The Missionary Controversy Discussion Evidence And Report PDF Download

Excerpt from The Missionary Controversy: Discussion, Evidence and Report, 1890 On the 27th of May, 1830, Alexander Duff landed in Calcutta. In six short weeks this extraordinary man, then 24 years of age, had completed, to his own satisfaction, his investigations into existing missionary methods, and had concluded, as his biographer states, "that the method of his operations must be different from that of all his predecessors in India." On the 13th of July in the same year his college was opened - an institution which was destined to revolutionise missionary policy in the East, and to inaugurate that development of higher education which is so important a factor in the India of to-day. For half a century the policy of this great Scotsman has received an unquestioning approval from all the leading missionary societies. This policy was to substitute for the existing evangelistic work amongst the lower classes of Indian society an educational work amongst the Brahmins. It was maintained that in this way Hinduism would be attacked at its heart, that when once the influence of Western science and philosophy had been brought to bear upon the philosophy and pseudo-science of Hinduism, the whole system would crumble to the dust; and over and above all else, that as the Brahmins were the recognised leaders of Hindu life, their conversion would be speedily followed by the conversion of the whole nation. In urging the claims of his work upon the people of Scotland, Dr. Duff thus stated his expectations: "We shall, with the blessing of God, devote our time and strength to the preparing of a mine, and the setting of a train which shall one day explode and tear up the whole from its lowest depths." Instead of the realisation of this vision, we see in India to-day a great effort ending in disastrous failure. Instead of an explosion within the citadel of Brahminism, as the result of missionary work, we witness the walls of that citadel crumbling beneath the influence of the "Zeit Geist," built up again in a new form and with a new strength by the young Brahmins educated in our missionary colleges. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.