| Abstract: | At the turn of the twentieth century, the interest of American Protestant churches in foreign missions increased dramatically. “The evangelization of the world in this generation” became a powerful slogan and a new understanding of the Great Commission or the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, was among factors that “revolutionized American missionary movement.”1 This article presents the views on Islam of Rev. John G. Lansing from the New Brunswick Seminary of the Reformed Church of America,2 and suggests that Lansing changed the view that Islam is not approachable and awakened the imagination of his disciples concerning the land of Islam and its inhabitants as people to whom the words of the gospel should be addressed. Although the Arabian Mission established by Lansing in 1889 finally failed in ensuring mass conversions of Muslims, it did result in a great discovery of Islam by the missionaries. |
