Candle in the Dark : the story of William Carey
dvd, Christian History Institute, 1998 $11.99 97 minutes plus 2 hours of additional material ISBN 1 563 647 826
William Carey (1761-1834) is regarded as the father of modern missions just as Isaac Watts is seen as the father of modern English hymn writing.
This 97 minute film, well produced and beautifully filmed, is a fine piece of story telling.
The Northamptonshire cobbler and pastor of a small congregation felt the call to take the message of the Good News of the Gospel to people overseas.
Against much resistance, even from his fellow churchmen, he eventually took his wife and children to India.
Troubles continued apace.
The British East India Company actively banned missionary work because they firmly believed that such work interfered with their trade and upset local religious and cultural customs..
He witnessed sati – the burning alive of a widow with her dead husband – and was appalled.
It wasn’t even sanctioned in the Hindu scriptures.
He lost his 5 year old son, Peter, to dysentery, causing much distress to the mental stability of his wife, Dolly.
After 6 years of toil, he saw his first Indian convert baptised.
Carey was not just a missionary, he was interested in botany, education and culture in addition to his commitment to theology and evangelism but came to see that his real God-given gift was the study of languages.
He had taught himself Latin while still a young boy and studied Greek as a teenager. Later, he acquired Hebrew, Italian, Dutch and French.
While in India he immersed himself in Indian languages – Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi and many others.
At the end of his long life he had not only translated the Bible into 6 Indian languages but also parts of the Bible into 29 more Indian languages.
On top of all this he was committed to education, especially the education of women and girls.
He was effective in bringing the practice of sati to an end.
All in all, a very productive life admirably told in this captivating production.
A superbly produced film, well worth watching.