Life of Henry Martyn, Missionary to India and Persia, 1781 to 1812

Rhea, Sarah J.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
75K words
Chapters
8

Tags

English Originals General BiographyReligion MissionaryHumanistic CareJourney of FaithInspirationSpirit of DevotionEastern Travelogue19th CenturyIndia and PersiaSpread of ReligionsCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Life of Henry Martyn, Missionary to India and Persia, 1781 to 1812 by Sarah J. RheaAuthor: Rhea, Sarah J.,Language: English, Class: BV: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Practical theology, Worship, Release Date: Sep 25, 2009

Editor's review

This biography centers on the brief, intense life of Henry Martyn (1781–1812), tracing his path from Anglican clergyman to missionary in India and Persia. As an early missionary biography, its value lies not in literary polish but in sketching the inner life through letters and diary-like material: devotion to a missionary calling, commitment to language study, loneliness and illness in an unfamiliar cultural setting. Readers can observe the conceptual framework of the early nineteenth-century Anglo-American overseas missionary movement and the concrete work of Bible translation and language study in cross-cultural contact. The style bears the marks of its era, the narrative is plain, and some religious phrasing requires modern readers to judge for themselves. It suits supplementary reading in church history, mission history, or cross-cultural exchange history, and readers interested in modern biography who can accept a religious context may read it in quiet sessions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the preface and chronology first to establish Martyn's life and era before the main text.
  2. Read in geographical stages and mark his areas of activity on a map with each chapter.
  3. Jot brief notes on religious terms or historical figures for easy review.
  4. Read alongside a general history of nineteenth-century missions to distinguish individual narrative from era structure.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no religious background? It can be read, but with some preparation. The book deals heavily with Anglican tradition, missionary calling, and faith experience, which can feel remote without background. It helps to first learn the basic outline of the late eighteenth-century British evangelical revival and overseas missions, and to treat religious language as historical material rather than preaching.
Is it more a compilation of sources or a complete biography? From the material, it is a biography following the main line of a life, not long, organized around Martyn's education, ordination, and journeys to India and Persia. Because it was written early, it emphasizes deeds and faith experience with limited analytical discussion, and is best used as a primary-style personal record.
Do I need other materials while reading? A map of South and West Asia and a brief chronology of early nineteenth-century British overseas missions are helpful. If Bible translation and language work interest you, supplement with a general mission history for institutional context; if you only want the person, read straight through by chapter.

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About the author

Rhea, Sarah J. Author

Sarah J. Rhea is an author about whom little public information is available; the library holds only one work by her, Life of Henry Martyn, Missionary to India and Persia, 1781 to 1812. The book centers on Henry Martyn and recounts his experiences as a missionary active in India and Persia, covering the period from 1781 to 1812. In terms of genre, the work belongs to biography and mission history, and since its subject's activities span South and West Asia, it carries a cross-regional historical perspective. The author organizes her material around the subject's life, writing in a largely narrative manner with a plain and restrained style, focusing on the missionary's experiences and circumstances in foreign settings. Because the publicly available information is very limited, the author's nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, and other writings cannot be confirmed, and her work can be observed mainly through this single volume. On the basis of the available information, the book may serve as a biographical introduction to Henry Martyn and his missionary activities.