Wednesday, April 5, 2023

It is the 5th of April 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Today’s show is not about the birth actor Ian Charleson. But- let it be noted that to the best of my knowledge, he is the only actor to have played two characters on the Almanac, both in Oscar-winning movies- you might know him as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, and if you saw the movie Gandhi, he played Charles Freer, or “Charlie” Andrews- the British missionary and friend to the famous Indian. We’ve done the show on Eric Liddell. Today on the anniversary of his death in 1940, let’s tell the remarkable story of the Reverend Charles Freer Andrews.

He was born in Newcastle in 1871, one of 14 children who grew up poor there in North England during this pivotal time in English history. As has been noted on recent shows, this is the Victorian age and the Industrial Revolution- both of which had important social implications, and it was also around the height of the British Empire, a fact particularly important for Andrews.

His father was a minister in the Catholic Apostolic Church- aka, the Irvingites. These were schismatic and charismatic Protestants. Charlie went to King Edward VI School In Birmingham, and there made a name for himself as a good student. He broke from his family when he was 19 and joined the established Anglican Church in England. In 1890 he enrolled at Pembroke College at Cambridge. It was at Cambridge that he became involved in the Christian Student Union- this was a group of Anglican Christians concerned especially with the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the poor and the stratified nature of Victorian England.

He would be ordained as a deacon and an Anglican priest in 1897. He would be vice Principal of the Clergy training school at Westcott House at Cambridge and, in 1904, left for India to teach at Cambridge’s St. Stephans College in Delhi. He taught there from 1904 to 1915, but his missionary concerns outweighed his academic predilections. If Charlie was struck by the poverty in northern England during the Industrial Revolution, it was nothing compared to what he saw in this eastern outpost of the British Empire. Not only was he opposed to the caste system amongst Indians he was critical of the actions and prejudices of the British living in India.

With his background of working with the Christian Student Union, he became involved in social causes- he famously helped to resolve a cotton strike in 1913. He would soon become a burr in the saddle of the British Empire, traveling to various regions in the Empire to argue on behalf of those getting the short end of the stick.

In 1914 he traveled to South Africa to argue for Indian workers' rights there. There, he met Mahatma Gandhi- the two men of different faiths would become close friends. Charlie's writings on Gandhi would help introduce him to many in the English-speaking world.

He would come to sympathize with the Indian nationalists arguing for independence from the British- something that gained him both renown and scorn back home. His work as a missionary was largely practical. He wrote about his faith but also about the nature of labor and social movements. While Ghandi was critical of the British and some Christians, he saw Charles as indicative of the best of both. Ghandi would call him “Christ’s Faithful Apostle,” a play on his initials CFA, Charles Freer Andrews. While some would criticize him for being too close to both an Indian and a Hindu, he never wavered in his own faith- continuing to write Christian theology while praising the social work of the Mahatma.

He was amongst Ghandi’s best friends, and it was he that convinced Charlie to leave India- that the independence movement needed to be led by Indians and for Indians. Charlie took this to heart and moved back to Cambridge, where he would teach but also work with the India Conciliation Group- a group dedicated to changing public opinion in Britain in favor of Indian independence. It was on a trip back to India in 1940 that Charlie died. Gandhi, hearing of the news, responded, “...not only England, not only India but humanity had lost a true son and servant...I have not known a better man or a better Christian than C. F. Andrews”.

Born in 1871, Charles Freer Andrews was 69 years old when he died on this day in 1940.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- from the book of Hebrews for Wednesday of Holy Week in my tradition:

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

12:2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

12:3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of April 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows that actor Ian Charleson was also in the UK version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who likes both the Bible and musicals, but… not that one. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.