Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (American Society of Missiology) [Paperback]

Gerald H. Anderson (Editor), Robert T. Coote (Editor), James M. Phillips (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 654 pages
• Publisher: Orbis Books (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883449641
• ISBN-13: 978-0883449646
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biographical studies from the Modern Missionary Movement, November 21, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Grand Prairie, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (American Society of Missiology) (Paperback)

Mission Legacies is an attractive, durable hardback book of missionary biographical articles published by the American Society of Missiology through Orbis Books. It is divided into several major divisions: "Promoters and Interpreters," "Theologians and Historians,""Theorists and Strategists," and "Administrators." The chapters of this book first appeared as articles in the "International Bulletin of Missionary Research" beginning in 1977. Chapter assignments were made in a "serendipitous fashion over a period of about twenty years", as editors chose well-known contemporary church historians to write the biographical profiles.

Some of the famous 75 names are from the late 1700's, but most are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They were chosen without regard for disciplinary, national, or denominational backgrounds, though there are only six women and six representatives of the two-thirds world among them. This will no doubt be different if a later edition is published.

Though the articles are scholarly, they are very readable and interesting. This will serve primarily as a reference book, but lovers of world missions and biography will find themselves often dipping into it for information and inspiration. I was pleased to find such diversity as Pius XI and William Carey, such educators and promoters as A.J. Gordon, John R. Mott and W.O. Carver, and such famous missionaries as David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor and Lottie Moon. I was glad to see historians like Kenneth Scott Latoureette and Stephen Neill, such innovative missionaries as Frank Laubach and E. Stanley Jones and such missions strategists as John Nevius, Roland Allen, D.T. Niles and Donald McGavran. In these pages, students of world Christianity "can gain insight into the spiritual and human dynamics that produced the modern Christian missionary movement". This book, now in its fourth printing, should be of interest to all students of World Christianity and Mission.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Key Reference for Those Interested in Christian Mission, November 21, 2001

By 

"gam2saints" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (American Society of Missiology) (Paperback)

This is an excellent resource for those interested in the development of modern Mission theory. The book is produced in a concise dictionary format, with articles on over 70 prominent figures from a variety of traditions. Each article provides a biographical overview of the subject personality, a summary of their main contributions to Mission, and a discussion of their central writings. Articles conclude with a select bibliography of foundational sources that provides the reader with an excellent starting point for further reading and research.

Because the book focuses upon those in Mission who have left a literary record, there are few women who are examined in these pages. Women missionaries (generally) tended not to write treatises on mission theory and practice. So, even though they were central to Christian Mission during the time period covered, they are virtually absent from this volume. This should not be counted as a fault, however. Rather, the reader should keep in mind the limits of what the book covers.

This book should be in the library of anyone interested in Christian Mission. Excellent.