The Christ of the Mount: A Working Philosophy
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“I trust this book will be an unhesitating, but not a too-light, easy, ‘Yes’ to the question as to whether the Sermon on the Mount is practicable. If the reading of it brings to the reader what the writing of it has brought to the writer in these months of meditation, then we will both be repaid a hundredfold. A trusted friend said to the writer, ‘You are not a theologian; you are a divining rod. You tell us where there is water beneath—remember your function.’ In this book I have tried to remember my function. I have left to others the discussion of the critical questions involved in the accounts of the Sermon on the Mount as reported by Matthew and Luke. I have not been able to escape theological implications—who can escape them?—but I have tried to leave to the theologians the labeling of the wells and their more accurate description while I have endeavored to be true to my friend’s commission and have pointed to where in the Sermon on the Mount I think water may be found. There is water here—dig and drink!”—E. Stanley Jones, Introduction
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About the author
Eli Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was a 20th-century Methodist Christian missionary and theologian. Remembered chiefly for his interreligious lectures to the educated classes in India, he was also the founder of the Christian Ashram movement. Dr. Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and studied law at City College before graduating from Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky in 1907. He was on the faculty of Asbury College when he was called to missionary service in India in 1907 under the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He traveled to India, where he befriended many leaders in the Indian Independence movement, and became known for his interfaith work. In 1925, while home on furlough, he wrote his seminal work, The Christ of the Indian Road, a report of his years of service in India. The book became a bestseller, selling over a million copies. Other books soon followed, with many becoming required reading in various theological seminaries and degree courses at government colleges. Dr. Jones helped to re-establish the Indian “Ashram” (or forest retreat). In the months leading up to the U.S. entry into WWII, he became a confidant of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Japanese leaders, trying to avert war. Stranded in the U.S. during World War II, with his family in India, he transferred the Christian Ashram to the United States and Canada, where it became strong spiritual growth ministry. Dr. Jones was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation work in Asia, Africa, and between Japan and the United States. In 1959 Dr. Jones was named “Missionary Extraordinary” by the Methodist missionary publication World Outlook. In 1963, having become a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Dr. Jones received the Gandhi Peace Award. He died in India in 1973.