Samuel M.

Zwemer: Defender of Apostolic Missions

Bassam M. Madany
Middle East Resources
www.unashamedofthegospel.org

Early in 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown, and an Islamic Republic, under the guidance of
Ayatollah Khomeini, replaced his regime. Since then, books on Islam have been appearing
rapidly. Most of them restrict their subjects to geo-political matters. This is why “Islam and the
Cross”* is very welcome. It reminds Christians that the challenge of missions to Muslims
remains as great as ever. Millions of Muslims now live in Western Europe and North America.
They are to be found in every metropolitan center in Canada and the United States. While some
new works on missions have appeared, yet there is hardly anything that equals the writings of
Samuel M. Zwemer. They breathe a strong Christian fervor, coupled with a solid scholarship.
This fact earned him the designation of “Apostle to Islam.”

During his long career both as missionary in the Muslim world, and professor of missions at
Princeton Seminary, Dr. Zwemer authored more that fifty books, and was the founder and editor
of the quarterly journal “The Moslem World.’ He knew Arabic very well, and was patient and
understanding when Muslim inquirers came to discuss with him the claims of the Christian faith.

Before coming to the United States, I was greatly moved by Zwemer’s book on the life of
Raymond Lull. He was a Spanish poet, whose meditation on our Lord’s sufferings and death led
him to a complete change of life. He dedicated the rest of his days to bringing the Gospel to the
Muslims of North Africa. He studied Arabic for nine years and mastered it, and traveled to many
European centers of learning to convince the young universities of the necessity to start chairs
for Arabic and Islamic studies. At the age of eighty, he returned to North Africa on what was to
be his last missionary journey. He was stoned to death outside the walls of Bougie, in
present-day Algeria, in 1315.

Then in 1950, while I was a theological student at the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I read “The Cross above the Crescent,” by Dr. Zwemer. I wrote him
expressing my deep appreciation for the contents of his book. I was delighted to receive a very
warm response. He encouraged me to continue with my special interest in missions to Muslims,
and made a few suggestions that I have always cherished. Not long after that letter, Samuel M.
Zwemer went to be with his Lord on April 2, 1952. By the end of that year, J. Christy Wilson
had published, Apostle to Islam: A Biography of Samuel M. Zwemer (Baker Book House)

It is not easy nowadays to find the many titles of the Zwemer legacy. This is why we are very
indebted to the labors of the editor, Dr. Roger S. Greenway, in providing us with these important
selections from the writings of this great missionary. In Part I, that deals with the general topic of
Islam and Christianity, there are excerpts from The Muslim Christ; Mohammed and Christ;
Islam and the Holy Spirit; Christianity’s Stumbling Block, and The Way to the Muslim
Heart. Part II, treats the general subject of Islam and Animism. The concluding chapter, A Call
to Prayer, was originally published in a book with the same title. **
One of the most important legacies of Dr. Zwemer is that he combined his great interest in
winning Muslims to Christ, with a solid commitment to the Apostolic Tradition, or as we call it
today, the historic Christian faith. In his late years, when Dr. Zwemer was teaching Christian
missions at Princeton Seminary, he was aware of the radical changes that were taking place in
America and Europe with respect to the fundamentals of Christianity. He took a clear stand
against theological liberalism and syncretism. In his early days as missionary in the Middle East,
a general consensus prevailed among missionary agencies and mission workers concerning the
cardinal doctrines of Christianity. Regardless of their denominational differences, missionaries
held to the supreme and final authority of the Bible; the uniqueness, finality, and superiority of
the Lord Jesus Christ; the primacy of proclamation of the Gospel; and the necessity of faith in
the Savior, as a condition of salvation.

Unfortunately, in the days that followed World War I, these historic beliefs were being
questioned by responsible members of certain Protestant denominations. For example, in 1932
the publication of Re-Thinking Missions: a Layman’s Inquiry After One Hundred Years caused
a great stir in missionary circles. The authors of this report, who came from several Protestant
denominations, advocated a radical change in the purpose and goal of missions. ***

Samuel Zwemer, as a faithful servant of the Lord, addressed these departures from historic
Christianity in his book, Thinking Missions With Christ. ****

In the recent volume entitled Re-thinking Missions the old Biblical, Christocentric basis for
missions is discarded and we read: “At the center of the religious mission, though it takes the
special form of promoting one’s own type of thought and practice, there is an always valid
impulse of love to men; one offers one’s own faith because that is the best one has to offer.” P.
19

This line of thought is not that much different from the pluralist theologies that have invaded
some Western theological thinking lately. Dr. Zwemer minced no words in denouncing the
above-quoted line of reasoning as non-Christian. Actually, he was dealing with that notorious
report on the nature and future of missions that had appeared in Re-thinking Missions. He went
on to explain the crucial importance of orthodox beliefs in any work of missions, especially
among Muslim people.

For us who work among Moslems, their denial of Jesus Christ’s mission, His Incarnation, His
Atonement, His Deity, are the very issues of the conflict. Almost spontaneously, therefore, what
might have been mere theological dogma in the mind of the missionary turns into a deep
spiritual conviction, a logical necessity and a great passion. Face to face with those who deny
our Saviour and practically deify Mohammed, one is compelled to think in black and white. The
challenge of the muezzin, so romantic to the tourist, is a cry of pain to the missionary; it hurts.
In the silence of the night one cannot help thinking, that it pleased the Father that in Jesus Christ
should all fullness dwell, not in Mohammed. Face to face with Islam, one cannot help asking
what will be the final outcome of Christian Unitarianism. In the history of Islam its bald
monotheism has always degenerated into some form of pantheism or deism. Pp. 20, 21
The last chapter in Thinking Missions With Christ has a very stirring challenge to remain
faithful to the Apostolic Faith. Dr. Zwemer played a major role in the organization and the
proceedings of the First World Missionary Council that was held at Edinburgh, Scotland in
1910. He was also present at the Second Missionary Council that met in Jerusalem in 1928. As
mentioned earlier, the theological climate had changed among several Protestant denominations.
Some warning calls were issued against the secularization of the mission of the church. Here are
some lines from the final chapter of this book, The Other-Worldliness of the Missionary
Enterprise.

It was pointed out at the Jerusalem Council Meeting in 1928 that the present-day
terminology of the Church and of missions lays such great emphasis on social
service and the present life, that we are in grave danger of losing the sense of the
eternal. Our own worldliness blinds us to the other-worldliness of those whom we
call heathen. Our vocabulary is too secular. Our horizon is too earthly. Our outlook
is too much in the realm of time. Secular movements rivet our attention. P. 129

As always, Samuel Zwemer turns to the Scriptures. It is in them, that he hears the voice of his
Lord and Savior, and the testimony of the apostles.
Paul’s missionary message and passion were due to this vision of the eternal. “We look
not at the things which are seen.” “Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.”
“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” “If in this life only we have
hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable.” Not only at Damascus, but through
all Paul’s life, he could not see (earthly things) for the glory of that light” --- which
shone from the heavenly world. “Our citizenship,” he said, “is in heaven.” Here we are only
pilgrims and sojourners to dwell in tents. We must not be entangled with the things of this world
if we would be Christ’s ambassadors. P. 133

To read the works of Samuel M. Zwemer and reflect on them is like sitting at the feet of the
greatest missionary-theologian of modern times. I am so thankful for the appearance of Islam
and the Cross, and look forward to similar endeavors in the not distant future.

*Islam and the Cross: Selections from ‘The Apostle to Islam’ Samuel M. Zwemer, edited by
Roger S. Greenway. Phillipsburg, NJ 08865-0817: P&R Publishing, 2002. Pp. xviii +165

** The Call to Prayer. Samuel M. Zwemer. London: Marshall Brothers, 1923. Pp. 9-52

*** Re-Thinking Missions: A Layman’s Inquiry After One Hundred years. William Ernest
Hocking.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1932

**** Thinking Missions with Christ: Some Basic Aspects of World-Evangelism, Our Message,
Our Motive and Our Goal. Samuel M. Zwemer. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1934. Pp. 142