Lewis Hodous
Encyclopedia
Lewis Hodous ' onMouseout='HidePop("9471")' href="/topics/Pinyin">Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Hé Lèyì; Foochow Romanized: Hò̤ Lŏk-ék; December 31, 1872 - August 9, 1949) was an American Board
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, educator, Sinologist and Buddhologist.
Life
Lewis Hodous was born on December 31, 1872 in Vesec, BohemiaKingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
and migrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his parents in 1882. He graduated from Cleveland High School in 1893, from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1897 and Hartford Theological Seminary in 1900, and studied one year at the University of Halle in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Hodous was ordained as a Congregational preacher on September 18, 1901 at Bethlehem Church in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
and was later sent to the mission field of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
with his newly wedded wife Anna Jelinek. They embarked from San Francisco on November 16 and arrived in Foochow (today Fuzhou) on December 18. From 1901 to 1917 Hodous labored as a missionary under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
(ABCFM) in Foochow, during which time he also carried out careful studies on Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and the Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion or Shenism , which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups for most of the civilization's history until today...
. He served in Ponasang (保福山) from 1901 to 1904, teaching at the mission's theological seminary, and was president of Foochow Theological Seminary from 1902 to 1912. During the Hsinhai Revolution in 1911 he served with Chinese Red Cross. He was president of the Foochow Union Theological School from 1914 to 1917.
Hodous returned from the mission field in 1917 and arrived home on October 31. From 1917 to 1945 Hodous was professor of Chinese culture at the Kennedy School of Missions of Hartford Seminary Foundation, and from 1928 to 1941 professor of history and philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...
at the seminary. During the Second World War Hodous also worked as a translator for the U.S. Government.
Hodous died on August 9, 1949 in Mount Hermon, Massachusetts while in retirement.
Selected works
- ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
translation of Edward L. Thorndike's Principles of Teaching: Based on Psychology (1918) - Buddhism and Buddhists in China (1924)
- Folkways in China (1929)
- Careers for Students of Chinese Language and Civilization (1933)
- A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index (1937, with William Edward SoothillWilliam Edward SoothillWilliam Edward Soothill was a Methodist missionary to China who later became Professor of Chinese at Oxford University and a leading British sinologist.Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in January 1861, Soothill matriculated at London University...
)
External links
- Porter, Lucius Chapin (1950): LEWIS HODOUS, DECEMBER 31, 1872—AUGUST 9, 1949