Kenneth Scott Latourette

Kenneth Scott Latourette – Life, Scholarship, and Legacy

Explore the life of Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884–1968), American historian and missionary scholar. Learn about his formative years, major works on Christianity and East Asia, his influence, and enduring significance.

Introduction

Kenneth Scott Latourette (August 6, 1884 – December 26, 1968) was a pioneering American historian, sinologist, and Baptist minister whose scholarship bridged Christianity and East Asian history.

Though trained in the Christian missionary tradition, Latourette did not confine himself to theology or Western church history; instead, he envisioned Christian missions as integral to a global history of cultural exchange, conflict, and expansion. His influence lies in synthesizing massive bodies of research into sweeping narratives about Christianity’s spread and its interaction with Asian civilizations.

Early Life and Family

Latourette was born in Oregon City, Oregon, to DeWitt Clinton Latourette (a lawyer) and Ella Scott Latourette.

His parents had attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Latourette family traced its ancestry back to Huguenot roots in France before migrating to the United States.

Latourette remained unmarried throughout his life, dedicating much of his energies to scholarship, teaching, and missionary engagement.

Youth, Education, and Early Mission Work

In 1904, Latourette earned a B.S. degree from Linfield College (then in McMinnville, Oregon).
He then attended Yale University, obtaining a B.A. in 1906, M.A. in 1907, and finally a Ph.D. in 1909.

Latourette’s doctoral research (under scholars such as Frederick Wells Williams) focused on early U.S.–China relations (1784–1844).

From 1909 to 1910, he worked as a traveling secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, promoting missions in colleges.

In 1910, Latourette traveled to China to teach at the Yale-in-China program in Changsha, Hunan Province.

However, serious illness — amoebic dysentery — forced him to return to the U.S. by 1912.

Academic and Professional Career

Teaching and Ordination

After recovery, Latourette held teaching posts at Reed College (1914–1916) and Denison University (1916–1921).
In 1918, during his time at Denison, he was ordained as a Baptist minister.

Yale and Professorships

In 1921, Latourette joined the faculty of Yale Divinity School, holding the D. Willis James Professorship of Missions and World Christianity.

Later, in 1949, he was appointed Sterling Professor of Missions and Oriental History at Yale, one of the university’s highest honors.

Between these appointments, he also served as chair of the Religion Department (from 1938) and directed graduate studies in the Divinity School (from 1946).

Latourette retired from active teaching in 1953, thereafter holding the title Sterling Professor Emeritus until his death in 1968.

He was affectionately known among Yale students as “Uncle Ken”, welcoming students into his home, leading informal Bible discussions, and mentoring many.

Major Works and Scholarly Contributions

Latourette was a highly prolific writer. Between monographs, edited volumes, essays, and translations, he published over 80 books and many articles.

His scholarship spanned the history of China, Japan, Christian missions, and global Christianity.

Some of his most influential works include:

• A History of Christian Missions in China (1929)

• The Chinese: Their History and Culture (2 vols, 1934; revised 1964)

• A History of the Expansion of Christianity (7 vols, 1937–1945) — his magnum opus surveying Christian missionary expansion globally.

• Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: A History of Christianity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (5 vols, 1958–1962)

• The Development of China, The Development of Japan, and A Short History of the Far East, among others

Latourette’s historiographical approach was marked by:

• A global perspective: treating Christianity not as a European export but as a worldwide phenomenon interacting with local cultures.

• Emphasis on mission as the engine of Christian expansion: he argued that missionary efforts, translation, education, and cultural engagement were central, not peripheral, to Christian history.

• A methodical, documentary style: careful sourcing, use of statistics, balanced narrative, and avoidance of overly theological or polemical language.

• Optimistic ‘pulsation’ thesis: Latourette proposed that Christian expansion proceeded in waves—each advance reaching beyond the last, with periods of retreat or stagnation that were shorter and less severe.

His work, however, has also faced critique in later decades, especially from scholars advocating more attention to indigenous agency, postcolonial nuance, and non-Western Christian movements.

Leadership, Service & Influence

Beyond his scholarship, Latourette was deeply involved in church, mission, and ecumenical institutions:

• He served as President of the American Historical Association in 1948.

• He held leadership roles in the American Society of Church History, American Baptist organizations, YMCA, Yale-in-China, and the World Council of Churches initiatives.

• He contributed to the founding or governance of institutions in Asia, such as the Japan International Christian University Foundation.

• Yale’s Latourette Initiative (a documentary and archival program for global Christian mission history) bears his name, a lasting institutional tribute.

His personal habits also reflected discipline and generosity: colleagues remembered that he could write about 2,000 words per morning, rain or shine.

He was known for his ecumenical outlook, engaging respectfully across denominational lines.

Personality & Intellectual Disposition

Latourette combined devout Christian conviction with scholarly restraint. He was a man of deep faith who believed in the importance of historical objectivity and careful analysis.

He was often described as methodical, studious, generous to students, and committed to bridging faith and academic inquiry.

Though he lacked mastery of Chinese later in life, his orientation toward Asia was heartfelt: he wanted to interpret China and Japan to Western audiences with fairness and scholarly respect.

Despite his vast output, he lived with modest personal means and focused on mentoring and institutional building rather than personal luxury.

Selected Quotes & Reflections

Latourette’s writings include many memorable lines. Here are a few:

• “The history of Christianity, therefore, must be of concern to all who are interested in the record of men and particularly to all who seek to understand the contemporary human scene.”

• “Compared with the thousands of years in which human life has been on this planet, Christianity is a recent development.”

• “Although when Christianity appeared the total population of the planet was only a fraction of that of the twentieth century, most of the earth’s surface was quite outside the Mediterranean world, Persia, India, and China.”

• “When contrasted with the much longer time that life has been present, the course of Christianity thus far is but a brief moment.”

These reflect his sense of global historical scale and his humility about the place of Christianity in human history.

Legacy & Impact

Kenneth Scott Latourette’s influence continues in several ways:

1. Foundational historical synthesis — His multi-volume surveys remain reference points for students of missions and world Christianity.

2. Globalizing Christian history — He helped shift scholarship from Eurocentric models to genuinely worldwide narratives.

3. Institutional memory — His archival papers at Yale and the Latourette Initiative ensure future generations can revisit his methods and materials.

4. Educational influence — Many missionaries, scholars, and church leaders have been shaped by Latourette’s textbooks and frameworks.

5. Critical engagement — Later scholars have critiqued and built upon his work, especially in decolonial, indigenous, and global south perspectives.

Though aspects of his framework are dated by newer historiographies, his ambition, range, and the scale of his scholarship remain inspiring for historians who attempt to span ethnicity, geography, and faith traditions.

Lessons from Latourette’s Life

• Bridge disciplines — Latourette showed that history, theology, religious studies, and area studies can inform and enrich one another.

• Global vision matters — He urged scholars to look beyond Western borders and consider the interactions of belief, culture, and power globally.

• Diligence and consistency — His prodigious writing output was undergirded by disciplined daily work.

• Humility in scope — Even as a leading scholar, he acknowledged the limitations of his knowledge — for example, about non-Western Christian movements emerging in his later decades.

• Service orientation — He invested not just in scholarship but mentoring, institutional infrastructure, and ecumenical networks.

Conclusion

Kenneth Scott Latourette stands as one of the most ambitious and prolific historians of Christianity and East Asia in the 20th century. He bridged faith and scholarship, missions and history, and East and West, striving to tell stories that spanned continents and centuries.

While later scholarship has refined or contested aspects of his narratives, the magnitude and audacity of his vision endure. Recalling his life and work invites us to imagine histories that cross borders — intellectual, cultural, and spiritual — and to write with both scholarly rigor and human empathy.