1870 - The reunion in the Presbyterian Church - Our transfer from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. THE year 1870 was a crisis in the history of the Syria Mission. It was also a crisis in my missionary life and cost me a severe struggle, especially on account of two events. The first was the transfer of our mission, in toto, with all its personnel and property from the American Board to the new Presbyterian Board, and the second was my election to the secretaryship of the new Board. For fifty years the mission had been under the American Board. From 1810 to 1837 the entire Presbyterian Church and the Dutch Reformed C…

What is religion? This question has puzzled theologians throughout human history. But how did religion start in the first place? Why did it start? In order to understand some of these issues, let us have a look at the etymology of the word “religion” itself, and see that when and where this word was used for the very first time in the human history.

The word religion was used for the very first time in the Latin language. The actual word used in Latin was “religio”, which changed into religion when came into English. The roots of the Arabic word “Mazhab” or “Deen” can also be traced back to “religio”. In the Latin language, the word “religio” had three basic meanings; which are Faith, Trust & Belief.

If you further analyse these three words, faith, trust and belief; then you realize that there are actually three different characteristics