James Douglas Gordon (1832 – 7 March 1872) was a Scottish-Canadian missionary to the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

(now

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

). Gordon was born in

Alberton, Prince Edward Island Alberton is a Canadian town located in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It is situated in the western part of the county in the township of Lot 5, Prince Edward Island, Lot 5. Alberton is a service cen ...

, the younger brother of

George N. Gordon George Nicol Gordon (April 21, 1822 – May 20, 1861) was a Protestant Canadian missionary to the Pacific Islands. Due to the murder of Gordon and his wife, Ellen (1833 - May 20, 1861), they are considered by many to be martyrs of modern times ...

. James followed his brother to

Erromango Erromango is the fourth largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago. With a land area of , it is the largest island in Tafea Province, the southernmost of Vanuatu's six administrative regions. Name The endonym for Erromango in Erromangan is ''Ne ...

after the latter was martyred in 1861. Gordon arrived in the New Hebrides in 1864, and served as a missionary with the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces and then the

Presbyterian Church of New South Wales The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA), founded in 1901, is the largest Presbyterian and Reformed denomination in Australia. The PCA is the largest conservative, evangelical and complementarian Christian denomination in Australia. The Presby ...

before becoming an independent missionary in 1870.Gordon, James Douglas

Dictionary of Canadian Biography The ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (''DCB''; ) is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The ''DCB'', which was initiated in 1959, is a collaboration between the University of Toro ...

. He translated the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

and the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

into the

Erromanga language Erromangan, or Sie (Sye), is the primary language spoken on the island Erromango in the Tafea region of the Vanuatu islands. The other Erromanga languages are either moribund or extinct. Although the island is quite large (887 km2), the tot ...

. Gordon was killed by a native man in 1872. He is usually regarded as a

Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person who was killed for their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In the years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake, or ...

. A. K. Langridge called him "a man of tremendous energy and force of character." J. Graham Miller suggests that "few missionaries have so soon won the hearts of the heathen as James Gordon." Miller notes, however, that Gordon was a loner, and that his move toward a dispensational view of

biblical prophecy Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Jews and Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations fr ...

"increased his sense of isolation" from his missionary colleagues.Miller, ''Live, Volume 2'', p. 58.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, James Douglas 1832 births 1872 deaths Canadian Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Vanuatu Canadian Presbyterians 19th-century Protestant martyrs Canadian people murdered abroad People murdered in Vanuatu People from Alberton, Prince Edward Island Canadian people of Scottish descent Translators of the Bible into Oceanic languages 19th-century Scottish translators Canadian expatriates in Vanuatu British missionary linguists Canadian missionary linguists