Missionary Zeal and Institutional Control: Organizational Contradictions in the Basel Mission on the Gold Coast, 1828-1917

Afterword by Paul Jenkins

In the historical literature on mission, this book stands out for its detailed examination of the organizational dynamics that gave shape -- andbrought enduring success -- to the Evangelical Missionary Society at Basel.

A first-rate account of the early Basel Mission on the Gold Coast of WestAfrica (present-day Ghana), this volume takes readers inside the missionitself, revealing its dynamic, though sometimes contradictory, methodsof motivation and discipline and how they impacted effective evangelismboth at home and abroad. Working from archival records, Jon Millerdetails the collaboration across class lines that made the mission possible, and he shows how basic pietist beliefs about authority and obediencewere the source of both the mission's strengths and its most serious internal weaknesses. Also included are two dozen photographs, a foreword byRichard V. Pierard, and an afterword by Paul Jenkins.