The Younger White Brother and the Golden Book
From "The Burma Baptist Chronicle-1963. The Boardmans were the first missionaries to focus on the Karen people. And Ko Tha Byu was the first Karen Christian and soon became a dedicated and effective evangelist. While this blog is intended to be “our” story, it doesn’t seem complete to talk about evangelism among the Karen people and not mention the story of the Younger White Brother and the Golden Book. This is truly a Karen story though, so I will just give an introduction. If interested in more detail, it would be best to consult a Karen source as suggested below. The Karen languages (yes, there are several dialects) were not put in writing until Baptist missionaries came on the scene in the 1800s. Prior to that time, and likely even until today to some extent, Karen history was recorded and recalled orally. Specifically, there were a series of lengthy poems called “Tahs”. Certain people in the village that were gifted with the ability to remember, recall and recite the...
