FORT WORTH, Texas – In A.D. 1816, year 1178 of the Burmese
calendar and day 967 “of the lord of the Saddan elephant,” Adoniram Judson, a
legendary Baptist missionary to Burmese Buddhists, completed a tract that still
brings Christ’s light to a dark world and challenges 21st-century missionaries
to rethink their methods.
This summer, Judson’s tract once again made it into the
hands of Buddhists when professors and students from Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary proclaimed the gospel in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
SWBTS Photo/Ben Peacock A reprint of Judson’s 1816 tract that was used by Southwestern professors and students to share the gospel in Thailand in summer 2011. |
“The tract was directly linked to Judson’s first Burmese
convert,” Keith Eitel, dean of the seminary’s Roy Fish School of Evangelism and
Missions, said. Eitel came across the tract during research for an essay on
Judson and had it translated into the Thai language. Eitel had been studying
Judson’s missions practices for a forthcoming book to be published by B&H
in 2012 celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of Judson’s departure from
America.
Judson, who became a Baptist soon after entering the mission
field, originally wrote the tract in order to share the gospel with Theravada
Buddhists in Burma (modern-day Myanmar). After reading the tract, Eitel thought
it would have a great impact on the Theravada Buddhists in Chiang Mai as well.
The responses of the native Thai Christians have confirmed his theory.
“They are intrigued by ‘how well it is written and
especially its clear description of God in relation to the Trinity,’” Eitel
said. They found this theologically informed tract useful both for discipleship
and evangelism, and they have requested more copies of the tract to help them
explain the gospel to Buddhist family members.
“It articulates the gospel better than they can,” Eitel
said. “A brand new Buddhist believer who is just growing in the Lord, when
bombarded by family members with questions – What is this change? Why have you
done this? What is it that you actually believe? – find it very hard to turn
around and explain their belief because they are just learning the Christian
vocabulary, just learning the concepts.”
“This is probably the most valuable way this tool can be
used,” Eitel said. But the tract also displays an evangelistic method that
flies in the face of many 21st-century theories about how to communicate the gospel
across cultures.
“In order to soften the apparent idea of Christ’s
exclusivity, some missiologists have borrowed cultural anthropology’s
techniques and employ a comparative model to communicate the biblical message
cross-culturally,” Eitel said. “The intent is to build from points of apparent
similarity to apparent points of contrast in order to communicate the gospel.”
Such a method concerns Eitel, since it threatens the missionary’s
ability to share the gospel with biblical integrity and clarity. In contrast to
this method, Eitel suggests that missionaries should begin where religions
differ, although always in a spirit of kindness and respect. Judson’s tract
does exactly this. Even in the first sentence, he undercuts Buddhist teaching: “There is one Being who exists eternally; who is exempt from
sickness, old age, and death; who was, and is, and will be, without beginning
and without end. Besides this, the true God, there is no other God.”
On the other hand, Eitel said, Judson shows sensitivity to
Buddhist culture and concerns. In the last paragraph of the tract, for example,
Judson dates the tract, in Burmese style, as being written on day 967 “of the
lord of the Saddan elephant and master of the Sakyah weapon, … the 12th day of
the wane of the moon Wahgoung, after the double beat.”
Judson’s prayer at the end of the tract also appeals to the
Buddhist desire for enlightenment. With Judson’s prayer on their lips, Eitel
and the Southwestern Seminary missions team took this newly translated tract to
the Buddhists of Thailand: “May the reader obtain light. Amen.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Benjamin Hawkins is senior writer for
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas .)