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The History of the Christian Church

103-Back in the East Part 2

The History of the Christian Church

sanctorum.us

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.6790 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2015

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode of CS is titled, Back in the East – Part 2Last time we took a brief look at the Jesuit missions to the Far East; namely Japan, China, Vietnam and India.We encountered the revolutionary approach to mission work of Alessandro Valignano and his spiritual heirs, Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci. Their accomodationist approach to evangelism, where the Gospel was communicated by seeking to build a cultural bridge with the high civilizations of the Far East, was officially suppressed by Rome, even though it had amazing success in planting a healthy and vibrant church. So healthy was the Church in Japan it came under fire from a fierce resurgence in Japanese nationalism that expelled the Jesuits and persecuted the Church, driving it underground.From the dawn of the 17th C, both Dutch and English trading interests moved into Asia. Their commercial and military navies dominated those of other European nations.The Dutch established bases in Indonesia and created a center at Jakarta. The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602, and carried the Dutch Reformed Church to the East Indies. But don’t think this means the Dutch conducted missionary work among indigenous peoples. It merely means they carried their religious institution with them and built chapels so Dutch nationals had a place to worship when doing business there.  Any converts from among the native population was by accident, not any kind of planned outreach. Dutch interests in the Far East were exclusively commercial.The English equivalent of the Dutch East India Company was, the creatively named à English East India Company. Though the directors of the Company were suspicious of missionaries, they appointed chaplains to their trading communities. This provided an opening for those with missionary vision in England and India, such as Parliamentarian William Wilberforce and Charles Grant, an employee of the company.Two outstanding East India Company chaplains were Henry Martyn and Claudius Buchanan. Martyn was a leading Cambridge intellect and winner of numerous academic prizes. He and other Cambridge students were influenced by the long ministry of Charles Simeon, whose preaching urged that the Gospel be taken to All Peoples. Martyn was a brilliant linguist and translator. He was appointed a chaplain in 1805, translated the NT into Urdu and Persian and prepared an Arabic version before his early death from tuberculosis at 31. His Indian assistant, Abdul Masih, converted from Islam to become a Christian missionary and advocate of the Faith. He was ordained in 1825 as the first Indian Anglican clergyman. Many others were inspired by Martyn’s life of scholarship and devotion.William Carey, often regarded as the father of Protestant English missions, was both a shoemaker and Baptist preacher in Northamptonshire. He arrived in India in 1793. He was soon joined by 2 other Baptist giants, Joshua Marshman and William Ward, making what came to be known as the ‘Serampore Trio.’ Serampore being the region where they lived and worked.  The trio greatly admired the Moravians and shaped their community on the Moravian model.Carey’s passage to India had been denied by the East India Company, the de facto government of English holdings in India, with their own hired army enforcing their will on the regions they operated. That would be like Amazon being the City Council and Law Enforcement for Seattle. Later British colonies and India came under control of the Crown. The East India Company opposed Carey’s plan to take the Gospel to the Indians. Chaplains for the British in India was fine, but they didn’t want to foment hostility with the faiths of their trading partners. Carey had ONE goal in going to India; to evangelize the lost. His passion to raise support in England for foreign missions led to his being derided by critics like Sydney Smith, a clergyman and author of satire who wrote for the Edinburgh Review.But by steady perseverance,

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the history of the Christian Church, season one with Lance Rolston.

0:15.4

This episode of Communio Sanctorum is titled Back in the East Part 2.

0:20.7

Last time we took a brief look at the Jesuit missions to the Far East, namely Japan, China, Vietnam, and India.

0:27.3

We encountered the revolutionary approach to mission work of Alessandro Valignano and his spiritual

0:32.2

heirs Michel Ruggieri and Mateo Rishi.

0:35.7

Their accommodationist approach to evangelism, where the gospel was

0:39.5

communicated by seeking to build a cultural bridge with the high civilizations of the Far East,

0:44.9

was officially suppressed by Rome, even though it had amazing success in planting a healthy and

0:50.8

vibrant church. So healthy was the church in Japan that it came under fire

0:55.9

from a fierce resurgence in Japanese nationalism that expelled the Jesuits and persecuted the church

1:01.4

driving it underground. From the dawn of the 17th century, both Dutch and English trading

1:07.4

interests moved into Asia. Their commercial and military navies dominated those of other

1:13.0

European nations. The Dutch established bases in Indonesia and created a center at Jakarta.

1:19.8

The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602 and carried the Dutch Reformed Church to the East Indies.

1:26.8

But don't think that this means that the Dutch conducted missionary work among indigenous peoples.

1:32.3

It merely means that they carried their religious institutions with them and built chapels

1:37.3

so that Dutch nationals had a place to worship when doing business there.

1:42.3

Any converts from among the native population was by accident,

1:45.9

not any kind of planned outreach. Dutch interests in the Far East were exclusively commercial.

1:52.6

The English equivalent of the Dutch East India Company was the creatively named English East India Company.

1:59.8

Though the directors of the company were suspicious of missionaries,

2:03.3

they appointed chaplains to their trading communities. This provided an opening for those

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