Theological edutation of nineteenth-century French Missionaries: an appropriation of the Catholicity of Classical Christian Theology

Abstract

The limited research on the theological education of nineteenth-century Christian missionaries, including those of the Société des Missions Evangéliques chez les peuples non-chrétiens á Paris (hereafter PEMS), is of particular interest considering the surviving, significant manuscript collections related to the missionaries – their training and teaching in Paris, France and Morija, Lesotho. This article presents the theological trajectories and historical-theological context of the PEMS missionaries together with an in-depth analysis of a recently discovered notebook of Adolphe Mabille (1836–1894); and concludes with preliminary observations of the theological education of these missionaries.