Missionaries for the Record: Letters from Overseas to the Presbyterian Church in Canada 1846 – [19]60
Geoffrey Johnston
Guardian: Belleville, 2005.
As someone who happens to be interested in the subject of Canadian Presbyterian Missions, I found this book useful. In 18 short chapters it provides an overview of the overseas missionary efforts of the Presbyterian Church in Canada during the years in question. The main players and background are sketched in, some excerpts from letters to the Record, Glad Tidings and the Presbyterian Witness quoted, and we get Johnston's running commentary on what he thinks it all adds up to – which, in the great scheme of things, doesn't seem to be very much. As the author puts it, "it is a study of missionary letters, the work of rank-and-file missionaries working in out-of-the-way places, writing to supporters in a small country and especially to women. They are letters from the margins to the margins."
Alvin Austin, in Saving China, notes that Canada sent more missionaries overseas per capita than any other country in what used to be called Christendom. I've heard it claimed that something like a third of those who worked in the Canadian Department of External Affairs, in its heyday, were missionary kids. The Canadian novelist Neil Bissoondath notes in his critique of multiculturalism, Selling Illusions, that he was educated at a Presbyterian mission school in Trinidad. George Leslie Mackay is a well-known figure in Taiwan, a hundred years after his death. Jonathan Goforth was involved in some large-scale evangelism campaigns in Manchuria late in his career. If the besetting sin of most academic historians is overestimating the significance of their chosen topic, Johnston demonstrates his originality by taking the minimalist route.
Such generalizations and recurring observations as are made, would be more convincing if counter evidence had been considered. For example we are told numerous times that the subjects of this book were apolitical evangelicals. But what are we then to make of Dr. Frank Scofield who is buried in a cemetery in Korea and honoured as a Korean patriot, for his involvement in the Independence movement after the First World War?
Indian missionary, John Buchanan, apparently saw the cattle thieving habits of the Bhil people "very much after the manner of the Highlanders of Scotland" and claimed them as kindred spirits. "If the old football boys of Queen's had seen the chase they would have shouted, 'Go in, Queen's' but I think that if they could have been at the top of one of the mountain peaks and seen these wild men of the jungle carrying off the prize clean out of sight of their old comrade they would have as truly shouted, 'Hurrah for the Bhil!'" What sort of worldview is implied by such a juxtaposition? A similar comparison between Canadian Indians and Highlanders crops up frequently in 19th century Presbyterian circles. Was it tied to Scottish Common Sense philosophy and its 'stages of civilization' view of the evolution of human society? Buchanan's own Highland ancestors had been tamed by the forces of civilization in not too distant past. Education rather than race was seen to be the key factor in moving people through the progressive stages of human culture. Are 19th century Presbyterians better described as 'culturist' rather than 'racists' perhaps? The book suggests many such questions, which the author doesn't pursue; it bites off more material than it chews.
On the other hand, I found myself wishing for longer extract from letters by those who, like Lillian Dickson, apparently could really write. Comments like "irrepressible wife" and "too much of a missionary entrepreneur to take a back seat to anyone" pique the reader's curiosity, but we are not provided with the particulars or enough evidence to illustrate the point or allow us to draw our own conclusions. Longer extracts would have pushed the book more in a popular direction.
The book is clearly in need of more editing. The problem announces itself conspicuously on the front cover. But inside there are also spelling mistakes and typos, and the footnotes should have been checked. (I drew a blank with no. 12 on page 76 and 22 on page 77 when I tried to look up the reference.) While it is hardly the definitive book on the subject, the author is to be commended for his pioneering efforts and his diligence in reading through back issues of Presbyterian periodicals. I hope that his work will provide lots of good jumping off points for essays by future students of the subject.
