資料內容所涉時間從1860年美北長老會派遣的傳教士初次到達山東登州境地始至1960年左右止。約計文字資料3000餘萬字,圖片1000餘幀。主要涉及工作文件、往來書信、學術文章等三部分內容,包括美北長老會、英國浸信會、加拿大聯合教會等西方教會早期在華籍醫傳教的情況、工作年鑒以及記錄其派遣的傳教士在華期間工作進展、傑出人物、特殊事件評價、人物生平等;傳教士、傳教醫師與其同事、友人、家人間書信的往來以及家人、朋友為其撰寫的人物傳記;傳教士在華期間著作,包括第一位隻身來濟、為齊魯醫院的創建做出了重要貢獻的美北長老會傳教士Jasper Scudder McILvaine(麥爾文)的著作《Grammatical Studies in the Colloquial Language of Northern China, Especially Designed for the Use of Missionaries》(1880,《中國北方口語語法研究》),及其與父母、親友的親筆書信影印件;齊魯醫院創始人聶會東在華期間在曆屆中華博醫會年會上的講話,發表在《柳葉刀》、《博醫會報》上的學術文章、工作報告以及學術著作等,如《Inorganic Native Drugs of Chinanfu》、《Diseases of the Conjunctiva as met with in Tsinan》,著作《Ophthalmological Terminology》、《Diseases of the Skin》、《化學辨質》等。
2006 年,我曾訪問日本北海道大學。那座大學的創辦人是美國農學家克拉克博士(Dr. William Smith Clark),他在教學的同時也秘密地傳播基督教。雖然他在日時間隻有短短八個月,但日本人為紀念他,在大學校園裏樹立了他的銅像,學校有以他命名的克拉克會館,學校的校訓是他的話(“男兒當自強”,英文 “Boys, be ambitious!”),甚至北海道大學的徽記也是克拉克的頭像。
John Livingston Nevius (4 March 1829 – 19 October 1893) was, for forty years, a pioneering AmericanProtestantmissionary in China, appointed by theAmerican Presbyterian Mission; his missionary ideas were also very important in the spread of the church inKorea. He wrote several books on the themes of Chinese religions, customs and social life, and missionary work.
Nevius was born on a farm halfway between the villages of Lodi and Ovid in the "Lake country" of western New York state. It was an idyllic country location surrounded by fields and meadows with a nearby spring of pure water, and Lake Seneca, "gleaming through the trees", only 2 miles distant; he was the son of Benjamin Nevius, of Dutch descent, and his wife Mary Denton. He was educated at the college in Ovid, then at Union College in Schenectady, then, from 1850, atPrinceton as a prospective minister in the Presbyterian Church.[1]
In 1853, Nevius married Helen Coan and, on June 15 of that year, the couple set off, as missionaries, on an arduous 6-month sea voyage to Ningpo, in the Che-Kiang province of China, arriving in the spring of 1854. He and his wife immediately set about learning the language, and Nevius's subsequent interest in the phenomenon of spirit possession was sparked off by conversations about the supernatural with his language tutor, Mr. Tu; the Chinese had a strong belief in the reality and power of the spirit world that was part of ananimistic tradition going back thousands of years (see Chinese folk religion).[1][2]
The Revd. and Mrs. Nevius were soon travelling and preaching, as well as setting up missions and schools, studying and writing. In 1861 the couple moved to Shantung province, where most of their Chinese missionary work would be undertaken. They spent some time in Tung Chowand dispensed medicine to the locals during the 1862 cholera epidemic there. John also trained missionaries and helped to establish the country's first Synod which took place in Shanghai in 1870, while Mrs. Nevius set up a boarding school for girls.[1]
In 1871, they moved to Cheefoo and built a house there called "Nan Lou". In 1873, John embarked on a taxing 600-mile missionary tour by foot, finding rest and sustenance at whatever establishments he could find along the way. In 1877, there was a famine in the province of Shantung (the "Great North China Famine"), and he played a pivotal role in raising funds, setting up a food distribution centre and organising a relief corps from quarters at Kao-Yai. Famine struck again in 1889, and Nevius's abilities were, once more, called upon.[1]
Nevius continued with his missionary work to country areas until 1887, travelling thousands of miles, often under arduous conditions of terrain, weather etc. In 1890, he travelled to Korea and, although he stayed for only 2 weeks, his "Nevius Plan" (see below) was subsequently adopted and led to rapid growth of the church there.[3] He died suddenly, at home, in October 1893, and was buried in the cemetery at Chefoo.[1]
Nevius was the author of several books covering the subjects of Chinese religions, spiritual practices and social and political life, spirit possession and missionary work; his wife also wrote an exhaustive biography (see bibliography).
After questioning the methods of western missionaries of his time, Nevius took up the Venn-Anderson principles of "self-propagation, self-government, and self-supporting" in a series of articles in the Chinese Recorder journal in 1885, which was later published as a book in 1886,The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches.[4] Nevius called for discarding old-style missions and the adoption of his new plan to foster an independent, self-supporting local church. He criticized the missionaries' practice of paying national workers out of mission funds, believing the healthy local church should be able to support its own local workers.[5]
The missionary principles formulated by Nevius later became known as the "Nevius Plan", and were a development of the existing ideas of Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson.[6] When AmericanPresbyterians began their work in Korea, the new missionaries invited Nevius to advise them. Embracing his method, the Korean mission enjoyed great success, although it did not gain similar popularity in China. The Nevius Plan outlined the following:[7]
Christians should continue to live in their neighborhoods and pursue their occupations, being self-supporting and witnessing to their co-workers and neighbors.
Missions should only develop programs and institutions that the national church desired and could support.
The national churches should call out and support their own pastors.
Churches should be built in the native style with money and materials given by the church members.
Intensive biblical and doctrinal instruction should be provided for church leaders every year.
^David L. Larsen. The Company of the Preachers (Kregel Publications, 1998) p. 523.
^Weber, Hans-Ruedi (2000), The Layman in Christian History: A Project of the Department on the Laity of the World Council of Churches, London: SCM Press, p. 350
^Broomhall, Alfred James (1982), Hudson Taylor & China’s Open Century Volume Three: If I Had a Thousand Lives, Littleton, CO: Overseas Missionary Fellowship
^Ung Kyu Pak. Millennialism in the Korean Protestant Church (Peter Lang, 2005) p. 96.
^Terry, John Mark (2000), "Indigenous Churches", in Moreau, A. Scott (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, pp. 483–485