Murray Thurston Titus

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Murray Thurston Titus (1885–1964) was an American Methodist missionary and scholar who worked in India to promote understanding between Christians and Muslims.

Life
Murray Thurston Titus was born in Batavia, Ohio. He joined the Methodist Church in childhood and married Olive Glasgow in 1910; the couple moved to India that year. In Lucknow, United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), Titus taught English, history, and philosophy at Reid Christian College. He was ordained in 1913 and began evangelical work in villages across the United Provinces and in Lahore (Punjab). In 1916 he became a district superintendent in the North India Conference. In 1941 he returned to Reid Christian College as principal. The Tituses returned to the United States in 1951, where he became a professor of comparative religion at a seminary in Westminster, Maryland. He died on October 31, 1964, in Elyria, Ohio.

Islamic studies
In 1911 Titus met Samuel Zwemer, which led him to study Islam. He believed there was a growing challenge to Christianity from Islam and sought to foster mutual understanding by encouraging missionaries and Indian Christians to learn about Islam. He helped found the Henry Martyn School for Islamic Studies in Lahore (now moved to Hyderabad). He served as convener and later secretary of the Committee on Work among Moslems of the National Christian Council of India, Burma and Ceylon, and represented the council at international missionary meetings. Titus was an associate editor of The Moslem World and co-edited the Religious Quest of India series, contributing Indian Islam (1930). He published The Young Moslem Looks at Life (1937), a book for Christian youths about Islam and the modern world. He also wrote Islam in India and Pakistan (1959).

Works
- Indian Islam: A Religious History of Islam in India (1930)
- The Young Moslem Looks at Life (1937)
- Islam in India and Pakistan (1959)