Important Asian Missionary Studies Resources

¹The Best Asian Missionary Studies Resource

Britsch, R. Lanier. From the East: The History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia, 1851–1996. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.

Other Important Asian Missionary Studies (in alphabetical order)

Britsch, R. Lanier. “From Bhutan to Wangts’ang: Taking the Gospel to Asia.” Ensign 10 (June 1980): 6-10. Click to see full text on http://lds.org and then click on “Gospel Library”

Britsch, R. Lanier. “Introducing the Gospel in Asia: The First Century.” In Unto Every Nation: Gospel Light Reaches Every Land, ed. Donald Q. Cannon and Richard O. Cowan, 305-321. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003.

Britsch, R. Lanier. “Problems and Opportunities of Missionary Work in Asia (A Symposium of Former Mission Presidents).” BYU Studies 12 (Autumn 1971): 85-106. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/4024

Hicken, Don. “The Church in Asia” Dialogue 3 (Spring 1968): 134-142. Click to see full text http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=325&REC=9

Jones, J. Talmage. In Singapore and Other Asian Cities. Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1984.

Palmer, J. Spencer. The Church Encounters Asia. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1970.

Patch, Robert Clayton. “An Historical Overview of the Missionary Activities of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints in Continental Asia.” M.Th., thesis, Brigham Young University, 1949.

East Asia (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mongolia)

East Asia, General

Britsch, R. Lanier. “Early latter-day Saint Missions to South and East Asia.” Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate School, 1968.

Hinckley, Gordon B. “The Church in the Orient.” Improvement Era 67 (March 1964): 166-91, 198, 200, 210.

China

Britsch, R. Lanier “Church Beginnings in China” BYU Studies 10 (Winter 1970): 161-172. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/136

Cannon, Hugh J. “The Chinese Realm Dedicated for the Preaching of the Gospel” Improvement Era 24 (March 1921): 443-446.

Dean, Bruce John Marvin. “Chinese Christianity since 1849: Implications for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981. Click for full-text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MTAF/id/28418

Feng, Xi. “A History of Mormon-Chinese Relations: 1849–1993.” Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1995. Deals with missionary work in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Korea

Choi, Dong Sull. “A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Korea, 1950–1985.” Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1990

Choi, Dong Sull. “Marks of Success in American Mission Policies in Korea.” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1984

Palmer, J. Spencer, and Shirley H. Palmer, comp. and eds. The Korean Saints: Personal Stories of Trial and Triumph 1950–1980. Provo, UT: Religious Education, Brigham Young University, 1995

Japan

The single most important work on the Japanese effort can be found in:

Neilson, Reid L. and Gessell, Van C., editors. Taking the Gospel to the Japanese, 1901 to 2001. Studies in Latter-day Saint History. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 2006. The essays in this work were the result of a centennial conference held at Brigham Young University, 13 October 2001.

Other works of importance are in alphabetical order

Brady, Frederick R. “Two Meiji Scholars Introduce the Mormons to Japan.” BYU Studies 23 (Spring 1983): 167-178. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/904

Britsch, R. Lanier. “The Blossoming of the Church in Japan.” Ensign 22 (October 1992): 32-38. Click to see full text on http://lds.org and then click on “Gospel Library”

Britsch, R. Lanier. “The Closing of the Early Japan Mission.” BYU Studies 15 (Winter 1975): 171-190. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/448

Grant, Heber J. A Japanese Journal. Edited by Gordon A. Madsen. n.p.: The compiler, 1970

“Introducing the Gospel in Japan.” Improvement Era 6 (July 1903): 708-714.

Katanuma, Seiji. “The Church in Japan.” BYU Studies 14 (Autumn 1973): 16-28. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/165

Marsh, Don W., comp. The Light of the Sun: Japan and the Saints Tokyo: Japan Mission, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1968

Neilson, Reid L. The Japanese Missionary Journals of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10. Provo, UT: BYU Studies, Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for LDS History, 2001. (Publication of Master’s thesis done at Brigham Young University)

Neilson, Reid L. “A Priceless Pearl: Alma O. Taylor’s Mission to Japan.” Ensign 32 (June 2002): 56-59. Click to see full text on http://lds.org and then click on “Gospel Library”

Nelson, Terry G. “A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints in Japan from 1948 to 1980.” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1986. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MTNZ/id/2358

Nichols, Murray L. “History of the Japan Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, 1901–1924.” M.S. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1958. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MTNZ/id/2360

Taylor, Alma O. “About Japan and the Japan Mission.” Improvement Era 10 (November 1906): 1-9

Walker, Ronald W. “Strangers in a Strange Land: Heber J. Grant and the Opening of the Japanese Mission.” Journal of Mormon History 13 (1986-87): 20-43. A later version is published in Taking the Gospel to the Japanese , 1901 to 2001

Mongolia

Harper, Steven C. “‘Nothing Less than Miraculous’: The First Decade of Mormonism in Mongolia.” BYU Studies 42 no. 1 (2003): 19-49. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/4141

South Asia (India)

South Asia, General

Britsch, R. Lanier. “Early latter-day Saint Missions to South and East Asia.” Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate School, 1968

India

Britsch, R. Lanier. “A History of the Missionary Activity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in India, 1849–1856.” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1964. Click to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MTAF/id/15578

Britsch, R. Lanier. “The Latter-day Saint Mission to India, 1851-56.” BYU Studies 12 (Spring 1971): 262-78. Click here to see full text http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/byustudies/id/264

Britsch, R. Lanier. Nothing More Heroic, The Compelling Story of the First Latter-day Saint Missionaries in India. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999

Whittaker, David J. “Richard Ballantyne and the Defense of Mormonism in India in the 1850s.” In Supporting Saints, Donald Q. Cannon and David J. Whittaker, eds., 175-212. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1985

Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam)

Burma

Britsch, R. Lanier. “The Early Missions to Burma and Siam.” Improvement Era 73 (March 1970): 35-38, 40, 42-44

Indonesia

Jones, Garth N. “Spreading the Gospel in Indonesia: Organizational Obstacles and Opportunities.” Dialogue 15 (Winter 1982): 79-90. Click to see full text http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=14769&REC=18

Philippines

Britsch, R. Lanier. “Postwar Developments in the Chinese Realm and The Philippines,” 346-365. In Unto Every Nation: Gospel Light Reaches Every Land. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003

Call, Lowell Eliason. “Latter-day Saint Servicemen in the Philippine Islands: A Historical Study of their Religious Activities and Influences Resulting in the Official Organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines.” M.S. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955. Click here for full text: http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MTAF/id/24542

Lim, Augusto. “The Church in the Philippines.” In Mormonism: A Faith for All Cultures, F. LaMond Tullis, ed., 160-163. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1978

Thailand

Christensen, Craig G. “The Beginnings in Thailand.” Improvement Era 73 (March 1970): 32-34

Suksabjarern, Manoth. “Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Latter-day Saints Missions in Thailand: An Historical Survey.” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1977

Vietnam

Britsch, R. Lanier. “The Church’s Years in Vietnam.” Ensign 10 (August 1980): 24-30. Click to see full text on http://lds.org and then click on “Gospel Library”

Heaton, William R. “Vietnam and the Restored Church.” Ensign 3 (June 1973): 34-37. Click to see full text on http://lds.org and then click on “Gospel Library”

Footnotes

¹An even more extensive bibliography and guide to sources can be found in David J. Whittaker, “Mormon Missiology: An Introduction and Guide to the Sources,” 466-486, In The Disciple as Witness: Essays on latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, Edited by Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges (Provo: The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2000). In addition review James B. Allen, Ronald W. Walker, and David J. Whittaker, Studies in Mormon History, 1830–1997: An Indexed Bibliography (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000). For a more up-to-date version of the Allen, Walker, and Whittaker bibliography search the following web site: http://mormonhistory.byu.edu