The perils of Christian mission : writing from the New World

Guest curator Suzi Higton writes about her current display in the Funk Reading Room case

In their quest to spread the Word of God, missionaries have for centuries traversed continents to reach some of the most isolated and hostile places on earth. Currently on display at New College Library is a mere handful of the wealth of literature written by those who risked their lives to introduce Christianity to nations only recently acquainted with Western influence.

Dating from the mid-1850s to the turn of the nineteenth century, these titles are notable not only for their vivid Victorian book bindings, but for the captivating stories of enduring hardship and inherent peril of which they tell.

The daughters of Syria : a narrative of efforts by Mrs. Bowen Thompson for the evangelization of the Syrian females; Bishop Hannington : the life and adventures of a missionary hero; A thousand miles of miracle in China; . From New College Library

A Thousand Miles of Miracle in China first published in 1904, recounts the personal experience of Archibald D. E. Glover, a missionary who witnessed first-hand the brutality of the Boxer Uprising of June 1900, an unrelenting attack on Western missionaries and Chinese Christian converts. Glover recalls half of the missionaries in the Shan-si region were murdered and that he and his family were lucky to escape with their lives.

The Cross and the Dragon or Light in the Broad East focuses on an earlier era of missionary work in China as described by the Reverend Benjamin Couch Henry. A Princeton graduate, Henry travelled to Canton (now Guangzhou) in 1874 and describes in detail the deeply unwelcoming reception of Western missionaries. Labelled as ‘foreign devils,’ it was widely believed they had brought misfortune to the country, including drought and famine.

The story of James Hannington, who became the first bishop of East Equatorial Africa, begins on a decidedly light-hearted note but ends ultimately in tragedy. The Life and Adventures of Bishop Hannington documents in often comical detail the Anglican minister’s travels to Zanzibar and Uganda between 1883 and 1885. Accompanied by striking colour illustrations and formed in part by humorous letters written to his young nephews, Hannington’s eventual kidnap and murder by tribesmen is recorded from his own pocket journal recovered by a later expedition after his death.

A number of missionary accounts from the period are noteworthy for their inclusion of foldable maps as seen in Fiji and the Fijians. Measuring just 18cm in length, the map included in this account which spans two volumes charts the cluster of islands as they would have appeared in the mid-nineteenth century to the missionaries who first arrived there. Missions to this region however were not without risk as demonstrated by the fate of English missionary Thomas Baker who was killed and eaten by cannibals in Nabatautau, Fiji in 1867.

The Daughters of Syria recounts the tireless work of female missionary Mrs Elizabeth Bowen. Following the outbreak of civil war which resulted in the massacre of thousands of Christians, Mrs Bowen travelled alone to Lebanon in 1860. Her efforts resulted in the establishment of the British Syria Schools in Beirut, providing a lifeline to the many widows and children left destitute by the conflict.

The diversity of missions undertaken during the Victorian era is perhaps best demonstrated by Village Work in India, the account of Normal Russell of the Canada Presbyterian Church. The Reverend’s mission to Madhya Pradesh, Central India between 1890 and 1902 is accompanied by a number of photographs taken during his often perilous travels.

Today, missionaries continue to travel the world and although many still encounter great danger, the fascinating yet harrowing accounts of these first missions provide unique insights into unexplored lands and of the lives of those who lived there.

Suzi Higton, School of Divinity

Christ or Confucius, Which?

Christ or Confucius, Which? is just one of the book titles now on display in New College Library, in honour of the conference being held on James Legge and Scottish Missions to China at New College on 11-13 June 2015.

Macgowan, John. Christ or Confucius, Which? Or, the story of the Amoy Mission. London : London Missionary Society, 1889. New College Library sMR 5 McG

Macgowan, John. Christ or Confucius, Which? Or, the story of the Amoy Mission. London : London Missionary Society, 1889. New College Library sMR 5 McG

Henry, B.C. The Cross and the Dragon ; or, Light in the Broad East. London: S.W. Partridge & Co, 1885.      New College Library sMR 5 Hen

Henry, B.C. The Cross and the Dragon ; or, Light in the Broad East. London: S.W. Partridge & Co, 1885. New College Library sMR 5 Hen

 

The authors of these works were contemporaries of James Legge (1815-1897), who was a missionary and scholar of Chinese. He became Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca established in 1818 by the pioneering protestant missionary Robert Morrison (1782–1834). In 1842 he was put in charge of the London Missionary Society’s mission house in Hong Kong where he spent a third of his life. He became an accomplished translator of Chinese Classical texts. Returning home to Scotland in 1873, he then  took up the newly endowed chair of Chinese at Oxford University. Many editions of his works are held in the University of Edinburgh Library, with several at New College Library.

Legge, James. The notions of the Chinese concerning God and spirits : with an examination of the defense of an essay, on the proper rendering of the words Elohim and Theos, into the Chinese language, by William J. Boone ... / Hongkong : Printed at the "Hongkong Register" office, 1852. New College Library Z.1763

Legge, James. The notions of the Chinese concerning God and spirits : with an examination of the defense of an essay, on the proper rendering of the words Elohim and Theos, into the Chinese language, by William J. Boone … / Hongkong : Printed at the “Hongkong Register” office, 1852. New College Library Z.1763

Legge, James. The sacred books of China : the texts of Confucianism / Part 1, The Shû King The religious portions of the Shih King The Hsiâo King. Oxford : Clarendon, 1899. New College Library C2/a4

Legge, James. The sacred books of China : the texts of Confucianism / Part 1, The Shû King The religious portions of the Shih King The Hsiâo King.
Oxford : Clarendon, 1899. New College Library C2/a4

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Unique World Christianity Collections coming home to New College, Edinburgh

Now we’re in the in the final stages of the Centre for the Studies of World Christianity Library (CSWC) Project, we’re receiving daily deliveries of books to New College Library from the Library Annexe.Nearly 7,500 items have already been reclassified with Library of Congress classmarks, with roughly 2,500 of these set be housed at classmark BV, Practical Theology & Missions. CSWC books can be identified on the library catalogue as “Andrew Walls Library Collection. From the Library of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh. Presented by Professor Andrew Walls, OBE.” All of these items are unique within the University of Edinburgh Library, and I’ve found a number I’ve looked at to be unique in the UK.

I spent time this week looking through a selection of CSWC books that were published before 1900, and selected over 50 to be held in the Special Collections at New College Library. It’s fascinating to see how many titles are about women missionaries, or written by women, reflecting their engagement in the mission activity of this time. Many of these items have attractive pictorial Victorian publishers bindings, such as these books – A White Woman in Central Africa, Daughters of Syria and In Southern India.

A White Woman in Central AfricaDaughters of SyriaIn Southern India

Some items in the collection include signatures, such as the two Chinese-English dictionaries signed “Annie Buchan”, evidence that they were used by this missionary to China whose papers are in the care of the CSWC Archive. A number of volumes are signed by Robert Laws,  Free Church of Scotland missionary to Livingstonia, Nyasaland (now Malawi), whose diaries are held in New College Library’s Special Collections at MSS LAW.

Robert Laws signature

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Chinese calligraphy on display at New College Library

Inglis-23

Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. New College Library, Inglis 23.

On display in the New College Library entrance this week is the  beautiful Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting (Inglis 23). This is a classic treatise of calligraphic art on silk, by calligraphers Wen-Yuan T’ang and Chin-Ch’ang in 1682.

This volume is one of the five volume set, bound in silk, which was given to New College Library in 1921 by the Rev. James W. Inglis, Missionary to Manchuria for the United Free Church of Scotland.

New Chinese journal at New College Library

Sino-Christian Studies

I’m pleased to be able to say that the journal Sino-Christian Studies is now available at New College Library at Per S.

Sino-Christian studies : an international journal of Bible, theology & philosophy = Han yu jidu jiao xue shu lun ping  = 漢語基督敎學術論評  is a bilingual journal, published twice a year by the  Institute of Sino-Chinese Studies, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan.

This journal is one of a number of Chinese journals being purchased this year to support developing areas of research and teaching in World Christianity, in the School of Divinity.

Chinese rare books on display for Peking University at Edinburgh Day

Inglis-23New College Library was part of the University of Edinburgh’s Peking at Edinburgh day on Monday 18 November with a display of Chinese items from our Special Collections. These included the beautiful Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting (Inglis 23). This is a classic treatise of calligraphic art on silk, by calligraphers Wen-Yuan T’ang and Chin-Ch’ang in 1682.

Inglis 20Also on display was Robert Morrison’s Chinese New Testament (Inglis 20). Robert Morrison (1782–1834) arrived in China in September 1807, on the commission of the London Missionary Society first to learn Chinese, and then to make a Chinese translation of the Bible.

 

CSWCWe were also pleased to have on display a rare item from the Centre for the Study of World Christianity Archives, an Imperial Edition of the New Testament. Thank you to Dr Alexander Chow for providing this information about the item :

“This is a rare edition of the New Testament presented by a group of female missionaries to the Empress Dowager Cixi, on the occasion of her 60th birthday in 1894. The Bible is a Shangdi edition of the Delegates Version, printed in classical wenli Chinese by the American Bible Society. This particular copy was presented to the Church of Scotland missions hospital by the American Bible Society in October 1903. There were 250 copies of this Bible printed.”

New books at New College Library – February

New College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks. We have a bumper crop this month so please do stop and have a look if you’re in the library.

After imperialism : Christian identity in China and the global evangelical movement / edited by Richard R. Cook and David W. Pao. 2011.darkvalley

A new title already out on loan is After imperialism : Christian identity in China and the global evangelical movement edited by Richard R. Cook and David W. Pao,  2011 (NCL BR1285 Aft. ) This book was purchased for World Christianity,  recommended by a PhD student.

Also new is The cross in the dark valley : the Canadian Protestant missionary movement in the Japanese Empire, 1931-1945,  by A. Hamish Ion, another recommendation from a Divinity postgraduate student.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

Christianity in the Far East?

The Centre for the Study of World Christianity at the School of Divinity hosts its Research Seminar today, and the speaker is Andrew Kaiser, on:

” Lessons for Today from China’s Past: Timothy Richard’s Innovations in Mission.”

New College Library’s stacks bear witness to the activity of nineteenth and twentieth century missons in China and East Asia.  I picked up these three volumes which all have attractive publishers bindings.

The Cross and the Dragon, or, Light in the Broad East by  Rev B.C. Henry (London, Partridge & Co, 1885) announces the author as “Ten years a missionary in Canton”. It is beautifully illustrated and has endpapers printed in a pattern of Chinese fans.  The introduction proclaims “There is no new and sacred sight open to the eyes of present generations better worth study than the rising of the unobscured orb of Christianity in the Far East …”

East of the Barrier, or, Side lights on the Manchuria Mission (Oliphant, Andrewson and Ferrier, Edinburgh & London , 1902), was written by J. Miller Graham, a missionary of the United Free Church of Scotland, Moukden, Manchuria.

Two Lady Missionaries in Tibet by Isabel S. Robson ( London: S.W. Partridge & Co 1910) is the story of  two intrepid women missionaries – Miss Annie R Taylor and Dr Susie Carson Moyes.

How an Olympic champion became a missionary

The BBC Scotland programme Eric Liddell: A Champion’s Life http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lb63b  on BBC2 tonight (Monday 23rd July) at 10pm features items from University of Edinburgh Collections.

RUNNING THE RACE: Eric Liddell Olympic Champion and Missionary. John W. Keddie.

New College Library recently received a donation of a biography of  former Olympic Champion Eric Liddell, by John W. Keddie.  Immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, Liddell won gold in the 400 metres at the Olympic games in Paris 1924, but famously refused to compete in his best event, the 100 metres, because it was held on a Sunday. He went on to study at the Scottish Congregational College and in 1925 went to China as a missionary with the London Missionary Society.

New College Library holds a  letter (30 June 1940) from Liddell to Mary and George Cameron, Heriot, Midlothian describing his movements during his last trip with his family. After two years in a wartime  internment camp with other members of the China Inland mission, he died on 21 February 1945, five months before liberation.

Liddell’s Olympic medals were donated to Edinburgh University by his daughter Mrs. Patricia Russell. A new Sports Scholarship at Edinburgh University, the Eric Liddell High Performance Sports Scholarship, was launched recently in his memory.