in the newly formed Society for the Promotion of Religion Among the Poor, which organization also sent parcels of books to America.Google ScholarBush, Henry W., Sketch of the Origin and Recent History of the New England Company (London, 1884);Google ScholarBriggs, Charles, American Presbyterianism (New York, 1885);Google ScholarWeiss, Frederick L., “The New England Company of 1649 and Its Missionary Enterprises,” Colonial Society of Massachusetts—Transactions 38 (Boston, 1959): 153–218 (hereafter Weiss, “New England Company”);Google ScholarKellaway, William, The New England Company, 1649–1776 (London, 1961).Google ScholarPascoe, Charles F., Two Hundred Years of the S.P.G. (London, 1901);Google ScholarThompson, H. P., Into All Lands: The History of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 1701–1950 (London, 1951);Google ScholarCalam, John, Parsons and Pedagogues (New York, 1971).Google ScholarSefton, H. R., “The Scottish Society in Eighteenth Century America,” Records of the Scottish Church History Society, 17 (1971): 169–184.Google Scholar

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