Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present

Oxford History of the Christian Church

by Robert Eric Frykenberg

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 culture.

Genres: History, Christianity, Church History, India

600 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2008

About the author

Emeritus professor University of Wisconsin-Madison

Reviews

[Revanth Ukkalam]

This book is a superbly extensive history of Christianity (and Indian Christianity) from the landing of St. Thomas in India all the way to today and the crises that Christian minorities face in the moment of Hindu Nationalist wrath. However it was written largely for a foreign audience hence the first two chapters on India while being surprisingly succinct and yet, intelligible, clearly also suffer from the lack of nuance at places. On the other hand, since the audience also happens to be Western and hence predominantly Christian, the religion is somewhat taken to be the standard. The book becomes then the history largely of one missionary activity after the other, with sympathy on the side of most of them except some of the aggressive Jesuit movements (after all the author is a missionary himself). In itself, this is not fully the problem and can largely be entertained. However the book takes an extremely microscopic view - each converted community is a unit in itself and hence is seen pretty much as an isolated organism from an overwhelming Hindu majority (and a powerful and radical Muslim minority). This means that the social relations of Christians with others is not sufficiently engaged with. And all the new Christians are simply Christians for the most part and lack gradient. Do they prefer some Hindus over the others? What were their ways of worship like? If one consequence is that there is an overall lack of colour in the painting of Indian Christianity, the relations with other religions including the violent reaction to the other two religions mediated by politics is altogether ignored. I am of course thinking of the Goan Inquisition, whose impact on Hindus and Muslims virtually goes unnoticed in this book. It is discussed once again in relation to the original Thomas Christians. A new edition is waiting to be written by rightful and equally erudite successor.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extensive and somewhat comprehensive historical look at Christianity in India, although there seems to be a consistent anti-Catholic / pro-Protestant bias throughout. Frykenberg effectively describes the history, although the evaluation is inconsistent in both its usefulness and occurrence. While the author acknowledges in the introduction that he is focused only on India, neglecting Christianity in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh (among other parts of the region), some further exploration of the effects and history of Christianity in these countries would have been helpful to understand the broader context.