E. Stanley Jones

E. (Eli) Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was a 20th century Methodist Christian missionary and theologian. He is remembered chiefly for his interreligious lectures to the educated classes in India, thousands of which were held across the Indian subcontinent during the first decades of the 20th century. According to his and other contemporary reports, his friendship for the cause of Indian self-determination allowed him to become friends with leaders of the up-and-coming Indian National Congress party. He spent much time with Mahatma Gandhi, and the Nehru family. Gandhi challenged Jones and, through Jones' writing, the thousands of Western missionaries working there during the last decades of the British Raj, to include greater respect for the mindset and strengths of the Indian character in their work. This effort to contextualize Christianity for India was the subject of his seminal work, The Christ of the Indian Road (ISBN 0-687-06377-9), which sold more than 1 million copies worldwide after its publication in 1925. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Methodism or the Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ... A Christian mission has been widely defined, since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, as that which is designed to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement. ... Satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ... Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party or Congress (I), abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called... Jawaharlal Nehru (जवाहरलाल नेहरू) (November 14, 1889 - May 27, 1964), also called Pandit (Teacher) Nehru, was the leader of the (moderately) socialist wing of the Indian National Congress during and after Indias struggle for independence from the British... The British Empire at its zenith in 1919. ...

He is also the founder of the Christian Ashram movement. An Ashram (Pronounced aashram) in ancient India was a Hindu hermitage where sages (See Rishi) lived in peace and tranquility amidst nature. ...

Writings

A unique feature of some of his books (eg, Abundant Living, ©1942) is that while they could be read from beginning to end as normal, they were presented in the format of a page-a-day daily reading featuring a Bible reference, a page of his writing, and a concluding sentence or phrase for meditation. The word Bible refers to the canonical collections of sacred writings of Judaism and Christianity. ...

These are the British publishers' titles; American titles may be different.

Books:

The Christ of the Indian Road (1925)
Christ at the Round Table (1928)
The Christ of Every Road – A study in Pentecost (1930)
The Christ of the Mount – A Working Philosophy of Life (1931)
Christ and Human Suffering (1933)
Christ’s Alternative to Communism (1935) US title
Christ and Communism (1935) UK title
Victorious Living (1936) (devotional)
The Choice Before Us (1937)
Christ and Present World Issues (1937)
Along the Indian Road (1939)
Is the Kingdom of God Realism? (1940)
Abundant Living (1942) (devotional)
How to Pray (1943)
The Christ of the American Road (1944)
The Way (1946) (devotional)
Mahatma Gandhi: An Interpretation (1948); 2nd ed.: Gandhi – Portrayal of a Friend (Abingdon, 1993)
The Way to Power and Poise (1949) (devotional)
How to be a Transformed Person (1951) (devotional)
Growing Spiritually (1953) (devotional)
Mastery (1953) (devotional)
Christian Maturity (1957) (devotional)
Conversion (1959)
In Christ (1961) (devotional)
The Word Became Flesh (1963) (devotional)
Victory Through Surrender (1966)
Song of Ascents (1968) (autobiography)
The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person (1972)
The Reconstruction of the Church – On what Pattern? (1970)
The Divine Yes (1975) (posthumously)

Compilations:

Sayings of E Stanley Jones – A Treasury of Wisdom and Wit (1994)
Compiled and edited by Whitney J Dough

Selections from E Stanley Jones – Christ and Human Need (1971?)
Compiled by Eunice Jones Mathews and James K Mathews

External links

• United Christian Ashrams
• Asbury College - E. Stanley Jones's alma mater

Secondary Sources

The Missionary of the Indian Road (Bangalore, Theological Book Trust, 1996)
by Paul A. J. Martin, (Based on a Cambridge University Thesis.)