Indian Christianity

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HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN CHAPTER SIXTEEN NORTHERN INDIA In the earlier chapters we have concentrated mainly onto the development of Christianity in the Malabar Coast after the Mahabali Period. This is because the Malabar coast had direct connection with the Churches in the Greco Roman world - the Roman and the Antiochian tradition. Soon after the seperation of the Nasranis of Malankara and the two sects -Saivites and Vaishnavites - who were apostazised under the influence of the Mani of Syria and later Gnostic sages of India. As a result the gap between the two became large enough to form distinct religions. The latter merging with other local religons formed the Hindu religons. They were not yet considered as a single religion until the time of British. While the coming of the Syrian Christian immigrants from Syria to Kerala made the Christianity in this area as the Syrian Christians since the form of worship and traditions were all borrowed from Syrians. After another ten centuries following Islamic invasions, came the Colonial invasions. These opened up a large influx of foreigners for trade and openned up an influx of Christian missions - Portugese, French, Dutch and finally the English. Since these people could not recognize the religion of the rest of India, they classified them under three head - Christians, Islam and all the rest as Hinduism. Even though they were woshipping all sorts of different gods, they were all clubbed together as Hinduism as a complex religion. This suited the Hindu people in that it gave them a new identity. The theology of OM, the Upanishads and the Sanatana Dharma became the identity of Hinduism and no more connected to the Christianity. Several Christian missionaries and other evangelists reached India along with the colonising capitalism. The missionary methods usually followed the "Mission compound method." In this method the missionaries remained exclusively alien and lived in their own culture within the compound and preached reaching out side. Cultural barriers meant that those who came in faith transformed and immitated the culture of the missionaries. In fact this is what happenned in Malankara where the living style, worship method and liturgy followed the Syrians. When the Roman Catholics came they brought with their faith, their ways of worship and living style. When the Reformation missions came they brought with them their ways of worship and living style. Of course eventually there would be a mixing up of cultures. A better way of mission is the "Immersion" method where the missionary immerses himself in the culture where the message is to be delivered. In this method the language and forms and symbols of the local culture is employed. One effective method of interaction was being actively involved in educational , health and social reformation in the country. This method takes a long time to effectively transmit the faith. As such we can see large number of Christian Institutions of Education and Hospitals and Clinics established by the 220
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN missionaries wherever went. Until recently almost all institutions of higher educations were run by Christian churches in India. In fact the association is so strong that Schools are called Pallikoodam (gathering in Church) as they were originally part of the church buildings. The faith is communicated to the hearers only in the language of the hearers. This is why the missionaries had to speak the language of the country into which they enter. This is why the Bible is translated into the language of the culture. Apart from that communication is effected through the signs and symbols that have meaning only within the context of the culture. In this chapter we look at the effect of this type of immersion missions in the rest of India in an attempt to reclaim India for Christ. One such involvement to communicate within the Indian culture was the many Christian Ashram Movement. MISSION HEAD HUNTERS In the north eastern states of India a very large number of people belonging to the local tribes converted into Christianity. Majority of people in the states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram are now Christians. At the same time they retain their tribal beliefs and customs. 221
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Kolla Varsham (Malayalam Era) HISTO
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1321 Friar Odoric of Pordenone HIST
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Indian Christianity

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