Word: adaptive
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...field for religious work. She has a legacy of a rich religious past, and a mind trained in religious experiences. It is for the mission worker to supplement and fill out those same religious experiences by the teachings of Christianity. The Christian faith cannot be imposed. It must be adapted to the needs of the people for whom it is meant. This fundamental fact was recognized as far back as the time of Pope Gregory the Great who instructed Augustine to adapt his religious teachings to the understanding of the Britains among whom he was going...
...This is what the Fellowship of Reconciliation is trying to do. It unites a body of men and women from all countries of the world who share a common desire to see a better harmony in the social order. We feel that it is better to adapt ourselves to circumstances than to lay out our own program of what we think ought to come. The Fellowship is simply a movement to give encouragement and a chance for discussion to people with a common point of view, thus helping them in working out a new economic, social, and spiritual unity...
When questioned about the Japanese problem Bishop Brent said: "The Japanese now in the Islands number only about 5000. They do not like the tropical climate, and, unlike the Chinese, do not adapt themselves readily to unaccustomed conditions. Commercial supremacy, however, is their greatest desire, and doubtless they would like to seize the Islands, if the Americans withdrew. The well-known prowess of the natives in guerilla fighting would make such a conquest very difficult even if unhindered by the intervention of another power. Nevertheless, if independence were granted, it would be necessary to insure it by an international agreement...
China's problems arise in part from the peculiarities developed by her age-long isolation, and are in part due to a retarded effort to adapt her civilization to Western ideas. Consequently the problems of China are constantly shifting. There seem to be at least four fundamental national necessities that are outstanding and abiding...
...word, China's problems consist in a right-about-face. She has treasured stability, she has worshipped the past just as we have cherished change and have set our faces to the golden future. She must not be expected to adopt the West; but she must adapt the West to her own uses...