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Joseph Booth (born 1851, Derby, England, to 1932) was an English Baptist missionary in British Central Africa (present-day Malawi). ==Early career== Little is known of Booth's childhood, but his mother died when he was twelve and his three elder sisters brought him up. His father was a Unitarian, but by the age of fourteen Booth questioned his father's religious beliefs and, as he could not live with those beliefs, he left home. Over the next few years, Booth educated himself through extensive reading and, before he was twenty, he turned to the Baptist Church. He married his first wife, Mary Jane née Sharpe, (who he first met on 1868) in 1872. He also adopted radical ideas about politics, economics and society. In 1880, Booth emigrated first to Auckland, New Zealand, and then to Melbourne, Australia, where he became a successful businessman. His business success helped to develop his later views on self-reliance and the economic bases of missionary work. From 1886, Booth became more active in his local Baptist Church and more fundamental in his beliefs. In 1891 he was challenged by an atheist to practice what he preached, sell all his goods and go to preach the word. He sold his business and, in July 1891, he agreed to become a missionary in East Africa. Despite the death of his first wife, Mary Jane, in Melbourne in October 1891, he left Australia with his two young children and started his missionary career, choosing to work in Africa.〔Harry Langworthy ,(1996), "Africa for the African". The Life of Joseph Booth, pp. 20, 25.〕〔H W Langworthy III, (1986). Joseph Booth, Prophet of Radical Change in Central and South Africa, 1891-1915, pp. 24-5.〕 He aimed to set up the type of self-supporting Baptist mission that William Carey had pioneered in India, combining teaching and commercial activities.〔R I Rotberg, (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964, p. 61.〕 Booth first came to Africa in 1892 with his daughter Emily, and worked to establish the Zambezi Industrial Mission at Mitsidi, close to Blantyre. As the mission needed to become self-supporting, Booth decided to locate it close to the existing commercial centre and market of Blantyre. Although the foundation of the Zambezi Industrial Mission is often dated from 1892, the land for the mission was purchased in 1893 and its main buildings came into use in 1894.〔K Fiedler, (1994). The Story of Faith Missions, p. 53.〕 Booth also founded the Nyasa Industrial Mission in 1893, the Baptist Industrial Mission in 1895 and several others in later years. He organised or supported several other schemes with similar aims including the African Christian Union, the British Christian Union, and the British African Congress. At the Zambezi Industrial Mission, he recruited local farmers to plant coffee, and within a year a significant acreage was being grown. Before 1896, Booth made no dramatic calls for political or social change: he was more concerned with establishing and running the missions and raising financial support in Britain. However, his experiences during this period increased his awareness of colonial issues. This was to influence his later advocacy of Africa for the native Africans instead of for Europeans, a view unpopular with colonial authorities and most European missionaries of the time.〔H W Langworthy III, (1986). Joseph Booth, Prophet of Radical Change in Central and South Africa, 1891-1915, p. 26.〕 Although he began a number of institutions some of which, including the Zambezi Industrial Mission, survive today as the missions or local churches in Malawi, other institutions he founded failed. After setting these institutions up, Booth usually did not remain with them for long, and their survival was due to their own efforts. The failure of the others was often caused by lack of finance, natural disasters or deficient personnel; factors Booth could not control. However, some institutional failures arose from Booth's weaknesses including his restlessness and his inability to compromise with any lack of commitment by his colleagues or the failures of society. By 1896 Booth's disagreements with his colleagues over finance, doctrine and especially African independence led to him ending of his associations with the Zambezi Industrial Mission and the Nyasa Industrial Mission.〔H W Langworthy III, (1986). Joseph Booth, Prophet of Radical Change in Central and South Africa, 1891-1915, p. 24.〕 In March 1896, Booth married his second wife, Annie née Watkins, during a short visit to Britain.〔Harry Langworthy ,(1996), "Africa for the African". The Life of Joseph Booth, p. 73.〕 He made a trip to Britain and the United States in 1897, taking along his former household servant, John Chilembwe. Chilembwe stayed in Virginia to study as a baptist pastor and later returned to Nyasaland where he led the Chilembwe uprising in 1915. By 1898, Booth had become a convinced sabbatarian, which became one of the guiding principles for the rest of his life, and he turned to the Seventh Day Baptists to support his missionary activities.〔Harry Langworthy ,(1996), "Africa for the African". The Life of Joseph Booth, p. 73.〕 Booth returned to Central Africa in 1899 and established a new mission for the Seventh Day Baptist church in Thyolo District. In 1900 Booth succeeded in establishing a short-lived institute to produce African leaders for the Seventh Day Baptist Church. Two years later, the institute was discontinued, although Booth pointed out that the existing elementary schools could not produce African pastors, and the production of African church leaders was essential to promoting African developnent.〔H W Langworthy III, (1986). Joseph Booth, Prophet of Radical Change in Central and South Africa, 1891-1915, p. 27.〕 This set-back prompted Booth to leave Nyasaland for South Africa in 1901. After becoming a Seventh-day Adventist in Cape Town in 1902, Booth went to the United States and convinced the Seventh-day Adventist church of Plainfield, New Jersey to fund the establishment of a mission near Blantyre, originally called Plainfield mission and later renamed Malamulo.〔R I Rotberg, (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964, p. 64.〕 Booth's stay with the Seventh-day Adventist mission at Malamulo ended after six months. His colleagues did not accept his radical views, and criticised him for their political implications. Booth continued his pro-African efforts, producing a petition in 1899 to the commissioner Alfred Sharpe, which demanded that the whole protectorate should revert to African control in 21 years and that all of the Hut tax revenue should be spent on African education, including higher education for at least five percent of Africans. These views did not go over well with the colonial administration, and Sharpe tried to arrest and deport Booth for his "seditious remarks". Before this could happen, Booth escaped to Mozambique, remaining there until in 1900 Sharpe allowed Booth to return subject to a promise not to take part in political activities. Booth left Nyasaland for the last time in 1902, travelling first to Durban, which he left in February 1903, to travel to Britain. Booth was officially barred from returning to the Nyasaland in 1907.〔H W Langworthy III, (1986). Joseph Booth, Prophet of Radical Change in Central and South Africa, 1891-1915, pp. 33-4. During his time in Durban, he let Elliott Kenan Kamwana, a Tonga who had attended a mission school at Bandawe between 1898 and 1901 until he left, frustrated in his repeated failed attempts to attain ordination.〕〔R I Rotberg, (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964, pp. 65-6.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joseph Booth (missionary)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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