In 1835 the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions appointed James Lyman Merrick to travel to Persia as the first American missionary to Muslims. Four years after his appointment Merrick was instructed to abandon that mission and to join the Board’s established work among Nestorian Christians. In 1845 he was recalled. Marr has usefully illuminated Merrick’s mission by calling attention to its roots in nineteenth century American millenialism. What is most striking about Merrick, however, is not how he reflected the assumptions and environment of 19th century American Christianity — this is no more than we would expect — but ways in which he challenged those assumptions. In predictable ways Merrick was a product of his times; in other, more surprising respects, he seems ahead of its time, especially in the sympathy and sensitivity of his approach to Islam.
In 2010 I became interested in Merrick, and began reading his diaries, held in the Amherst College Archives. The Merrick Diaries website reflects work-in-progress on Merrick, and brings together some of the documents I have so far collected or transcribed.
