Baptist Mission in Nineteenth-Century Burma

With determination, zeal, and commitment, American Baptist missionaries arrived in Burma in 1813 and proselytized the ethnic Burman and the ethnic Karen. Whereas their mission efforts among the Burman ended in failure, they converted many Karen to Christianity. This article has explored why they failed among the Burman, but relatively succeeded among the Karen. The thesis of this essay is that American missionaries failed among the Burman, mostly because Buddhism already permeated Burman society for centuries, and that they Christianized many Karen, largely because they still practiced a cosmic religion.