Encountering China

Welsh Baptist missionary to China Timothy Richard (1845-1919) was once widely regarded as ""one of the greatest missionaries whom any branch of the Church, whether Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Protestant, has sent to China."" Today, few have heard of Richard and his remarkable lifetime of ministry in China.

As the first critical examination of Richard's missionary identity, this groundbreaking historical study traces the narrative of Richard's early life in Wales and his formative first two decades of service in China. Richard's adaptations to the common evangelistic techniques of his day, his interest in learning from grassroots Chinese sectarian religions, his integration of evangelism and famine relief during the North China Famine (1876-79), his strategic decision to evangelize Chinese elites, and his complicated relationships with Hudson Taylor and other China missionaries are all explored through the writings and personal letters of Richard and his contemporaries. The resulting portrait represents a significant revision to existing interpretations of this influential China missionary, emphasizing his deep empathy for the people of China and his abiding evangelical identity. Readable and relevant, Encountering China provides a new generation with an introduction to this lost legend of China mission.


""Encountering China takes the forty-five year missionary career of Timothy Richard in the late nineteenth century as the focus for this book. It is a fascinating and readable study of a crucial period in Protestant, Evangelical China mission. . . This book is must reading for anyone contemplating work in China or elsewhere today. The roots of contemporary balanced ministry are clearly found in the work and life of Timothy Richard.""
--Michael Pocock, Dallas Theological Seminary

""Kaiser's work is a major contribution to the study of Timothy Richard, a towering figure in modern mission history of China. It gives us a much more nuanced narrative and interpretation of Richard's famous missiological adjustment, and points to the complex dynamics of Protestant missionary movement in the nineteenth-century China. The future scholarship of China mission history would benefit from this outstanding work.""
--Kevin Xiyi Yao, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary

""Andrew Kaiser's Encountering China contributes to mission reflection today by walking the reader carefully through the development of Timothy Richard's thought.""
--Thomas Harvey, Oxford Center for Mission Studies, St. Philips and St. James Church


Andrew T. Kaiser is the author of The Rushing On of the Purposes of God: Christian Missions in Shanxi since 1876. He and his family have been living in Shanxi since 1997, serving the people of the province through professional work and public benefit projects.