The Christ of the Indian Road

E. Stanley Jones was a 20th century Evangelist who devoted his life to following Christ and spreading the Gospel. He spent many years in India and wrote The Christ of the Indian Road It is full of powerful insights into the Gospel and the best ways to spread the Gospel.

In the chapter What or Whom? he points out that when Christians start discussing What they believe conflict arises and causes dissension. When Christians discuss Whom they believe, Jesus, they are brought together. The Church divided once over Whom to believe in. The Unitarians split off, and that is the right thing because they no longer believe Jesus is central. The Church is headed in the right direction if it makes Jesus Christ central and doesn’t worry overmuch about all else.

The emphasis on following Jesus is in line with the material earlier in The Christ of the Indian Road where Jones outlines resistance to Christianity in India based on the perception of Christian missionaries as attempting to impose Western Culture upon them. In the early 20th century India was fascinated with Jesus, but wanted no part of Christianity. By dropping the title of Christianity and substituting following Jesus Jones was able to make positive strides towards bringing the Gospel to the Hindus and Mohammedans who wanted no part of Christianity but who were fascinated by Jesus.

The Christ of the Indian Road was first published in 1925 by The Abingdon Press of New York and Cincinnati. It is still published today in both ebook and paperback (ISBN 978-0687063772) versions. Scanned images of the 1925 edition are available in the Boston University Open BU libraries at open.bu.edu/handle/2144/926