Dyron Daughrity, PhD candidate, University of Calgary, Canada.
E-mail: daughrity@shaw.ca
Abstract
A Genuinely Human Existence: Stephen Neill, A Bishop in
Conflict
Bishop Stephen Neill is one of the doyens of missions studies.
His voluminous writings have contributed greatly to the scholarly study of
religion. His writings on Christianity in India, the Ecumenical Movement,
Interreligious Dialogue, and the History of Missions are still regularly
consulted by scholars.
Neill's writings are well known and his work during the last half of his life
has been discussed often by scholars since his death. However, Neill's childhood,
education, and 20 years as a missionary-bishop in South India are virtually
unknown. Those years are crucial to understanding the later development in this
missions statesman.
Neill's childhood was one riddled with conflict. While his career at Cambridge
was shining, his inner turmoil continued. Neill would take these internal
conflicts into an already-conflicted context in South India when he went in 1924
to become a missionary. Neill became bishop in 1939 and achieved remarkable
things. Howeve, the conflicts persisted, both within and without. Ultimately,
Tinnevelly's best-known bishop would be sacked in a tumultous sequence of events
that have eluded scholars until now. This presentation is intended to recount
what happened in that conflicted situation, why it happened, and how it affected
Neill's future, and eminent, career.