Introduction

1. Biography of William Carey

2. His Contribution

2.1 Greatest contribution as a Baptist

Conclusion

Bibliography

Webliography
Introduction

In this paper presentation, the researcher would be bringing about the biography of
William Carey of how he started his journey to become a missionary and how he ended up in
India and his contribution in his mission to India and also his greatest contribution as a Baptist.

1. Biography of William Carey

William Carey was born on August 17, 1761 in the tiny village of Paulerspury in England. He
died, at the age of 72, on June 9, 1834 in Serampore, India just over 170 years ago. He was born
into a humble and poor family. His father was a school teacher, though he himself would receive
only the equivalent of an elementary school education. He was, by turns, a cobbler, a
schoolteacher, and a Baptist pastor. As a schoolteacher he wore an ill-fitting wig that would be
thrown overboard in his passage to India. He was also like other missionaries who carried their
culture on their backs, wore wool suits even in steamy India. Carey’s story exhibits radical self-
transformation.

In early mid-career he could barely get a hearing as a preacher in the English midlands. His
ordination was delayed because he could not satisfy the congregants or ministerial colleagues of
his worthiness. Though theologically orthodox concerning the doctrine of the Trinity and on
Protestant understandings of salvation by faith, Carey was surrounded by radical influences.1

Though he was poor, he was an Orientalist before he realized the means to achieve it. He sought
to control his status-poor world through classification of plants and insects. Three events saved
Carey from becoming an unsung cobbler with scientific hobbies. First, he passed off a brass
shilling on his employer. The resultant guilt, compounded by continued poverty, was too much
for him. On February 10, 1779, he decided that he had tired of the “cold” services of the
established Church of England and resolved to seek union with dissenting nonconformists,
Baptists who rejected infant baptism and viewed churches as voluntary communities of faith. His
family never accepted this decision, which squandered even the small status into which Carey
had been born. Second, on May 30, 1792, Carey preached his “deathless” sermon to the
Northampton Baptist Association. Third, Carey wrote a missionary manifesto, his Enquiry
published in 1792. It was an audacious combination of attenuated Calvinism, religious
1
J.B. Myers, William Carey (Chicago: Fleming D. Rebell company, 1887). 9-10.
demography, geography, anthropology and social statistics. Like the missionary gazetteers for
which it formed a tentative model, it was designed for use rather than ostentation. 2

In 1793 Carey journeyed to India with support of thirteen people who had initially contributed
sixteen pounds to establish the Baptist Missionary Society. Carey entered India with bare legality
by the standards of the British East India Company, which prohibited missionary activity
because of their fear that the attendant political incorrectness would lead angry Hindus and
Muslims to disturb their profits. For Carey’s first six years, there was a time where he could not
claim a single Indian convert, he labored as an indigo farmer, a profession that exposed workers
to dangers that would today bring on a massive OSHA investigation.3

On 21 January, 1795 Carey along with Mr. Thomas formed a plan to start two colleges. The plan
was to educate twelve lads, six Muslims and six Hindus who will be under the charge of a
pundit. When Carey stepped in India, he first found the most atrocious and inhuman custom of
burning widows alive. On 1st April 1799, while he was returning from Calcutta, he saw a woman
burning herself in the fire with the corpse of her husband. He was told that the women were
performing a great act of holiness. Carey exhorted the women not to throw her life in these
manners. He was told that if he can’t bear to see them, he may go. Carey was determined to stay
and that he would certainly bear witness in the tribunal of god. Carey could not bear to see more,
so he left exclaiming loudly against the murder.4

Eventually, he and his colleagues and pundits would translate portions of the Bible into dozens
of languages, including, incidentally, Pushto, one of the dialects spoken in modern Afghanistan.
Carey fought to destroy caste privileges by promoting conversion to Christianity and crusaded
against child marriage. He worked to see widow burning, sati, abolished, and enjoyed the
satisfaction of translating the government edict abolishing it. Brown University awarded him a
Doctor of Divinity degree for his Bengali grammar. He would henceforth be “Dr. Carey,” a poor
nonconformist’s version of that brilliant High Anglican lexicographer “Dr. Samuel “Dictionary”
Johnson. Carey was, in old age, a man of principle, a retiring oracle to be consulted by Indians,
Evangelicals and East India Company officials, many of whom had earlier opposed his designs.

2
Myers, William Carey…,11-12.
3
Sam Wellman, William Carey Father of Modern Mission (Secunderabad: Authentic Books- 2003), 7-9.
4
Wellman, William Carey Father of Modern Mission...,10-15.
Carey had outlasted and absorbed the ambitions of friend and foe alike. But trouble followed
Carey. Two wives predeceased him.

The first, Dorothy Plackett, was mentally unstable, illiterate, did not want to journey to India,
and was given to hurling shocking insults against Carey’s sexual honesty. Carey’s work habits
may be taken in part to reflect a retreat from the problems that Dorothy’s dispiriting condition
embodied. Carey’s second wife, Charlotte Rumohr, was a physically handicapped, multi-lingual
Dane of decidedly higher social status than Dorothy. She was as close to a trophy wife as
Carey’s morals and humility would permit. Carey’s third wife, Grace Hughes, survived him, but
some of the prophetic anger of the first wife survived in the form of two maladjusted sons.5

Carey’s legend arose out of the specific demands of the Baptist Missionary Society during the
1830’s and 1840’s. Obituarists, like Indian insects, made quick work of Carey.19 Meanwhile, the
job of Carey’s first biographer, that same nephew, Eustace Carey, who had caused Carey so
much trouble, was to smooth over signs of controversy in Carey’s career. Later in nineteenth
century biographers of Carey addressed audiences with new concerns. Baptists in America, riven
by a dispute over ordination of a slave-owing missionary, could rally around Carey. They seem
indeed to have relished the Parson Weems approach to foundational figures more ardently than
their British cousins did.6

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British Empire, with India as the
jewel in the crown, reached the zenith of its power. Industry and empire made it possible for
English notions of gentility to encompass not merely a landed elite but the professions as well.
Carey’s reputation followed in step. He was no longer an exile or refugee. Rather, the centennial
of his passage to India brought new appreciation from the Baptist Missionary Society.

Carey’s reputation reflected political unrest during the middle of the twentieth century. Carey’s
Enquiry, his rare mission’s pamphlet published in 1792, went through editions in 1818, 1891,
1934, 1942 and 1961. The 1961 edition included an introduction by the then dean of Baptist
historians in Britain, Ernest A. Payne. Payne’s introduction was no routine textual exercise.
Instead, Payne located Carey in a nest, not of cobblers, but of radicals7

5
Joseph Belcher, William Carey: A Biography (Phildelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1853), 6.
6
Belcher, William Carey: A Biography…, 7.
7
Belcher, William Carey: A Biography, 8-10.
After arriving in India, Carey and Thomas encountered opposition from the British East India
Company. Moving north of Calcutta, Carey managed an Indigo factory while learning Bengali
and translating the Bible. In January, 1800, Carey and his family joined Joshua and Hannah
Marshman and William Ward in Serampore, a Danish village, near Calcutta.

In December of 1800, Carey baptized Krishna Pal, his first Indian convert, in the Ganges near
Serampore. Until his death in 1834, Carey shared the Christian message with Indians of all social
and economic classes. Through sermons, Bible translations, social improvement, and education,
Carey saw day laborers, women, children, and Brahmins (upper caste) come to a saving
knowledge of Christ. His missionary methods of immersion into languages and native culture
and living a consistent Christian witness to Scripture, doctrinal fidelity, and moral integrity
proved highly effective.8

2. His contribution:

William Carey (1761-1834), the 18th century cobbler who was captured by the grace of God and
became the “Father of Modern Protestant Missions”, was a remarkable man in almost every
respect. William Carey set up a printing press in Serampore in 1800. Through this press
translations of the Bible, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Indian literary works as well as
various textbooks were published and made available to the students in the rural areas. In 1818
about 103 primary schools were established in Serampore and adjoining areas which
accommodated about 6703 students. Serampore Mission established the first school for girls and
thus played an important role in spreading women's education. William Carey and his two
associates established a degree college in Serampore in 1818 at their own expense. It was the
first-degree college in Asia.9

Carey had realized that it was necessary to provide education through vernacular medium i.e.,
Bengali in order to spread mass education in rural Bengal. So, he tried to spread education
through the medium of Bengali. Carey also tried to remove bigotry and superstition from the

8
Dr Bennie Crockett, William Carey: the bible translator and linguist, https://www.wmcarey.com-the-
legacy-of-william-carey (accessed on 27-09-23), time 9:00pm
9
https://flasheducation.co.in/question-answer/what-contribution-william-carey-and-serampore-mission-
spread-education (accessed on 26-09-23), time 7:00 pm.
minds of the students by teaching subjects like modern literature, science, mathematics, history,
philosophy etc., instead of following the old and obsolete method of education.10

William Carey’s literary contribution to Indian culture exceeds all expectations for a non-
university educated cobbler from England. Self-educated with the help of friends and ministers,
Carey worked with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Dutch. In India, Carey initiated a flowering
renaissance of vernacular Indian literature, which India recognized in 1993 on its special
bicentenary stamp honoring Carey. From the moment Carey sailed for India, he began learning
Bengali, the vernacular of the Indian people of British Bengal. Upon arriving, Carey continued
his study of Bengali and added Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language from which Carey believed
all the languages of India derived. In honor of his Bible translations and grammar books, Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island, awarded Carey the Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) degree in
1806.

The Bengali Bible (New Testament, 1801; entire Bible, 1809) was the crowning achievement of
Carey’s missionary life. Added to Bengali, Carey translated the Bible into Sanskrit, Hindi, Oriya,
and Marathi. In 1827, Carey said, “The translation of the Sacred Scriptures into the languages of
the East is the work which has from the commencement of the Mission most of all occupied my
time and attention.” Along with his Serampore colleagues, Joshua Marshman and William Ward,
and native Indian pundits (scholars), Carey produced Christian scripture translations in numerous
oriental languages and dialects. These included Assamese, Chinese, Sikh, Pashto or Afghani,
Gujarati, Kashmiri, Kanauji, Lahnda, Malay, Nepali, Punjabi, Telugu, Urdu, and Vikanera.11

Beginning in 1801, Carey received an appointment as a professor of Sanskrit, Bengali, and

Marathi in Fort William College, which the East India Company operated in Calcutta. Through
the Serampore Mission Press, Carey published groundbreaking works of grammar for Sanskrit
(1806), Marathi (1808), Punjabi (1812), and Bengali (1818) and dictionaries for Marathi (1810)
and Bengali (1817). Carey and Marshman published Valmiki’s Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic poem
of 24,000 verses containing Hindu philosophical, devotional, and moral advice. Other vernacular
works Carey published are the Kathopakathan (Colloquies, 1801, 1806, 1817, in which he

10
https://flasheducation.co.in/question-answer/what-contribution-william-carey-and-serampore-mission-
spread-education (accessed on 26-09-23), time 8:00 pm.
11
Dr Bennie Crockett, William Carey: the bible translator and linguist, https://www.wmcarey.com-the-
legacy-of-william-carey (accessed on 27-09-23), time 10:00pm.
presented everyday Bengali conversations with an English translation) and Itihasamala, or A
Collection of Stories in the Bengalee Language (1812).12

According to Indian Christians Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi, writing in Perspectives on the
World Christian Movement, he made major contributions in many fields: 1. Botanist – He
brought the English daisy to India and introduced the Linnaean system of gardening. A type of
eucalyptus found only in India, the Careya herbecea, is named for him. 2. Industrialist – He was
the first Englishman to introduce the steam engine in India and produce paper to use in the local
publishing industry.3. Economist – He introduced the concept of savings banks to fight usury in
India. 4. Medical humanitarian – He advocated humane treatment for leprosy patients.5. Media
pioneer – He was the father of print technology in India. 6. Agriculturalist – He founded the
Agri-Horticultural Society in India in 1820 and did a systematic survey of agriculture in India. 7.
Translator and educator – He translated Indian religious classics (Ramayana) and philosophical
treatises (Samkhya) into English. He was a scholar in Bengali, Sanskrit and Marathi, and
translated the Bible into several languages.8. Astronomer – He introduced and taught astronomy
to mitigate the harmful effects of astrology in India.9. Library pioneer – He pioneered the idea of
lending libraries in India.10. Forest conservationist – He wrote essays on forestry and taught
conservation of natural resources.11. Advocate for women’s rights – He fought political battles
for 25 years to end the Hindu practice of burning widows on the pyres of their deceased
husbands (Sati).12. Public servant – He transformed British attitudes on India from imperial
exploitation to civil service.13. Moral reformer – Indian Upanishadic teaching separated
spirituality from ethics, thus leading to moral degeneracy. He reemphasized the link in his
Christian teaching.14. Culture transformer – He was the father of the Indian renaissance of the
19th and 20th centuries.13

2.1 His Greatest contribution as a Baptist:

William Carey known as the “Father of Modern Missions” paved the way for many to
follow in a great missionary endeavor which is still going on in churches today. Carey saw the

12
Dr Bennie Crockett, William Carey: the bible translator and linguist, https://www.wmcarey.com-the-
legacy-of-william-carey (accessed on 27-09-23), time 10:30pm.

13
https://mdharrismd.com/2013/04/02/what-were-william-careys-contributions-to-the-modern-missions-
movement/ (accessed on 26-09-23), time 9:00pm.
mandate from the Bible for the Great Commission, and he knew that it was for the church of his
day also, not just for the apostles and the early church. His tireless message amongst a hyper-
Calvinistic church was the necessity of going to the lost and sharing the gospel. The initial
section of his enquiry answered the question whether the Great Commission was still binding,
and he did so with overwhelming biblical support.14

The title of this enquiry drew much criticism also as it was in opposition to the belief of the
church when he emphasized the aforementioned “obligation” and the “use of means.” He saw the
church’s responsibility in the Scriptures to evangelize, not to sit on the sidelines and wait for
God to do the work. His booklet traced the missionary work through the book of Acts and the
church age, and he accurately gave an analysis of the need around the world for missionaries. In
commenting about this section and Carey’s belief in it, author Nathan Finn said, “The Enquiry’s
section on world statistics is evidence that Carey’s missionary theology was more than theory.
Far from a work of abstract theology, the Enquiry was written for the ultimate purpose of
spurring Particular Baptists to protestant missionary movement until 275 years after t the
Reformation began. Virtually no protestant missionary activity took place between 1517
and1792. Yet those years constituted the golden age of Roman Catholic missions.”

The Catholics for many years had been busy sending out their missionaries to places all around
the globe. Shortly before the reemergence of world evangelism by a church of Baptist nature,
only the Moravians were active in seeking to spread the gospel to other nations. Mulholland
surmised that the lack of missionary effort among Protestants could be explained because of the
following factors: Calvinistic belief of the Reformation churches, a lack of organization, and an
absence of reproducible and sustainable missionary structure.15

Carey saw the mandate from the Bible for the Great Commission, and he knew that it was for the
church of his day also, not just for the apostles and the early church. His tireless message
amongst a hyper-Calvinistic church was the necessity of going to the lost and sharing the gospel.

14
Kenneth B. Mulholland. “From Luther to Carey: Pietism and the Modern Missionary Movement.”
Bibliotheca Sacra156, no. 621 (1999). 83.

15
https://www.academia.edu/41275557/William_Carey_and_His_Greatest_Contribution_as_a_Baptist
(accessed on 27-09-23), time 8:00pm
The initial section of his enquiry answered the question whether the Great Commission was still
binding, and he did so with overwhelming biblical support.

The title of this enquiry drew much criticism also as it was in opposition to the belief of the
church when he emphasized mentioned “obligation” and the “use of means.” He saw the
church’s responsibility in the Scriptures to evangelize, not to sit on the sidelines and wait for
God to do the work. His booklet traced the missionary work through the book of Acts and the
church age, and he accurately gave an analysis of the need around the world for missionaries. In
commenting about this section and Carey’s belief in it, author Nathan Finn said, “The Enquiry’s
section on world statistics is evidence that Carey’s missionary theology was more than theory.
Far from a work of abstract theology, the Enquiry was written for the ultimate purpose of
spurring Particular Baptists to actually engage in mission with the various nations listed in all of
the charts and tables.”

He proposed practical advice which is still true today for the work of a missionary, and in the
final section, he laid the groundwork for a society which could help in this effort of world
evangelism. It was one of his crowning achievements as a Baptist and as a missionary. This
crowning legacy was one he promoted and implemented. Giving validity to his message in what
he had presented, William Carey was willing to be the first missionary for the society which he
helped to start, and he demonstrated through his life the work of a missionary and the united
effort of a mission in accomplishing the task. He wholeheartedly believed in what he had
proposed, and he faithfully executed it for forty-one years in India. He continued in preaching
the message of the gospel and the call for missionaries to come and help in the work.16

Conclusion

16
https://www.academia.edu/41275557/William_Carey_and_His_Greatest_Contribution_as_a_Baptist
(accessed on 27-09-23), time 8:30pm
In this paper the researchers have learned that William Carey was the father of modern
missionary who paved the way for many Christian and contributed a lot in his mission in India
during his time as a missionary. Carey gave his best by helping the people and by translating the
bible, by giving opportunities to the people etc., and by bringing changes in the society and that
his legacy is well applied. Carey’s literary contribution to Indian culture exceeds all expectations
for a non- university educated cobbler from England. And learnt that he was a remarkable man in
almost every respect.

Bibliography
Belcher, Joseph. William Carey: A Biography. Phildelphia: American Baptist Publication
Society,

1853.

Myers, J.B. William Carey. Chicago: Fleming D. Rebell company, 1887.

Mulholland, Kenneth B. “From Luther to Carey: Pietism and the Modern Missionary
Movement” Bibliotheca Sacra156, no. 621 (1999).

Wellman, Sam. William Carey Father of Modern Mission. Secunderabad: Authentic Books-
2003.

Webliography

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mission-spread-education (accessed on 26-09-23), time 8:00 pm.

https://mdharrismd.com/2013/04/02/what-were-william-careys-contributions-to-the-modern-
missions-movement/ (accessed on 26-09-23), time 9:00pm.

https://www.academia.edu/41275557/William_Carey_and_His_Greatest_Contribution_as_a_Ba

-ptist (accessed on 27-09-23), time 8:30pm