C. Stanley Thoburn (1926, 1928, 1954)
By James K. Mathews, Bishop of the Boston Area, The Methodist Church
DURING a period in which comparatively few missionaries complete full careers of service in their chosen fields, Pearl and Stanley Thoburn stand out as exceptional. Political changes, ill health, family problems and sometimes failure to “maintain the spiritual glow” cause many to turn aside. Not so with this couple. Having put their hands to the plow in India in 1928, they have not turned back. They continue to be two of the most useful missionaries now representing Christ and his church.
The Thoburns are in a real sense New Englanders for they call Melrose, Massachusetts, “home”. Dr. Thoburn was born in India of missionary parents, the Reverend and Mrs. David L. Thoburn. He is a grand-nephew of Bishop James M. Thoburn, whom John R. Mott once called the greatest missionary statesman of the nineteenth century. He is likewise a grand-nephew of Isabella Thoburn, one of the first two representatives sent out by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of The Methodist Church and founder of the women’s college in Lucknow which today bears her name, the first college for women in all Asia. Stanley, then, was of sturdy, pioneer missionary stock. His brother, Wilbur, too, was long a missionary in India and then in Pakistan. Pearl Thoburn (nee Champlin) was born in St. Louis. She is an alumna of Boston University. Stanley had his undergraduate work at Allegheny College. In turn at Boston University he earned the S.T.B., A.M. and finally the Th.D.
After seminary the Thoburns served pastorates briefly in New Hampshire and Vermont. But at heart they were missionaries. They sailed to India in 1928, where, except for furlough periods, they have continued to the present time. Their missionary role has been varied. At one time Dr. Thoburn was pastor of an English-speaking church in Naini Tal, a beautiful hill-station in the Himalayas. There they were able to serve Indians, Anglo-Indians and British alike. Later he was a district superintendent and then taught at Bareilly Theological Seminary.
The largest period of their career was spent at Leonard Theological College in Jabalpur where they lived almost thirty years. At times he served as pastor of a church in the same city while carrying on his seminary duties. In theological education he has been both teacher and administrator, acting at times as principal of Leonard. Then in August 1965 Dr. Thoburn was named principal of the North India Theological College at Bareilly where they now live.
To a degree scarcely known in this country, the missionary wife involves herself in work related to that of her husband. Pearl Thoburn has thrown herself into work among women, particularly the wives of theological students, who in India are trained simultaneously with their husbands. Leonard Theological College has, through the years, had a fine department for this purpose in which Pearl has played a leading part. She continues to do the same at Bareilly where she is Dean of the Women’s School. She has been much interested also in the Home and Family Life Movement. She has written in this field as well as on topics regarding pastoral counselling and Christian education. Somehow she managed to rear their four children, all of whom are now married and living in the United States.
My wife and I have known Stanley and Wilbur Thoburn for many years; indeed, my wife knew them when she was a little girl and they were teenagers in India. They were very lively and full of curiosity. Both brothers possessed great manual skill and were deeply immersed in the lore of India. This left its mark on both of them.
Stanley Thoburn is a quiet, unassuming and reflective man—a man of prayer. This type of personality appeals especially to the Indian character. This may account in considerable measure for his success as a missionary, though I am sure he would cringe at the word “success”. To this must be added his deep knowledge of India and his profound love for her people. Both Dr. and Mrs. Thoburn have always been well liked by their students and colleagues as well as by their parishioners.
Already I have suggested Stanley Thoburn’s scholarly bent. His doctoral thesis at Boston University was on “The Idea of Sacrifice in the Old Testament in the Light of Ugaritic Literature”. The subject was suggested by Professor Elmer Leslie. The thing that excited Thoburn’s interest in the subject was, in his own words, “that the relation between the special revelation to Israel and the Canaanite culture within which that revelation was given was a preview of the theologically similar relation between the Christian revelation and other naturalistic cultures, such as what we find in India.” In my view Dr. Thoburn has here given us a most revealing insight into what has stimulated his effective missionary service: the way the Gospel relates to a given culture.
For the Christian Students’ Library, published by the Senate of Serampore College, Dr. Thoburn has written a book, Old Testament Introduction. This has been well received. He is now writing a similar volume in Hindi, the lingua franca of India, a language in which he is well versed. He has also written a number of articles. A recent one in The Indian Journal of Theology on the relation of science, myth and religion has aroused considerable attention. I happen to know that he has in manuscript a most original work on systematic theology from the Indian perspective. To this sort of approach I shall return.
Dr. Thoburn is ecumenical in the most literal sense of the word: his concerns are with the whole inhabited world and with all men regardless of religious affiliation. The Thoburns were, in fact, in step with the ecumenical era before most of us had heard of it, for interdenominational cooperation is usually much further advanced in so-called “mission lands” than in the West. Leonard Theological College, for example, is a joint venture of eight cooperating bodies. It serves all India and even lands beyond. The North India Theological College brings to one focus at Bareilly the theological training efforts formerly carried on at three places in North India. It, too, is interdenominational in character. The training is given in the national language, Hindi. An effort has been made to integrate the three schools symbolically as well as administratively. The new chapel, for instance, is furnished partly from the chapels of each of the three predecessor schools.
Stanley Thoburn’s practical skills are being used at Bareilly in the renovation and enlarging of the property, providing adequate student accommodations, and in building up the library. The lack of sufficient theological textbooks in Hindi is being partly met by having the faculty write them. A new memorial lectureship, named for the first Indian Methodist bishop, J. R. Chitambar, has been inaugurated, with a view to stimulating further creative theological effort in the national language. Starting what is virtually a new seminary has demanded great vision, devotion and flexibility and with these Dr. Thoburn is abundantly endowed.
I have already referred to Stanley Thoburn’s insight into Indian spirituality. Some years ago I heard him give a series of addresses in this realm. One subject was “Peace”. To the Westerner it has one sort of connotation; to the Indian it suggests, he said, “self-control and serenity”. He spoke next on “Simplicity” and pointed out that in contrast to the complexities of the Western World, India’s people live far closer to the elemental realities of life—birth, marriage, death. A third theme was the “Sacramental View of Life”. In India, he observed, there is a view of life that “finds spiritual meaning in the physical symbols with which our lives are surrounded.” Conversely, there is joy in the outward expression of the inner life of the spirit. All of these he found to be in accord with the Gospel. Though I have given only the most fragmentary idea of how he treated these themes, all who heard him were profoundly moved, for here was a man able to speak with deep respect of how persons of another culture experienced reality itself. Only one deeply schooled in Christ and fully conversant with another culture can do this. This characteristic makes effective missionaries. Stanley and Pearl Thoburn are just that.