Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present

by Robert Eric Frykenberg

Overview

Robert Frykenberg's insightful study explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it has focused upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India.

Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 A.D./C.E., and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian and Frykenberg provides a fascinating guide to its unique history and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199575831
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/05/2010
Series:	Oxford History of the Christian Church
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	600
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

Table of Contents

Preface1. Introduction2. Contextualizing Complexity, I: India's Lands, Peoples and Social Structures3. India's Dominant Religious Traditions: Santana and Dar-ul-Islam4. Thomas Christians and the Thomas Tradition5. Pfarangi Catholic Christians and Padroado Christendom6. Evangelical Christians as Missionary Dubashis: Conduits of Cross-Cultural Communication7. India's Raj and Its Political Logic: The Unification of India, A Southern Perspective8. Avarna Christians and Conversion Movements9. Missionaries, Colonialism and Ecclesiastical Dominion10. Indian Christians and Hindu Raj11. Elite Eductaion and Missionaries12. Catholic Renewal and Resurgence13. Trophies of Grace and Their Public Influence14. Adivasi Movements in the North East15. Conclusion and EpilogueBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Frykenberg succeeds wonderfully, with a book that is richly informative on countless aspects of Indian history quite apart from its contributions to Christianity." —Christian Century

"Writing a history of Christianity in India in a single volume, even a volume as large as this one, is a daunting task...This book faces those challenges head-on with considerable success. ...This is the best single-volume history of Christianity in India written so far.—International Bulletin of Missionary Research

"The breadth of [Frykenberg's] work is astounding." —Religious Studies Review

"[T]his monumental undertaking further brings to public view how ancient, large, variegated, and vibrant a tradition is Christianity in India today." —Church History

From the Publisher