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. \u00a0Political changes, ill health, family problems and sometimes failure to \u201cmaintain the spiritual glow\u201d cause many to turn aside. \u00a0Not so with this couple. \u00a0Having put their hands to the plow in India in 1928, they have not turned back. \u00a0They continue to be two of the most useful missionaries now representing Christ and his church.<\/p>\n
The Thoburns are in a real sense New Englanders for they call Melrose, Massachusetts, \u201chome\u201d. \u00a0Dr. Thoburn was born in India of missionary parents, the Reverend and Mrs. David L. Thoburn. \u00a0He is a grand-nephew of Bishop James M. Thoburn, whom John R. Mott once called the greatest missionary statesman of the nineteenth century. \u00a0He is likewise a grand-nephew of Isabella Thoburn, one of the first two representatives sent out by the Woman\u2019s Foreign Missionary Society of The Methodist Church and founder of the women\u2019s college in Lucknow which today bears her name, the first college for women in all Asia. \u00a0Stanley, then, was of sturdy, pioneer missionary stock. \u00a0His brother, Wilbur, too, was long a missionary in India and then in Pakistan. \u00a0Pearl Thoburn (nee Champlin) was born in St. Louis. \u00a0She is an alumna of Boston University. \u00a0Stanley had his undergraduate work at Allegheny College. \u00a0In turn at Boston University he earned the S.T.B., A.M. and finally the Th.D.<\/p>\n
After seminary the Thoburns served pastorates briefly in New Hampshire and Vermont. \u00a0But at heart they were missionaries. \u00a0They sailed to India in 1928, where, except for furlough periods, they have continued to the present time. \u00a0Their missionary role has been varied. \u00a0At one time Dr. Thoburn was pastor of an English-speaking church in Naini Tal, a beautiful hill-station in the Himalayas. \u00a0There they were able to serve Indians, Anglo-Indians and British alike. \u00a0Later he was a district superintendent and then taught at Bareilly Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n
The largest period of their career was spent at Leonard Theological College in Jabalpur where they lived almost thirty years. \u00a0At times he served as pastor of a church in the same city while carrying on his seminary duties. \u00a0In theological education he has been both teacher and administrator, acting at times as principal of Leonard. \u00a0Then in August 1965 Dr. Thoburn was named principal of the North India Theological College at Bareilly where they now live.<\/p>\n
To a degree scarcely known in this country, the missionary wife involves herself in work related to that of her husband. \u00a0Pearl Thoburn has thrown herself into work among women, particularly the wives of theological students, who in India are trained simultaneously with their husbands. \u00a0Leonard Theological College has, through the years, had a fine department for this purpose in which Pearl has played a leading part. \u00a0She continues to do the same at Bareilly where she is Dean of the Women\u2019s School. \u00a0She has been much interested also in the Home and Family Life Movement. \u00a0She has written in this field as well as on topics regarding pastoral counselling and Christian education. \u00a0Somehow she managed to rear their four children, all of whom are now married and living in the United States.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0They were very lively and full of curiosity. \u00a0Both brothers possessed great manual skill and were deeply immersed in the lore of India. \u00a0This left its mark on both of them.<\/p>\n
Stanley Thoburn is a quiet, unassuming and reflective man\u2014a man of prayer. This type of personality appeals especially to the Indian character. \u00a0This may account in considerable measure for his success as a missionary, though I am sure he would cringe at the word \u201csuccess\u201d. \u00a0To this must be added his deep knowledge of India and his profound love for her people. \u00a0Both Dr. and Mrs. Thoburn have always been well liked by their students and colleagues as well as by their parishioners.<\/p>\n
Already I have suggested Stanley Thoburn\u2019s scholarly bent. \u00a0His doctoral thesis at Boston University was on \u201cThe Idea of Sacrifice in the Old Testament in the Light of Ugaritic Literature\u201d. \u00a0The subject was suggested by Professor Elmer Leslie. \u00a0The thing that excited Thoburn\u2019s interest in the subject was, in his own words, \u201cthat 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.\u201d \u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n
For the Christian Students\u2019 Library, published by the Senate of Serampore College, Dr. Thoburn has written a book, Old Testament Introduction<\/em>. \u00a0This has been well received. \u00a0He is now writing a similar volume in Hindi, the lingua franca<\/em> of India, a language in which he is well versed. \u00a0He has also written a number of articles. \u00a0A recent one in The Indian Journal of Theology<\/em> on the relation of science, myth and religion has aroused considerable attention. \u00a0I happen to know that he has in manuscript a most original work on systematic theology from the Indian perspective. \u00a0To this sort of approach I shall return.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0The 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 \u201cmission lands\u201d than in the West. \u00a0Leonard Theological College, for example, is a joint venture of eight cooperating bodies. \u00a0It serves all India and even lands beyond. \u00a0The North India Theological College brings to one focus at Bareilly the theological training efforts formerly carried on at three places in North India. \u00a0It, too, is interdenominational in character. \u00a0The training is given in the national language, Hindi. \u00a0An effort has been made to integrate the three schools symbolically as well as administratively. \u00a0The new chapel, for instance, is furnished partly from the chapels of each of the three predecessor schools.<\/p>\n Stanley Thoburn\u2019s 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. \u00a0The lack of sufficient theological textbooks in Hindi is being partly met by having the faculty write them. \u00a0A 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. \u00a0Starting what is virtually a new seminary has demanded great vision, devotion and flexibility and with these Dr. Thoburn is abundantly endowed.<\/p>\n I have already referred to Stanley Thoburn\u2019s insight into Indian spirituality. \u00a0Some years ago I heard him give a series of addresses in this realm. \u00a0One subject was \u201cPeace\u201d. \u00a0To the Westerner it has one sort of connotation; to the Indian it suggests, he said, \u201cself-control and serenity\u201d. \u00a0He spoke next on \u201cSimplicity\u201d and pointed out that in contrast to the complexities of the Western World, India\u2019s people live far closer to the elemental realities of life\u2014birth, marriage, death. \u00a0A third theme was the \u201cSacramental View of Life\u201d. \u00a0In India, he observed, there is a view of life that \u201cfinds spiritual meaning in the physical symbols with which our lives are surrounded.\u201d \u00a0Conversely, there is joy in the outward expression of the inner life of the spirit. \u00a0All of these he found to be in accord with the Gospel. \u00a0Though 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. \u00a0Only one deeply schooled in Christ and fully conversant with another culture can do this. \u00a0This characteristic makes effective missionaries. \u00a0Stanley and Pearl Thoburn are just that.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0Political changes, ill health, family problems and sometimes failure to \u201cmaintain the spiritual glow\u201d cause many to turn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/115\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth-history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}This biography was originally published in\u00a0Nexus: The Alumni Magazine Boston University School of Theology<\/em>, Vol. 10, No. 1, November 1966), pp. 7-10.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"