Author: Roger E Hedlund
Editor(s): Roger E Hedlund
Publisher: ISPCK
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 463
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8172145616
Description
The 27 essays in Christianity is Indian: The Emergence of an Indigenous Community, written by established and emerging national and international scholars, are a most timely contribution to correct the popular notion that Christianity is a Western religion! When the message of Jesus Christ is presented to Indians in their life-context they understand, interpret and express in their own way by employing their cultural, social and religious categories. Thus the message of Jesus Christ becomes related to the life-situation of Indians. In this book we read that Sattampillai founded the Hindu-Christian Church of the Lord Jesus at Prakasapuram in 1857. N V Tilak and H A Krishnapallai made use of Christ! When Western missionaries communicated the message considered the local needs and aspirations of the people and paved the way for indigenous expression of Christianity. I am sure that the content of this thought provoking book with a great wealth of information meets the need of the time emphasizing that the Christianity in India is Indian. Every interested reader will be inspired to develop the model of study proposed in this book. Hence I recommend this book heartily to every one who wishes to know of the Indianness of Christianity in India.
This second title in the Series, Christianity Is India: The Emergence of an Indigenous Community, is the outcome of a conference on Indigenous Christian Movements conducted at St John’s Regional Seminary, Hyderabad, 27-31 October 1998. Funding for research leading to this publication was provided by the Research Enablement Program, a grant programme for scholarship supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and administered by the Overseas Ministers Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, U S A. Supplemental funding for the conference was provided by world Vision International.
Contents
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION:
Indigenous Christianity as a Field for Academic Research
-R E Hedlund
PART ONE: HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
Nationalist Stirrings in Tirunelvelly and at Madras.
The Indigenous Christian Spirituality of Narayan Vaman Tilak.
St Thomas Christians: The First Indigenous Church.
The Christian Movement in Bengal.
Dalitization and Indigenous Christianity among the Paraiyars.
Robert de Nobili: Indigenous Foreigner.
Sadhu Sundar Singh’s Contribution.
Gandhi, Andrews, Sundar Singh, and Christian Ashrams.
Missionary Approach to Culture: A Dalit Perspective.
Ministry of Compassion: D G S Dhinakaran, Christian Healer-Prophet from Tamilnadu.
PART TWO: NARRATIVES OF EMERGING MOVEMENTS
Pioneers of Indigeneity in Bengal.
Indigenous Origins in Central Tamil Nadu.
Indigenous Missions of India.
Indigenous Mission of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The Kanya Kumari Diocesan Missionary Prayer Band.
Indigenous Missions of the Savara Tribal Church of Srikakulam.
An Indian Urban Mission Response to the City.
Selected Indigenous Church Movements in Kerala.
Hyderabad City Indigenous Churches.
PART THREE: ACCOUNTS BY PARTICIPANTS AND OBSERVERS
The Bakht Singh Movement.
The Joshua Vision India Tentmaking Project.
Pentecostal Indigenous Movements in Andhra.
Indigenous Pentecostal Church Growth at Kolar.
Independent Churches at Kodaikanal.
The Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship.
The Ceylon Pentecostal Mission.
The Indian Pentecostal Church of God and its Indigenous Nature.
Conclusion: a Beginning, R E Hedund
Index