The Legacy of Claudius Buchanan

Wilbert R. Shenk

laudius Buchanan has been credited with playing the so as to allow missionaries to enter . The antimissionary C decisive role in opening India to Christian missions in forces deflected this attempt, but the charter did require the the early years of the nineteenth century.' By the twentieth company to continue to provide chaplains to the expatriate century, however, he was largely forgotten.' Never commis­ Indian civil service and military. sioned a missionary himself, Buchanan worked to break down During his four years at CambridgeBuchanancorresponded the considerable barriers to missionary work that existed until regularly withJohn Newton. In 1792 he dined with Mr. and Mrs. 1813, and he contributed to the development of institutional Charles Grant in Cambridge and heard from Grant, a director of infrastructures that would sustain missions. Buchanan is a wor­ the , "various accounts of the apostolic spirit thy case study in evangelical activism. of some missionaries to the Indies.:" In 1794 Newton pressed on him the possibility of the India chaplaincy, still the only legal Family and Education basis for evangelical work in British India."

Claudius Buchanan was born March 12, 1766, at , A Passion for Mission . His father, Alexander, was the local schoolmaster. His maternal grandfather, Claudius Somers, was an elder of the Upon graduation from Cambridge in 1795 Buchanan was or­ Cambuslang kirk when George Whitefield preached in the val­ daineddeaconandbecameNewton'scurate. In early1796Charles ley in 1742and thefamily cameundertheswayof the Evangelical Grant got Buchanan appointed a chaplain to the East India Revival. He was his grandfather's pride and joy, and the family Company. That summer the of , Dr. Porteus, early marked out Claudius for the ministry. In his teens, how­ ordained Buchanan priest for the chaplaincy. Following a brief ever, he turned away from the church. Between 1782 and 1787 he visit to his family in Scotland, he sailed for India in August, spent three terms at the University of and then left arriving March 10, 1797, two days before his thirty-first birth­ Scotland. By the time he reached London, he was in dire straits day?At Calcutta the seniorchaplain, theReverend DavidBrown, and had to abandon further travel. Eventually, he got work as who had been in India since 1786, received him cordially. The clerk in an attorney's office. In 1790 his inner turmoil reached a two men worked together harmoniously for the next ten years. crisis. His mother wrote, advising that he seek outJohn Newton, Buchanan was posted to the Barrackpur military garrison, rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. Newton not only led Buchanan to sixteen miles upriver from Calcutta. His next two years were a satisfyingspiritual experiencebuttook a great personalinterest frustrating because the soldiers were totally indifferent to reli­ in him.' gion. He occupied himself with the study of the Persian and Two weeks later Claudius was arrested by the words from Hindustani languages. "Not knowing what may be the purpose Isaiah: "Howbeautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of God concerning me," he wrote, "I have thought it my duty to of peace!" This awakened in him the long-suppressed call to the attend early to the languages of the country.:" Indeed, this gave ministry.' At age twenty-four he wasbeginning to find direction. impetus to much of his work during his years in India. Newton urged him to prepare for the ministry. As a member of In April 1799, he married eighteen-year-old Mary Whish, the evangelicalcircle of movers and shakers, Newtonintroduced who had come out to India with her older sister and aunt. She Buchanan to Henry Thornton, who immediately offered to sup­ bore two daughters but soon became ill with consumption. On port Buchanan while he pursued theological studies. It was decided that Buchanan should go to Cambridge to secure proper credentials for ministry in the Churchof England. The autumnof Buchanan came to India as 1791, at age twenty-five, he entered Queens' College, whose a chaplain, but his passion principal was Dr. Isaac Milner, a respected evangelical. . . At Cambridge he became one of the "Sims," attending the was rrussions. Sunday evening event Charles Simeon held weekly for earnest students. Simeonalso tutored him in public speaking. Because of his age and sense of obligation to HenryThornton, Buchanandid doctor's advice, accompanied by her two daughters, Mary little else than study. Later he would attribute his chronic poor Buchanan sailed for England in January 1805 to seek medical health to overwork while at Cambridge. treatment. She died en route in June. Already at Barrackpur the The 1790s were a period of ferment and innovation. The health of Buchanan himself was a constant concern. In addition, Baptists organized a missionary society in 1792, followed by a to the usual attacks of malaria and dysentery, signs of a heart string of new societies in Europe, Great Britain, and the United condition began to show. States. When the charterof the East India Companywas renewed Buchanan had come to India as a chaplain, but his passion in 1793, William Wilberforce tried to get Parliament to amend it was missions. Although the East India Company charter barred missionary work, Buchanan and his contemporaries refer freely in their writings to "missions" and "missionaries." His first Wilbert R. Shenk, a contributing editor,is Director of the Mission Training conversation with William Carey focused on the best missionary Center, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary,Elkhart, Indiana. He served approach to the people of India. Carey cautioned against the as a missionary in Indonesia, 1955-1959, and was a mission administrator, view of an early wholesale conversion of Hindus to the Christian 1963-1990. He is editorof Mission Focus: Annual Review. faitho He said that he was "employed in laying the foundation of

78 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH future usefulness ... translating the into the Bengal tongue."? selves are prop erly the translators" (p.129), while the missionary In a phrase that was prophetic, Buchanan added: "This like supervised ." Of course, neither the missionary nor the native­ Wickliffe's first translati on, may prove 'the father of many ver­ speaker at that time had the tools of lingu istic science, and much sions.' »r o of the wo rk of that generation has not stood up well." At the same time he was sensible of the fact that a less direct Buchanan shared the Serampore enthusiasm for producing approach to evange lization , based on this sober estima te of the as ma ny translations in as many languages as possible.This tactic prospects, might make it more difficult to enlist suppo rt for was buttressed by his almos t boundless confidence in the power missions. Buchanan struggled to find a formulation that was of the Chris tian Scriptures to "w itness" to peo ple, if only they both realistic and compelling." As an heir of the Evange lical were given access (see p. 70). Revival, he put a premium on wholehea rted response to the call In 1806 the Court of Directors in Londo n ordered the college of Jesus Christ." curtailed, and the d epartment of Bible translation was closed . The Buchanan legacy consists of four interlocking roles: Brown and Buchanan had seen this coming and arrange d to have promoter of Bible translation and distribution, architect of an the various language projects taken over by missionary societies. ecclesiastical establishment for Ind ia, publicist and researcher, and ecumenical statesma n. Some of his linguistic Promoter of Bible Translation and Distribution insights were not fully In 1799 Lord Wellesley, the forceful governo r-general of the East appreciated until the Ind ia Company, appointed Buchanan a chaplain to the presi­ dency, which meant that he moved from his Barrackpur exile to twentieth century. Calcutta.Shortl y thereafter Wellesley enlisted Buchanan to draft plans for a college whose main purpose wo uld be to train young Britons for the Indian civil service .This assignment gavefull play Mean while the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS), founded to a Buchanan characteristic tha t wa s to show itself repeatedly: in 1804, began providing support to gro ups like the Serampore his flare for bold and visionary planning.The new college would mission . At this time Buchanan's erstwhile cordia l relations wi th offer a complete European curriculum plus the study of the the Baptists were breached when he took decisions wi thout Indian languages, history, customs and manners, Islam and consultation and prop osed a British "Pro paganda" that wo uld , with their respective cod es of law. In addition, a have put them under the control of the established church." dep artment of Bible translation-a feature tha t must have ap­ Unsurprisingly, theSerampo re Mission rejected the prop osal out peared curious indeed to the Court of Directors in London-was of hand. to be established . In Buchanan 's words, the object of the college was "to enlighten the Ori ental wo rld, to give science, religion, Ecclesiastical Architect and pure morals to Asia, and to confir m in it the British power and d ominion."!' The College of Fort William opened in Au gu st In 1800 Churc h of England canon law had no provision for the 1800 with David Brown as provost and Claudius Buchanan as extension of the church to terr itories beyond British political vice-provost. Buchananwasalso professorof classicallan guages. jurisd iction. This wa s fully consistent with a Chris tendo m con ­ By 1801 Brown and Buchanan had persuad ed the gove rnor­ cept, which defined the church territorially as coextensive with general to appoint the Baptist William Carey as instructor in the state rath er than missionally. Bengali and Sanskrit. Before Claudius Buchanan left for India in 1796, Bishop Buchanan took direct resp onsibility for the Bible translation Porteus discussed with him the need for an ecclesiastical ar­ dep artment from the outset. During the first five years, the range ment for Ind ia. In 1805 Buchanan submitted to Porteus a translation department worked on projects in five lan guages. detailed proposal entitled Memoirofthe Expediencyofan Ecclesias­ Like the Baptist enterprise at nearby Serampore, this was a tical Establishment for India: both as the mea ns of perpetuating the veritable translation factor y, or "emporium . .. of Eastern Let­ Christian religionamong ourown countrymen;andasafoundationfor ters." To critics of this approach Buchanan replied in his im­ the ultimate civilizing of the natives, a document that ran to 176 mensely popular Christian Researches in Asia: "We have no hesi­ printed pages. The subtitle accurately states the thesis: the pasto­ tation in laying down this position: themoretranslations,thebetter. ral care of British subjects resident in Ind ia as we ll as the eva nge ­ Even in their most imperfect state, like Wickliffe's version in a lization ofthe Indian peoples required a full-fledged ecclessiastical remote age, they will form a basis for grad ua l improvem ent by structu re. succeeding generations . Besid es the very best translation must, It is beyond ourpurposes here to discuss details of Buchanan's in the lapse of ages, change with a changi ng langu age, like the prop osal. A few summa ry observatio ns will suffice. First, leaves of a tree which fall in autumn and are renewed in spring" Buchanan accurately anticipa ted future need s of the Anglican (p. 131).14This rationale contained lingu istic insig hts that we re Church in India, and his aide memoir set the stage for the not fully appropriated until the twentieth century. appointment of the first bishop for India in 1814. Second, he was Buchanan early became aware of limitations under which a sailing in stormy waters as far as his mission theory was con­ self-taug ht Carey labored , but publicly he spokeof Careyand his cerned. The Church Missio nary Society was founded in 1799 on associates with respect, crediting them with having revived "the the church principle rather than the High Church principle . spirit for promoting Christian knowledge, by translations of the Anglican eva nge licals rejected the noti on that a bishop should Holy Scriptures."15 Furthermore, he defended this "factory" lead each mission, but the High Church view wa s simila r to the approach as viable because the missionary was not the actua l Catholic.This long remained a contentious issue.Third, Buchanan tran slator. This approach could be followed on ly where it was a was typic al of eva nge licals in his firm commitment to maintain team effort, and "it is to be understood, that the natives them- the "church as by law established ." Fourth, this means that

April 1994 79 Buchanan's rationale called for transplanting Christendom to lie, and Syrian churches. He also made special inquiry into the India, even while he enthusiastically promotedvernacular trans­ Jewish communities in Asia. Wherever he went, he gathered lations and study of vernacular languages and cultures that samples of whatever scriptures were available in the various would eventually lead to its breakup." languages. Buchanan's proposal was received enthusiastically in Lon­ Buchanan's findings were published in 1811 as Christian don, and in 1806 the archbishop of Canterbury sounded out Researches in Asia. The book was an immediate success. It went Buchanan concerning his willingness to be consecrated as the through twelve editions in two years and was republished as late first bishop for India. This honor and responsibility he declined as 1858.23 In it he gave graphic accounts of Hindu religious becauseof his own precarious health. In 1806 Buchanan had been ceremonies and brought to the attention of Christians in theWest so ill he expected to die and had made arrangements with David the existence of the ancientSyrian churches. Particularlycompel­ Brown for his funeral and the administration of estate. ling was the account of his visit to the dreaded inquisition at Goa, which he visited when en route to GreatBritainin January1808.24 Researcher and Publicist His returnto GreatBritainopeneda newphasein Buchanan's career as promoter of missions. He was in demand as a speaker Ifonewereto singleoutBuchanan'smostimportantcontribution and writer. His sermon "The Star in the East," preached in to the cause of missions in his time, it would undoubtedlybe that February 1809, went through repeated printings and aroused of publicist. He bothwrote and found ways of stimulating others wideinterest. As a speaker, Buchananwas solidbutnotflamboy­ to write in supportof the cause of missions. Pearsonsummarized ant. Cambridge University made him a doctor in divinity in 1809 Buchanan's interests succinctly: "Publicity and inquiry were and appointed him to preach the two commencement sermons therefore his great objects.'?" Buchanan was always intent on that year. In the appendix to his Cambridge sermons he made a awakening the British public to "the duty and the opportunity of vigorous statement about the importance of an "increased culti­ promoting the moral and political welfare of our fellow subjects vationofthefemale mind" (p. 59, also p. 154), stimulatedbywhat in India.'?' To do this required fresh and accurate information, he observed of the status of women in Asian society. Buchanan and he had a journalist's feel for issues. is thus one of the earliest advocates for increased scope for In 1803, with the backing of Lord Wellesley, Buchanan women in ministry. proposed a prize competition to the universities of Oxford, Those who had been involved in the 1793 campaign to amend the EastIndiaCompanycharterto allow missions to enter India knew their next opportunity would come in 1813. In connection with the successful an tislave trade campaign in 1807 Buchanan's greatest evangelicals had forged an effective system for enlisting public contribution to missions support for their causes in Parliament." The basic instrument was the public petition signed by thousands of citizens. Publicity was his work as researcher based on authoritative information was essential. Buchanan's and publicist. ten years in India, his extensive knowledge growing out of his firsthand observations, and his ability to formulate ideas in accessible form made him an important ally in this new cam­ Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and paign. Unfortunately, every step he took was dogged by his Trinity College, Dublin, for essays on "thebest means of extend­ declining health. ing the blessings of civilization and true religion among the sixty William Wilberforce tried to protect Buchanan from too millions, inhabitants of Hindostan, subject to British author­ much direct public exposure, which led to inevitable personal ity."22 Buchanan paid out more than £1,650 from his personal attacks, but he relied heavily on Christian Researches and other resources in prizes during the several years of the competition. Buchanan pamphlets for his information as he led the fight to More than twenty of these prize essays and poems were pub­ change the company charter. In 1813 Parliament did change the lished. In recognition of Buchanan's work the University of charter to allow missionaries to workin BritishIndia and to allow Glasgow in 1805 conferred on him the degree of doctor in the founding of an ecclesiastical establishment. Without divinity (an honorary degree by modern standards). Buchanan's research, writing, and bold proposals, the outcome In March 1806 the governor-general authorized a leave of might have been as it was in 1793. absence so that Buchanan could engage in research. From Fort William College, Brown and Buchanan had corresponded with Ecumenical Statesman people throughout India and elsewhere in Asia soliciting infor­ mation about religious and social conditions, butthey found that The crisis in 1806 caused by the Court of Directors' order to the reports were often contradictory. This convinced them that curtail operations at Fort William College threatened the Bible reliable information needed to be assembled. They wanted to translationscheme so dear to Brown, Buchanan, theirSerampore know the state of and of other religions. In addition, colleagues, and others. Faced with the demand either to close Buchanan was eager to take an inventory of scriptures of various down or take analternative route, Buchananand Brown chose an religions in the vernacular languages. alternative. Now that the centralized approach they had pro­ In spite of his precarious health, Buchanan traveled by moted through Fort William College had to be abandoned, they elephant and horse overland from Calcutta to Madras, and then hived off the various language projects to denominational mis­ by ship as far as Cape Comorin. On a second trip he went to sion bodies: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Bap­ Malabar and Travancore, and he visited Ceylon three times. He tists, Lutherans, Scottish, and Roman Catholics. The main crite­ experienced firsthand the importance of on-site observation. rion seemed to be a commitment to producing Bible translations Buchanan visited major Hindu temples along his route, includ­ in the vernaculars." Always the promoter, Buchanan, with ing the greatJuggernaut in Orissa, and Protestant, Roman Catho­ Brown's collaboration, wrote anappeal for financial supportthat

80 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH went to potential subscribers in Great Britain and Asia. And he of visiting the ancient churches there. As a result Anglican proposed expansion of Bible translation into still other Asian missions from that time showed a sympathetic interest in the languages. To some extent the difficulties he had run into with historic churches in Ethiopia, Egypt, the Arabian peninsula, and the Baptists over his "Propaganda" proposal were mitigated by Persia, on the basis of Buchanan's contention that these ancient his continuing efforts on their behalf in the Bible cause. churches had the potential to evangelize their own people much Reference has already been made to Buchanan's visits to the more effectively than could foreigners," provided they were SyrianChristians at Malabar. These churches traced their origins revived and purified. This would be done by making the Scrip­ to the ApostleThomas. In the sixteenthcenturyCatholicmission­ tures widely available in the vernaculars and by providing aries encountered the Malabar churches and took steps to incor­ adequate theological training. Later it became apparent that porate theminto the RomanCatholicChurch. A minorityof some Buchanan did not have an adequate grasp of the history and 40,000Syriansrefused to accept theauthorityof theRomanpope. tradition of the Syrians and, consequently, was misled in some of This was the group Buchanan met in 1807.27 He easily established his conclusions. Yet he showed exemplary sensitivity in insisting rapport with Metropolitan Dionysius, who agreed that a transla­ that the starting point in such a relationship is one of mutual tion of the Bible into , the language of the people, was respect and patient listening to one another." urgently needed." As a token of friendship, the metropolitan gave Buchanan an old manuscript copy of the Syrian Bible, Buchanan's Last Years which he later deposited in the Cambridge University library. Buchanan also broached the sensitive subject of possible rela­ After Buchanan returned to Great Britain in 1808, he hoped he tionship between the Syrians and the Anglicans. might sufficiently recover his health to return to India. Alas, his Buchanan himself did little more in relation to the Syrian health did not improve, and he decided he must give up any Church than to assist them with their Bible translation project. thought of going out to India again. In 1810 he met and married MaryThompson. Within the next three years two sons were born to them, neither of whom lived; Mary died in 1813. Buchanan stirred Anglican In 1811 Buchanan suffered the first of several strokes, which left him partially paralyzed. Never flagging in his passion, he missions to consider the continued to write on behalf of the opening of India to missions missionary potential of the and to plan a visit to the Middle East. In January 1815 he attended the funeral of Henry Thornton eastern churches. in London. On February 9 Buchanan died, a month before his forty-ninth birthday, and was buried in Yorkshire beside his second wife. He was survived by daughters Charlotte and Au­ But the way in which he publicized the Syrians in India through gusta. At the time of his death he was reading the proofs for the Christian Researches created a precedent. At the time of his death Syriac New Testament, which he spent several years editing and Buchanan was planning a trip to the Middle East for the purpose preparing for the printer." Notes------­ 1. This is Stock's judgment (History of the Church Missionary Society, 7. Neill incorrectly reports that Buchanan reached India just before his 1:97), which may seem overdrawn; but see Neill's appreciation thirtieth birthday (History, p. 256). (History, p. 256). 8. Pearson, Memoirs, 1:148. Cf. the description of Carey's work routine 2. I have not been able to consult A. K. Davidson's Aberdeen Ph.D. once he settled at Malda in 1794: "His time was systematically dissertation, "The Development and Influence of the British Mis­ apportioned to the management of the factory, the study of the sionary Movement's Attitudes Towards India, 1786-1813" (1973), language, the translation of the New Testament and addresses to the which studies Buchanan's role as publicist in particular. heathen" (Marshman, Lifeand Times, p. 69). Carey and Buchanan 3. Buchanan read Newton's Life at this time and saw in Newton's assumed language study and Bible translation to be foundational. wasted youth a parallel with his own. 9. Later Buchanan reported of Carey: "He considers himself sowing a 4. ''Itoccurred to me, that that enviable office was once designed for me; seed, which haply may grow up and bear fruit. He is prosecuting his that I was called to the ministry, as it were, from my infancy. For my translation of the Scriptures" (Pearson, Memoirs, 1:184). pious grandfather chose me from among my mother's children to 10. Ibid., p. 164. live with himself. He adopted me as his own child, and took great 11. When word came of the disastrous beginning of the London Mis­ pleasure in forming my young mind to the love of God" (Pearson, sionarySocietyventurein Tahiti, Buchanancommented; "I hope this Memoirs, 1:33). SouthSeas schemewill notdiscourage the missionary societies. They 5. Ibid., p. 77. Since at least 1787, schemes had been put forward for have done no harm: and if they send out their next mission with less establishing missions to India for the purpose of evangelizing the carnal eclat, and more Moravian diffidence, they may perhaps do whole population. Charles Grant, along with William Chambers, more good" (ibid., p. 183). George Udny, and David Brown, in 1787 circulated "A Proposal for 12. Buchanan wrote to a friend: "Nothing great since the beginning of Establishing a Protestant Mission in Bengal and Behar." Charles the world has been done, it is said, without enthusiasm" (ibid., p. Hole noted: "The claim which the natives had upon the British 165). Governmentwas forcibly set forth" (Early History,p. 7). The proposal called for eight missionaries and various projects to translate the 13. Ibid., p. 368. Scriptures into the vernacular languages. 14. All page citations in the text are from the 1812 London eighth edition 6. The standard gloss on this account is that Buchanan got to India of Christian Researches, which includes Buchanan's Cambridge com­ because of Simeon'sinfluence (see Stock, History; Hole, Early History; mencement sermons. Gibbs, Anglican Church). But see Smith, Conversion of India, p. 107. 15. In 1799 Buchanan reported: "I explained to him [i.e., Carey], from Pearson indicates John Newton was his "father in God." sources with which he seemed unacquainted, the plan and progress

April 1994 81 of the Tamulian Scriptures, and the circumstances attending the 20. Ibid., p. 281. publication" (Pearson, Memoirs, 1:184).HenryMartynarrived on the 21. Ibid. scene in 1806 and soon expressed serious reservations about the 22. Ibid., p. 280. quality of translations produced at Serampore (Potts, BritishBaptist 23. Stock, History, 1:216. Missionaries, p. 54). 24. See Priolkar, Goa Inquisition. 16. One can conjecture that this point about collaboration, which 25. See Howse, Saints in Politics. Buchanan makes so strongly, was largely lost sight of because of the 26. Whether Buchanan was conversant with the basis of the new BFBS pressures on the missions system to raise financial support, which, is unclear. This inclusive view of the work of Bible translation was it was assumed, could be done only by keeping the missionary consonant with that advocated by John Owen in the inaugural central to the operation. But this resulted in a distorted view that meeting and made the basis of the society (Canton, History, pp. 12­ reinforced Western domination and falsified the whole story (see 19). Sanneh, Translating theMessage). Buchanan maintained this collabo­ 27. Buchanan,Christian Researches (9thed.), pp. 99-135;Neill, History,pp. rative view of translation rather consistently. In the Introduction to 238-39. Christian Researches he identifies the principal "Oriental" translators 28. Canton, History, p. 279. for the versions then recently published (p. 2). His views on the 29. Stock, History, 1:222-23, 232; Mathew and Thomas, Indian Churches, importance of such collaboration are expressed in a letter (Pearson, pp.44-73. Memoir, pp. 254-55). 30. This same stance has been adopted in the twentieth century by 17. Hooper and Culshaw, Bible Translation, pp. 15-20; Smalley, Transla­certain missions that have collaborated with African Independent tion as Mission, pp. 47-50. Churches without any attempt to incorporate them into a Western 18. Potts, British Baptist Missionaries, pp. 54-55; Owen, History, p. 99; denominational structure. Buchanan, An Apology,p. 67 n. 31. Canton, History, p. 295. 19. Pearson, Memoirs, 1:310, 366ff.

Bibliography Works by Claudius Buchanan 1805 Memoirof the Expediency ofan Ecclesiastical Establishment for manuscript,and a notice of some others (Hebrew and Syriac), British India; both as the means of perpetuating the Christian collected bytheRev.Claudius Buchanan, D.O.,in theyear1806, religion amongourown countrymen; andasafoundation forthe and now deposited in the public library, Cambridge; also a ultimatecivilizing of the natives.London. collation anddescription ofaMS. Rollofthe Book of Esther; and 1805 The First Four Years of the College of Fort William in Bengal. the Megillah of Ahasuerus, from the Hebrew copy, originally Calcutta and London. Reprinted, London, 1810. extant in Brazen Tablets at Goa, on theMalabar Coast. With an 1807 An Apologyfor Promoting Christianity in India. London. 2d English translation, by Thomas Yeates, late of the Univer­ ed.,1813. sity of Oxford. Cambridge. 1809 The Star in the East; a sermon preached in the Parish Church of 1813 Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment: beinga briefview of the St. James, Bristol, February 26, 1809,ontheauthor'sreturnfrom stateof thecolonies of Great BritainandofherAsiaticempirein India. London. respect ofreligious instruction.Towhichisadded, A Sketch ofan 1810 The Light of the World; a sermon preached at theParish Church Ecclesiastical Establishment for BritishIndia. London. ofSt. Anne, Blackfriars, London, June12, 1810,before thesociety 1814 An Addressdelivered before the ChurchMissionarySocietyfor for Missions to Africaand the East. London. Africa and the East (Revd Messrs Scharre and Rhenius ... 1810 The Three Eras of Light; two discourses preached before the missionaries to the Coast of Ccromandel). London. , on Commencement Sunday, July 1st, 1810.London. Works about Claudius Buchanan 1811 Christian Researches in Asia. London. Several printings ap­ peared in 1811,including the second edition enlarged; 1811 Pearson, Hugh N. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Claudius (Boston 2d ed., enlarged with Melvill Horne's sermon of Buchanan, D.O.,latevice-provost oftheCollege ofFortWilliam in Bengal. June 4, 1811); 1812 (London, 8th ed., with two sermons 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1817. preached at Cambridge); 1812 (Edinburgh, 3d ed.): 1812 Pearson, Hugh N. MemoirofRev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D. In SomeParts (Edinburgh, 3d ed.): 1819 (l lth ed.): 1840 (new ed.): 1849; Abridged, and Enlarged from Dr. Buchanan's "Christian Researches in 1858 (new ed. prepared by Rev. W. H. Foy). Asia." New York: American Tract Society, n.d. 1811 Two Discourses preached before the University of Cambridge, July 1, 1810. And a sermon preached before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East,June 12, 1810. To which are Other works cited added Christian Researches in Asia. London. 5th ed., 1812. 1811 The Healing Waters of Bethesda; a sermon preached at Buxton Canton, William. TheHistoryoftheBritishandForeign Bible Society. Vol. 1. Wells, June2nd, 1811. London. London: John Murray, 1904. 1812 Eight Sermons. London. Davidson, A. K. "The Development and Influence of the BritishMission­ 1812 Sermons on InterestingSubjects. London. ary Movement's Attitudes Toward India, 1786-1813." Ph.D. diss., 1812 The Works of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan . . . Comprising his AberdeenUniversity, 1973.This worknowpublishedas Evangelicals Christian Researches in Asia . . . His Memoiron the Expediency and Attitudes to India 1786-1813: Missionary Publicity and Claudius ofAn Ecclesiastical Establishment for BritishIndia,andhis Star Buchanan. Abingdon, Oxford: Sutton Courtenay Press, 1990. in the East,with three new sermons. New York. Gibbs, M. E. TheAnglicanChurch in India,1600-1970. Delhi: ISPCK, 1972. 1812 Collation of an Indian Copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch, with Hole, Charles. TheEarlyHistoryoftheChurch MissionarySociety. London: preliminary remarks: containing an exact description of the Church Missionary Society, 1896.

82 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH

Hooper, J.S.M.,and W.J.Culshaw. Bible Translation inIndia, Pakistan, and Potts, E.Daniel. BritishBaptist Missionaries inIndia,1793-1837. TheHistory Ceylon. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963. of Serampore and Its Missions. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, Howse, Ernest Marshall. Saints in Politics: The "Clapham Sect" and the 1967. Growth of Freedom. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1952;repro Priolkar, Anant Kakba. The Goa Inquisition: Being a Quatercentenary 1971. Commemoration Study of the Inquisition in India. Bombay, 1961. Marshman, John C. TheLifeandTimesofCarey, Marshman, and Ward. Vol. Sanneh, Lamin. Translating theMessage: TheMissionary Impact onCulture. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1859. Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Books, 1989. Mathew, C. P., and M. M. Thomas. TheIndianChurches of Saint Thomas. Smalley, William A. Translation asMission. Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univer­ Delhi: ISPCK,1967. sity Press, 1991. Neill, Stephen. A HistoryofChristianityin India, 1706-1858. Cambridge: Smith, George. TheConversion ofIndia: From Pantaenus tothePresent Time, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985. A.D. 193-1893. London: John Murray, 1893. Owen, John. TheHistoryoftheOriginandFirstTen Years ofthe British and Stock,Eugene. HistoryoftheChurch Missionary Society: Its Environment, Its Foreign Bible Society. London, 1816. Men andIts Work. London: Church Missionary Society,Vol.1, 1899.

Book Reviews

Faithful Witness: The Life and Mis­ sion of William Carey.

By Timothy George. Birmingham, Ala.: New Hope, 1991. pp. xxi, 202. $10.95; paperback $7.95.

The story of William Carey has been re­ very different genre, which grapple with reproducing Carey's Enquiry at the end of cycled by dozens of authors. In this case, a the theological, missiological, factual, and the volume, along with some interesting SouthernBaptistchurchhistorian has pro­ ideological questions raised by Carey's photographs. duced a popular piece to promote mission experience and decision making in Ben­ -A. Christopher Smith commitment at the end of the twentieth gal, are needed to set the record straight. century. The result is a book that is of a The primary sources for such productions very different order from the scholarly have still been only half worked. They A.Christopher Smith isaBritish Baptist missiologist volume written in 1967 by the Australian challenge missiologists to initiate a new who works asReligion Program Officer ofthePew Baptist historian E. Daniel Potts. era of inquiry into the mission of the Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia. Hehas spent seven As is the case with so many Carey Serampore Trio. years researching and writing on the Serampore biographies, more than half of the text is The publishers are to be thanked for Trio. given over to recounting Carey's experi­ ences and British subculture before he arrived in India. Only one-quarter of the work deals with the epic thirty-four-year­ old history of the Serampore Mission. The focus is so much on Carey that he is under­ The Legacy of Scottish Missionaries stood very little in terms of the multiple in Malawi. contexts in which he operated in British Bengal. Thus the crucial role that By Harvey J. Sindima. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Marshman and Ward played in running Mellen Press, 1992. Pp. vi, 152. $59.95. "his mission" at Serampore is down­ played. A far more trinitarian approach is Malawian Christian comment in print on Christians and Scottish missionaries. badlyneeded, as is a thoroughgoing, well­ the Scottish missionary enterprise in The book looks at the work of the two researched missiological analysis of the Malawi goes back almost a century. Yet in major Scottish missions in Malawi-the mission enterprise that Carey supposedly the period since independence in 1964, Blantyre Mission of the Church of Scot­ masterminded. comparatively little has been written by land, and the Livingstonia Mission of the Timothy George has written in an Malawian Christians themselves to help Free (later United Free) Church of Scot­ engaging style as a scholar who draws us understand how they view the work of land. It highlights several important from the riches of Reformation and post­ Scottish missionaries during the last 120 points: the lack of missionary sensitivity Reformation, First World, Protestant years. For this reason alone this book to many aspects of African culture, the church history. That is welcome. But it should be welcomed. HarveySindima is a injustices of early colonial land policies, would have done Carey much more jus­ MalawianPresbyterianminister,currently the low priority given to theological edu­ tice not to have taken for granted so much teaching at Colgate University in New cation,and the slowness to ordainAfrican historiographical mythology, and such an York State. He is well placed to survey the clergy. abundance of inaccuracies. Works of a historical interaction between Malawian One has to say that the book is a

84 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH