By Myint Zan
13 July 2026 was the 213th anniversary of the arrival of American Baptist Missionary Dr (Doctor of Divinity) Adoniram Judson (9 August 1788-12 April 1850) and his then wife (who turned out to be his first of three wives), Ann Heseltine Judson (22 December 1789-5 October 1826), in Rangoon, Kingdom of Burma, on 13 July 1813.
Adoniram
Judson lived about 36 years in Burma, making one visit to the United States and
died at sea in April 1850 on the way for his second visit.
The
Wikipedia website on Adoniram Judson states:
When
Judson began his mission in Burma, he set a goal of translating the Bible and
founding a church of 100 members before his death. When he died, he left the
Bible, 100 churches, and over 8,000 believers. In large part due to his
influence, Myanmar has the third largest number of Baptists worldwide, behind
the United States and India. The majority of adherents are Karen and Kachin.
I
want to be clear that I am mentioning Judson’s arrival two hundred and thirteen
years ago in Burma is not to positively commemorate or alternatively bemoan it.
Judson,
who already knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, immediately began studying the
Burmese grammar but took over three years learning to speak it. This was due,
in part, to the radical difference in structure between Burmese and Western
languages. He found up to three different tutors and spent twelve hours per day
studying the language. He and his wife firmly dedicated themselves to
understanding it.
Just
over 20 years after his arrival 1835, Judson had translated and published the
entire Bible into Burmese.
I
have read parts of the Burmese translation, which was written in classical and
excellent Burmese. The translation is not from the English but either the Greek
or the Hebrew versions, with perhaps consulting the English translation as
well.
JUDSON’s
EXCELLENT TRANSLATIONS OF TWO BIBLICAL PHRASES
I
want to comment (and praise) on his translation skills by giving two examples
of Biblical phrases which he had translated.
(Again, I want to make myself
clear that I do praise his superb translation and his dedication, skills and
determination in learning and mastering the Burmese language and NOT on his
theology, metaphysics or religion).
“Give
us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ was
translated by Judson thus: ‘Give us food (or victuals) (just) to make a living
this day’. Not a literal translation of bread since bread is not the staple
food of the Burmese. Also, Judson, in his translation, did not use the staple
food of the Burmese, which is rice. He did not translate (retranslating from
the Burmese) ‘Give us this day our rice and curry’; Judson did state ‘to make
us a living’, which was not in the English translation, but the addition of
that phrase is appropriate, right on the mark and compelling.
Second,
the phrase in Ecclesiastes ‘Vanities of
Vanities, all is Vanity’ (Eccles. 12:8) is translated as All in this world is
ANATTA (non-self) ANATTA and ANATTA.
ANATTA
is a Pali term which is proximately translated as “non-self”. I have read a
succinct elaboration in English which reads (with emphasis) ‘There IS no self’
(the emphasis is on the IS)
It
is one of the three signata of Buddhism: ANICCA (non-permanence), DUKKHA
(suffering or the state of being awry) and ANATTA (non-self). It is significant
that Dr Judson appropriated the Pali Buddhist term ANATTA and deployed it to
proximately translate ‘Vanities of Vanities, all is Vanity’; by using the Pali
word ANATTA. I mentioned this translation to my high school teacher, the late M
A Williams, who taught us English at Saint Peter’s High School in Mandalay
several decades ago. Saya (teacher) M A was a Catholic. Saya M A said in
response that Judson translation was Ma Hsoe Boo (not bad), which I think was
an understatement.
‘BURMA
THROUGH ALIEN EYES’
It
was in the University of Michigan Library in 1982 that I found the book Burma
Through Alien Eyes by Helen Trager. Ms Trager reported and critiqued the very
uncomplimentary remarks about Buddhism, if not by Judson himself but then by
one of his wives. They wrote: ‘how lucky
American children were when they have Christ as their Saviour and worship the
only true god and Burmese children bow down to idols’. In the year 2001, in a
sermon in a Methodist Church in Fiji, I also heard similar denigrating comments
about ‘heathen idols’.
In
relation to the relative ease with which Dr Judson converted the non-Burman
ethnic groups to become Buddhists, he had some explanations. It is with some,
if not considerable, difficulty that he was able to convert relatively few
Burmans in contrast to the ethnic groups and hill tribes. The Burman Buddhists
had a well-established religion of Buddhism for about eight centuries before
the Judsons arrived in Burma. Judson or one of his wives wrote that the hill
tribes and ethnic groups did not have an organized religion, only animistic
belief. It is considerably easier to pour down, so to speak, the truth of
Christianity into the jar or the minds of the hill tribes, wrote the
Judsons. For the Burman (Bamars)
Buddhists, they already have dark and smelly petroleum or kerosene in the form
of Buddhism. Petroleum in Burmese is written (the water that smells). So, it
takes time and effort to clean the ‘smelly water’ before Christianity can be
poured down into the cup (minds) of the targeted populace of Burmans compared
to the hill tribes, Judson stated.
Wikipedia
and other sources state that it took Judson six years to convert the first
Burmese. In 1819, he baptized Maung Naw, a 35-year-old timber worker from the
hill tribes. There still stands a Church by the name of U (‘Mr’) Naw Memorial
Church in Yangon.
Wikipedia
also states that when Judson met the Buddhist Burmese King Bagyidaw, also known
as Sagaing Min (23 July 1784-15 October 1846) and presented to him a Burmese
translation of one of the tracts of The Bible, the King threw them away to the
ground after reading a few lines.
COMPARATIVE
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO PROSLETIZE IN TWO SOUTH EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES 200 YEARS
APART
Still,
it is significant that two centuries ago, at least at times in Burma, the
Judsons and other missionaries had the partial freedom to preach, and as early
as 1835 and even now the Burmese translation of The Bible is available to be
purchased or read in Churches.
I
have a two-volume copy of the Burmese translation of the Quran too, and as far
as I know, though it may be hard to obtain, the Quran in Burma is not formally
banned.
Fast
forward two centuries later to Malaysia in the year 2013 – the 200th
anniversary of Judsons’ arrival in Burma. In the year 2013, a Malay translation
of The Bible, even if not formally banned in Malaysia, is scarcely available. I
understand that only a somewhat different translated version in the Indonesian
language (Bahasa Indonesia) is available. The Malay language (Bahasa Melayu)
and Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia) are to a maximum of 90% similar, but
they are not identical.
I
also dare to wonder whether, hypothetically, if Adoniram Judson were to come to
Malaysia in July 2013 instead of to Burma in July 1813, would he be able to
proselytize as he did in Burma two centuries earlier? It is true that Judson
had been prosecuted and jailed in Burma for about 17 months. But would he have
similar freedom to convert Malays and Muslims in Malaysia like Judson did in
Burma in the year 2013 in Malaysia or not? To extend this counter-factual,
could Judson have built a rest house (Zayat), say in any Malay-dominated area
in Malaysia in the year 2013 to preach Christianity to Malays and other
Muslims? And instead of inviting Buddhist Burmans to ‘hear the good news’ (to
preach Christian tenets) in the early 19th century, could he have invited
Malays or other Muslims to propagate the gospel in the early 21st century?
I
do not think so. In every state of
Malaysia there are laws which prohibit proselytizing to Muslims and
distributing religious pamphlets to them. All pamphlets from ‘other religions’
(more on this below), whether Christian, Buddhist or Hindu, carry the
disclaimer of ‘For non-Muslims only’.
I
have been inside the Judson Memorial Church, which is in the compound of the
University of Rangoon/Yangon, built around July 1931. I went there when there
was no sermon, but I have listened to a Methodist sermon where the speaker
spoke in English in Suva, Fiji. I have
also listened to a Catholic sermon in French at the Notre Dame in Paris,
France, but not in the Judson chapel in Burmese!
JUDSON’s
PREDICTION IN BURMESE SCRIPT ABOUT THE FUTURE OF BAPTIST CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER
RELIGIONS
It
was stated above that one online source states that Judson learned to speak
Burmese within three years after he arrived in Burma. But another source states
that Judson first learned to read and write before he was able to speak and
later preach about Christianity in Burmese. It states that in July 1816, a mere
three years after his arrival, Judson published (did he have access to a
printing press or did he hand copy it?) in Burmese titled (in translation) A
View of the Christian Religion. In it the following bold or, in the context of
the third decade of the 21st century and in retrospect, nonsensical prediction
appeared:
A
hundred or two hundred years from now (‘the other’) religions Buddhism, of
Brahma (Hinduism), of Muhammad (Islam) and the religion of Rome Roman Catholicism)
will disappear and the true faith of the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., Baptism) will
pervade the whole world.
Two
hundred and ten years to the month (in July 2026) after Dr Judson wrote that
bold prediction, the rosy, over-optimistic scenario stated in Dr Judson’s tract
has not materialized. Obviously, NONE of the ‘Other’ religions Judson predicted
or ‘prophesized’ (more below) has disappeared. Significantly, Judson did
include the Roman religion (Roman Catholicism) as the ‘Other’ religion, albeit
it was the earlier version of the religion of Christianity.
About
114 years after Judson’s prediction, philosopher Bertrand Russell 18 May 1872-
2 February 1970), in one of his essays first published in 1930, wrote:
..
Protestantism split into innumerable sects, which weakened each other, and
there is reason to suppose that a hundred years hence Catholicism will be the
only effective representative of the Christian faith. (Emphasis added).
‘Has
Religion made useful contributions to civilization’ in Why I am not a Christian
(Routledge Classics, 2004, pp. 37-38.)
In
July 2026, Russell’s prognosis or projection in 1930 that in 100 years only
effective representative of the Christian faith would be Catholicism has not
materialized. Still, according to Vatican sources there are currently about
1,420 million Catholics in the world and online sources indicate that the
population of all sects of Protestants (including Baptists) is between 690
million to 1,000 million. Russell is right in that, as in 1930, there are
currently many (‘innumerable’) sects among Protestants. Russell was not quite
right when he stated that the Catholic Church will be the only effective
representative of the Christian faith. Russell, unlike Judson, did not state
that Protestants will ‘disappear’ as Judson did as to ‘religion of Rome’ and
‘Other’ religions.
‘ALL
OTHER RELIGIONS WILL DISAPPEAR’ JUXTAPOSED WITH ‘WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE
AND LAW’
Sixty-two
years after Judson’s bold prediction of the disappearance of other religions
except that of his own, Frederick Engels (29 November 1820-5 August 1896), with
approval of the contents by Karl Marx (5 May 1818-14 March 1883), published
Anti-Duhring. In the book, he claimed that under communism the State and Law
will wither away. Engels did not say they will be abolished or ‘will
disappear’, unlike Judson. And unlike Judson in 1816, Engels did not provide a
timeline as to when the State and Law will begin to wither away.
‘WHERE
THERE ARE PROPHESIES…’
‘But
where there are prophecies, they will cease’. 1 Corinthians 13:8
One
supposes that Dr Adoniram Judson was not a Prophet in the full Christian
theological sense of the word. But in pre-Christian Greek mythology, Cassandra
had a gift of prophecy, albeit her prophecies were not believed. Dr Adoniram
Judson was not (strictly) theologically a prophet. Neither was he the
mythological Cassandra. But it is not politically or religiously incorrect to
state that Judson’s prediction of 1816 has as the per the Corinthians, ‘ceased’
to be valid and ceased to be of any relevance.
#TheGlobalNewLightOfMyanmar
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