Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795–1850

Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories #7

by Sujit Sivasundaram

Nineteenth-century historians have described how science became secular and how scientific theories such as evolution justified colonialism. This book changes this narrative by offering the first account of the relationship between nineteenth-century science and Christianity outside the Western world. At focus are the intrepid missionaries of the London Missionary Society who reverently surveyed the oceans and islands of the Pacific and instructed converts to observe nature in order to interpret God's designs. Sujit Sivasundaram argues that the knowledge that these missionaries practiced functioned as a popular science that was inextricably linked with religious expansion.

Genres: History, Religion

258 pages, Hardcover

First published December 19, 2005

About the author

Sujit Sivasundaram is a British Sri Lankan historian and academic. He is currently professor of world history at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge.

Reviews

[CL Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful comparison for my own work on church-based development in mid-20th century. The culture of nature and rhetoric of science was so malleable and persistent, though nation had replaced the idea of empire.