GlocalNet

I wonder what the world would have looked like if his philosophy of missions had caught on quicker. How did WWII disrupt and impact this way of thinking? Was Jones a prophet for us from the past whose works now uncovered give us clues? Can the future be found from the past, buried as pearls in fields long grown over and forgotten?

Jones in his preface to the sixth edition has faced criticism because he didn’t talk about the caste system, the poverty, Hinduism, etc. He says he leaves this out for 3 reasons:
First, “India is aggrieved, and I think rightly so, that Christian missionaries in order to arouse the West to missionary activity have too often emphasized the dark side of the picture. What they have said has been true, but the picture has not been a true one. This overemphasis on one side has often created either pity or contempt . . . a superiority complex has resulted. I do not believe a superiority complex is the proper spring for missionary activity. Eastern travelers in America, picking and choosing their facts, can make out a very dark picture of our civilization-the slums, lynchings, divorce statistics, crime statistics unparalleled in other cities of the world” (and this was 1925!).
Second, “Indians themselves are now alive to these evils and are combating them. The fact is that racial lines are so drawn so that India will probably deal more drastically with her evils if she does it from within than if we as foreigners were always insisting upon it” (Where are you E. Stanley--would to God we could understand in our current global situation.)
Third, “I have tried to lay the foundations for Christian missions deeper than upon particular evils found in a particular race. . . I do not make a special drive . . . because you are the neediest people of our race, but because you are a member of our race. I am convinced that the only kind of a world worth having is a world patterned after the mind and spirit of Jesus. . . We are all in the same deep need. Christ, I believe, can supply that need.”

One final note. After Jones returned from his first trip to India someone said, of him, “He has probably done some good to India, but India has certainly done a great deal for him.”

YES I DO mespel some words! But as a “blogger” I write more from passion than grammar. My assistant tries to help me!!!! When you read things like that PBP with me!