Christianity—South Asia

Christianity has been an important force in South Asian history. During the period of British rule in India (c. 1757–1947) British Christians were influential in securing social reforms such as the suppression of sati (suttee). Protestant and Catholic missionaries established widespread and influential mission school systems, which influenced the attitudes and outlooks those educated there. While some locals welcomed Christian missionary activity, others were hostile and feared conversion. This fear, together with a desire to adopt some teachings of Christianity, encouraged the emergence of Hindu and Buddhist reform and revival movements.

Christians have been living in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. A persistent tradition, reflected in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas (probably written in the Syriac language in the fourth century CE) that Saint Thomas preached and died in India, is echoed in Hindu and Christian belief that he founded the community of Saint Thomas Christians on the Kerala coast and was martyred at Mailapur, south of Madras City. The first evidence of Christian communities in Kerala dates from the sixth century. This evidence and subsequent material relating to the period until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498 show that Saint Thomas Christians maintained close ecclesiastical, commercial, and family links with Syria and the Middle East.

The community's numbers were constantly augmented by settlers from Western Asia. The Christians pledged allegiance to the Syrian Patriarch of the East (whose seat was in present-day Iraq), who was the recognized leader of churches independent of the Church of the Roman Empire. The liturgy was in Syriac and the doctrine influenced by the Nestorians, who taught that Christ had two distinct natures, divine and human. While reflecting Middle Eastern influences, Saint Thomas Christians were also affected by their Hindu environment. Conscious of their high status as warriors and merchants in the caste system, they avoided contact with the lower castes. They enjoyed honored positions as donors or benefactors of Hindu shrines all over Kerala. The management of church affairs, the hereditary nature of the all-male priesthood, the use of torches, umbrellas, and banners in procession, and the performance of some minor Hindu-type rituals, all reflected the Hindu context in which the community developed.

In 1503 a West Asian prelate reported some 30,000 Saint Thomas Christian families in Kerala; the census of 1901 estimated the number of individuals in that community at nearly half a million. During the period of Portuguese and British rule the number of Protestant and Catholic Christians (those whose origin is associated with European missions) also steadily grew. In 1991 there were nearly 20 million Christians in India, mostly in the south and northeast, representing 2.34 percent of the total population. Christians represent about 8 percent of the population in Sri Lanka, 2 percent or less in Pakistan, and less than 1 percent in Bangladesh. In 1990 there were an estimated 50,000 Christians in Nepal.

Historians place varying emphasis on the political, economic, religious, social, or other factors involved in the rapid expansion of Christianity during colonial rule. Less in dispute is evidence that those who wished to join Christian churches usually acted together rather than as individuals—representatives of caste, family, or other groups approached Christian leaders asking for information or requesting baptism. Some churches welcomed all who came irrespective of motive, hoping>"inquirers" would grow in faith and practice in the church. Others were more selective, insisting on the application of strict criteria, which varied in different missions and which involved either rejection of the candidate or evidence of changes in belief or behavior before individuals or groups were admitted to full membership.

One of the most sensitive issues in Christianity is the varying relationship between Christians and political authorities. While Saint Thomas Christians were integrated in the indigenous state system before the arrival of the Portuguese, most Christians in South Asia trace their origins to conversion movements occurring in the context of European missionary activity and colonial rule. European missionary paternalism, which often included a policy of keeping Indian Christians in subordinate positions within the church, created resentment especially among Western-educated Christians. That feeling heightened their awareness of the "evils" of foreign rule and encouraged Christian participation in the early stages of the Indian nationalist movement. However the rise of strident forms of Hindu nationalism soon raised fears among Christians of their eventual fate in a state dominated by the Hindu majority. After a period of considerable anxiety, Protestant and Catholic leaders threw their weight increasingly behind the Gandhian movement and the idea of an independent India as a secular state. Confidence in the new government of India was enhanced by acceptance of a Catholic proposal that minorities' rights be guaranteed in a new constitution.

While churches operating in postcolonial South Asia continue to face political problems, there are opportunities for growth and participation in nation building. The sense of belonging to a persecuted minority in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of India (where militant anti-Christian forms of Hindu nationalism have been increasing) contrasts with a sense of confidence and optimism associated with the continued rapid expansion of Christianity in northeastern India and Nepal.

The priorities, lifestyles, and forms of worship among Christians also vary. A preoccupation with internal issues such as power, property, and social standing (especially in the Church of South India) contrasts with other church programs of change and reform and increasing involvement in outward-looking welfare projects in rural areas and slums. Traditional forms of Christian worship are maintained alongside experiments in further indigenization and increasingly popular charismatic-type meetings throughout the region. The establishment of interdenominational national Christian councils in most South Asian countries, the formation of the Church of South India (1947), Church of North India, and Church of Pakistan (1970), which bring together Protestant denominations, and increasing Protestant and Catholic collaboration in educational and other programs, reflect both the practical needs of small but growing Christian communities and the new spirit of the global ecumenical movement.

Jesuits in India

Grafe, Hugald. (1990) History of Christianity in India: Tamilnadu in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 4, 2. Bangalore, India: C.H.A.I.

Mundadan, A. Mathias. (1984) History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century 1. Bangalore, India: C.H.A.I.

Oddie, G. A. (1979) Social Protest in India: British Protestant Missionaries and Social Reforms, Delhi: Manohar.

——. (1991) Religion in South Asia: Religious Conversion and Revival Movements in South Asia in Medieval and Modern Times. 2d rev. and enlarged ed. Delhi: Manohar.