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ManLega 02-12-140 |
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THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM
CAREY A Model for the
Transformation of a Culture Vishal & Ruth Mangalwadi Crossway Books, 1993, 1999, 159 pp. ISBN 1-58134-112-1 |
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Vishal is one of India’s Christian intellectuals. He and his wife are continuing Carey’s work in India. The book originated from lectures about the transformation of Indian culture as a result of the ministry and influence of William Carey, who arrived in India in 1793. Even though I have known Carey as the “father of modern missions,” I was astounded to discover the breadth and depth of his impact over the past 200 years. The authors suggest that India’s future hinges directly on the nation’s response to Carey’s reformation. In the midst of America’s “culture wars,” the authors hope that the American reader will see implications for us today. “Are all aspects of all cultures equally valid, deserving equal respect?” The relativists assert that no objective criterion exists to judge a culture or a moral choice. Carey disagreed. The book illustrates the central thesis that basic New Testament themes have transforming power. (Preface) Carey made major, even foundational, contributions in botany, industry, economy, medical humanitarianism, print technology, agriculture, translation, education, astronomy, libraries, forest conservation, women’s rights, public service, moral reform, and cultural transformation. “Carey was an evangelist who used every available medium to illumine every dark facet of Indian life with the light of truth. As such, he is the central character in the story of India’s modernization.” (25) “William Carey’s contributions
to India’s modernization have not been adequately appreciated. Sadly, some scholars even undermine
them. The process of India’s reform
has already been halted, and in some important respects Indian society seems
to be reverting to its old evils.”
(71) “All the great social reformers
in nineteenth century India accepted Carey’s belief that, in many cases,
conversion—or the change of one’s character and false beliefs—was the only
effective means of social reform.”
(77) Three Presuppositions of Carey’s
Reforms:
“What they had hoped to achieve
in India is, two centuries later, still incomplete, substantially because
secular humanism has undermined what the Christians were seeking to do.” (83) “A state that hinders conversion
is uncivilized because it restricts the human quest for truth and
reform.” (85) “The primary presupposition of
any reform…is that…we have to admit that it is degenerate. The second presupposition is that
fundamental change is, in fact, possible—even if the majority is against the
change.” [Seems pertinent to the U.S.
condition. dlm] “The opposition to Carey was
phenomenal. It came from the British
Parliament, from the Company, from the military, from the Oriental scholars,
from his own mission board, and also from the very people he was seeking to
serve—the Indians themselves.” (89) The fatalistic premise that
reform is not possible had ruled Indian civilization and ruined India for two
thousand years. “Today, however, it
seems certain that we cannot take it for granted that this optimistic idea
will continue to be the mainstream belief.
“Western postmodernism has already rejected the idea of ‘progress’ and
‘development’ as mythical ‘metanarratives.’
The stage is set for the older Indian pessimism and fatalism to win
over the earlier optimism in the twenty-first century, undoing much of what
Carey and the reformers who followed him had achieved.” (90) “William Carey believed in the
possibility of reform because the Bible taught that the Creator did not
intend life to be suffering. God
created Adam and Eve to live in Eden—in bliss. Suffering came later, as a result of sin. Suffering is thus not a normal fact, not a
metaphysical truism—which means it can be and should be resisted.” (90-1) “The violent movements and the
human rights violations of the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s raise serious doubts
about whether or not human rights and freedoms will last for long in
India. They cannot last if India
chooses to forget the faith and spirit of her modernizers.” (102) Carey’s theological
assumptions—his worldview—were most relevant for modernization. God created the cosmos with his Logos,
i.e. his Wisdom or Reason. Therefore
the universe is a stable system run by rational laws. It is a book of God’s revelation which can
be read by us so that we can learn about God’s wisdom and govern the
earth. This “religious” theory of
gaining knowledge was the opposite of mystical, magical, and esoteric ideas
of knowledge then prevalent in India.
(105) “The result of seeing the
Creator and creation as one, is to fall into the bondage of idolatry or
mysticism. If creation is divine then
we can fear it, worship it, absolutize it, or seek to become one with it, but
we cannot assume the responsibility of understanding, managing, or changing
it.” (107) “Today, there is a naïve and
mistaken notion in the West that our environmental crisis is a result of the
human desire to have dominion over creation.
The fact, on the contrary, is that we cannot manage the environment
unless we see ourselves both as an integral part of creation,
therefore dependent on it, but also as being over creation, and
therefore being responsible for it.”
“Worship of nature damages creation more than do out attempts to
manage it.” (108) “Today, ironically, the Western world, in a self-destructive mood, seems to be turning away from (the) truth that, if God is the author of a universe that exists objectively (independent from our experience of it) then reality—whether natural, social, or moral—has a given meaning and definition. This meaning is independent from how we perceive the universe around us.” (108) The significance of this
principle can be illustrated with Carey’s battle against sati. “The objective fact, as far as Carey was
concerned, was that a woman’s life was neither her own nor her
husband’s. It was God’s. And the Creator had not given us the right
to violate His gift of life. Suicide
is sin because it considers a life valueless which is, in fact, precious to
the Creator; it sees a situation to be hopeless where God expects faith and
patience.” (109) This is counter to “the current ‘New Age’ belief that an
individual is totally free to define his or her own reality.” (110) The pro-Sati lobby was
defeated in London in the 1830s because the British mind then shared Carey’s
theological assumption that the final source of law is the Law-giver, the
Creator. (111) “For the sake of the future of
human civilization it is immensely important to recover, in our day, the
truth that an objective physical and moral universe exists (independently of
our perception); that God is its Author; that He, untimely, defines it and
gives it value and meaning; and that we have to abide by His Word
irrespective of how we feel.” (111) “Human life is precious because
men and women are neither machines, nor animals, but persons created in Gods’
image. The Bible prohibited murder
precisely on this premise.” (112) “Undoubtedly the spiritual
bankruptcy of many Christians in our time is closely related to the
bankruptcy of godly imagination.”
(inability to ‘see’ what God can do) (115) “What made Carey so confident
that the oppressive social and political structures of this world could be
reformed? One cause was the obvious
cultural impact of the Wesleyan revivals, already becoming apparent in this
own generation. But a more important
reason was his understanding that the Lord Himself had promised that darkness
would not overcome the light, and that the Gospel was like the small amount
of leaven, put into a batch of flour, that gradually transformed the whole dough.” “His mind was motivated by a theological
optimism.” Carey’s confidence was in
the Gospel. (121) “A missionary is a ‘called one’
who waits on the Lord to be commissioned by Him. A missionary is thus a reformer because he is a person of
destiny.” (125) “Carey understood that nothing
but the Gospel could dispel the social darkness of India. Carey knew the Gospel to be the only
effective antidote to social evils.”
(129) “Some who believe the Gospel
look upon it merely as a means of private salvation, for going to
heaven. They do not seem to realize
that the gospel is the God-given ‘public truth’—the means of organizing a
decent society. Therefore, their
faith becomes privately engaging but publicly irrelevant.” (129) “Carey…believed that the real
battle is in the mind. False beliefs
lead to wrong behavior and harmful culture.
Therefore, Carey strove to fill the Indian mind with the truth of
God’s Word. That, he understood, was
conversion—the cornerstone in the task of civilizing.” (130) |
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