The Establishment of the Free Church of Scotland’s Mission to the Conversion of the Constantinople Jews in the 19th Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/sefarad.022-004Keywords:
Protestant missionaries, Ottoman Empire, Sephardic Jews, Alexander Thomson, proselytismAbstract
Recent studies and dissertations have explored the history of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. However, research on the religious missionary work of Scottish Protestant missionaries in the Ottoman lands is still lacking. This article describes the history of the Free Church of Scotland’s Mission in Constantinople after the famous Kirk Disruption of 1843 with the Established Church of Scotland. This investigation presents both the origin of the main two stations, located in Galata and Hasköy, devoted to the conversion of Constantinople Jews, mainly Sephardim, as well as the missionaries’ strategies for proselytization and the results of their work. Finally, this study will present the results of the mission in terms of possible conversions and their outreach in the Jewish community.
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