A Study On Dixon Edward Hoste,the Second General Director Of The China Inland Mission

The China Inland Mission was founded by James Hudson Taylor in 1865.It was a mission made up of missionaries from different sectarians and different countries.In Late Qing Dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China,it was the largest Mission with the most complicated member composition.It changed its name from the China Inland Mission to Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1964.Missionaries in the China Inland Mission were famous for their toughness and perseverance.From 1865 when it was founded to 1952 when it was expelled from China,the China Inland Mission had worked in China for 87 years,during which thousands of its missionaries scattered throughout China's provinces.However,because of the fundamentalism advocated by its founder,the Mission did not lay much emphasis on the communication with the upper classes in China,It did not care much about the development of missionary schools either,especially the development of higher education.As a consequence,though the China Inland Mission was the largest Mission in China,it was less influential than American Presbyterian Church and American Board Mission in China.Therefore,scholars in China had not made any systematic research on the China Inland Mission,not to mention its missionaries.This paper tries to focus on the Second General Director of the China Inland Mission,D.E.Hoste,who was one of the famous Cambridge Seven1.He worked with Pastor Hsi in Shanxi Province at the beginning of his coming to China and he had worked there for more than ten years and made great contribution to the indigenization in that province.He became the leader of the Mission during the crisis of the Boxer Uprising and led the Mission out of it.He used the Boxer Indemnity to build the first missionary middle school in Shanxi Province.His theological thought was deeply influenced by his predecessor James Hudson Taylor,but he also had his own preaching strategy during his missionary career.This paper is based on the writings of missionaries in the China Inland Mission and its important magazines China's Millions and The Chinese Recorder.It briefly introduces the life of D.E.Hoste chronologically and evaluate his preaching strategy.Besides,it analyzes his view on China.The main body of this paper has three parts.The first part introduces his family background,his early education and the reason why he and the others of the Cambridge Seven came to China as missionaries.The second part focuses on D.E.Hoste's missionary career and points out the advantages and disadvantages of his preaching strategy.He used direct means,indigenization and education to preach the Gospel.Strategies he used were benefit for the expansion of Christianity in China.It also had some limit,such as it ignored the communication with upper classes in China.The third part makes a comparison between him and another two of the Cambridge Seven,Stanley P.Smith and W.W.Cassels,drawing his view on China that did not criticize Chinese culture when he did not understand it..In a word,D.E.Hoste's activities in China—whether his preaching in the countryside or building schools in these places,manifested his enthusiasm for Christianity.He firmly believed only the civilization of Christianity could save China and his coming to China was to assume the mission.