Historiographical Strands of Indian Christianity: A Methodological Exploration

By: Mr. Billy J. Zorinthara

Master’s Journal of Theology vol.6, Issue 1&2 June and December 2017. Pg. 25-43.

Introduction:
Some historians posit that history is an unending conversation between the past and the present,
a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his/her facts or According to E.H.
Carr, an unending dialogue between the present and past. Some has noted that all historical
interpretations are provisional, hypothetical with no definitive interpretation. Hence, there is a
fluidity in interpretation of the past especially due to the changing context and emergence of
different perspectives. In the past, historians portrayed history of Christianity in India as a
Western writers in relation to their missionary enterprises in Indian sub-continent not for the
Indian Church but mainly for Western readers. However, later Indian Church historians began
to recognize the fact that while foreign missions played an important role in its life and growth,
the story of the Indian Church is an independent story. Indian historians began to dig critically
and question the credibility of the methodological tools used and applied by western writers in
writing the history of Christianity in India.
1. Definition of Histography
The term ‘Historiography’ in a simple manner refers to the writing of history or written history.
Historians Cantor and Schneider elaborated it by stating that histography is the study of
historians’ assumptions and values about men and society that condition their inferential
judgements. It is sometimes defined as the art of writing history. The methodology of historical
research or the techniques of historical writings as well as the techniques of analysing historical
writings and more often historiography means the study of perspectives.
2. Changing perspectives in Historiography of Indian Christianity:
The reason for the changing is that during the 19th century the historians, publishers and
intended readers were all western, mostly protestant. By the 20th century, Indian Roman
Catholics and non-Catholic joined the ranks of historians, publishers, and intended readers. By
1960s both the historians and their readers were no longer exclusively Christians but drawn
both from Hindus and Muslims. Rapid diversification of the community of historians and
readers marked advances in the professionalization of Indian Church history and Indian history
generally including the introduction of indigenization. From the 1970’s, the emphasis shifted
to the people and their experiences. This change has come about largely due to the changing
context in India. People began to be educated. The earlier trend of side-lining the marginalized
gradually receded.
2.1 Colonial/ mission Historiography:
Scrutiny of history has revealed that imperialism as an ideology does not leave any human
enterprise unaffected. Missionaries who had served in India were the first to write
comprehensively on the history of Christianity in India. It is evident that most of the mission
writers did not write the history of Christianity in India for the enlightenment of the Indian
Church but for the supporter of missionary work in India living in the west. In their writings,
they highlighted and imparted to the minds of the readers their success in mission endeavour.
Therefore, in these histories, they hardly mention the difficulties they faced during the cultural,
social, economic and political encounters in India. Extension of western Christianity, triumphal
and success story of missionaries and mission from the west are the picture portrayed in
Christianity of India. Such historiography ignored the native contributions and Indians role
during 19th century histories were virtually absent, and their presentation of history is male
oriented historiography. Modern historiography transforms the hitherto wrong notion of the
Indian Church history as ‘mission-centred’ or a ‘church-centred.’ In addition, it is an expression
of Eurocentric premises of western knowledge. Colonial racial prejudice affected the historical
writings: as seen in the writings of many historians of colonial countries including India (in
general), that has penetrated to the North Eastern India. The first general history of Christianity
in India was a short work by Mathurin Veysierre de la Croze published in 1724. De la Croza
was a French protestant in the employ of the king of Prussia as librarian and antiquary. His
very anti-Catholic history focused on the Christians of Malabar but ignored the rest of the
catholic history in India, and ended his work with a brief account of the first protestant mission
to India in 1706.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, some western writers wrote general history of Indian
Christianity. Some of them are James Hough, The History of Christianity in India from
Commencement of the Christian Era (1839, 1850), John Kaye, Christianity in India: An
Historical Narrative (1859), M.A Sherring, History of Protestant missions in India from their
commencement in 1706-1871 (1875), Julius Richter, A History of Mission in India (1908), John
Hughes Morris, The history of the welsh Calvinistic Methodists’ Foregin Mission to the End of
the year 1904 (1910), D’Sa, History of Catholic Church in India (1910,1924), and Victor H.
Sword, Baptists in Assam: A century of missionary Service 1836-1936 (1937). These writings
are important but western missionary perspective and western readership were the purpose
behind the writings. Roger E. Hedlund noted the most of the Church historians also pick out
some prominent events rather than the small ones.
Colonial writers have also tended to view Indian secular history from strong colonial
perspective. Such historical writings also promote and propagate British historians like Robert
Orme, Ramsay Muir, James Mill, Elphinstone and Macaulay sought to uphold the British
mercantile, and colonial and imperialist expansion of which India was an integral part.
Historical texts thus played the role of self-justification specially to legitimate their civilizing
mission. However, it was later felt by some Christians missionaries that there is a need tore-
read and rewrite all these earlier writings from a new perspective. For instance, in 1962, Kaj
Baago wrote that it was necessary to teach Church History from Indian point of view and
emphasized the need of indigenition. Gradually, new perspective of Indian Christian
historiography began to emerge as many scholars came forward with the challenge to re-write
from new perspective.
2.2 National Historiography:
After India attained independence in 1947 with a self-hood and identity of its own, the Church
also began to search for its own self-hood, corresponding to the new self-hood of the nation
and to re-discover its mission in a new way, and thus cemented the way to discover new tools
in writing history from Indian people’s perspectives. The institutional and the Church History
Association of India (CHAI) schools of histography came into prominence. However, there is
a peril of re-reading history from fundamental-oriented nationalism. For instance, Hindutva
ideologue like Arun Shourie claimed to re-read the history of Christian missionary works and
various movements but from extreme Brahmanical bias, and perceives nothing good about
Christianity.
2.2.1 Institutional Historiography
The first history written from this perspective was Rajaiah D. Paul’s the cover over India,
published in 1952. This book was the first Indian nationalist history of Christianity in India.
Paul’s work is significant not for its scholarship but for the perspective from which it was
written. It was a history of the Indian Church rather than missionary heroes, however, he
mentioned that the Church in India cannot afford to dissociate herself from the Church of the
West, and not permitted for the interest of Christianity. P. Thomas followed this trend in his
book, Christians and Christianity in India and Pakistan, published in 1954. Thomas
maintained to ignore and overcome the denominational approach to history with a view to put
the history of Christianity in India in its correct and objective perspective. In comparing with
Rajaiah D Paul’s writing, the major difference was the introduction of new perspective, i.e.
History of Christianity for the Indian Christian community against Indian Church.
2.2.2 CHAI Historiography
CHAI was another significant development that emerged in nationalistic perspective. The
CHAI, especially through its organ, the Indian Church History Review, encouraged writings
from this perspective. Later Kaj Baago, a Danish missionary theologian and historian initiated
this move in a big way through his writings on the role of Indian Christianity. T.V. Philip, D.V.
Singh, George Thomas and other picked up these themes and developed them further through
their article and books. Their task is to demonstrate how Indian Christianity has always been
in existence and how Indian Christianity has always been in existence and how authentically
Indian identity for Christianity has been developing over the centuries that resulted through the
interaction between social and religious-cultural aspects. CHAI has emphasised four aspects,
namely, national, ecumenical, socio-cultural and regional for re-writing history of Christianity
of India.
3. Post Colonialism and Historiography:
Post colonialism is a blanket term;