Summary
Summary of The Book of Missionary Heroes
The Book of Missionary Heroes at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 4 h 20 min3 h 25 min fast, 5 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 61,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1922by Basil Mathews
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Book of Missionary Heroes, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
Key ideas
Key idea 1
The light passes between people
At the Isthmian Games near Corinth, runners wait with burning torches, each ready to hand a flame to the next. Basil Mathews makes this relay the image that holds his missionary stories together. Faith travels because someone receives it and then carries it onward.
From Paul on a Roman road to a nurse in the Great War, the people in these tales cross continents and oceans. Storms, chases and arrows give their journeys the shape of adventures, while the passing flame gives them a shared purpose.
Key idea 2
Courage reaches across a prison door
In Philippi, Paul frees a slave girl from a spirit, costing her owners their income.
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Kindness begins with feeding hungry people
Wilfrid first meets the people of Sussex when a gale drives his ship toward their beach.
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Lull must first rule himself
Raymund Lull believes swords have failed and imagines reaching North Africa through arguments, love and prayer.
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Francis chooses peace over conquest
Francis of Assisi leaves behind fine clothes, parties and his father's wealth to live as a poor friar.
Start free to read
Key idea 6
A teacher chooses to stay
The Duff carries missionaries, skilled workers and children toward the South Seas.
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Trust grows through brave acts
In Papua, James Chalmers, known as Tamate, approaches a village where warriors aim arrows at his launch.
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Useful skills become acts of service
Alexander Mackay's interest in engines and forges becomes central to his work in Uganda.
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Each journey carries the flame onward
The relay connects people whose lives otherwise look very different: Paul, Wilfrid, Lull, Francis, island teachers in the Pacific, Livingstone and his followers in Africa, and travelers in western Asia.
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest free
Who it’s for
You will love this book if you enjoy true adventure, sea voyages and desert crossings, or stories of single people making brave choices.
What this book is
Picture a stadium two thousand years ago. Thirty thousand Greeks crowd the Isthmian Games near Corinth to watch a relay. Runners with burning torches wait in rows, and each hands his flame to the next. The Greeks made a proverb of it: let those who have the light pass it on.
Basil Mathews takes that image as the frame for The Book of Missionary Heroes. He tells true stories of men and women who carried the Christian faith across continents and oceans, from Paul on a Roman road to a nurse in the Great War. He tells them like campfire tales, full of storms, chases and arrows.
In this summary
- 1The light passes between peopleFree
- 2Courage reaches across a prison door
- 3Kindness begins with feeding hungry people
- 4Lull must first rule himself
- 5Francis chooses peace over conquest
- 6A teacher chooses to stay
- 7Trust grows through brave acts
- 8Useful skills become acts of service
- 9Each journey carries the flame onward
Paul carries the first torch across the sea
The book begins with Paul. Three travelers walk a Roman road in Asia Minor: Paul, Silas and a young man named Timothy. At the port of Troy they meet a doctor named Luke, and Paul tells how a blinding light on the road to Damascus changed him from a persecutor into a messenger.
One night Paul dreams of a man pleading for help from across the water. The friends agree it is a call, and they board a small coastal ship. They sail over the Aegean and land at Neapolis, then walk to Philippi.
The call matters because it moves the story from Asia into Europe. Mathews sees the flame passing from East to West, and every person in the chain received a light from someone else.
A call to go somewhere hard can come in the middle of an ordinary night, and the first step is to board the ship.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Check yourself
What image connects the missionary stories?
Right. “The Book of Missionary Heroes is built like a relay.”Not quite. “The Book of Missionary Heroes is built like a relay.”
What does Lull realize he must learn before trying to change others?
Right. “While he heals, Lull sees that he has learned a language but not the first lesson of his plan, which is to rule himself.”Not quite. “While he heals, Lull sees that he has learned a language but not the first lesson of his plan, which is to rule himself.”
Why does Francis approach the Sultan differently from the Crusaders?
Right. “He wants to win people, not defeat them.”Not quite. “He wants to win people, not defeat them.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Book of Missionary Heroes
About 4 h 30 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 61,600 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 20 min
Questions about The Book of Missionary Heroes
What is The Book of Missionary Heroes about?
It collects true stories of Christian missionaries, from Paul in the first century to workers in the Pacific, Africa, Arabia and the Near East in the early twentieth century, told as adventure tales about courage and faith.
Who are the main people in The Book of Missionary Heroes?
The chapters feature Paul, Wilfrid, Raymund Lull, Francis of Assisi, John Williams, Kapiolani, Bishop Patteson, James Chalmers, David Livingstone, Khama, Alexander Mackay, Mary Slessor, Henry Martyn and Archibald Forder.
What does the torch and relay race mean in this book?
The relay race is a Greek image the author uses to show how faith is passed from one generation of heroes to the next, and how readers can pick up the torch in their turn.
Are the stories in this book true?
Mathews says every story is historically true. They are drawn from the lives of real people, and he tells them as campfire tales in a lively and vivid way that is easy to follow.
Is The Book of Missionary Heroes easy to read?
Yes, the chapters offer distinct missionary adventures, often following their central figures through several vivid scenes. The plain, energetic style makes it easy to dip into one story at a time.
Cite this edition
Mathews, Basil. The Book of Missionary Heroes. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-missionary-heroes.
Mathews, B. (2026). The book of missionary heroes. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-missionary-heroes (Original work published 1922)
Mathews, Basil. The Book of Missionary Heroes. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-missionary-heroes.
@book{mathews2026book,
author = {Mathews, Basil},
title = {The Book of Missionary Heroes},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-missionary-heroes},
note = {First published 1922}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Book of Missionary Heroes, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
