Indian Church History

Christian Tamil kirtans have a history of about two centuries from the beginning in the time of Vedanayakam Sastriyar till today. The trend of Tamil literature, Tamil culture Tamil music became part of Christianity. Innumerable Christian hymn poets have composed songs based on these Tamil musical forms. As the Tamil language has seen various changes in every period, it is not surprising that it is difficult for today's Christians to know and understand the situation, education, and language of that time. Church Music Traditions Knowing the True God, Teachings of Jesus, Repentance from Sin, and Attainment of Heavenly Exaltation. Based on these Reformation principles, the early church was introduced to hymns in two different musical traditions. One is Gnanpadals or Pamalais based on Western music tradition and the other is Kirtana Padals based on Tamilisai which is an Indian music tradition. The origin of Western music belongs to Europe and this music developed in the years 1750-1830. Western polyphonic music opera is based on song and symphony music forms. Genres of Indian music are Hindustani music, Carnatic music, Dhrupat, Ghazal, Thumpi, Bhajan, Subi, Kawali, Folk Music, Kashmiri Music, Rajasthani Music, and so on. Among these musical forms, Tamil Christian kirthanai is found in Tamilisai, which is complex and elegant with ragas and rhythms. Kirtanai-refrain Anupallavi and Charana are composed of three parts with ragam and talaam as kirtanas. In order for the new Christians to learn about Jesus Christ, his teachings, and Christian moral principles, they composed songs in a simple and easy-to-understand way for the laypeople of that day, arranging words and music.

This article introduces the life and legacy of the pioneering Free Methodist missionaries to India-Phebe Ward (1950-1910) and her husband Ernest Ward (1953-1937). The Wards worked in central India during 1881-1927. Evangelism and social work went hand in hand in their ministry. Their central message was Christian holiness.

This paper presents a comprehensive historical analysis of the origins and development of Protestant Christian missions in India, beginning with the Danish-Halle Mission and culminating in the influential Serampore Mission. The Danish-Halle Mission, initiated by Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plütschau in 1706 at Tranquebar under Danish patronage, marked the beginning of Protestant evangelism in India. The missionaries prioritized language acquisition, indigenous adaptation of worship, and social reforms. Ziegenbalg’s emphasis on indigenization, evident in Tamil hymnody, contextualized weddings, funerals, and clothing, reflected a pioneering missiological method that laid the foundation for a localized Indian Church. Later, Christian Friedrich Schwartz expanded the mission’s impact through his linguistic skills, relationship with native rulers, and educational work.

The Serampore Mission, led by William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward—the "Serampore Trio"—further advanced this mission through a holistic approach combining evangelism with education, social reform, and translation. Their work included the establishment of Serampore College (chartered by the Danish king), Bible translation into multiple Indian languages, and advocacy against harmful practices such as sati and infanticide. The paper evaluates the complex interconnection between colonialism and mission, recognizing the undeniable role colonial structures played in the spread of Protestant Christianity in India. Overall, the paper underscores the enduring legacy of these early missions in shaping Indian Christianity, particularly through indigenization, education, and socio-cultural engagement.

The early 20th century was a period when the nationalist movement spread rapidly and widely across the Indian sub-continent. There was an increased awareness of the implications of British rule, a growing restlessness with the coercive power of the state and the apathy of the local elite, and an eagerness to delineate the objectives and course of nationalist struggle. This was also the time when nationalism tended to increasingly and explicitly pander to consolidated Hinduism, placing Indian Christians and other minority religious groups in an ambiguous position. The dilemma that the Indian Christians faced was as follows: the prevailing nationalist sentiment decried the European and American missionaries as purveyors of colonial domination, and tended to portray Christianity as a 'foreign' religion that was opposed to 'national' interest, wherein onus was increasingly put on the Indian Christians to prove their nationalist credentials. Meanwhile, Indian Christians, especially the educated ones, were increasingly becoming weary of the colonial attitude and racial politics prevalent in missionary work and church administration. They were keen to assert their independence and identify with the struggles of their countrymen, but without severing the close association they already had with churches and missionary societies across the world. In resolving this dilemma, the Indian Ecumenists articulated a sense of being and becoming 'Indian' that was in consonance with the humanist and social reformist tradition of 19th Century India as well as the intellectual departures set in motion by Gandhi, Tagore and others at the time. It was one that conceived India as an organic 'civilizational entity' rather than a 'nation'-'that aspect which a population assumes when organised for a mechanical purpose' (Tagore, 1917); and as having a distinct identity of her own, which is essentially plural, as well as remaining open to people, cultures and ideas from other parts of the world. It was also one that prioritized the moral imperative to work towards 'elevating' people and communities from their dehumanised existence and restoring them with dignity and self-respect just as Christ did.

St. Joseph's Pontifical Seminary, Mangalapuzha , which now celebrates 90 th year of its institutional existence, has been continuing the long thread of institutionalized priestly training tradition in India in general and Kerala in particular and has been serving as a "nursery" for grooming spiritual leaders equipped with updated skills and capabilities to address the multiple socio-cultural and economic issues, concerns and requirements of their parishes in evolving modern Kerala. A large collectivity of priests it had produced over years were not only carriers of spiritual-cum-theological traditions and legacies of the seminary to the terrains of their pastoral care, but also catalysts of socioeconomic and cultural change in the localities they worked and the cumulative impact of their locality-specific interventions helped to contribute significantly, but collectively, to the shaping of the content of what we now call as ' modern Kerala'.

This book exposes the discrimination suffered by Pandur Dalits in Tamil Nadu and how the Leipig Evangelical Missionaries helped them to overcome their situations by starting up the Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission (LELM) in Pandur near Chennai.

The German and Swedish Lutheran Mission was a major and pioneering Protestant mission society that started its mission work in Tamil Nadu. The Halle Danish, Leipzig mission, and Church of Sweden mission societies had a larger mission field in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Christians are intimately associated with the German Lutheran Mission and Swedish Mission. The first German Lutheran missionaries, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau, came to India in 1706. From then on, many Lutheran missionaries came to Tamil Nadu. Afterwards Tamil Nadu became a thriving Christian center for decades, with a strong Christian congregation, church, and several institutions. The majority of these Christians are descendants of Dalits (former untouchable Paraiyars) and Kallars who embraced Christianity. From a life of near slavery, poverty, illiteracy, oppression, and indignity, conversion to Christianity transformed the lives of these people. Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Dalits and Kallars found liberation and have made significant progress because of the Christian missionaries of the Church of the German and Swedish Mission. Both the German and Swedish Mission offered the Gospel of a new religion to not only the subaltern people but also the possibility of secular salvation. The history of Lutherans needs to be understood as a part of Christian subaltern history (Analysing the Indian mission history from the native perspective). My paper will mainly focus on Tamil Lutheran Dalit and Kallar Christians. In this paper, I propose to elucidate the role of German and Swedish Lutheran missionaries in the social, economic, educational, and spiritual life of Tamil Lutheran Dalits and Kallars. Due to the page limit, I am going to mainly focus on Swedish Mission and Kallar Lutheran Christians.

The St. Thomas Christians represent an indigenous Indian branch of Christianity which from the beginning of the Christian Era is an integral part of the Malabar society. Since the Indian Christianity has many distinctive characteristics, it is an interesting area for theological and cultural research. The communities belong to both the West and East Syriac Tradition, call themselves “Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Oriental in worship”. In this paper the genesis of those communities has been shown as well as the outline of their cultural and ecclesial identity.

The Apostle Thomas has been traditionally credited as the founder and first Primate of the See of the East, by both West and East Syriac sources. From the Malankara Orthodox perspective, the Catholicate of Malankara, re-established in 1912 by Pat. Abded Mshiho II of Antioch, spiritually succeeds the Thomasine See of the East. This article presents a list of the Primates in this line, from an independent academic Malankara Orthodox viewpoint.

The identity and heritage of the Nasrani community trace back to St. Thomas the Apostle, who is believed to have established Christian traditions in India in AD 52. Despite later ecclesiastical divisions, the core faith and traditions of the Nasrani community remain unified across denominations such as the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Orthodox, Jacobite, and Mar Thoma churches. This paper explores the historical, cultural, and socio-economic evolution of the Nasrani community, examining their role in trade, agriculture, and regional governance. It further investigates apostolic succession through historical sources, oral traditions, and indigenous Christian art forms like Thomaparam and Margamkali. The study highlights how colonial interventions reshaped the community’s ecclesiastical structure, leading to fragmentation. By analyzing historical narratives, liturgical traditions, and contemporary ecumenical movements, this research aims to reconstruct the Nasrani identity in the broader context of Indian Christianity and its apostolic heritage.

The article is in Malayalam

Apart from the observations by various courts, the demand for an enactment of a legislation on Church properties is being raised time and again by some Christians too. They keep lobbying with the Government Departments of the Centre and States for the same. In the past, attempts have been made by the Government of India and some State Governments such as Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to enact a legislation on Church properties and institutions. However, the national Church bodies like the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and its regional units like the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), Andhra Pradesh Bishop’s Council (APBC), now called Telugu Catholic Bishops’ Council (TCBC), and recently after the above mentioned High Court’s observation, Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council (TNBC) have objected to setting up of Government Board on Church properties. Similarly, the ecumenical bodies like the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and their regional units, and the Federation of Telugu Churches (FTC) have resisted the interference of the Government in the administration of Churches and Christian Institutions.

A faction fight going on between two groups of the Malankra Christian Community is going on for more than a century; in the court in the parishes, and even in the streets creating a law and order problem  in Kerala. This paper is an attempt to look at the issue independently  with an open mind

The entire Research of this paper is based on the Historical development of Christianity in India. An exploring the purpose of the study on a three principle issues such as foreign incursion and their contributions, the origin of Christianity and the Influence of western views, traditional aspects, and socio-political characteristics of Indian Christianity will cover in this studies. The coming of Aryans, invasion to India by Alexander the Great, follows by various groups such as the Scythians, the Huns, the Arabians, Persians, Afghans, and East India Company has colonized India. 1 The Apostolate of Apostle Thomas and Apostle Bartholomeus origin of Christianity to India has been discussed. In this paper in a traditional views, western views and Church fathers. Rome. 2 The arrival of Portuguese in southern part of India which bring them to invite the missionary to India. And the age of monks which influence in trying to find meaning in contemplation by seeking spiritual practice in which one leaves worldly quests to fully devote one's life to spiritual life. 3 The Jesuit Mission, by Francis Xavier a missionary who joined with Ignatius Loyola and five others brotherhood known as "Jesuits" or "Society of Jesus" on 15th August 1534, started the mission which was approved in 1540 by the Pope. It was under the Padroado that sent Xavier to India in 1541, carrying the letter of approval from Pope as an appointing Apostle. 'In chapter four The Modern Period of Protestant Mission in India on the

The entire Research of this paper is based on the Historical development of Christianity in India. This chapter begin by exploring the purpose of the study on a three principle issues such as foreign incursion and their contributions, the origin of Christianity and the Influence of western views, traditional aspects, and socio-political characteristics of Indian Christianity will cover in this studies. In the second chapter, open the coming of Aryans, invasion to India by Alexander the Great, follows by various groups such as the Scythians, the Huns, the Arabians, Persians, Afghans, and East India Company has colonized India. They have also contributed to the growth of socio-political, cultural, education, and religion in India too. The arrival of Christianity has become one of the major questions in terms of origin. 1 The Apostolate of Apostle Thomas and Apostle Bartholomeus origin of Christianity to India has been discussed in this chapter. By traditional views, western views and Church father, scholars, and Apostle Thomas Christians. After considering all the evidence concluded that Apostle Thomas from 52 A.D till 72 A, D., became the Apostolate of Indian first origin. In the third chapter, the influence of Roman Catholic mission to India was a part of the universal Catholic Church under the guidance of the Pope and the curia in Rome. 2 The arrival of Portuguese in southern part of India which bring them to invite the missionary to India. And the age of monks which influence in trying to find meaning in contemplation by seeking spiritual practice in which one leaves worldly quests to fully devote one's life to spiritual life. 3 The Jesuit Mission, by Francis Xavier a missionary who joined with Ignatius

The present paper introduces, inventories and interrogates prevailing narratives about the complex trajectories through which a
putative Syrian Christian dynasty named Villarvattom has taken
root in communal genealogies and the popular imagination of
Kerala. The paper, by examining historical evidence, argues that
the existing historical documents compel us to consider it as a retrospectively invented and imagined tradition necessitated and
facilitated by the unique socio-political structures of Kerala viz. the
ideational complexes wrought by caste and allied practices, the
dislocation caused by successive colonial regimes and the overall
crisis experienced by the indigenous Christian community. The
paper surveys the present state of literature, discusses explanatory
models, points to the possibility of cultural introjection and seeks
ways in which the study can be taken forward more comprehensively and productively so that we gain perceptive insights into
both the ecclesiastical and secular histories of Kerala. The paper
argues that it is an invented tradition, a defence mechanism collectively, and perhaps unconsciously, evolved by the beleaguered
Syrian Christians under the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial
rule, which had inflicted debilitating blows to the power and glory
enjoyed by this community.

Christianity in India believes that it has an extensive history reaching back in time which matches that of the rest of the Christian era. What can be stated with certainty is that Christians are present on the sub-continent from the first centuries. Possessing such a long history, the Indian churches present a unique and interesting entity which displays a rich tapestry of different Christian traditions intermingled with some indigenous customs and characterized by the local Indian mentality and perspective. Over the centuries the Church in India experienced different epochs: persecutions, liberty, colonization, and existence as a modern independent country. Among many interesting features of the face of Indian Christianity one can discover liturgies belonging to the Western and Eastern Syriac traditions. Their rites, theol., and outlook have been deeply studied in recent decades through the work of scholars, especially those belonging to the Indian Churches themselves. One of the most prominent representatives of those scholars is without doubt Rev. Prof. Dr Baby Varghese, the retired prof. of Sacred Liturgy at the Syriac-Malankara Orthodox Seminary in Kottayam. He is also located at St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute in Kottayam and is a priest of the Malankara Orthodox Church. V. is a very well-known specialist, not only within India, but also overseas. His writings, principally dedicated to the theol. of liturgy, have been published both by European and American publishing houses and they provide for western readers and scholars a real treasure of knowledge contained in both the diverse liturgical traditions and also the ones being developed in India. The many years of detailed study undertaken by V. have established him as the unique and outstanding expert in this field of studies. The present book underlines the esteemed value of this author and scholar. Even if the size of the study is relatively small it nevertheless fills a gap in the Indian liturgical field of studies. In the preface, V. gives credit to prof. Sebastian Brock who encouraged him to write this book on this specific subject. The book comprises seven parts (including an introduction and conclusion) preceded by the foreword by Prof. Dr. Dr. H.c. mult. Martin Tamcke. At the end of the book the author locates a table of abbreviations and a bibliography which he divides into four sections. As I mentioned above, the size of the book is quite small-there are only 84 p.s. However, it is worth noting that in spite of its size, the content and depth of the study is impressive. V. has organized the structure of the book to encompass historical paradigms. The first chap. (5-11) 1 has been dedicated to the presence of the

Author: Ziv Reuben
Publisher: CBE International

Through a study of the intersectionality between caste and gender, this article examines the work of the Bakht Singh Assemblies, an Indian indigenous denomination established in the mid-twentieth century. As we shall see, this movement’s push toward gender egalitarianism came about somewhat inadvertently, almost as a byproduct of its engagement with the caste question.

The article focuses on the historical relationship between the Mar Thoma Church and the Thozhiyoor Church. Both churches, though differ in many aspects, embody the true meaning of Christian unity. This paper examines a historical journey from the time of St Thomas to the present day and examines the areas where both churches cooperated.

The social dimension of the Christian mission played a vital role in the mission of the church. This has to do with uplifting the poor, eradicating social evil, reflecting fraternity, bringing social justice, seeing the progress of better humanity, peace, unity, etc. With the arrival of colonial rule in India, the mission of the church appeared to be engaged in so many social activities. Foreign missionaries arrived with their strategy, but with the pressure of colonial rulers in India, they could have achieved exactly what the mission of the church was supposed to be. However, an attempt to strengthen society is always as appreciable as service to God in favour of human beings. In the present era, the social dimension has gone down in the mission of the church. Therefore, it is important to research for better humanity when one thinks of the service of the church. Even amid difficulties in the church, social division is seen as a service to God. Here I appeal for continuing the social acts in Indian society in service of God as a reflection of the true mission of church. For this article, I have used the technique of socio-historic analysis in an ethno-religious approach.

Benjamin Bailey (1791-1871) was one of the first English-born Church Missionary Society missionaries to go to India. Along with Joseph Fenn and Henry Baker, Sr, he was part of what has been called the Travancore Trio. Their objective was to reform the ancient community of Syrian Christians in Travancore so that they in turn might be a great native missionary force in India. Their mission was known as the 'Mission of Help' to the ancient Syrian Church. The mission was distinctive from others in India at that time which sought more directly to call for the conversion of the country's massive Hindu and Muslim populations. This article will show that Bailey seriously underestimated doctrinal differences between the CMS and the Syrians. Moreover, the place of the Syrians in the complex social fabric of Travancore was not adequately understood. Unlike other missions, this one may almost be said to have as its aim the conversion of an existing church. That call for conversion, however, arose from fundamentally divergent understandings of Christian belief and practice. The article concludes by considering further some of the sources of these divergences and engaging with some of the critique that the Mission of Help has received.

Trail Blazers for God" presents a seminal exploration of the history of the Assemblies of God movement in India, a narrative long overdue in a movement known more for its practical endeavors than scholarly documentation. Spearheaded by Dr. A.C. George, a senior Pentecostal historian, this project was initiated by the Southern Asia Bible College. Drawing from years of meticulous research, Dr. George navigates the uncharted territory of the movement's origins, growth, and influential figures. Supported by a team of dedicated individuals and aided by funding from various sources, the book unveils the foundational pillars of the Assemblies of God in India. While acknowledging its imperfections, Dr. George's work serves as a comprehensive starting point for understanding the movement's trajectory, leaving room for future scholars to fill any gaps. As a labor of love and worship to the Lord and his Church, "Trail Blazers for God" stands as an invaluable contribution to the historical legacy of the Assemblies of God in India

Kerala has a long history with the outside world since ancient times. It had trade contact with King Solomon referred to in the Old Testament. Later, it enjoyed its hay days with the Romans. Many of its ports like Musri's and Kollam were famous for their spice trade pepper, teak wood, sandalwood, and tortoise shells were exported to European countries during the classical period. With the advent of the Christian Era, it was one of the places visited by St Thomas in 52 A.D, followed by the migration of Syrians and they too settled inside the state. The Syrian Christians have been practicing Christianity long before the advent of the Portuguese. The monument that stands testament to that tradition is Thevalakkara Marthamarium Church. Later in the 16th century Portuguese domination came into being. A grandiose epitome of the legacy of the Portuguese in Kerala is the Kovilthottam St Andrews Church, which is one of the earliest churches in the Kollam diocese. Kovilthottam Church is a fledgling parish with 1000 families which is threatened by the approach of the sea and mining of rare earth minerals can trace its origins to the early Christians of Kerala, whose preservation is a matter of protection of its age-old traditions, customs, and heritage. This article is trying to do a one to one study of the two distinct historical monuments, their history and how they are connected both historically and culturally. The method employed in this study is that of descriptive in nature. The research done for this article included field visit, architectural documentation, interviews, going through previous scholarly works, use of original sources. By comparing these monuments we are contrasting the existence of two distinct religious sects and how they interacted with history during their time of existence.

This paper is a study of the great missionary enthusiasm in the Syro-Malabar Church. It tires to establish that the Christians of St Thomas in Malabar Coast always had great missionary consciousness in them and in times of favorable circumstances the floodgates were opened and the result was the great outflow of missionaries to various parts of India.

This essay examines the preparation, distribution, and reception of Christian literature in nineteenth-century India. To the missionaries, the contemporary publishing landscape lacked any moral content. The output of Indian-owned presses, dominated by religious works, was contemptible; the popular literature imported from Europe deplored; and “infidel” works feared for their potential to turn Indians against all religion. To battle all this, the urgency to prepare a “moral” literature was at the heart of the evangelical project. Indian Christian works ranged from Bible translation into regional languages to all kinds of “support” literature. Various channels were used to distribute this literature, both individual and institutional. Counter-attacks were mounted by India’s own religious communities, turning the missionaries’ own methods against them.

The presence of Christianity in India is aged almost two thousand years commencing from the arrival of St. Thomas, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ and martyred in 72 A.D. in Chinnamalai, Mylapore Chennai. Since then Christianity spreads its roots in different parts of the country mainly in south India. Commenting on the contributions made by Christians Dr. Rajendra Prasad said on December 18, 1955, "Remember, St. Thomas came to India when many of the countries of Europe had not yet become Christians, and so those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a long history and a higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of European countries. And it is really a matter of pride to us that it so happened". However, the early history of the Christian community is fables and traditions and only a few records exist. Their contributions are outstanding in the field of education and in preserving the culture of the people. They occupied a significant place to reach the country far through their trade and commerce.

This article tries to arouse a curiosity among the readers to the Jesuit missionary letter for greater use these sources in the historiography of Mysore. The aim or this article is that these letters will serve the historians of India if they are translated and published.

It has been a forced departure from the idea of narrating historical stages of Christianity in South India but to delve on the existing historiography on early South Indian Christianity. The rationale behind is that the writings of different authors about the emergence of Christianity in India, south India in particular has still been not accepted completely and kept as a debatable topic. Paucity of primary data in this particular field makes historians handicapped. The available historical sources comes in the way of 'tradition' are not sufficient to satisfy international community on this important socio-cultural history of India. The fact is that there are many areas in the historical past for which historians do not have sources to construct them elaborately for understanding. They fell right in the historical period for which historians supposedly have plenty of sources to understand that stages. These are the black holes exist in historical past. This could completely turn around the structure of a particular society if not a whole state when they are explored and understood. The early history of Christianity in south India cannot be put under Dark Age type either, as it has some sources (Indian tradition) and references (apocryphal writings on Indian Christianity) to build an idea. Nevertheless, array of historical writings both in missionary perspectives and historical methods on this field has been established from 3 rd century AD for the first type and from 19 th century AD for the second type. The missionary based writings are declining in postcolonial setup. Through Eric Frykenberg's self accusation of his own master narratives with post colonial and subaltern methods one can observe that shift had happened quite long before his original work on the 'Christianity in India: From the Beginnings to the Present'. Religious texts always have evangelical proselytizing trait inherited onto them. Understanding the psycho lingual nuances, embedded objectives and contexts of these texts are very difficult for even a trained historian to maintain historical objectivity let alone the common reader. This is the problem of the given topic. However, acceptance, towards historical truths will lead us to the destination of historical objectivity. Here, some writings and their subjective themes are derived in order to understand the problem.

As far as I understand, St. Ignatian of Loyola did not explicitly speak about ingculturation in any of his writings. But he offers a frame work in his Spiritual Exercises that would enable the retreatant to have Godexperience in a particular historical and cultural context. For instance, in the two standard meditation (Sp.Ex.136-148) St. Ignatius depicts how the Lord sends his disciples 'throughout the whole world, to spread his doctrine among people of every state and conditions' (Sp.Ex.148) which means that every disciple of Jesus, precisely the Jesuit is missioned to explore new possibilities inorder to spread the good news in a specific cultural context of the locals.

Introduction: "Go unto all the quarters of the world and preach the gospels." The great commissioning of our Lord clearly highlights the role and responsibility of every Christian. Proclamation of the gospel is evangelism. Evangelism reaches its zenith when it is incorporated with the native ethics, culture and society. At Athens when St. Paul proclaimed "this unknown god is my god", he incorporated the ethics and emotions of listeners but his conviction and commitment was never compromised. The missionaries who came to this sub continent for evangelism kept apart their identity as a foreigner and incultured themselves according to the religious practices of the natives and it helped them in the proclamation of the gospel. This paper is an attempt to highlight the need of inculturation in evangelism in a religious pluralist society like India in the light of Pre Portuguese text The Sangham Literature. The paper is not a historical analysis but a socio phenomenological approach to the historical text is used. 1. Inculturation: Def: "Inculturation is the integration of the Christian experience of a local church into the culture of its people, in such a way that this experience not only expresses itself in elements of its culture so as to create a new unity and communion, not only within the culture but also as the enrichment of the church universal." 1 Culture here signifies the way of life of a people, their social symbols and rituals, art, language social relationships, organizations and ideologies that guide their concrete choices in economics, politics etc.

The article examines the background and consequences of the Indian church schism in 1653, as well as its influence on the fate of the Malankara Church. In addition to religious significance, this event had profound historical implications, as it broke the 54-year patronage of the Portuguese crown (padroado) over the Syrian Church of Malankara, established in 1599 by the Synod of Udayamperur (Synod of Diamper). As a result of the article, it is shown that the church schism of 1653 is a key event in the church life of Indian Christians, the consequences of which affected all Christians in India, who found themselves against their will in the conditions of forced Latinization by the European colonialists.

South Asian region has largely been under the influence of Indian, Chinese and Arabic cultures. All of the religious traditions have been strongly localized and tolerated various forms of folk cultures. Christianity in this region came in the early sixteenth century and flourished in the colonial era. It is normally assumed that it escaped from the process of adaptation and syncretism. However, this is not the case, as there were a number of missionaries not interested in Europeanizing their converts as in the case of Jesuits missionaries in India. Here in this article an attempt has been made to explicate the early attempt of western missionaries and local Christian to localize Christianity. To achieve this goal this paper has been divided into three sections. First section sheds light upon the overall attitude of early missionaries to the indigenous cultures and religions of India. Second section deals with the early efforts of contemporization in Indian Subcontinent. Third section will illustrate the situation church had to face after the partition of India, and how this partition impeded the process of contemporization movement. As a method, this article reviews the efforts of both native Christians and missionaries to indigenize Christianity in Indian first chronologically and then thematically.

CNI is one of the names that cannot be overlooked when it comes to churches in North India, whether it is because of its ecumenical past or because of its significant commitment to nation building through education and healthcare. But when it comes to its administration within, is the picture same? Thus, the purpose of this paper is to do a survey of CNI’s organizational structure and pastoral administration. For that the paper initially begins with the origin and biblical foundation of CNI’s administration, then looking into the organizational structure and pastoral administration with a bird’s eye view, the paper will try to reflect and evaluate the mentioned within the limits of course ‘Church Organization and Pastoral Administration.’ At the end the paper will try to reflect critically on the mentioned aspects.

In this article, I will focus on the subtleties of identities and universalisms in India, primarily from a religious perspective, particularly of Christian mission. We will start by looking at the overall Indian reality of identities, followed by a look at the Christian identities situating it in the contemporary Indian context.  In the present era of globalization, many think that technology has ushered in an era of universalism, dissolving identities in its onslaught. In fact, just the opposite is true, increased globalization is leading to a resurgence of identity consciousness that threatens universalism. Identities and universalisms cannot exist, one without the other. Based on the analysis of the Indian Christian reality, we can learn that identities and universalisms are in a relentless flux of co-existence and/or dominance, mutual enhancement and/or distortion, never ever to settle.
https://sedosmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Bulletin-Nov-Dec.2022.pdf

This paper highlights those aspects of East-West interaction in India which helped in the development of modern science in India during the 16-19th centuries. The transfer of modern science was primarily mediated by certain scientist-scholar-missionaries from Europe who set up various scientific establishments or collaborated with the local patrons in various parts of India. The specific focus of this paper is the transference of European methods of learning, certain branches of modern science, especially astronomy and geography, the introduction of scientific instruments and the consequent enrichment of certain branches of modern science in India, during the period.