Rufus Jones and the Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry: How a Quaker Helped to Shape Modern Ecumenical Christianity. By Stephen W. Angell

I would like to thank the staff of the Special Collections department of the Haverford College Library for their cheerful and efficient assistance with my research. All of the letters written to or from Rufus Jones that are cited in this article are housed in the Manuscript Collection, Special Collections, Haverford College Library.

1.  Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions, 2nd ed. (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1986), 418; James Alan Patterson, “The Loss of a Protestant Missionary Consensus: Foreign Missions and the Fundamentalist-Modernist Conflict,” in Earthen Vessels: American Evangelicals and Foreign Missions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 90.

 2.  Elizabeth Gray Vining, Friend of Life: A Biography of Rufus Jones (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1981; originally published, 1958), 228-235 is the most thorough treatment of Jones’s involvement in the Commission thus far. Treatments emphasizing Hocking’s role include William R. Hutchison, Errand to the World: American Protestant Thought and Foreign Missions (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1988), 158-175; Patterson, “Loss of a Protestant Missionary Consensus,” 86-91; and Neill, History of Christian Missions, 418419.

 3.  Rufus M. Jones, Eli and Sybil Jones: Their Ljfe and Work. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1889.

 4. On the AFSC as the principal exemplar of a Protestant religious agency engaging exclusively in service rather than evangelism, see William R. Hutchison, “Modernism and Missions: The Liberal Search for an Exportable Christianity,” in John K. Fairbank, ed., The Missionary Enterprise in China and America (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1974), 130.

 5.   Vining, Friend of Ljfe, 208; David Hinshaw, Rufus Jone& Master Quaker (New York: 0. P. Putnam & Sons, 1951), 171-172. On events in China, see Jessie Gregory Lutz, Chinese Politics and Christian Missions: The Anti-Christian Movements of 1920-1 928 (Notre Dame, IN: CrossRoads Books, 1988), 160-208.

 6.    Eugene E. Barnett, “Some Impressions of the Tenth National Convention of the YMCA’s of China, Tsinan, August 4-10, 1926,” Chinese Recorder, 57 (Sept. 1926): 677; Vining, Friend of Life, 214,217-222.

 7.    Neill, History of Christian Missions, 331-334.

 8.    The Jerusalem Meeting of the International Missionary Council, March 24- April 8, 1928 (New York: International Missionary Council, 1928), 1,239,251,273.

 9.Robert E. Speer, The Finality of Christ (Westwood, N. J.: Fleming H. Revel! Co., 1934), 315.

 10.  Samuel McCrea Cavert, “Beging at Jerusalem,” Christ ian Century 45 (May 10,1928): 598-601;American National Biography, s.v. “Robert Speer,” by John F. Piper, Jr.

 11.  See, e.g.. Rick Nutt, “0. Sherwood Eddy and the Attitudes of Protestants in the United States toward Global Mission,” Church History 66 (Sept 1997): 511.

 12.  Lutz, Chinese Politics and Christian Missions, 1-26, passim.; “Let Jerusalem Answer,” Christian Century45 (Feb. 16,1928): 198-199; Lian Xi, The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 190 7-1932 (University Park, Penn.: Penn State Univ. Press, 1998), 160-162.

 13.  Rufus M. Jones, “The Background and Objectives of Protestant Foreign Missions,” in Orville A. Petty, ed.,Laymen’s Foreign Missionary Inquiry: Regional Reports of the Committee of Appraisal: China, Supplementary Series, Vol. II, Part One (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1933), xx.

14.  Young India, March 22, 1928, in Gandhi, Collected Works (New Delhi: Government of India), 36: 137.

 15. Vining, Friend of L!fe, 222.

 16. Ibid., 219-220.

 17.  C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott, 1865-1955: A Biography (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1979), 671.

 18.  Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, s.v. “Toyohiko Kagawa;” Dictionary of Christianity in America, s.v. “E. Stanley Jones.”

 19. An interesting treatment of Ricci can be found in Jonathan D. Spence, The Memory Palace ofMatteo Ricci (New York: Penguin Books, 1984).

 20. Fosdick’ s sermon was entitled “Rethinking the Problem of World-Wide Christianity.” See “Dr. Fosdick Wants New Mission Split,” New York Times, Mar. 14, 1927, 22. Fosdick’s quotation from the Indian statesman was most likely drawn from D. 1. Fleming’s Whither Bound in Missions (New York: Association Press, 1925), 59, also quoted in Hutchison, Errand to the World, 150. A good general treatment of the modernist-Fundamentalist controversy in the 1 920s can be found in Martin Marty, Modern American Religion, Volume 2: The Noise of Conflict, 1919-1941 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 155-214, passim.

 21.  James Alan Patterson, “The Loss of a Protestant Missionary Consensus:      Foreign Missions and the Fundamentalist-Modernist Conflict,” 73-91; Lutz, Chinese Politics and Christian Missions, 41; Hutchison, Errand to the World, 138-145, Xi, The Conversion of Missionaries, 143-144.

 22.  Raymond B. Fosdick, John D. Rockefeller, Jr : A Portrait (New York: Harper Brothers, 1956), 214.

 23. Kenneth S. Latourette, “The Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry: The Report of its Commission of Appraisal,” International Review of Missions 22 (April 1933): 154.

 24.  John R. Mott to Ruts Jones, Oct. 24, 1930; Jones to Mott, Nov. 5, 1930, The Rufus M. Jones Papers, Manuscript Collection, Special Collections, Haverford College Library.

 25.  Ibid.

 26.  Mott to Jones, Nov. 7; Nov.25, 1930;Vining, Friend of Life, 228-229.

 27.  Rufus Jones to D. J. Fleming, Dec. 11, 1930.

 28.  Fleming, Whither Bound in Missions, 67-68, quoted in Hutchison, Errand to the World, 151.

 29.  Hodgkin was also listed as an advisor for Jones’s book, A Preface to Christian Faith in a New Age. Tragically, he died young, at age 56, in 1933. A. J. Hawkings, “Obituary: Henry Hodgkin,” Chinese Recorder 64 (May, 1933): 316-319; Vining, Friend of Life, 229,236; John Punshon, Portrait in Grey: A Short History of the Quakers (London: Quaker Home Service, 1984), 218; Paul A. Varg, “The Missionary Response to the Nationalist Revolution,” in John K. Fairbank, ed., The Missionary Enterprise in China and America (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1974), 318. The quotation can be found in Christian Faith and Practice in the Experience of the Society of Friends (London: London [Britain] Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1972), 102.

 30.  Albert L. Scott to Jones, March 16, 1931; W. E. Hocking to Jones, Dec. 23, 1931.

 31.  John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to Jones, Sept. 25, 1931; Oct. 2, 1931; Vining, Friend of 14fe, 229.

 32.  Jones, A Preface to Christian Faith in a New Age (New York: Macmillan, 1932), ix. Emphasis is Jones’s.

 33.  Ibid. Emphases are Jones’s.

 34.  Vining, Friend of Ljfe, 229; Rufus Jones to John Mott, Dec. 5, 1930; Rufus Jones to John D. Rockefeller, Dec. 5, 1930.

35.  Vining, Friend of Life, 232.

 36.  Pearl Buck to Rufus M. Jones, undated (but ca. 1932). An insightful evaluation of Buck’s views on religion can be found in Xi, The Conversion of Missionaries, 95-128.

 37.  The Commission of Appraisal, William Ernest Hocking, Chairman, Re-Thinking Missions: A Laymen’s Inquiry after One Hundred Years (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932), 327-329, passirn.

 38.  Ibid. Quotation: 37.

 39.  Ibid. Gandhi’s remarks quoted: 68. How missionaries should regard non-Christian religions: 40. Truth the New Testament of every faith: 44.

 40. The Proceedings of the Meeting of the Directors and Sponsors of the Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry and Representative of Foreign Mission Boards at Hotel Roosevelt, New York City. Friday and Saturday. November 18 and 19. 1932, ed. by William Ernest Hocking and Orville Petty. N.p., n.d., 28, 66-68. See also “Backs Lay Report on Missions Abroad,” New York limes, Nov. 19, 1932, 9; “Foreign Missions Said to Need Unity,” New York limes, Nov. 20, 1932, 30.

 41.  Jones, “The Background and Objectives of Protestant Foreign Missions,” xx-xxi.

 42.  C. F. Andrews, “Lifting the Deadweight from Missions,” Christian Century 50 (Jan. 25, 1933): 115-117. On his friendship with Jones and Gandhi, see C. F. (Charlie) Andrews to Jones, April 4,1930.

 43.  Pearl S. Buck, “The Laymen’s Mission Report,” Christian Century 49 (Nov. 23, 1932): 1434-1437. See also her “Is There a Case for Foreign Missions?” Harper’s 166 (Jan. 1933): 144-155.

 44. Xi, The Conversion of Missionaries, 220-222; Hutchison, Errand to the World, 167-169.

 45.  Carl Heath to Rufus Jones, Nov. 27, 1832.

 46.  Robert E. Speer, “An Appraisal of the Appraisal: An attempt at a Just Review of the Report of the Appraisal Commission of the Layman’s Foreign Mission Inquiry,” Missionary Review of the World 56 (Jan. 1933): 7-27. Quotations can be found on pp. 15-17. See also “Dr. Speer on the Laymen’s Report,” Christian Century 50 (Feb. 8, 1931): 184-185.

 47.  E. Stanley Jones, “What I Saw in China,” Christian Century 50 (Feb. 8, 1933): 187-188; “China and the Laymen’s Report,” Christian Century  50 (Feb. 15, 1933): 220-221.

 48.  Toyohiko Kagawa, “Missions Without the Cross,” Christian Century

50 (Mar. 24,1931): 685-686. A sampling of other critical articles on Re-Thinking Missions include: Mrs. Henry W. (Lucy Waterbury) Peabody, “A Woman’s Criticism of the Laymen’s Report,” Missionary Review of the World 56 (Jan. 1933): 39-40; Charles F. Raven, “What is the Christian Message?” Christian Century 50 (Feb. 1, 1933): 149-152; Nathaniel Peffer, “The Twilight of Foreign Missions,” Harper’s Magazine 66 (Mar. l933):402-408; Kenneth S. Latourette, “The Laymen’s Foreign Missionary Inquiry: The Report of Its Commission of Appraisal,” International Review of Missions 22 (April 1933): 153-173.

 49.  “Reactions to the Laymen’s Report,” Missionary Review of the World 56 (Jan. 1933): 43-45; Archibald U. Baker, “Reactions to the Laymen’s Report,” The Journal of Religion 13 (Oct. 1933): 379-398

 50.  John W. Wood to Rufus Jones, Mar. 2,1933.

 51.  Roderick Scott to Jones, May 11, 1933.

 52.  Rufus Jones to W. 0. Carver, Mar. 11,1933; see also W.O. Carver to Rufus Jones, Feb. 14; Mar. 7, 1933; and Jones to Carver, Feb. 17, 1933.

 53.  John B. Mackay, “The Theology of the Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry,” International Review of Missions, 22 (April 1933): 177-178, quoting Proceedings of the Meeting, 37.

 54.  Rufus Jones to W. 0. Carver, Mar. II, 1933; Proceedings of the Meeting, 28; Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), 74-77, 103-105; “Reactions to the Laymen’s Report,” The Missionary Review of the World 56 (Jan. 1933): 44.

 55.  Robert J. Davidson, The Christian Approach to Other Religions, “Rethinking Missions” Series, No. 1 (London: Friends Service Council, 1933), 5, 7-8.

 56.  Gerald K. Hibbert, The Christian Faith and Modern Missions: A Quaker Contribution, “Rethinking Missions” Series, No. 2 (London: Friends Service Council, 1933), 5, 7,10.

 57.  Charles. Emerson to A. L. Scott, Feb. 14, 1933. A copy of this letter was sent to Rufus Jones.

 58.        Mabel Ruth Newlin to Rufus M. Jones, Mar. 1, 1933.

 59.  Speer, “An Appraisal of the Appraisal,” 14.

 60.  W. F. Hocking to Rufus Jones, Mar. 1, 1932; Jones to Hocking, July 28; Aug. 4,1932

 61. Proceedings of the Meeting, 6.

 62.  Hocking originally assigned chapter 6 to Jones, but there is no specification of the content of chapter 6 in Hocking’s letter. Why state that Jones most likely wrote chapter 7? Both chapter 6 and chapter 7 were on education. Chapter 6 dealt with primary and secondary education, whereas chapter 7 dealt with higher education. Jones, as a Haverford College professor, was more qualified to write about higher education. Furthermore, at the Hotel Roosevelt conference, Jones was referred questions about higher education in missions (Proceedings of the Meeting, 28, 37, 43), whereas others handled the questions on primary and secondary education. Jones could not have written all of chapter 7, e.g., the section on “The Christian Colleges in India and Burma,” which would have been written by another commissioner since Jones was not present during that part of the Commission’s travels. All of this leads to the conclusion that chapter content or numbering had somehow changed since Hocking’s original assignment and that Jones actually was more involved in the writing of chapter 7.

 The report had fourteen chapters altogether. There is no evidence that either Jones or Hocking had primary responsibility for the other eight chapters, exclusively dealing with various social and practical aspects of missions; presumably, some of the other thirteen members of the Commission of Appraisal assumed leadership for those. The first four chapters, however, were clearly the most controversial.

 63.           Jones to Carver, Mar. 11, 1933; Proceedings of the Meeting, 27.

 64.           Dr. Boddy, quoted in a letter by Charles Ewald to Rufus Jones, Nov. 27, 1933.

 65.           John D. Rockefeller to Rufus Jones, Jan. 9, 1934.

 66.           Fosdick, Rockefeller, 218-219; Hopkins, Mat, 681.

 67.           Hopkins, Mott, 681.

 68.           Vining, Friend of Life, 235.

 69.           Rufus Jones to W. 0. Carver, Feb. 17, 1933; Mar. 11, 1933.

 70.           Charles Ewald to Rufus Jones, Apr. 25; May 9,1934.

 71.     American National Biography, s.v. “Robert Speer,” by John F. Piper, Jr.; “J. Gresham Machen,” by D. G. Hart.

 72.           Baker, “Reactions to the Laymen’s Report,” 392-396.

 73.           Harry Emerson Fosdick, Rufus Jones Speaks to Our Time (New York: Macmillan, 1951).

 74. Joseph John Gurney, Observations of the Distinguishing Views and Practices of the Society of Friends, 7th ed. (London: John and Arthur Arch, Cornhill, 1834), 27-33.