Sociological Progress in Mission Lands To my Father Idol of my boyhood Companion of my manhood Always living in the spiritual world Passionately devoted to the Kingdom of God In advocacy of peace In civic reform In missionary leadership Who went home from thefiringline Introduction By James A. JEefeo, PA. D., D. D., President Western Theological Seminary ONLY a few interested observers are aware of the stupendous changes being wrought in heathen society by the leaven of Chris tianity. It is common enough for supporters of foreign missions to use the arithmetical test as an index of the progress and influence of their faith in pagan lands, but only the very thoughtful take into consideration the social revolution which the preach ing of the Gospel has effected in the ancient civili zations of Asia and the rude tribes of Africa and the Islands of the Sea. A study of sociological progress in missionary lands constitutes a modern apologia not only for foreign missions, but also for the social power of the Gospel. Our age has wit nessed a singular spectacle the denial of the social dynamic of Christianity, not only by the out-and out socialist but also by those who are within the pale of the Church, It is not strange that Karl Marx and his followers wish to destroy the idea of God as the keystone of a perverted civilization and denounce Christianity as the bulwark of the present economic system. On the other hand, it is certainly startling to discover the defiant attitude of many earnest men and women, members of the Church or 7 8 Introduction standing in sympathetic relations with her, who are working for the amelioration of social conditions and the removal of the wrongs of our age Dismayed by the apathy of the Church and a large proportion of Christian people, this class have been easily led to mistake this spirit of indifference to the social implications of the Gospel for the typical Christian attitude towards the problem of social welfare. Often in despair they claim that Christi anity cares nothing for the ills of this existence but is lost in dreams of other-worldliness, hence as they face the inequalities and wrongs of the social order they fling their taunt u Ah but, Keligion, did we wait for thee . . . . we should wait indeed J Sociological Progress in Missionary Lands not only refutes the materialistic contentions of the socialist, but also removes the misgivings and doubts of thoughtful Christians when they consider the failure of Christianity to remove many of the plague spots of our own social order. It is not necessary to hark back to the early history of the Chnroh to learn that with the Christian religion was born a new force of immeasurable social significance, or that the new religion, as Lecky puts it, aroused to a degree before unexampled in the world an en thusiastic devotion to corporate welfare. To realize the truth of these assertions one has but to turn to the annals of contemporary Christian mis Introduction g sions all over the non-Christian world. The Chris tian missionary has gone to these lands to proclaim the evangel of redemption through Christ to put it specifically to save individual souls, and lo, there comes as a by-product, the infusion of a new leaven into the social order, which tends to remove evils that have been securely intrenched in heathen society not for centuries but for millenniums. We may cite a single example. Thecaste system of India has begun to fall before the social ethics of Christianity while Buddhism, which was to an extent a revolt against this feature of Hindu society, beat in vain against this adamantine rock In this volume Mr. Oapen has dealt with this sociological by-product of Christian missions. He is adequately equipped for the performance of this task as he is a scientifically trained sociologist and has investigated by travel and observation the problems with which he deals...