DANIEL J. GOGERLY (1792-1862)
Gogerly and the Christian Buddhist Controversy
Although a widower four times, suffering from the exhaustion and pain of an undiagnosed illness, Gogerly's scholarship laid the foundation for serious Buddhist-Christian dialogue.
Up until his arrival in Sri Lana, the Buddhists dismissed Christians as ignorant of the truth of Buddhism.
After 14 years study of the Pali language, he wrote a serious apologetic questioning the Buddhist faith, whereby many monks came to Christ.
Wesleyan missionary to Sri Lanka, Spencer Hardy, wrote of Daniel Gogerly's apologetic work, "Nearly every religious movement in the different parts of the island (Sri Lanka) owes its origin to Gogerly's Christian Institute (Kristiyani Prajnapti). Rhys Davids, founder of the Pali Text Society, commended, Gogerly "For so much accuracy, so wide a range of knowledge, and such sound and sober judgment that his conclusions were far ahead of any previous writings on [the Buddhism of the Pali Canon]..."
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