Spiritual Borderlands at the Edge of Empire

Tracing the work of William Carpenter Bompas (1834-1906), this book explores the "spiritual borderlands" of the British-Canadian North.Born in London, William Carpenter Bompas was an early, Anglican missionary to the Northwest, Canadian territories. As the first Anglican bishop of Athabasca, Mackenzie River, and Selkirk—presiding over some of the largest bishoprics by area in the world—Bompas was central to the physical and spiritual development of Christianity in Northern Canada. In this book, Christopher Ross Petrakos shines a light on the life and mission of Bompas and his wife Charlotte Selina Bompas during their time in the "spiritual borderlands." Across three sections (William, Charlotte, and Beyond Borders) and nine chapters, Petrakos foregrounds issues of conversion (assimilation, accommodation, and resistance), the theologies which underpinned the Bompas' missionary behavior. Critically, Petrakos considers the transformation of northern societies as the result of national and imperial expansion, natural resource extraction, and environmental change. Juxtaposing a rich archive of historical artifacts, maps, and early writings from the Bompas' collections and archives across Canada, Petrakos constructs an image of the early Anglican church in Northwest, British Canada by interrogating the story of two of its central figures.