Encountering China: The Evolution of Timothy Richard’s Missionary Thought (1870–1891)  (Pickwick Publications 2019)

by Andrew T. Kaiser

The great historian of Christian missions, Kenneth Scott Latourette, writes that Timothy Richard (1845-1919) was widely regarded as "one of the greatest missionaries whom any branch of the Church, whether Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Protestant, has sent to China." In this volume, Andrew Kaiser provides a welcome exploration of the life and ministry of this remarkable Welsh Baptist missionary to China

As the first critical examination of Richard's missionary identity, this groundbreaking historical study traces the narrative of Richard's early life in Wales and his formative first two decades of service in China. Richard's adaptations to the common evangelistic techniques of his day, his interest in learning from grassroots Chinese sectarian religions, his integration of evangelism and famine relief during the North China Famine (1876-79), his strategic decision to evangelize Chinese elites, and his complicated relationships with Hudson Taylor and other China missionaries are all explored through the writings and personal letters of Richard and his contemporaries. The resulting portrait represents a significant revision to existing interpretations of this influential China missionary, emphasizing his deep empathy for the people of China and his abiding evangelical identity. Readable and relevant, Encountering China provides a new generation with an introduction to this lost legend of China mission.

Timothy Richard’s Vision: Education and Reform in China, 1880–1910  (Pickwick Publications 2014)

by Eunice Johnson

Pioneer missionary Timothy Richard served forty-five years in China, where he became a household name among educated Chinese. In 1880, he first articulated a vision for the modern Chinese university as the basis for overall progress in China. By the mid-1890s, many Chinese scholars and officials began to embrace his expanding vision and approach to reform.

In the devastating aftermath of the 1900 Boxer Uprising, he worked with Protestant missionaries and Chinese authorities to have reparations dedicated to the founding of the Imperial University of Shansi (now Shanxi University). Overseen by Richard and the provincial governor as joint chancellors, it included both Chinese and Western Learning Departments.

Eunice Johnson’s touching account reveals the fervor of Richard’s dedication to China and the Gospel, and it helps lay bare the contribution he made to many aspects of China’s modernization.

The New Testament of Higher Buddhism 
(T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh 1910)

Timothy Richard was an ambassador between cultures. Not only did he bring his own Christian faith to China. He also helped make the links between Christian and Chinese wisdom available to people in the West. In this volume, Richard argues, in a sense, that the current encounter between Christianity and the East is not the first, but that in the century after Christ, the encounter between Christians and Buddhists had already taken place in Central Asia. The dialogue had begun long before Europeans showed up on the shores of China. 

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You can access this book of Richard’s reflections in PDF form here:
https://archive.org/details/newtestamenthigh00richuoft/page/n6/mode/2up