Categories: Missions

Christian Missions and Social Progress: A Sociology of Missions

James S. Dennis’s seven Lectures on the Sociology of Christian Mission are notable for both their detail (they run to 1,629 pages!) and the huge number of photographs included in each volume. This presented some difficulties for digitisation and the file sizes of the downloads and larger than usual as a result.

My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing a set of these public domain books for digitisation.

James S. Dennis [1842-1914], Christian Missions and Social Progress. A Sociological Study of Foreign Missions, 3 Vols. Edinburgh & London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1899. Hbk. pp.468+486+675. [Click here to visit the download page for these volumes]

Volume 1

Lecture 1: The Sociological Scope of Christian Missions
Lecture 2: The Social Evils of the Non-Christian World
Lecture 3: Ineffectual Remedies and the Causes of Their Failure
Lecture 4: Christianity the Social Hope of the Nations

Volume 2

Lecture 5: The Dawn of a Sociological Era in Missions
Lecture 6: The Contribution of Christian Missions toi Social Progress

Volume 3

Lecture 6: The Contribution of Christian Missions to Social Progress (continued)

Preface to Volume 1

The Students’ Lectures on Missions at Princeton Theological Seminary, which form the basis of the book now issued, were delivered by the author in the spring of 1896. The subject treated-” The Sociological Aspects of Foreign Missions “- was suggested to him by the students themselves, especially by members of the Sociological Institute and of the Missionary Society of the Seminary, with the special request that it be chosen for consideration. It has proved an absorbing and fruitful theme. The interest which it elicited was shown by requests from the faculties of Auburn, Lane, and Western Theological Seminaries to have the course repeated at those institutions after its delivery at Princeton. The lectures were limited to an hour each, but in preparing them for publication they have been recast, for the most part rewritten, and greatly expanded. This is especially true of the second lecture, and will be so in the case of the sixth, which will appear in the second volume…
p.vii