This paper explores the notion of personal missionary presence as the determining factor in interreligious encounters and relationships. The attitude and conduct of a missionary in relationship with potential and actual converts greatly influences their response to that missionary's teachings. In turn, the converts’ overall understanding (or misunderstanding) of the missionary's faith is shaped by the conduct of the missionary. To illustrate this proposition, the article discusses the vocation of Max Warren (1904–77), one of the most influential British missiologists of the twentieth century. Warren, a son of British missionaries, was brought up for the first eight years of his life in India, where his parents lived in the service of the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS). He studied at Cambridge University and later served as a missionary under the CMS in Nigeria (1927–8). After many years as Vicar in Winchester and Cambridge, he was appointed General Secretary of the CMS (1942–63). These two decades were a period of great transition when the British Empire was dismantled, with former colonies and protectorates becoming sovereign nations. The Church of England was closely linked with the British Empire, and it was difficult for British missionaries to distance themselves from it. Warren struggled with the challenge of proclaiming the Christian faith while keeping a ‘critical distance’ from the Empire he served. He initiated the ‘Christian Presence’ series of books published by the SCM Press between 1959 and 1966, focusing on African Religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Secularism and Shinto. The books were authored by Europeans and intended for European readership. This paper concludes that effective dialogue across religious and cultural traditions is possible only when the parties involved have mutual respect and reciprocal treatment between each other. Such conditions have not prevailed, owing to Western missionary patronage and condescension towards peoples of other faiths and cultures.
