This is a readable and entertaining account of the most colorful and eccentric missionary in nineteenth-century Japan, Jonathan Goble (1827-1926). Goble first visited Japan as a marine in Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition of 1853-54. He won acclaim in the official Narrative of the Expedition for befriending the Japanese castaway Sam Patch. After returning to Japan as a missionary of the American Baptist Free Mission Society, Goble translated more than half the New Testament into Japanese. His Gospel of Matthew is the oldest extant Scripture portion printed in Japan. He preached to samurai and merchants, to outcasts and the blind. Goble led an exciting life not only as a missionary but also as an interpreter, translator, writer, lecturer, inventor, merchant and builder. He rubbed shoulders with Iwakura Tomomi, prime minister; Yamanouchi Yodo, leading daimyo; Iwasaki Yataro, founder of the Mitsubishi financial empire; and other notables. Strong-willed and prone to violence, his maverick ways got him consigned to a Baptist limbo. In this work, the first biography of Goble, his fascinating life illuminates the strange world of Christian missions in nineteenth-century Japan.

Jonathan Goble (1827-1896) was the most colorful and aggressive missionary in nineteenth-century Japan. The maverick Baptist won acclaim as inventor of the rickshaw, translator of the oldest extant Bible portion published in Japan, and pioneer in the distribution of Scriptures. But he was disliked for his volcanic temper, violent acts, and shady ethics. The missionary icon became an outcast. This book grew out of the author's 1990 work, Jonathan Goble of Japan, which earned these reviews: "A fascinatingly colorful personality comes to life in the pages of this scholarly book."-New York History "Outstanding study of the complexities of one missionary excellent example of the historian's craft."-Journal of Japanese Studies "The book blends good scholarship with human interest, rich local color, and readability. It will reward any reader."-Missiology The present work, newly written with fresh insights, offers a different perspective on an extraordinary missionary. Aimed at a wider audience, it too will reward any reader.

"The book also features cross-references throughout, a bibliography accompanying each entry, an elaborate appendix listing biographies according to particular categories of interest, and a comprehensive index."--BOOK JACKET.

Japan closed its doors to foreigners for over two hundred years because of religious and political instability caused by Christianity. By 1859, foreign residents were once again living in treaty ports in Japan, but edicts banning Christianity remained enforced until 1873. Drawing on an impressive array of English and Japanese sources, Ion investigates a crucial era in the history of Japanese-American relations the formation of Protestant missions. He reveals that the transmission of values and beliefs was not a simple matter of acceptance or rejection: missionaries and Christian laymen persisted in the face of open hostility and served as important liaisons between East and West.

This volume is by the author ofThe Kakure Kirishitan of Japan: A study of their development, beliefs and rituals to the present day, widely seen as the landmark study on this subject. Stephen Turnbull here brings together in two volumes the most significant scholarly writings on Japan's hidden Christians published in recent times, encompassing a span of some 450 years of the Christian tradition in Japan. Remarkably, in many respects, the inheritors of this tradition continue to remain 'hidden' at the dawn of the new millennium. The author contributes a full introduction, in which he reviews the key elements of the collected writings and at the same time takes the opportunity to bring his own study up-to-date.

Volumes 7-77, 80-83 include 13th-83rd, 86th-89th annual report of the American Baptist missionary union.