Jansz, Pieter (1820-1904)

Pieter Jansz, the first missionary of the Dutch Mennonite Missionary Association at Amsterdam, was born 25 September 1820, in Holland, taught at Delft until 1851, when he was sent to the mission in Java (May 1851). At first he took a position as tutor on the estate of an Armenian, and there carried on evangelization; in 1854 he settled in Japara. After two and one-half years of work he baptized the first five natives. Slowly with great difficulty the work expanded. The mission stations Kedung-Pendjalin and Bondo were opened.  In 1875 he wrote a booklet, Landontginning en Evangelisatie op Java, in which he suggested that Christian settlements be established, because young Christians living among Muslims were always in danger of losing their Christian principles, for in Muslim villages religious and social life were closely interwoven. The Dutch Missionary Association, however, did not at this time accept this proposal.

In 1881 Jansz resigned from the work on account of ill health, giving it over to his son Pieter A. Jansz, and entered the employment of the London Bible Society; in 1888 he published the New Testament in Javanese, and in 1892 the Old Testament. In 1895 he published the second edition of the whole Bible, as well as several Javanese readers and a very valuable Javanese dictionary in two volumes, with the titles Practisch Nederlandsch-Javaansch Woordenboek and Practisch Javaansch - Nederlandsch Woordenboek, both published at The Hague. These literary efforts won him the distinction of the Order of the Knight of the Dutch Lion. The last years of bis life (1902-1904) he spent at Kaju-Apu (q.v.), at the home of his son-in-law, missionary Johann Fast, where he died 6 June 1904.

Bibliography

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1885): 59, 61-63; (1886): 73, 82, 85; (1887): 41 f.; (1891): 31; (1892): 37, 39, 411; (1904): 236 f.

Doopsgezinde Zendingsvereeniging. Uit verleden en heden van de Doopsgezinde zending: jubileum-uitgave van de Doopsgezinde Zendings-Vereniging 1847-1947. Amsterdam: Doopsgezinde Zendings-Vereniging, 1947: 12-18.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 392.

Visscher, H. and L. A. van Langeraad. Het protestantsche vaderland: biographisch woordenboek van protestantsche godgeleerden in Nederland, 8 vols. Utrecht, 1903-1918: 527-529.

Author(s)	Christian Neff
Date Published	1957

Cite This Article

MLA style

Neff, Christian. "Jansz, Pieter (1820-1904)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jansz,_Pieter_(1820-1904)&oldid=117782.

APA style

Neff, Christian. (1957). Jansz, Pieter (1820-1904). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Jansz,_Pieter_(1820-1904)&oldid=117782.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 94. All rights reserved.

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