1st Edition

Christians and Missionaries in India Cross-Cultural Communication since 1500

Edited By Robert Eric Frykenberg Copyright 2003
    432 Pages
    by Routledge

    432 Pages
    by Routledge

    The assumption that Christianity in India is nothing more than a European, western, or colonial imposition is open to challenge. Those who now think and write about India are often not aware that Christianity is a non-western religion, that in India this has always been so, and that there are now more Christians in Africa and Asia than in the West. Recognizing that more understanding of the separate histories and cultures of the many Christian communities in India will be needed before a truly comprehensive history of Christianity in India can be written, this volume addresses particular aspects of cultural contact, with special reference to caste, conversion, and colonialism. Subjects addressed range from Sanskrit grammar to populist Pentecostalism, Urdu polemics and Tamil poetry.

    Chapter 1 Introduction: Dealing with Contested Definitions and Controversial Perspectives, ROBERT ERICFRYKENBERG; Chapter 2 Christians in India: An Historical Overview of Their Complex Origins, ROBERT ERICFRYKENBERG; Chapter 3 First European Missionaries on Sansdrit Grammar, IWONAMILEWSKA; Chapter 4 Country Priests, Catechists, and Schoolmasters as Culturall, ReligiouS, and Social Middlemen Context of the Tranquebar Mission, HEIKELIEBAU; Chapter 5 Tanjorey Tranquebar; and Halle: European Science and German Missionary Education in the Lives of Two Indian Intellectuals in the Early Nineteenth Century, INDIRA VISWANATHANPETERSON; Chapter 6 Christianity, Colonialism, and Hinduism in Kerala: Integration, Adaptation, or Confrontation?, CARSON PENELOPE; Chapter 7 Constructing “Hinduism”:The Impact of the Protestant Missionary Movement on Hindu Self-Understanding, GEOFFREY A.ODDIE; Chapter 8 Receding from Antiquity: Hindu Responses to Science and Christianity on the Margins of Empirey 1800–1850, RICHARD FOXYOUNG; Chapter 9 “Pillar of a New Faith”: Christianity in Late-Nineteenth-Century Punjab from the Perspective of a Convert from Islam, AVRIL A. POWELL; Chapter 10 Missionaries and Print Culture in Nineteenth-Century Assam: The Orunodoi Periodical of the American Baptist Mission, Marie Mageo Jeannette; Chapter 11 The Santals, Though Unable to Plan for Tomorrow, Should Be Converted by the Santals, CARRINMARINE, TAMBS-LYCHEMARINE; Chapter 12 Christian Missionaries and Orientalist Discourse: Illustrated by Materials on the Santals after 1855, PETER B.ANDERSEN, SUSANNEFOSS; Chapter 13 Glimpses of a Prominent Indian Christian Family of Tirunelveli and Madras, 1863–1906: Perspectives on Caste, Culture, and Conversi, E. M. JACKSON; Chapter 14 Social Mobilization among People Competing at the Bottom Level of Society: The Presence of Missions in Rural South India, ca. 1900–1950, GUNNELCEDERLÖF; Chapter 15 From Pentecostal Healing Evangelist to Kalki Avatar: The Remarkable Life of Paulaseer Lawrie, alias Shree Lahari Krishna (1921–1989)—A Contribution to the Understanding of New Religious Movements, MICHAEL BERGUNDER; Chapter 16 SIXTEEN Praising Baby Jesus in Iyecupiran Pillaittamil, PAULARICHMAN;

    Biography

    Robert Eric Frykenberg, Alaine Low

    'I commend this book both to those who know India well and would like to know more, and those beginning their encounter with Indian Christianity.' - Church Times

    'The quality of this volume is virtually guaranteed by its editor, Robert Frykenberg, one of the foremost living experts on the East India Company and British India. ... As with the editor, so with the contributors; the level of scholarship is uniformly high and the writing graceful.' - ANVIL

    'Each study in this book illustrates the complex and unexpected results of any intervention in another culture.' - Themelios

    'It is to be recommended as a colourful, scholarly and up-to-date introduction to the rich hisotry of cultural interaction which Indian Christianity embodies.' - Ecclesiastical History

    'The authors deserve our warm appreciation, for they have admirably enhanced our understanding of Christianity in India. Students of India and of Indian Christianity will find this remarkable volume very helpful indeed.' - Daniel Jeyaraj, Judson-DeFrietas Associate Professor of World Christianity, Andover Newton Theological School, Massachusetts