On The Missionary Trail

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 2 OCT 2000

In 1821, at the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, the London Missionary Society chose two hardy evangelical Christians to spread the gospel to the unfortunate, unsaved souls of the world. Of course, there were substantial obstacles to overcome. The men, Daniel Tyerman (who found God after a vision saved his life) and George Bennet (a "quiet and intellectual believer"), faced distrust and hostility, not only from the people they were trying to convert but also from their countrymen, colonialists who feared the Christians would get in the way of their capitalist interests. Setting sail from Tahiti to Hawaii, the missionaries faced a huge task . As one missionary said, in 1794, "the world's population was around 730 million... only 174 of them were Christian." Hiney's detailed history follows Tyerman and Bennet through their seven-year journey from Polynesia to Africa. It is filled with anecdotes about the flora, fauna and people of great civilizations: India, China, Africa and Madagascar. Hiney (Raymond Chandler) nicely balances his own words with those of the two missionaries, who speak through their letters and journals. Refuting the popular idea that European missionaries spoiled the lands they sought to "save," Hiney writes, "For the effects of any impression... to last longer than a single generation, the message has to strike a chord with the audience." As he notes, except for India, all the countries the missionaries visited in those early years now boast large, self-supporting Christian communities.