Using impressive sources, including archival materials and interviews with Burmese Christians, Edward Jarvis has woven a seamless, engaging, and refreshing account that chronologically explores a long history of the Anglican Church in Burma. After navigating diligently how the Burmese Anglicans painfully endured and outlived arduous trials and quandaries before and after Burma became independent in 1948, he writes, “Far from being a decaying relic of empire, the Anglican Church in Burma has found and continues to nourish its own unique and vibrant identity” (3). This argument must be observed and understood against the backdrop of Burman nationalists, historians, and politicians characterizing Christianity as a religion of the invaders and colonizers and accusing Christians of being unpatriotic and anti-nationalist.

Jarvis discusses the advent of Christianity in SE Asia, analyzes the complex interplay between politics and Christian missions, and looks into difficulties facing missionaries, stressing the importance of native cultures and beliefs for missions and evangelization (chapter 1). He shifts his attention to the history of Anglican mission in Burma by probing into the converging and diverging purposes of British colonialists and Anglican missionaries and by displaying how Burmese Buddhists perceived missionaries as ethnic minorities (chapter 2). In chapter 3, Jarvis tells the story of the Anglican Church evangelizing people from various religions, ethnicities, cultures, and languages in British Burma. Chapter 4 discusses the emerging rise of Buddhist nationalism, the growing success of mission work among minorities, and the remarkable mission education of the early 20^th century. In chapter 5, Jarvis explores how the Japanese invasion of Burma during WWII negatively affected Burmese churches, and especially the Anglican mission.

Chapter 6 captures the core of Burmese endurance in the midst of challenges and lost opportunities, as Jarvis digs into why Burma became cursed, not prosperous and peaceful, after independence and describes how that destructively impacted the church. He then analyzes the role of local religious elements like spirit worship in the context of the mission endeavor, why minorities accepted Christianity, and how Christianity has become their identity against resurgent Buddhist nationalism and identity politics (chapter 7). In chapter 8, he aptly explores how contemporary Burmese Christians, including the Anglicans, address public issues, remake the church in a Burmese way, and become a part of world Christianity, adding that Burmese Anglicans (and actually most Burmese Christians) are theologically conservative.

The factors below make this book the basic reference work for students, scholars, historians, missionaries, and church leaders keenly interested in Burmese studies, mission history, world Christianity, and church history for many years to come. Jarvis retrieves the neglected, if not unloved, story of the missionary contribution to Burma, especially mission schools, which educated some of the most influential Burmese politicians, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and more during and after British rule, highlighting a remarkable role of missionaries in Burmese history. His balanced work confirms that education has always historically been crowned in Christianity, and advancing it remains indispensable to mission work in Burma and elsewhere. In highlighting the importance of Christianity for ethnic minorities historically, politically, and socially, Jarvis asserts that Christianity has been immensely popular among upland people like the Chin, Kachin, and Karen (133) who still practiced their cosmic religion before the arrival of missionaries and their newly adopted religion has modernized them, maintained their distance from the Burmese, and become intertwined with their identity.

Moreover, what makes this work important for those interested in Burmese studies is Jarvis' vast knowledge about Burmese political history. Aung San, independence hero and the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and leaders of the Chin, Kachin, and Shan, who preserved their independence before British invasion, negotiated and signed the Panglong Agreement in 1947, which laid down the groundwork for the federal union of modern Burma (121). Burman failure to respect and implement the terms of this historic agreement (equality, autonomy, and self-determination for minorities) has shattered Burma since, and reclaiming it is crucial to enduring prosperity and peace. He also maintains that U Nu—who declared Buddhism the state religion and radicalized the Kachin and Chin—and Gen. Ne Win—who seized power in 1962, expelled foreign missionaries, and nationalized mission schools and hospitals—distorted Buddhism, promoted exclusive nationalism, and excluded minorities. Tribal loyalty and religious nationalism (also known as Burmanization) have cursed Burma, and a more diverse, plural, equal, and prosperous future is crucial.

Jarvis, after all, tells his readers about the fascinating story of Burmese Christians remaking the church according to their own context, flourishing as a vibrant community in mainstream Burmese society, theologizing for their unique setting, and actively taking part in the broader community of the global church after the colonialists and missionaries left Burma. Contesting the popular narrative that Christians are basically the followers of the colonizers, Jarvis contends that contemporary Christians are seeking to “decolonize” their religion (146). His argument is endlessly true. We, the Chin, for instance, profoundly feel Christianity is our religion, and that you can't understand the Chin people without understanding Christianity. Christians represented about 2 percent of Burma's population when missionaries left, but made up 6.2 percent of national population according to the 2014 census, which is suspected of underrating the strength of minorities.

This work, however, lacks the historical background of the Karen insurgency against the state, which marked the Burmanization of the military with enormous ramifications for the Burmese (112). That story will certainly help Jarvis' readers less familiar with Burmese history to better understand why the Karen started the longest civil war in the world. Jarvis should also have included more stories and accounts about the Baptists, who represent the vast majority of Burmese Christians, though his work is, indeed, about the Anglicans. Overall, his work is, however, a definitive and masterful documentary history, and I highly recommend it to students and scholars in the fields of church history, world Christianity, and Burmese studies. It must be added that Jarvis will make the junta and Burman nationalists angry, but that is the power of his penetrating work.