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The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity
How did Christianity make its remarkable voyage from the Roman Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent? By examining the social networks that connected the ancient and late antique Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, central Asia, and Iran, this book contemplates the social relations that made such movement possible. It also analyzes how the narrative tradition regarding the apostle Judas Thomas, which originated in Upper Mesopotamia and accredited him with evangelizing India, traveled among the social networks of an interconnected late antique world. In this way, the book probes how the Thomas narrative shaped Mediterranean Christian beliefs regarding co-religionists in central Asia and India, impacted local Christian cultures, took shape in a variety of languages, and experienced transformation as it traveled from the Mediterranean to India, and back again.
- GenresHistory
316 pages, Paperback
Published October 28, 2021
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About the author
Nathanael J. Andrade
5 books2 followersNathanael Andrade is the history chair at Binghamton University (SUNY). He received his PhD in Greek and Roman history and has published extensively on the Roman and later Roman Near East, along with other topics. His books include Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World (Cambridge University Press, 2013); The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity: Networks and the Movement of Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2018); and Zenobia: Shooting Star of Palmyra (Oxford University Press, 2018), and The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity (2021)
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July 8, 2024
This is largely a book concerned with textual criticism of various early sources or purported of information on Christianity's spread to India, and with establishing normative movement trends from the Mediterranean to India in late antiquity. That is to say, with texts and trade. Of necessity, a good deal of time is spent examining The Acts of Thomas in its variant forms, as well as a variety of other surviving evidence, including Christian Topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes.
Andrade argues persuasively that there were direct Roman ties to India until the second century, that for several reasons these ties were severed until the fourth century, and that when they were re-established, concurrent with a significant Christian presence in the Roman/Mediterranean world, Christianity, and several legends about it, were already established in India.
Crucial to the discussion is the fact that ancient writers used the term "India" to refer not only to the subcontinent, but also to Arabia and Axum as well, so some critical care is needed to sort the meanings of primary documents.
Surprisingly, Andrade only mentions the Council of Diamper as an aside, though it is very likely directly responsible for a relative dearth of materials on the history of Christianity in India, as it resulted in the destruction of many historical documents among Thomas Christians by Catholic minders.
In the 1970s a debate emerged among evolutionary biologists as to whether evolution proceeded primarily by 'creeps' or by 'jerks"--that is incrementally, or by punctuated equilibrium, or periodic bursts. For Andrade, there seems to be no doubt that Christianity could only spread by 'creeps'--incrementally, through confirmed and established trade routes. Perhaps the greatest weakness in the book is this assumption--that a lack of historically confirmed trade routes means not one individual made such a trek. But he does his best making thorough analysis of surviving documents to draw textual conclusions as well. One point he makes very thoroughly: The Acts of Thomas cannot be trusted as historical information.
I came to this book while visiting Oxford, England. After returning to the states I began to read the book and realized the author teaches at Binghamton University, half an hour from my house. A fascinating trade route, indeed.
Andrade argues persuasively that there were direct Roman ties to India until the second century, that for several reasons these ties were severed until the fourth century, and that when they were re-established, concurrent with a significant Christian presence in the Roman/Mediterranean world, Christianity, and several legends about it, were already established in India.
Crucial to the discussion is the fact that ancient writers used the term "India" to refer not only to the subcontinent, but also to Arabia and Axum as well, so some critical care is needed to sort the meanings of primary documents.
Surprisingly, Andrade only mentions the Council of Diamper as an aside, though it is very likely directly responsible for a relative dearth of materials on the history of Christianity in India, as it resulted in the destruction of many historical documents among Thomas Christians by Catholic minders.
In the 1970s a debate emerged among evolutionary biologists as to whether evolution proceeded primarily by 'creeps' or by 'jerks"--that is incrementally, or by punctuated equilibrium, or periodic bursts. For Andrade, there seems to be no doubt that Christianity could only spread by 'creeps'--incrementally, through confirmed and established trade routes. Perhaps the greatest weakness in the book is this assumption--that a lack of historically confirmed trade routes means not one individual made such a trek. But he does his best making thorough analysis of surviving documents to draw textual conclusions as well. One point he makes very thoroughly: The Acts of Thomas cannot be trusted as historical information.
I came to this book while visiting Oxford, England. After returning to the states I began to read the book and realized the author teaches at Binghamton University, half an hour from my house. A fascinating trade route, indeed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review