Nathan Brown (missionary)
Rev. Nathan Brown | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | January 1, 1886 Yokohama, Japan | (aged 78)
Alma mater | Williams College |
Occupation(s) | American Baptist missionary to India and Japan |
Known for | Contribution to Assamese language and literature |
Nathan Brown (
. He is noted for his works on Assamese language, grammar and script.In around 1843, based in
Early life and missions to Burma and Assam
Born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, he attended Williams College, where he graduated first in his class.[3] He taught for two years in Vermont[4] before he and his wife Eliza, whom he married in 1830, went on to serve as missionaries in Burma. In 1835, David Scott, the Agent to the Governor General in the North-East Frontier invited American Baptist Missionaries working in Burma (now Myanmar) to come to Assam to spread Christianity and education;[5] Brown and Oliver Cutter were the first to arrive in 1837.
Brown's original intention had been to translate the Bible into
In 1848, Brown published an Assamese grammar, followed by an Assamese translation of the
Abolitionism
Following his return from Assam to New England in 1848, Nathan Brown joined the abolitionist movement,[7] delivering anti-slavery sermons in Boston. This struggle eventually resulted in the American Civil War. Many proponents of the anti-slavery movement had to deal with the bloody results of their efforts in a personal struggle of conscience. Rev. Brown dealt with the question of violent means in Magnus Maharba.
Brown joined the American Baptist Free Mission Society and met with president Abraham Lincoln to discuss emancipation.[4] The "haystack missionaries", including Nathan Brown, associated the account of the introduction of the Greek alphabet with the New Testament creation, and the idea of creating local alphabets for every language was an important first step towards the goal of a Bible translation for every language. The printing presses and schools of these missions also became a vehicle for empowerment of local language and culture.
In 1850 Brown returned to America to join his brother William in the growing abolitionist movement. In his satirical work Magnus Maharba and the Dragon, an account of the battle against slavery, Rev. Brown used the pen name Kristofer Kadmus. His decision to use this name illustrates his identification with the Greek mythological character.
that prevented mortals from reaching a sacred spring. He planted the dragon's teeth on the spot; they sprouted into armies that fought nearly to death, with the survivors building the city of learning.Missionary to the Japanese
After the war, in 1868, Brown turned his attention to the
Eliza Whitney Brown died in 1871,[8] and in 1872, Nathan married Charlotte Marlit.[4] The same year, he returned to overseas missionary work, this time traveling to Japan to join Jonathan Goble, the first Baptist missionary to that country.
Brown and Goble collaborated to construct the first Japanese Baptist church (First Baptist Church of Yokohama) in 1873. Brown also worked with Japanese scholar T. Kawakatsu to produce a Japanese-language Bible[9] based on what were then the oldest known Greek manuscripts; he would go on to print thousands of Hiragana copies for distribution print versions (with the goal of access to the Bible by less educated persons who might not understand Kanji). Brown died in Yokohama in 1886.
Family
Brown had five children, of which two (Eliza and Nathan Worth) survived into adulthood.[10]
His widow Charlotte went on to marry another missionary, William Ashmore, and they served with the
Publications
Brown published a number of books including;[12]
- The missionary's call. ([publisher not identified], 1820)[13] (page images at HathiTrust)
- Grammatical notices of the Asamese language (Printed at the American Baptist Mission Press, 1848) (page images at HathiTrust)
- The New Testament of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ: translated into the Asamese [sic] language (American Baptist Mission Press, 1849) (page images at HathiTrust)
- Magnus Maha'rba. (Printed for the Filolojikal gemána, 1866) (page images at HathiTrust)
- The New Testament in vernacular Japanese: from the oldest existing Greek manuscripts, with interlinear notices of various readings ([American Baptist Missionary Union], 1879), also by T. Kawakatsu and American Baptist Missionary Union (page images at HathiTrust)
- The histori ov Magnus Maha'rba and the Blak Dragun (Printed for the Filolojikal gemána, 1908) (page images at HathiTrust)
See also
References
- ^ a b Assam Tribune website, Orunodoi Founder Dr Nathan Brown Remembered, article dated September 2010
- ^ "Nathan Brown - His contribution to Assam, Eliza Brown, Pioneer of Modern Assamese Language". Onlinesivasagar.com. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
- ^ a b c India Wijzer website, Facets of the North-east: Contributions of Nathan Brown to Assam, document by Aziz-ul Haque
- ^ a b c Boston University website, Brown, Nathan (1807-1886)
- ^ JStor website, Miles Bronson: His Mission of Civilisation in the Naga Hills, article by S. K. Barpujair, published in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 33 (1971), page 522
- ^ a b c JStor website, Conversions, Education and Linguistic Identity in Assam: The American Baptists Missionaries, 1830s-1890, by Anupama Ghosh, published in the Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 72, PART-I (2011), page 865
- ^ Assams Information Portal, Nathan Brown
- ^ Indigo website, Songs in the Night: A Sermon, Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Eliza Whitney Brown, Wife of Rev. Nathan Brown, (late Missionary to Assam) in Charlemont, Mass., May 17, 1871, by E. H. Gray dated July 18, 2023
- ^ University of Chicago website, The Bible in Japan, by Rev C. K. Harrington, page 70
- ^ Forgotten Books website, The Whole World Kin, page 211
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, William Ashmore
- ^ University of Pennsylvania website, Online Books by Nathan Brown (Brown, Nathan, 1807-1886)
- ^ World Cat website, The Missionary’s Call
External links
- The Life of Nathan Brown, Early American Missionary at the Wayback Machine (archived August 22, 2007)
- Brown, Nathan. Grammatical Notices of the Asamese Language. (Sibsagor: American Baptist Mission Press, 1848).
- Brown, Nathan. The Histori Ov Magnus Maha'rba and the Blak Dragun. (New York, 1866).
- Brown, Nathan. Utato Fuçi: Hymns and Tunes in Japanese. (Yokohama: F.R. Wetmore & Co., 1876).
- Brown, Elizabeth W. The Whole World Kin: A Pioneer Experience Among Remote Tribes, and Other Labors of Nathan Brown. (Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers, 1890).
- "Nathan & Eliza Brown - Their contributions to Assamese Language"