Benge, Janet and Geoff Benge. Christian Heroes: Then & Now;
William Carey: Obliged to Go. Seattle, WA: YWAM, 1998.

Janet and Geoff Benge, the authors of William Carey: Obliged to Go, are a husband and wife writing team based in Florida. Unable to find any information on these authors other than that provided in the book, I contacted Geoff Benge[1] at his home on September 27. During my discussion with Mr. Benge, we discussed this and other books[2] in the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series. Their writings are not limited to biographies of “Christian Heroes” such as William Carey. They also include biographies of figures well known in American History. Mr. Benge stated that they just finished a biography on Thomas Edison and are beginning one on astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. 

Janet Benge’s background in Elementary education gives her insight into the learning abilities of children and the reading levels required for teenagers to enjoy and understand biographies. Geoff Benge’s educational background includes an Educational degree in History and Philosophy.[3] This combination aptly suits them for the writing of biographies aimed at an audience in the age range of twelve to eighteen.[4] As Christians who have served with Youth With A Mission,[5] Janet and Geoff Benge are well suited to write a biography on a man considered to be the father of modern missions.

SUMMARY

William Carey, Obliged to Go, is an engrossing story of the life of a man from humble beginnings who poured his life into missionary service for God living out a phrase he gave at a Baptist minister’s meeting; he concluded that speech, and years later his life, with, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”[6]   Carey did both.

            The book begins with a brief introduction of a setback in Carey’s missionary plans for India. The authors then take you back to Carey’s early childhood showing his humble beginnings. Being born into a family of weavers in Great Britain in the Eighteenth Century gave one little opportunity of advancing any further than his parents, this included school. A series of providential events allowed Carey’s father to be a clerk in the Church of England which afforded William Carey the opportunity to learn to read and write. He did learn to read and write, including Latin which he taught to himself and later Greek.

            Lest anyone think Carey lived a life free from sin and hardship, this book adequately demonstrates that even the best of God’s servants go through the same struggles in life common to man, some of which were in his family. Carey demonstrates that the Christian can continue on in spite of trouble. During this time he produced his famous, Enquiry, which eventually led to the formation of the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel.  It was through this Society that Carey ended up volunteering himself for missions to India.

            Authors Janet and Geoff Benge point out time and again two main difficulties Carey struggled with for many years; that of finances and lack of support from his wife. The Society pledged the money to send Carey and others to India, but financial mismanagement on the part of Dr. John Thomas caused extreme hardships on the Careys. Carey’s wife initially refused to go but, again, God’s providence provided the way and Carey arrived in India with his entire family unaware at the financial difficulties that lay just around the corner.

            Of note is that although Dr. Thomas caused great hardship for the Carey’s with his financial dealings, Carey is presented as being very gracious regarding Dr. Thomas, even when others were not. A very good job is done in this book showing what John Newton is recorded as telling Carey regarding his efforts to get to India; if God had something there for Carey “to accomplish, no power on earth could hinder him.”[7]  

            Carey prevailed, every time making just the right move at just the right time. One of the significant points the Benges bring out is that of Carey sticking by his own missionary principles; that of getting into the field, learning the culture and language, and finding a way of self-support so that the Societies could fund other missionaries. Carey not only learned the language and customs of India, much to his dismay and horror with some, he also discovered a way to support his family and other missionaries through running dye factories and the importance of getting to the mission field in the right way.

            A problem that all new missionaries and those not associated with the actual field work must be aware of is presented, the ivory tower mentality. This book points out that those of us at home must listen to the wisdom of field missionaries; they, as Carey did, know the lay of the land the best and when they offer warnings and suggestion we would do well to listen to them. It is clear from reading this book that the new comers to the field, and back home, thought they knew better, challenging Carey regarding how to run the mission and even how the Society’s money was spent, even though he spent nearly eighty times out of his own pocket than what the mission society spent. It is clearly pointed out that Carey did an excellent job of sticking by his own developed missionary principles, principles which are still effective today.

            It is my opinion that this book does an excellent job in showing how William Carey expected great things from God, attempted great things for God, and accomplished great things for God.

EVALUATION

Rather than a very technical biography with mind boggling details, authors Janet and Geoff Benge use a story format to show the father of modern missions the way he truly was; a normal person with dreams and aspirations who started out small and served God greatly. As with all of God’s servants, William Carey is shown with feet of clay that had to be dealt with.[8]  The audience is geared toward teenagers, which is evidenced by the publishers, “Youth With A Mission.” The only drawback to this story-format biography is that theological issues are not dealt with in-depth. In this book, there is one issue that would have been instructional for the reader had the authors dealt with it. This will be covered at the end of this review. As a note, there are two authors to this book. For the remainder of this section, they will be referred to in the singular, or Benge, or as authors.

            Was Carey a normal person with feet of clay who started out small? As he grew, did he have dreams and did he serve God greatly? William Carey is shown as a normal person born of weavers. In Eighteenth Century Great Britain, a child born into a family of weavers would not have the ability to attend school and learn to read. However, we see God’s Providence at work in providing William’s father a new job as a clerk in the Church of England. This was a respected job with a benefit; it allowed William to attend school where he learned to read. How would this benefit Carey? Learning to read opened up the world to him through reading about other countries. In 1771, he encountered a book in Latin and within several months he memorized the book.[9] The book shows that not only did Carey take advantage of what was offered to him, but that he had a gift for languages which would, not-so-coincidently I believe, serve him well as an adult missionary.

            We also see Carey as a person with feet of clay throughout the book. What is meant by feet of clay is that Carey’s wife, Dolly, was not as committed to missions as he was and was seemingly unable to overcome trouble and tragedy.  This happened repeatedly. The book shows us that it began when his daughter Ann became ill[10] and died and he became ill as well. His wife never got over the loss of her daughter.[11]  This continued so that even before he entered missions, his wife was unable to care for their children on some occasions.[12] Benge does a good job at not condemning Dolly for her difficulty in dealing with these issues. He reports them throughout the book in a factual manner, focusing on both Carey’s love and concern for his wife and on Dolly’s sister Kitty stepping in to care for the children. I suppose some biographers could spend much time in criticizing and focusing on the great burden Dolly put on Carey. That Carey was burdened by his wife’s troubles is evident in the reading, but Benge does not focus on it. The proof of this for me is that I did not come away from this book with a negative feeling for Dolly Carey, but one of pity for her suffering.

            Perhaps the book shows that Carey’s feet of clay became feet of ceramic after going through the fires of trial in his years in India. After his wife Dolly died, rather than being relieved as some supposed he would, he grieved for some time. Carey’s love for his wife was most evident in his refusal to institutionalize her before her death.[13]  Why do I say his feet became ceramic? After his wife, Dolly’s, death, Carey did marry again. This time he married a woman who was as mission-minded as was her new husband and “spoke seven languages herself.” However, the health difficulties he had with his first wife did not stop him from marrying his second wife who was partly crippled from a fire as a teenager. [14] Carey looked beyond the surface of his new wife. I believe this is an important aspect to include in a book geared toward teenagers.

            As I stated in the second paragraph of this section, Carey taught himself Latin at an early age, even memorizing the textbook.[15] While apprenticed to a cordwainer, Carey began learning Greek and by the age of sixteen, he was one of the more educated men in the district.[16] His interest of affinities for language allowed him to learn the Bengali language which was the primary language spoken in the area to which he would go.[17] How did this help him later on?  There came a time when the Governor-General of India became concerned about the laziness of the young English men who came to India as clerks.[18] He decided that they needed to learn the language and customs of the locals. A college was established to train these young men but there was no one to teach them. Once again, God’s Providence is made evident through a New Testament Bible printed in Bengali through the efforts of William Carey.[19] Carey was appointed tutor to the college,[20] eventually being appointed Professor.[21]

            Carey’s service to God was great because it was selfless. When new missionaries came to India, they were not happy with the way Carey operated, even questioning the money the Society sent him. Apparently, they never examined the books very carefully. William Carey only received six hundred pounds, total, from the Society. Contrast that to the forty thousand pounds of his own money[22] that he gave to the mission over his life and you can see that William Carey’s concern was to the lost souls in India, and not his own wealth.

            There is one question that I wish Benge had dealt with, but in a book of this sort, I suppose that it may have detracted from author’s purpose. After his ordination, a friend invited Carey to bring up a topic at a Minister’s meeting. Carey wanted to discuss the idea that missions did not die with the disciples who were alive at the time Jesus gave the Great Commission. The Reverend Ryland Sr. rebuked Carey for even suggesting such a thing, saying that God didn’t need a man to help him “convert the heathen” and that Carey was a “miserable enthusiast for suggesting otherwise.”[23]  As the book points out, Carey studied this carefully finally completing his work entitled, Enquiry. A summary of the Enquiry is given with chapter one dealing with whether Christians in England have the “obligation and responsibility to tell people in other lands about the gospel.”[24]  The targeted readers of this book may not ever have access to Carey’s, Enquiry, and I believe it might have been helpful to have a brief summary of his arguments about such obligation and responsibility.

CONCLUSION

I find the book to be well written, interesting, and accurate based upon other sketches and biographies I have read about William Carey. It gives the reader a good idea about his background, the societal difficulties he faced being born into a lower class, the personal difficulties with his wife, and the financial difficulties imposed upon him by a co-laborer. Through all this, we see William Carey as a normal man who did indeed serve God greatly. The authors show how Carey took advantage of his natural, perhaps God-given abilities, and his inclination and willingness to change plans as God directed events.

Who should read this book?  I would recommend that every person who claims to be an evangelical Christian, especially those who call themselves Southern Baptist, read this book. Southern Baptists claim to be missionary-minded and Great Commission-oriented. Although we do missions somewhat different today, the principle groundwork on how to do missions was formulated, laid, and put into practice by William Carey. That effort and the giving of his life to missions on the continent of India have well earned him his title as, “The Father of Modern Missions.”