Abstract
, around 20 authors are gathered in this book to pay tribute to historian Claude Prudhomme. Their texts set out the new landscape of missions in contemporary times, incorporating the methods and perspectives provided by this researcher, which enabled the field to emerge from missiologist studies. From the 1960s, the missionary company gradually became a study object for historians. This entry into the academic space was carried out using humanities tools, linked to a critical approach to cultures and their meeting. The decade of 1970 was decisive in this respect for the integration of missions into academic religious history. The shock of the discolonisation overcome and the autonomy of the local churches affirmed, the missionary congregations holding the most important documentary funds then started to open up to researchers. The archivists of companies such as the Paris Foreign Missions, lazarists, spiritans, Ladies, the African Missions of Lyon, etc. will play a major role in providing materials for this historical history. It is around three main themes that the book was conceived from a transdisciplinary perspective. The authors of the mission are the subject of a first part which shows them ‘in action’. Secondly, it is recalled that missionaries, especially from World War I, have not been able to escape the political dimension that will culminate with the affirmation of nationalism. More reflexive, a third part deals with topics such as missiology or mission science, the role of the press and comic strip, and the place of architecture. The book ended with the testimony of loved ones and the postface of Jean-Dominique Durand. The reader will find out about Claude Prudhomme’s multiple commitments, especially to young researchers.