# John Merle Davis

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**John Merle Davis** (1875-1960) was an American missionary, who wrote as **J. Merle Davis**. He was a [YMCA](/source/YMCA) missionary in [Japan](/source/Japan), and an executive of the [International Missionary Council](/source/International_Missionary_Council) (IMC).[1][2]

## Life

John Merle Davis was born on 1 October 1875 in [Kyoto](/source/Kyoto), the son of American [Congregationalist](/source/Congregationalism_in_the_United_States) missionaries.[2] He graduated in 1899 from [Oberlin College](/source/Oberlin_College). He started doctoral studies in [Germany](/source/Germany), intending to return to Japan to teach. On the invitation of [John R. Mott](/source/John_R._Mott) he took charge of the new YMCA in [Nagasaki](/source/Nagasaki), later moving to the [Tokyo](/source/Tokyo) YMCA. In 1923-4 he investigated anti-Japanese feeling in [California](/source/California), leading to his involvement in the [Institute of Pacific Relations](/source/Institute_of_Pacific_Relations). In 1929 he became founding director of the IMC's Department of Economic and Social Research and Counsel, and worked there until retirement in 1949. He travelled extensively to visit new churches, and wrote reports on the [Copperbelt](/source/Copperbelt), [Sumatra](/source/Sumatra), the [Caribbean](/source/Caribbean) and [South America](/source/South_America).[1]

## Works

- *Modern industry and the African: an enquiry into the effect of the copper mines of Central Africa upon native society and the work of the Christian missions*, 1933
- *New Buildings on Old Foundations: A Handbook on Stabilizing the Younger Churches in Their Environment*, 1943
- *John Merle Davie: An Autobiography*, 1960

## References

1. Forman, Charles W. (1999). ["Davis, J(ohn) Merle"](https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA171). *Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions*. Gerald H. Anderson (ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.

1. Shenk, Wilbert R., [Davis, John Merle](http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_SIM_03447), in *Religion Past and Present*, 2006. ISBN 9789004146662. Online edition, 2011, accessed 6 October 2019.

## Further reading

- Fred Field Goodsell, 'Serenity Amid Labor: Observations Concerning the Life and Work of John Merle Davis, 1875-1960', *[International Review of Mission](/source/International_Review_of_Mission)*, Vol. 49, Issue 196, 1960, pp.443-5

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