Early Reference on Roland Allen
The year 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of Roland Allen's classic book Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?. In honor of this event, I am presently working on a biography on the legendary Anglican. At the time of this blog post, only one such biography has been published. Roland Allen: Pioneer, Priest, and Prophet (Eerdmans/Forward Movement) was published in 1995 by Roland Allen's grandson, Hubert J. B. Allen. It is an outstanding work that you should add to your library.While recently conducting some research for my book, I came across the newspaper article that I have posted here. To my knowledge, very few people in the world are aware of this minute piece of missions history. When I sent a copy of it to Hubert Allen, I soon learned this was the first time that he had seen this reference as well.
What you see here is a clipping from the Peking and Tientsin Times dated March 4, 1901. The reference was found in the "Local and General" interest section.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Allen was in China with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (referenced above as S. P. G.). He served as a missionary during the Boxer Rebellion, and lived through the siege of the Legations in the city of Peking. At a time when many westerners, including missionaries, were murdered, he lived to record the events in his diary, later published as The Siege of the Peking Legations.
The excerpt listed above deserves at least three comments related to Allen's missiological thinking in 1901.
First, note that Allen's name is incorrectly spelled as "Rowland." Obviously, the Anglican missionary had not developed his famous (or some would say infamous) reputation at the time, leading the paper's editor to overlook the misspelling.
Second, this excerpt is additional early evidence that Allen was beginning to question publicly the missionary methods of his day. His apparent discussion addressing the "commercial and political Christianity" that the Anglican Church had been bringing to China would have been enough to upset some people at the time, thus going against the status quo.
Third, this work provides additional evidence that Allen was not yet ready to make public his solution to the problem. Anyone familiar with Allen's writings (after this date), as well as what commentators revealed after hearing him, knows that Allen was anything but reserved with his conclusions and suggestions.
I was very thankful to come across this gem, and wanted to share the wealth with you. I would love to know of any treasures you may find regarding Roland Allen as well.
For those of you interested in my present research on Roland Allen, check out the posts and links below: