BETWEEN CURIOSITY AND INTOLERANCE: BULGARIAN ATTITUDES TOWARDS AMERICAN MISSIONARY EDUCATORS
Thе article examines Bulgarian responses to American missionary edu- cators in the Ottoman Balkans during the nineteenth century, tracing a spectrum that ranges from curiosity and engagement to suspicion and intolerance. It ex- plores how Protestant ideas and cultural ideals intersected with Bulgarian literary and spiritual life, education, and the activities of educators and church figures. The reception of missionaries’ work — both favourable and highly critical — is documented in the literature, in periodicals, pamphlets and brochures, as well as in personal correspondence. The article also considers how interpretations of missionary contributions shifted over time, with broader reassessments emerging more than a century after the official beginning of their work among Bulgarians.
BETWEEN CURIOSITY AND INTOLERANCE: BULGARIAN ATTITUDES TOWARDS AMERICAN MISSIONARY EDUCATORS
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Maria Pileva, PhD
- [email protected]
- Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski
- Bulgaria
Maria Pileva, born in 1972, completed her Master's degree in the "Translator-Editor" program at the Faculty of Slavic Studies, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in 2012. She undertook a research specialization at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (2015), and in 2016 she defended her PhD dissertation titled "Religious Motifs in Bulgarian Translations of English-Language Fiction in the 19th Century" at the Department of Bulgarian Literature, Sofia University.
Her research interests encompass literary studies, religion, and translation theory. She works in editing and translation, and is the author of short stories, non-fiction essays, academic articles, and studies published in Literaturen Vestnik, Literaturna Misal, Literaturata, Littera et Lingua, the Sofia University Annual, among others. She has co-edited several academic conference volumes.
In 2018, she was awarded the Bulgarian Translators' Union Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translation Theory, History, and Criticism for her monograph "Rebellion, Hope, Redemption".
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Abstract:Thе article examines Bulgarian responses to American missionary edu- cators in the Ottoman Balkans during the nineteenth century, tracing a spectrum that ranges from curiosity and engagement to suspicion and intolerance. It ex- plores how Protestant ideas and cultural ideals intersected with Bulgarian literary and spiritual life, education, and the activities of educators and church figures. The reception of missionaries’ work — both favourable and highly critical — is documented in the literature, in periodicals, pamphlets and brochures, as well as in personal correspondence. The article also considers how interpretations of missionary contributions shifted over time, with broader reassessments emerging more than a century after the official beginning of their work among Bulgarians.
Subject: We for Others and for OurselvesKeywords: American missionaries Bulgarian Revival period literature education periodical press
