Abstract
David W. Scott is director of mission theology for the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, and this book is based on his doctoral dissertation at Boston University. There are two major aspects in the study. One is the history of British and American Methodist mission work in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia (mainly Malaysia, with much smaller coverage of the Philippines). As Scott shows, Methodist work in Malaysia began as an extension of Methodist work in India, under the leadership of William Oldham, William Taylor, James Thoburn, and others. At this point there is some confusion in Scott’s account when he reports that Taylor first arrived in India in 1870, and then he says that “the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church had been founded in 1919 and sent out its first missionary in 1921, decades before Taylor came on the scene” (31). The correct dates for the Missionary Society are 1819 and 1821, which clears up the confusion. It could be mentioned here that Taylor was undoubtedly the most renowned Methodist missionary evangelist in the world at the turn of the twentieth century.
The other major aspect of the book deals with corresponding developments in secular movements and events associated with cultural globalization, such as global communication, migration, capitalist growth, transnational collaboration, and the spread of English as a lingua franca. Taken together, these developments interface with what was happening in the missionary movement as part of a common process. The author thus describes his study as “mission history through the lens of globalization” (xx).
It is a fascinating project, rich in historical research, well written, and suggests a new paradigm for the study of world Christianity. Unfortunately, the price of the book will put it beyond the budget of most scholars, but it is well worth a trip to the library to get it.