Product Description

William Carey--now known as the father of modern missions--his example proved missions work was possible; his zeal convinced people missions work was essential; and generations of missionarires followed in his footsteps. Shoemaker, botanist, translator, preacher, factory manager--William Carey was all those things and more. Most importantly, he awas a faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ amidst a life of personal grief, professional ridicule, and international strife. This is a special movie companion edition to Candle in the Dark written by Dr. Timothy George.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #945426 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 265 pages

About the Author
Dr. Timothy George is a Historian and Dean of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. Trained in theology and church history at Harvard University, he has written numerous articles and books including Theology of the Reformers, John Calvin and the Church, and Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey. George also serves as senior editor of Christianity Today.

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Faithful Witness: A Review
Faithful Witness
The Life and Mission of William Carey:

Review

George, Timothy. Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey. United States: Christian History Institute, 1998.


Timothy George performs an extraordinary job authoring Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey. He almost objectively captures the life, work and influence of William Carey, those involved in his work, and those responsible for his all aspects of the development of his faith. To top it off, he does this for the greater good of modern Christian missions. "This book was written to commemorate Carey's remarkable venture of faith and to encourage Christians in the last decade of the twentieth century to catch his vision for proclaiming the goods news of Jesus Christ throughout the world," states he for the proclamation of purpose of the book. As one reads this book, his purpose becomes even more evident; commemoration and encouragement display themselves repeatedly in his work.

More than 50 biographies of William Carey have been written. Each one captures the hardships, suffering, and strife in Carey's life. Faithful Witness captures them in no less detail; however in a new twist, Timothy George moves to describe what drove Carey, his emotions, and the people that influenced his spiritual life and encouraged him to take that "venture of faith." He also explains the political and economical situations that surrounded England and India during Carey's. Basically, Timothy George attempts to expound anything and everything that would have affected William Carey's life.

Timothy George draws up many sources for this work. He especially draws upon Memoir of William Carey by William Carey's nephew Eustace Carey. He also utilizes John Clark Marshman's two volume biography The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward: Embracing the History of the Serampore Mission, along with The Complete Words of Reverend Andrew Fuller by Joseph Belcher, and William Carey, D.D. Fellow of Linnaean Society by S. Pearce Carey. Of course, Timothy George employs William Carey's An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. In Which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of the Former Undertakings, are Considered as a valuable source for the explication the inner workings of the main character.

The biographer presents an astounding summarization of Carey's childhood. He specifically emphasizes the influence of Edmund Carey, William's father and John Warr, a fellow shoe apprentice, who was a Dissenter. Timothy George also illustrates the influence of William's Uncle Peter. The author paints Edmund Carey as a good father but one that failed to show "any partiality for the abilities of the children." However, that did not prevent him from giving them a sound education. William was quite learned in the Psalms and Book of Common Prayer. George calls Warr "a persistent witness to his fellow apprentice." Carey even remarks, "Of real experimental religion, I scarcely heard anything till I was fourteen years of age," which was his age at the time of his apprenticeship. "When the day's chores were done... William would listen to Uncle Peter's stories of adventure." It was through William's Uncle Peter's stories that Carey got a glimpse of the wide world. These stories affected him to the point that the boys at school called him Columbus. Timothy George presents these points as the early shaping of Carey's knowledge of the Church of England, his conversion, and his desire for adventure.

Carey, the young minister, is presented without excluding emphasis on those who influenced him. Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, John Sutcliff, and Thomas Chater all spiritually influenced William, aided his development, baptized him, and formally installed him as a minister. They were his guiding lights into the Dissenting Society. George also focuses on the political situation of Dissenter in England. "Carey grew up sharing the common prejudice of is age against Dissenters. Before his conversion he even entertained the malicious thought of destroying single-handedly the very building where now he and John Warr sat listening to the sermon by Thomas Chater." The biographer explains the struggles Dissenter went through in a biased society. "Persecution and harassment," "Properties confiscated," and "Severe penalties" were among some of the things experienced by Dissenters. "Such memories lingered long in the Nonconformist conscience," states Timothy George. It is in this period that Carey meets his wife Dolly. George explains how the loss of their daughter harshly affects Dolly and ultimately Carey.

It is during this period that Timothy George introduces us to the scholarship and missionary desire of William Carey. Carey taught himself Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. He eventually went on to learn many of the native Indian tongues. George explains, "Carey had a genius for learning new languages." William possessed an enormous desire to preach the Gospel to foreigners. As a school teacher, he drew a map and wrote statistics about the heathen and unbelievers around the world. His finest sermon is on this subject. In this sermon, he expounds upon Christians for not taking action. "We pray for the conversion and salvation of the world, and yet neglect the ordinary means by which these ends have been used to be accomplished." Six months later a mission to India was organized and Fuller states that William "readily answered in the affirmative" when asked if he would join the mission.

His time as a missionary is portrayed with much more emphasis on who Carey influenced rather than who influenced him. George emphasizes Carey's struggles equally with the struggles of his converts. George also explicates on India's political situation, much like England it was biased against Carey's belief. "Carey remembered well the legal strictures imposed on Baptists and other Dissenters in England. He knew the Gospel in India would make its way not by coercion and force but only as the Holy Spirit broke through the barriers of ignorance, superstition, and unbelief." Carey's "missionary zeal was no less ardent" no matter what faced him.

Timothy George sums Carey up in many statements throughout the book. "He was not slack in exploring new possibilities for society." "A scavenger that sweeps the streets for converts." The "venture of faith" is stated by Timothy George as, "It was his mission, his spirit, his call." "What mattered most to Carey were the inhabitants of these distant lands." George even describes William Carey through one of his sermons. "What is there in all this world worth living for, but the presence and service of God?" Carey asked. These are remarkable conclusions, fit for a man of William Carey's character.

Timothy George has chronologically given us his definitive impression of William Carey's life to commemorate Carey and to encourage modern Christians to spread the Gospel. He has emphasized the people who influenced Carey spiritually, politically, and bodily. George gives excellent insight into the inner workings of Carey. He leads us through Carey's life without missing many details. What in all this world is worth reading than a good book, on an excellent subject, and written for a great cause?

An Honest Biography from a Faithful Scholar
Two strengths of this book are that the author presents a realistic picture of Carey's life (from successes to personal flaws) and that the focus of the book is not so much on Carey, but is instead focused on God's use of Carey in bringing about the modern missions movement. First, Carey's life is accurately portrayed without glossing over his faults and failings. The triumphs of Carey, such as his part in the opening of missions in India and other countries, the successful battle against social evils in India, and his translation work, are not told to the neglect of Carey's shortcomings. The most obvious example of this is with his relationship with his first wife. While we must give Carey some grace for living in a time when the modern ministry "priorities" of God, family, and then vocational calling was not widely discussed and accepted as they are now, we cannot turn away from the obviousness that his wife should never have been allowed to enter, and then stay, on the mission field.

Second, throughout the telling of Carey's life, Timothy George is careful to examine the sovereignty of God as He is bringing about all of these events to fruition through means of Carey and his associates. As mentioned earlier in this review, Carey's inspiration for missions was God's concern for His people living in darkness, rooted in the "character of God Himself (58)." The reason Carey saw success as a missionary was not because of his abilities and hard work, but instead because of the sovereign, missions-minded God he served. We would do well to learn this from Carey's faithful witness. As George writes, "Today, more than a new program of missionary training or another strategy for world evangelization, the Church of Jesus Christ needs a fresh vision of a full-sized God - eternal, transcendent, holy, filled with compassion, sovereignly working by His Holy Spirit to call unto Himself a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and language group on earth. Only such a vision, born of repentance, prayer, and self-denial, can inspire a Carey-like faith in a new generation of Christian heralds (172)."

Overall, George is successful in accomplishing his purpose in providing the story of a faithful Christian missionary used by God mightily for the purpose of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Just as Edward's biography of Brainerd served as inspiration for Carey, we can be confident that just as God will use this biography to inspire current and future missionaries as well. As the church, we should pray that God would raise up more missionaries in the mold of Carey, those who understand that God is sovereign over all aspects of missions and who desire to be used by God as He brings His chosen people from the nations to Himself.