THE CHURCH IN NORTH INDIA (original) (raw)
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Christian missions and northeast India
International journal of health sciences
The British colonized the India in eighteenth century and eventually control over the northeast region in the nineteenth century, the region inhabited basically by the Indigenous peoples, served to open doors to the region for the missionaries. The pioneer missionaries who came to Northeast India in the nineteenth century belonged to the American Baptist Foreign Mission and Welsh Presbyterian missions. It was a known fact that there was a working relation between the British colonial powers and Christian missions in Northeast India. Both the colonial power and missions held the "civilizing responsibility" as their shared goal. Therefore, the concern of the paper is to study the proliferation of Christianity and impact of Christian missionary activities on the people of Northeast India with special reference to the tribal society.
Changing Perceptions of Indian Christians in Independent India
1999
When we speak of Indian Christians or of the Indian Church we are not referring to any homogeneous or monolithic community, as such a community does not exist. There are various Church bodies and denominational groups spread out over the length and breadth of the country and each of these has its own genesis, history and characteristics. Thus, when we refer to the Indian Christian Community it must be understood in a broad 'umbrella' sense and must be nuanced accordingly.
The Witness of New Christian Movements in India
2004
This paper will focus on new Christian movements indigenous to India most of which are not well known to outsiders but are active, contextual and vibrant in witness. Indigenous Christianity which had significant growth in the twentieth century has roots in earlier attempts in Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. It includes the National Missionary Society and numerous other Indian initiatives. Asian incarnations of the gospel are found in historic as well as non-traditional Churches of several countries, but especially in India. Some of the independent Churches are perceived as deviant in theology or characterized by folk religious practices. Through their worship, practice and teaching many independent Churches respond to the day to day experience and grassroots culture of the people. Theirs is a vigorous expression of Christian faith and witness of the Spirit in Asia today. HISTORIC PRECEDENCE An indigenous Church is one rooted in the culture from which it grows. Indigenous Christian movements are those which arise from within the local context. Unfortunately in India not infrequently Christianity is erroniously perceived as a foreign religion, less than Indian. The examples which follow are demonstrations of what Lamin Sannah calls "the translatability of the Gospel" as well as authentic Indian incarnations of Christian faith. "Translatability is the source of the success of Christianity across cultures." 1 The earliest example of indigenous Christianity in India is found in the St. Thomas Christians of Malabar. Much has been written about the Thomas Christians. More research is needed. Since the Thomas Christians became "Syrianized" the picture is not entirely clear. The connection between the Church in India and Syrian-Persian Christianity began in the third or fourth century. Gradually the former became dependent on the latter so that "everything ecclesiastical in India was practically East-Syrian." While this preserved a strong Christian tradition, it "prevented the Church of India from developing an Indian Christian culture...." 2 The arrival of the Portuguese appears to have obliterated the earlier Malayalam traditions leaving only the Syriac forms. 3 The essential point is that this earliest Christianity is one of the ancient religions of India (as the late Prime Minister Nehru pointed out). Christianity in India therefore is not a foreign import (although the Thomas-figure might have been an outsider). Christianity was firmly planted in Indian soil long before it arrived in Northern Europe.
CHRISTIAN SANNYASIS AT THE EDGE BETWEEN (RELIGIOUS) MINORITY AND MAJORITY IN INDIA MATEJ KARÁSEK
Contested Minorities of the Middle East and Asia, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2018, 2018
The paper is based on the phenomenon of the Christian-Hindu encounter amongst the South Indian monk-ascetic ashram communities of Kurishumala and Shantivanam. These communities are significant for their “inculturation” of selected Hindu texts, philosophical viewpoints and religious practices to Christian contexts. However, the strategies of the “inculturation” of local religious customs to a Christian framework were quite common means of conversion amongst some missionaries already from the colonial era. After the Second Vatican council the representatives of the Catholic Church were officially called to spread the gospel in India with a systematic “Indianization” of Christianity. These new tendencies resulted in the “theology of fulfilment” and quest for the “seeds of the word” in the ancient scriptures of India and at the same time in the birth of the Christian Ashram Movement. The movement was established exclusively by several significant European missionaries who, as part of their “white man's burden”, studied the Hindu religion with the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of their missionary work but became deeply enchanted with the richness of Hindu scriptures and methods of religious practice. The influence of Hinduism was so strong that they developed a religious practice which is very similar to that of Hindu ascetics. Furthermore, they let their Indian followers in ashrams to share the interpretation of Christianity which is hardly acceptable for other Christian authorities in India and perhaps also for the ordinary Indian Christians. Thus the Christian Ashram Movement, as it were, built the bridges towards Hindu religion (and in some extreme cases has produced religious approaches hardly distinguishable from South Indian Hinduism) and at the same time built the walls which separate the movement from other Indian Christians. Since the extra-religious boundaries sometimes appear thinner than their intra-religious counterparts, the goal of this paper is to discuss the concepts of religious minority and majority within the contexts of the Christian ashram movement and to problematize the concept of boundaries among religious communities. Keywords: Christianity, Hinduism, Christian Ashram Movement; Inculturation, Majority-Minority Boundaries; Indianization of Christianity
Gospel Encounter with Subaltern India
2016
This work examines the role of religio-cultural resources in enabling the transformation of a broken community and people. In the context of nineteenth and twentieth century British India, an oppressed community in India set out to explore the possibility of challenging and redefining their own destiny. This oppressed section of Indians who lived in the margins of Indian caste defined society were considered socially and ritually polluting people and were subservient to various socioeconomic and religio-cultural biases. The daily life routine of this oppressed community, called the Sambavars (Pariahs) of the Malayalam speaking princely State of Travancore in South India, involved a despair and inferiority instilling encounter against hegemonic and fearful social and religio-cultural forces. However, in the churning socio-political period of twentieth century British India, a group of Malayalee Sambavars driven by their own critical consciousness took the initiative of approaching and inviting Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod missionaries working among their Tamil speaking kinsmen in Nagercoil on the southern tip of India. The ensuing chain of events ultimately culminated in the formation of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church in the state of Kerala, along the southwestern coast of India. By looking into the mission phase of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (called Missiouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission [MELIM] at that time) through the lens of gospelculture interaction, this dissertation attempts to unveil the mission story from the perspective of the oppressed people who initiated and formed the majority converts in the mission. This dissertation argues that the MELIM period saw an interesting cross-cultural interaction between the American Lutheran missionaries and the native converts. In the midst of enthusiasm, misunderstandings, disillusionment and suffering on both sides; the gospel was preached and the Lutheran Church established in the Malayalam lands. More importantly, this gospel-culture engagement triggered a latent native Lutheran theological reflection that resourcefully spoke to the concerns of native believers, providing them with hope and strength for a meaningful present and a blessed future. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This research project is an attempt to investigate how religion becomes a source of transformation for oppressed communities in India. It is mainly concerned with how the Christian message and practice, its theological categories and value system, contributed to the emancipation of a marginalized group of people living in the southern part of India. Set within a historical context of socio-political change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, this study seeks to analyze the gospel proclamation efforts of a Christianizing mission from America and its interactions with native converts who mainly came from the lowest strata of Indian society. Consequently, this study tries to document how the marginalized native converts reimagine and re-configure their own life as a result of the gospel penetrating their community living, which is many times not fully understood and appreciated by the missionary and mission institutions. Christian Conversion and Concerned Indians Christianity in India, even though a minority religion with just 2.3 percent of the total 1.21 billion people, has been seen as a subversive, destabilizing and de-nationalizing agent by many. 1 Historically, Indian Christianity has been identified with colonial British rule and especially with 1 According to the census conducted in 2011, India with a population of 1.21 billion and a growth rate of 1.41% is supposed to overtake China as the most populous country in the world by 2025. According to the 2001 census information, the religious affiliation of the people in India is listed as: Hindus (80.5%); Muslims (13.4%); Christians (2.3%); Sikh (1.85%); Buddhists (0.8%); Jains (0.4%); others (0.7%) and unspecified (0.1%). See,
Christian mission activities in India: The present scenario and missiological response
Today, the Church in India is facing a different trend. The existence of the Christianity is at stake. Many Christians in the country are compelled to question about their own and the country’s identity, which was known for its religious tolerance and peace. When the Christian life is deterred and challenged, the prospect of Christian missions is shrouded in mystery and clouds of uncertainty. This paper attempts to present the Christian mission activities in India: The present scenario and missiological response. Focusing on how Christian mission groups are concentrating their activities in tribal belt, why tribals and the backward classes are attracted to Christianity, and why Hindu groups oppose Christian missionary activities and a missiological response to the trend.
Eastern Journal of Dialogue and Culture, 2024
This paper compiles and analyses a few available data highlighting the life and culture of Indian Christians. It primarily focuses on how the Indian Christians have moulded their rituals and customs, thus internalizing Christianity in the Indian spirit. Such aspects of the nativisation of this religion become a telltale of their indigeneity. Thus, these facts straightaway counter the assertions made by people who consider Christianity to be a foreign religion. Besides, projecting the aspects of nativisation, the current paper also establishes the longstanding history of this religion in our country. Doing so, it upholds the identity of Indian Christians in the secular country. Apart from making claims, this paper also makes an appeal to the people to stop atrocities committed on a particular group of people for the sake of ethnic cleansing of the community.