DAVID LIVINGSTONE
The unexplored story
By Stephen Tomkins. Lion. 240 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 0 745 955 681
It was said a generation ago that if you were to stop a man at random in a Scottish city and ask him to name a missionary, he would probably name David Livingstone. It has been good to see coverage of the 200th anniversary of Livingstone’s birth in the broadsheets. One hopes it will help his name to re-enter British general knowledge.
Livingstone’s heart is buried in Africa, his body in Westminster Abbey. Stephen Tomkins gives a sympathetic account of Livingstone’s life’s work, while retaining the critical mind of the journalist. He is not afraid to leave questions unanswered about Livingstone’s impact. But he acknowledges how much flowed from his endeavours.
It is an earthy account, well told, of how a boy from the mills of a small Clydeside town became a missionary, an explorer and a political agitator. We encounter malaria, the harsh conditions, the isolation, the hopes and disappointments. Tomkins engages with the complexity of Christian mission. Sechele, king and chief of major influence, ‘read the Bible threadbare’ yet reverted to rainmaking and polygamy. Then as now, such news is not so easy to receive for those who provide financial support. Yet here is the realism of evangelism among those committed to folk religions, with much to unlearn as they ‘learn Christ’.
David Livingstone’s remarkable wife, Mary Moffat, daughter of Robert Moffat, brought much to his legacy. Her family name opened doors, and her sheer endurance provided support for her husband and security for their children. It is a story in itself.
This book gives us a raft of new insights. For example, we learn how Henry Morton Stanley (who famously said: ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’) left his native Denbigh aged 17 as John Rowlands, probably a butcher’s apprentice, and took the name of an American patron in New Orleans. His American accent had been adopted late.
One small thing: should there be a new edition, the maps are helpful, but would be more useful with an inset of modern Africa for quick comparison. In short: a good book!
Julia Cameron,
a member of St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford;
Director of Publishing for The Lausanne Movement
