A Supreme Desire To Please Him (monographs In Baptist History) [Hardcover]

Adoniram Judson was not only a historic figurehead in the first wave of foreign missionaries from the United States and a hero in his own day, but his story still wins the admiration of Christians even today. Though numerous biographies have been written to retell his life story in every ensuing generation, until now no single volume has sought to comprehensively synthesize and analyze the features of his theology and spiritual life. His vision of spirituality and religion certainly contained degrees of classic evangelical piety, yet his spirituality was fundamentally rooted in and ruled by a mixture of asceticism and New Divinity theology. Judson's renowned fortitude emerged out of a peculiar missionary spirituality that was bibliocentric, ascetic, heavenly minded, and Christocentric. The center of Adoniram Judson's spirituality was a heavenly minded, self-denying submission to the sovereign will of God, motivated by an affectionate desire to please Christ through obedience to his final command revealed in the Scriptures. Unveiling the heart of his missionary spirituality, Judson himself asked, What, then, is the prominent, all-constraining impulse that should urge us to make sacrifices in this cause? And he answered thus: A supreme desire to please him is the grand motive that should animate Christians in their missionary efforts. Because Jesus Christ was Himself the ultimate missionary, a truly biblical spirituality will always incline the heart toward missions. The more Christlike a person becomes, the more burdened he or she will be for those who do not know Christ. One of the best-known and best-loved stories of this union of spirituality and missions is found in the life of Adoniram Judson. Retelling this story with particular emphasis on Judson's spirituality is Evan Burns. Who better for this task than a missionary to Judson's part of the world with a PhD in biblical spirituality? Like Judson, Dr. Burns is the real deal both as a missionary and aslƒ.