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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]..."

A Brief Timeline of Daniel J. Gogerly

1792 Born in England
1817 Arrived in Ceylon, a printer and unordained Wesleyan missionary
1831 Began study of Pali 
1837 Preaches to Bhikkhus in Bentotte, debate Bentara, their priest
1848 Gogerly has a complete collection of the Pali Canon 
1848-1880 Ordained and assigned to �His own mission station at Dondra� 
1860 The period of the Buddhist Christian Controversy 
1862 Advent of Printing by Buddhists for polemical discourse
Death of Gogerly


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