Abstract
No phase of the contemporary history of the interaction between the peoples of Eastern and Southern Asia and the carriers of European civilization is likely to be more rewarding than the study of religion. Fortunately the chronological record of Christian missionary activity is extraordinarily detailed. We know who the missionaries were, where they came from, what their social background was, how they were recruited, trained, organized and financed; how much time they devoted to preaching, teaching, healing, building, publishing, and the like; how they conceived the strategy of selecting audiences and the tactics of approach. In a word we are remarkably well informed about who said and did what to whom in the name of Christ. We know when they did it and the “why” that they gave themselves for doing it. Granting that there are many more chronologies to be filled in, the point remains valid that research effort is sufficiently well endowed with information to justify the scholar in directing his attention toward more ambitious tasks than the calendar of missions. The most attractive problem is that of providing the materials on the basis of which an ever-improving answer can be given to the ultimate question of effect: What of it? What were the impacts of Christian missionary work or indeed of Christianity? What factors have conditioned successes and failures?
