Hudson Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Hudson Taylor
Missionary to China
Born May 21, 1832
Barnsley, Yorkshire, England
Died June 3, 1905 Age 73
Changsha, Hunan, China
Education Royal College of Surgeons
parents
James Taylor
Amelia Hudson
James Hudson Taylor 戴德生 (May 21, 1832 – June 3, 1905), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM) (now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who began 125 schools[1] and directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces[2].
Taylor was known for his sensitivity to Chinese culture and zeal for evangelism. He adopted wearing native Chinese clothing even though this was rare among missionaries of that time. Under his leadership, the CIM was singularly non-denominational in practice and accepted members from all Protestant groups, including individuals from the working class and single women as well as multinational recruits. Primarily because of the CIM's campaign against the Opium trade, Taylor has been referred to as one of the most significant Europeans to visit China in the 19th Century.[3] Historian Ruth Tucker summarizes the theme of his life:“ “No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the Apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematized plan of evangelizing a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor [4] ”
Contents
1 Youth and early work
2 First visit to China
3 Family and China Inland Mission
4 Return to China
5 Riot in Yangzhou
6 Loss of Maria
7 Continued work
8 Boxer Crisis of 1900
9 Final years
10 Legacy
11 Books Authored
12 Theology
13 Chronology
14 Bibliography
15 Notes
15.1 Further reading
15.2 External links
Youth and early work
Hudson Taylor at age 21
Hudson Taylor worked at Dr. Hardey's residence in Hull (top) and lived in the near poverty of Drainside
Taylor was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, the son of a chemist (pharmacist) and Methodist lay preacher James Taylor and his wife, Amelia (Hudson), but as a young man he moved away from the Christian beliefs of his parents. At seventeen, after reading an evangelistic tract pamphlet, he professed faith in Christ, and in December 1849, he committed himself to going to China as a missionary. At this time he came into contact with Dr Edward Cronin of Kennsington - one of the members of the first missionary party of the Plymouth Brethren to Baghdad. It is believed that Taylor learnt his faith mission principles from his contact with the Brethren.
Taylor was able to borrow a copy of "China: Its State and Prospects" by Walter Henry Medhurst, which he quickly read. About this time, he began studying the languages of Mandarin, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.
In 1851, he moved to a poor neighborhood in Kingston upon Hull to be a medical assistant with Dr. William Hardey, and began preparing himself for a life of faith and service, devoting himself to the poor and exercising faith that God would provide for his needs. He practiced distributing gospel tracts and open-air preaching among the poor. Again Taylor was in contact with Andrew Jukes, a notable Brethren teacher in Hull.
In 1852 he began studying medicine at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London, as preparation for working in China. The great interest awakened in England about China through the civil war, which was then erroneously supposed to be a mass movement toward Christianity, together with the glowing but exaggerated reports made by Karl Gützlaff concerning China's accessibility, led to the founding of the Chinese Evangelization Society, to the service of which Hudson Taylor offered himself as their first missionary.
