Jason G. Duesing - Adoniram Judson

Reaching the world for Christ remains our greatest task and should be our greatest passion. No onepast or presenthas exemplified that passion better than Adoniram Judson, American Baptist pioneer missionary to Burma. The Judsons story represents the official birth of the American missionary movement. This alone forever enshrines the Judsons in the missionary hall of fame, but that is just the beginning of the story. This book is history, biography, theology, and missiology all wrapped into one. In some aspects ground-breaking, it is well researched, well written by a crack team of Baptist scholars, and well edited by Baptist historian Jason Duesing. Every missionary should own it; every pastor should read it; every Christ should be inspired by it to win the world to Christ. The Judsons flaming torch continues to burn.

David L. Allen

Dean, School of Theology

Southwestern Baptist Theology Seminary

Fort Worth, Texas

Jason Duesings Adoniram Judson is a book of historical, theological, missiological, and pastoral consequence. The all-star ensemble of authors for this edited volume provides essays that appreciate Judsons monumental life and work, but do so in an appropriately critical manner, avoiding the hagiography often present in missionary biographies. In this book, the reader is provided with an excellent and concise biographical treatment of Judson in historical context, followed by a theological and missiological evaluation of his life and ministry, and finally concluding with a homiletical interpretation of Judson. I highly recommend this book.

Bruce Riley Ashford

Dean, College at Southeastern

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Wake Forest, North Carolina

Adoniram Judson and his wives continue to be key figures in Baptist studies and international Christian missions. This volume illustrates the widespread renewed scholarly interest in the Judsons, offering new insights and raising important questions.

The Rev. William H. Brackney

Millard R. Cherry Distinguished Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics

Director, Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies (ACBAS)

Vice Chair, Board of Governors, Canadian Bible Society

Acadia Divinity College

Faculty of Theology, Acadia University

In the current debate about the formulating of a list of Baptist saints, Adoniram Judson would surely have a secure place, not only for his own work but for the part he played in initiating the great missionary movement in nineteenth-century America, a movement that is happily still continuing and that helps us to fulfill both the biblical mandate to remember [Deuteronomy 8] and yet also to forget [Isaiah 43], or to stop being imprisoned in history focusing only on past achievements, developing instead the eyes of faith to perceive what Gods ongoing initiating grace is doing in the world in our own day. Remembering and forgetting are important, because both relate to the witness that God Himself leaves on the pages of history. This volume helps us with both tasksto understand the pioneering significance of Judsons labors, duly contexted , theologically and historically, but also to be faithful to that compelling example by our own engagement in Christian mission today.

John H. Y. Briggs

Director Emeritus, Baptist History and Heritage Centre

Regents Park College, University of Oxford

Jason Duesing and his colleagues have produced a fine work with a beneficial balance of scholarship, human interest, and practical call to action. As a pastor, I find this volume a wonderful resource for preaching and for leading the church to a renewed commitment to the Great Commission. Judson still speaks. Those who take the time to dig into these reflections on the life and work of Judson will find themselves driven to the field. Please, come and dig.

D. Hance Dilbeck

Senior Pastor, Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Chairman, Board of Trustees, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

I congratulate Jason Duesing on bringing together a fine team of writers to provide a fresh interpretation of the life and ministry of Adoniram Judson for Baptist theology, history, and missiology. This useful volume not only offers a clear appraisal of the historical and biographical material but also explores the issues of Judsons day in light of their importance and significance for twenty-first-century Baptist life. This well-designed bicentennial celebration of the pioneer American missionary is a welcomed addition to the field of Baptist studies.

David S. Dockery

President, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee

Adoniram Judson was much like the apostle Paul in his devotion and service to Jesus Christ. He was a theologian, missionary, church planter, and sufferer for the cause of the gospel. I commend Jason Duesing and those who collaborated on this fine bicentennial project describing the life, theology, and influence of Judson. I was encouraged and deeply challenged by the noted Burmese missionary. I encourage all believers in Jesus to read it with this caveat: prepare yourself for a great blessing and also the challenge to go on mission with Christ to a distant shore.

Danny Forshee

Pastor, Great Hills Baptist Church, Austin, Texas

Come and read and dig up a buried stone and remember a hero of Christian missionary history. Jason Duesing has done an incredible job of editing and writing a book about the life impact of Adoniram Judson that will challenge and encourage a new generation of mission-minded, hot-hearted, young missionaries to go to the unreached unengaged Burmas of our generation and hold forth the timeless message of our Savior.

Gordon Fort

Vice President, Office of Global Strategy, International Mission Board, SBC

Adoniram and Ann Judson, along with their friend Luther Rice, are the great pioneers of missionary awakening among Baptists in America. This well-wrought volume brings together timely perspectives on Judson and his legacy. Two centuries later, Judsons vision still burns brightly in a dark world. May the Judson bicentennial contribute to a new missionary awakening for our time.

Timothy George

Founding Dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

Birmingham, Alabama

General Editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

On Sunday afternoons after the members of Kenwood Baptist Church have gone home, a church made up of Chen people, refugees from Burma, uses the building to worship in their own language. When we first met them and received their request to worship in our building, these refugees from the country now called Myanmar told us that they know the gospel because of the work of Adoniram Judson. Jason Duesing has given us the right book, with the right contributors, on the right man, at the right time. May the Lord so use it that centuries from now people will be referring back to missionaries who were compelled to go just as Judson was, that the glory of the Lord might cover the dry lands as the waters cover the sea.

James M. Hamilton Jr.

Associate Professor of Biblical Theology, Southern Seminary

Preaching Pastor, Kenwood Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky

While most Southern Baptists would readily acknowledge our denominations commitment to the missionary enterprise, perhaps few could articulate why this is so. Of course, the biblical mandate is clear. But God has also blessed us with many voices crying in the wilderness for the church to passionately embrace its calling to and the great adventure of world evangelization. Through a careful examination of the historical, theological, and practical implications of the life and ministry of missionary Adoniram Judson, the contributors of this volume have masterfully expounded not only the what of missions, but also the why of missions. With each chapter my own personal commitment to world missions was both challenged and reaffirmed. With Gods help may Adoniram Judsons story be my story.