Augustine of Canterbury

Seven Lectures on Medieval Missions by Thomas Smith D.D.

These seven lectures on medieval missions include within their scope material on Clovis and Clotilda, Paternus, Columba, Augustine of Canterbury, Aidan, Columbanus, Brunehilde, Boniface, Willebrord, Anskar and Ramon Llull. They appear on-line thanks to Redcliffe College, who recently asked me to digitise 1,000 mission books from their library. This book is in the Public Domain.

Thomas Smith, Medieval Missions. Duff Missionary Lectures – First Series. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1880. Hbk. pp.279. [Click to download in PDF]

Preface

The Duff Missionary Lectureship has been instituted under the provisions of the will of the late Dr. Alexander Duff. In arranging for its foundation, his son has complied with the dying instructions of his father, deviating from these instructions only to the extent of designating the lectureship by his father’s name,-a deviation which, I venture to think, will be universally approved.

In terms of a trust-deed executed by Mr. Duff, a course of lectures, not fewer than six in number, ‘On some department of Foreign Missions or cognate subjects,’ is to be delivered once in every four years, each lecturer to give only one course. They are to be delivered in Edinburgh and repeated in Glasgow, or delivered in Glasgow and repeated in Edinburgh, or delivered and repeated in such other places as the trustees may direct. The lectures are then to be published, and copies are to be presented to certain libraries in this country, continental Europe, America, India, Africa, and Australia. The trustees are men belonging to different denominations, and the lecturer is to be ‘ a minister, professor, or godly layman of any Evangelical Church.’

In the introduction to the first lecture I have sufficiently explained the circumstances in/ which I was appointed as the first holder of the lectureship, as having been long associated with Dr. Duff in mission work in Bengal, and afterwards in the home-management of the missions of the Free Church of Scotland. While I venture to entertain a humble hope that the present volume may communicate to its readers a considerable portion of information, and may stimulate their interest in the great work of missions, I desire that it may be regarded also as a tribute to the memory of one for whom, during forty years of uninterrupted friendship and constant intercourse, I cherished feelings of tenderest affection, while I shared with the universal church the sentiment of admiration of his gifts and veneration of his graces. [Continue reading]

History of Medieval Missions by George Maclear

George Frederick Maclear [1833-1902], A History of Christian Missions During the Middle AgesGeorge Maclear’s History of the Christian Mission in the Middle Ages records the spread of Christianity in Europe and beyond from 340 to 1520 AD. Along the way he discussed the contributions to mission made by St. Columba, St. Patrick, Augustine of Canterbury and St. Boniface. Works on this period are fairly rare, so it nice to be able to make one available in this way. This book is in the Public Domain.

George Frederick Maclear [1833-1902], A History of Christian Missions During the Middle Ages. Cambridge & London: MacMillan & Co, 1863. Hbk. pp.466. [Click to download in PDF]

Contents

Introduction

  1. The Mission Field of the Middle Ages
  2. Early efforts of the Church among the new races. A.D. 340-308
  3. The Church of Ireland, and the Mission of St. Patrick. A.D. 431-490
  4. St. Columba and the Conversion of the Picts
  5. Mission of St. Augustine to England. A.D. 596-627
  6. Progress of Missionary work in England. A.D. 627-689
  7. Celtuc Missionaries in Southern Germany. A.D. 592-630
  8. Missionary efforts in Friesland and parts adjacent. A.D. 628-719
  9. St. Boniface and the conversion of Germany. A.D. 715-755
  10. Efforts of the Disciples of St. Boniface. A.D. 719-789
  11. Missionary efforts in Denmark and Sweden. A.D. 800-1011
  12. The conversion of Norway. A.D. 900-1030
  13. Missions among the Slavic or Slavonic Races. A.D. 800-1000
  14. The conversion of Poland and Pomeronia. A.D. 1000-1127
  15. Conversion of Wendland, Prussia, and Lithuania. A.D. 1050-1410
  16. Missions to the Saracens and the Mongols. A.D. 1200-1400
  17. Compulsory Conversion of the Jews and Moors. A.D. 1400-1500
  18. Retrospect and Reflections
  19. Retrospect and Reflections

Introduction

On two occasions in the recorded history of the Apostle Paul, we behold him brought into contact with pure barbarism. The first is that familiar one when having been driven from the great towns of central Asia :Minor, he had in company with Barnabas, penetrated into the region of Lystra and Derbe. The district here indicated was, as is known to all, inhabited by a rude population, amongst whom the civilization of imperial Rome had scarcely penetrated. The natives of these two little towns situated amidst the bare and barren steppes of Lycaonia, spoke a dialect of their own, and were addicted to a rude and primitive superstition. Theirs was not the philosophical faith of the educated classses at Rome or Athens. It was the superstition of simple pagan villagers on whom the Jewish synagogue had produced little or no impression. [Continue reading]