Christian Inculturation in India (Liturgy, Worship & Society)

CHRISTIAN INCULTURATION IN INDIA Drawing together international and Indian sources, and new research on the ground in South India, this book presents a unique examination of the inculturation of Christian Worship in India. Paul M. Collins examines the imperatives underlying the processes of inculturation – the dynamic relationship between the Christian message and cultures – and then explores the outcomes of those processes in terms of architecture, liturgy and ritual, and the critique offered of these outcomes, especially by Dalit theologians. This book highlights how the Indian context has informed global discussions, and how the decisions of the World Council of Churches, Vatican II and Lambeth Conferences have impacted upon the Indian context.

LITURGY, WORSHIP AND SOCIETY SERIES EDITORS Dave Leal, Brasenose College, Oxford, UK Bryan Spinks, Yale Divinity School, USA Paul Bradshaw, University of Notre Dame, UK and USA Gregory Woolfenden, St Mary’s Orthodox Church, USA Phillip Tovey, Ripon College Cuddesdon, UK The Ashgate Liturgy, Worship and Society series forms an important new ‘library’ on liturgical theory at a time of great change in the liturgy and much debate concerning traditional and new forms of worship, suitability and use of places of worship, and wider issues concerning interaction of liturgy, worship and contemporary society. Offering a thorough grounding in the historical and theological foundations of liturgy, this series explores and challenges many key issues of worship and liturgical theology, currently in hot debate within academe and within Christian churches worldwide – issues central to the future of the liturgy, to public and private worship, and set to make a significant impact on changing patterns of worship and the place of the church in contemporary society.

Other titles in the series: The Baptismal Liturgy of Jerusalem Fourth- and Fifth-Century Evidence from Palestine, Syria and Egypt Juliette Day Towards Liturgies that Reconcile Race and Ritual among African-American and European-American Protestants Scott Haldeman Early and Medieval Rituals and Theologies of Baptism From the New Testament to the Council of Trent Bryan D. Spinks Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism From Luther to Contemporary Practices Bryan D. Spinks

Christian Inculturation in India

PAUL M. COLLINS

University of Chichester, UK

© Paul M. Collins 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Paul M. Collins has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England

Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA

Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Collins, Paul M. Christian inculturation in India. – (Liturgy, worship and society) 1. Christianity and culture – India, South 2. Christianity – India, South I. Title 261’.09548 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Collins, Paul M. Christian inculturation in India / Paul M. Collins. p. cm. – (Liturgy, worship, and society series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-6076-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Christianity and culture–India. 2. Christianity–India. BR115.C8C526 2007 261.0954–dc22

I.Title.

2006029304

ISBN 978-0-7546-6076-7

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall.

Contents List of Figures List of Abbreviations Preface and Acknowledgements Foreword

Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6

vii ix xi xv

1

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies: The Export Factor 3 Redefining Identities: Landscapes and Imperatives to 1963 23 Whose Values; Which Cultures? The Effects of Local Theologies 63 Art, Architecture and Topography: Temples and Churches in South India 97 Rites and Rituals: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi? 137 Imperatives for a New Agenda 167

Afterword

189

Liturgical Texts Bibliography Index of Names Index of Subjects

191 211 227 231

This book is accompanied by a database of images of temples, churches, shrines and rituals, which can be found at: http://inculturation.chi.ac.uk

This page intentionally left blank

List of Figures 1.1 1.2

St George’s Cathedral, Chennai Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Velanganni, Tamil Nadu

14 15

3.1 3.2 3.3

Christukula Ashram, Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, Kulittalai, Tamil Nadu Arunchaleshvara temple, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu

80 82 87

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10

Meenakshee temple, ‘Golden Lily’ tank, Madurai, Tamil Nadu Shiva temple, Chenganoor, Kerala Orthodox Church, Chenganoor, Kerala Cathedral of the Epiphany, Dornakal, Andhra Pradesh Church at Deenabandupuram, built by Joseph John Church at Melpalai, built by James Tombeur Saccidananda Chapel, NBCLC, Bangalore, Karnataka Chapel of Christ the King, TTS, Madurai, Tamil Nadu St John’s Cathedral, Tiruvalla, Kerala St Andrew’s Church, Kothagudem, Andhra Pradesh

104 117 118 125 127 129 130 132 133 134

5.1 5.2 5.3

Procession at the Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala Mass at NBCLC, lighting the lamp Village style eucharist at TTS: lighting lamps

144 150 160

This page intentionally left blank

List of Abbreviations ACC ATESEA B.G. BJP CBCI cc Cel. CMS Cong. CSI CUP EACC IAMS ISPCK MPG NBCLC OUP RSS SAM SCM SPCK SPG SSF SVD TTS Up. USPG WCC

Anglican Consultative Council The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia Bhagavad Gita Bharatiya Janata Party Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India concelebrants Celebrant Church Mission(ary) Society Congregation Church of South India Cambridge University Press East Asia Christian Conference International Association for Mission Studies Indian Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge Migne Patrologia Graeca National Biblical Catechetical and Liturgical Centre Oxford University Press Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Society of Auxiliaries of Missions Student Christian Movement Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Society of Saint Francis Societas Verbum Divini Tamilnadu Theological Seminary Upanishad(s) United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel World Council of Churches

This page intentionally left blank

Preface and Acknowledgements The production of this book has drawn upon the goodwill of many in Britain and South India. The inspiration came from the relationship between the Queen’s Ecumenical Foundation for Theological Education in Birmingham and the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary in Madurai. It was through encounter with students from TTS visiting Queen’s that I began to formulate a plan to visit South India and to research the outcomes of Christian inculturation there. So it was through the good offices of the then Principal of Queen’s, Peter Fisher and the staff of Queen’s that I was able to visit India for my sabbatical term in 2000. This was made possible through the generosity of various funding organizations, in particular the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Julie Lipp-Nathaniel at UPSG and Andrew Wingate, then Principal of the United College of the Ascension, Selly Oak assisted in the formulation of my plans, together with the then Principal of TTS Dhyanchand Carr and Israel Selvanayagam who was a colleague teaching at Queen’s and whose own sabbatical coincided with my own, so that we were able to visit his home village near Kanyakumari. During that first visit to India I was particularly assisted by two of the visiting students to Queen’s Christopher Rathamswamy and S. Nancy. Nancy’s husband Kadir, then director of the Rural Theological Institute of TTS was also a great help in supporting and assisting my research, in particular accompanying me on a visit to Vellore diocese and the Poonai Festival. The staff of TTS as a whole were also very supportive, and I was privileged to participate in a conference hosted by TTS and held at Kodaikanal on the theme of Dalit Liturgies. My sabbatical was also enriched by visiting the United Theological College in Bangalore where I met Eric Lott. While in Bangalore I also visited Jyoti Sahi at his Art ashram, which proved to be a turning point in my research and understanding. Our visit to the National Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre, to witness the Mass for India, and meet Fr Jacob Thecknanath was another highlight. In Kerala I was able to visit the Orthodox Seminary in Kottayam and meet Fr Baby Vergehese, as well as Fr Thomas Manooramparampil at the St Thomas Apostolic Seminary and gain insight into the St Thomas Christian community from them as well as Fr Jacob Thekeparampil, the director of the Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute. Important contributions were made to my understanding by Anand and Jesse Asir then in Palayamkottai and by Bernard and Janine Kilroy, with whom we visited Israel Selvanayagam and by Robin McGlashan who was based at TTS during my stay and whose insights were invaluable. My next visit was in 2003 when I was able to stay with an old friend Fr V.M. James, prior of the Mount Horeb Ashram of the Indian Orthodox Church in Sasthamkottah, near Kollam in Kerala. Through his good offices and in his company I was able to visit Kurisumala Ashram and meet Fr Yeshudas the prior, and to visit the parish where Fr James Tombeur had built churches. During this visit I was able to visit the ashrams in Pondicherry and Shantivanam, where I met Brother John Martin

xii

Christian Inculturation in India

and Fr George the prior. At TTS I renewed my discussions with the Dalit Liberation Theologians: Mohan Larbeer, Gnanavaram and Jeyaharan. In 2004 I spent Christmas in South India and was on the coast of Kerala on the day of the Tsunami. We were very fortunate to be in Varkala that day, where the waters did not penetrate. Again Fr V.M. James enabled us to visit many churches and to witness the kinds of unintentional inculturation developed by the St Thomas tradition. I was also able to meet Fr K.M. George, Principal of the Orthodox seminary in Kottayam. During this visit I was also fortunate to journey to Thrissur and meet Fr Paul Pulikkan and Fr Tony Neelanakavil of the Syro-Malabar Rite. Through Fr Paul’s good offices I was able to research a variety of sources and also meet Bishop Andrews Thazhath. In 2005 I returned to South India during the rainy season. I was accompanied on this occasion by Dr Mark Betson, whose insights and assistance were invaluable. During our stay at Gurukul Lutheran Seminary in Chennai, we were able to discuss a whole variety of issues and visit places through the good offices of Mani Chacko, Jesudas and Geetha Athyal and K. Rajaratnam the director. Bishop Azariah formerly of Madras was a great help and encouragement to us, as was Michael Amaladoss. Our time at Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram, Tiruvannamalai was very insightful. In Vellore, once again, Kadir assisted us in making visits to sites connected with Joseph John as well as meet his son at Deenabandupuram. In Bangalore Fr Thomas D’Sa and his colleagues made us very welcome at NBCLC and facilitated our visit to various temples and sites across the state of Karnataka. We were particularly well looked after by the Satyaseva sisters and the staff at the SVD seminary in Mysore. In Hyderabad we were welcomed at the Henry Martin Institute by Andreas D’Souza and his colleagues and this short visit provided me with a wealth of information and insight. A visit to Dornakal was made possible by Bishop Rajarathnam Allu. Through his generosity and that of several pastors in his diocese I was given the opportunity to witness and participate in a number of vital experiences which have made a great deal of difference to this research. Access to the archives of the Christa Seva Sangha held at Hilfield Friary in Dorset, England and to that of Ernest Forrester-Paton at New College in Edinburgh meant that the research was also much more complete. In particular I would thank Brother Reginald SSF then librarian at Hilfield and Maraget Acton, librarian and archivist at New College, also Elizabeth Koepping for her advice. I would like to express my appreciation to the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for its support, as well as to the Chichester Theological Trust. Support from the British Academy has meant that my research could be brought to fruition as well as enabling the creation of a searchable database of images of inculturation which will be freely available on the internet. My gratitude also must go to my own institution the University of Chichester, to Philip Robinson the Vice-Chancellor and to my colleagues there for all their support and encouragement. Finally I wish to express my deep gratitude to my wife Pauline and our children Helena and Sophie for their support. They themselves have been able to visit India twice during this period and have undoubtedly gained much from those experiences. Our thanks go to all those who have welcomed us into their homes and lives.

Preface and Acknowledgements

xiii

Permissions The poem Sat – Cid – Ananda by Brahmabandhab Upadhyay and translated by Julius Lipner in his Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: The Life and Thought of a Revolutionary – is reproduced with the permission of Oxford University Press India, New Delhi. The extract from the New Mass for India is reproduced with the permission of NBCLC, Bangalore. Extracts from the Documents of Vatican II, Papal Encyclicals and other Vatican Documents are reproduced with permission from Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Permission has been sought for the extracts from Bharatiya Pooja and the Alternative Order for Holy Communion for the Church of South India. Paul M. Collins July 2007

This page intentionally left blank

Foreword Cross-cultural encounters remain memorable experiences for many but for those like Paul Collins they have provided a stimulus for deep research and reflective writing. As these reflections have emerged from a personal plunge experience in several areas of liturgical importance in South India, they remain authentic. One would congratulate the writer for his ability to combine first hand experiences with historical backgrounds of the international and ecumenical world. Setting the attempts of inculturation in theology and worship in the wider context of ecumenical discussions on the theme provides an overall historical perspective. The author starts with a discussion on the complex issue of the relationship between culture and Christ. Culture seems to be so obvious in human life but mysteriously evades a single definition. One clarification achieved in this discussion is that Christ cannot be separated from the Jewish culture and this culture might have affinity with other cultures. If conditions of particular geographical locations and languages also contribute to the shaping of a culture, the discussion should take creation seriously. Jesus Christ is relevant not because he provides a neatly packed culture for everyone to adopt but because of an example he set for living in a culture with critical self-consciousness. The issue of inculturation is linked to the history of Christian mission in India. According to the tradition of St Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus went to India and established churches. This and other early orthodox traditions continue to have their unique symbols and expressions. However, the European Catholic mission from the sixteenth century and Protestant mission from the eighteenth century destroyed or confused many of them. Also, these missions went hand in hand with colonial domination and commercial expansion of the West and operated on the assumption that the western culture represented a civilized lifestyle and that western intelligence was superior. Thus any attempt of indigenization was seen as part of the struggle for independence and of achieving selfhood. As the author has clearly shown in the second chapter attempts of inculturation were made in India before they were fully focused in the international fora and ecumenical discussions. They and that of the non-western Christian communities, however, became the catalyst to the imperatives, enunciated at the International Missionary Council, Faith and Order, Lambeth Conference, World Council of Churches, and the Vatican Council. Consultation of documents of the Christian Conference of Asia on the theme have further enriched the discussion. It is significant to note that these imperatives were closely associated with the questions of unity of the Church and new approaches to non-Christian religions and cultures. Given the variety of terms, models and structures of inculturation, it is a complex issue. If God’s revelation is to be understood by all people and if human beings have both universal and specific characteristics, there should be conscious and critical appropriation of cultural values and practices. What is artificial and what is natural

xvi

Christian Inculturation in India

is not always easy to distinguish. No form of gospel is culture free and no culture is anti-gospel in an outright way. The discernment of the gospel values in each culture and recognition of the limitation of remaining with a particular adaptation without change need to go together in order to achieve a dynamic process of inculturation. A detailed survey of church buildings with distinctive architectures made in this study is helpful. The meaning and use of a church building is an important issue requiring greater clarity. Traditions differ. However, as the author has shown, a built worship place has tended to serve ‘an oppressive role as much as a liberative one’. Reviving the New Testament ideas of the priesthood of all believers and churches as meeting places of believers to express God being present in their midst and discipleship of equals needs more careful thought. Living in a land of temples and shrines, Christians have been carried away by wrong terms and notions. However, some recent attempts to express the unique meaning of a church building as a symbol of the unity of God’s people and of their openness to society need to be appreciated. As is illustrated, unintentional inculturation has occurred at many levels of society and cultural heritage of India. From removing footwear before entering a worship place to welcoming visitors with a garland and waving of the lamp, to making offerings to priests for their ministration, these practices in all the church traditions express a common culture shared between Hindus and Christians. At the same time, intentional changes have been made in liturgical rites and customs. These have been observed with a special focus on the rite of the Eucharist in three main traditions found in South India: Syrian, Roman Catholic and Protestant. It is to be noticed how the original form remains intact, is modified or changed in the variety of sub-traditions of each. Ashrams, seminaries and centres of inculturation have gone to a great extent of incorporating elements of the classical Hindu religious traditions. This has been criticized by others as they represent a caste oriented tradition with high sophistication. Consequently, there have been other forms, less elitist, more oriented to local situations, the most remarkable of which are the Dalit Liturgies produced by the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai. They expose the divisive force of the caste system, emphasize the unity of the common people and celebrate justice, peace and hope. Finally, certain imperatives are identified to set a new agenda for liturgical transformation. They include recognition of the limitation of words and written texts, the background of religious pluralism, interfaith relations and dialogue and revival of popular traditions and folklore. However, there is no guarantee that all cultural forms neatly fit into the gospel imperatives. Gospel is relevant in any context only if it is both critical and accommodative. And liturgy combines gospel insights, theological formulations and cultural expressions and therefore it lends to the production of unlimited variety of liturgies. Then it is difficult to hold liturgy as a mark of unity within a denomination and carrier of orthodoxy. Particularly the Eucharist has the function of proclaiming the gospel. As Paul reminds the Corinthian Church ‘For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes’ (1 Corinthians 11:26). Later, in the context of expressing various spiritual gifts in congregational worship, he concludes his long exhortation with the words ‘but let all be done decently and in order’ (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Foreword

xvii

For Paul, ‘all that is true, all that is noble, all that is just and pure, all that is lovable and attractive, whatever is excellent and admirable’ (Philippians 4:8) are acceptable to Christians and they should be applicable to contextual liturgies, too. If this is taken seriously, liturgy in every local context has to be prepared with great care and sensitivity and that poses a great challenge for those who are supposed to conduct worship services. By this study Paul Collins has made a great contribution to the understanding of liturgical traditions in South India. The book is informative, analytical and challenging. Being an outsider, with the acquaintance of major liturgical traditions of the Christian Church and of ongoing international and ecumenical discussions is a great advantage for him to look at the South Indian scene with a fair amount of objectivity but without losing passion and engagement. Christians in South India and those associated with churches there will be ever grateful to him. I hope readers will be greatly motivated to work for liturgical renewal in their context. Israel Selvanayagam, Formerly Principal United College of the Ascension, Birmingham

This page intentionally left blank

Introduction The purpose of this book is to explore the relationship between the Christian activity of worship and the cultural context in which such activity takes place. Much has been written about the task of the contextualization or inculturation of Christian worship.1 I have drawn upon a number of these works in seeking to explore the themes inherent in the relationship between context, culture and worship. However my purpose is not to offer another work on the theories of inculturation as such, but rather through the particular example of the churches in southern India to ask questions about how the churches came to adopt the notion and task of inculturation, what this has meant during the twentieth century and what this may mean for the churches now at the beginning of the twenty-first. The book will also explore the relationship between the particular context of South India and discourse in the world church. This inevitably focuses upon what has been described as the churches of the ‘Great Tradition’ as they have been responsible for producing much of the literature and guidance in this area. However I have also sought to draw upon the experience and practice of those Evangelical and Pentecostal churches of the so-called ‘Little Tradition’, for their praxis is often parallel with the other traditions and on occasion is ground-breaking in its popular and grass-roots appeal. I would also want to hold that the debates among Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants in international gatherings is also illuminating for all traditions, in that they are seeking to face the same fundamental issues, problems and opportunities that all face in attempting to craft an authentic contextual ethos of worship. In choosing the context of southern India as my focus, I have done so mainly due to the highly developed religious and social traditions of those peoples. It is also the case that much attention has in recent years been focused on the issues of inculturation in Africa.2 The context of southern India is a pluralist society, which in different but parallel ways echoes the pluralism of much of the Western world today. It is a context in which ancient traditions and the effects of contemporary globalization are engaged in an ongoing struggle. It is my hope that the exploration of this diverse and dynamic context can shed light on the issues and problems of the relationship between worship and culture faced by different churches across the globe. Personally, I have found that it becomes easier to identify elements in the intricate relationship between worship and culture in my own context, because of 1 E.g. Aylward Shorter, Toward a Theology of Inculturation, (London, 1988); Gerald A. Arbuckle, Earthing the Gospel: An Inculturation Handbook for the Pastoral Worker, (Maryknoll, 1990); Anscar, Chupungco, Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis, (Collegeville, 1992). 2 E.g. F. Kabasele Lumbala, Celebrating Jesus Christ in Africa: Liturgy and Inculturation, (Maryknoll, 1998); Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle for the Masai, (Maryknoll, 2003); Philip Tovey, Inculturation of Christian Worship: Exploring the Eucharist, (Aldershot / Burlington VT, 2004).

2

Christian Inculturation in India

experience of the context of South India. It is my hope that part of this effect can be communicated in this book, so that others may perceive their own context with more discernment and insight. For it is my perception that churches in the West face the prospect of worshipping in a culture whose values and ethos are far more ‘alien’ to the Gospel than churches in such a context as India. The context of South India raises a particular set of problems for those seeking an authentic local expression of Christian worship. This relates to the highly developed social hierarchy of India in caste. It is from the perceptions of the Christians from low caste or outcaste (Dalit) backgrounds that a particular critique has emerged, which invites the churches to consider the relationship of context and culture to social power dynamics and the pursuit of social justice when seeking to offer worship to God. It is this element of this study rooted in the context of South India, which I believe is of crucial importance to the world church. The analysis and critique of the power-play in any given socio-cultural context is of vital importance for the authenticity of the life and witness of a worshipping congregation. Thus it is my hope that in recounting the narrative of inculturation in the context of southern India that churches and congregations in many other different contexts may be able to take from this narrative useful examples and questions in the pursuit of being and becoming worshipping communities which are truly local and truly Christian. There are six chapters in the book, which trace the imperatives behind and practice of inculturation of Christian worship in South India. Chapter 1 sets the scene for the exploration of worship and culture in South India by looking first of all at academic discourse on Christ or the Gospel and Culture and then on the effects of colonialism. The second chapter examines why in the 1960s the churches began to make broad global statements on inculturation. It does this in relation to a parallel Indian narrative, demonstrating how the Indian context and its concerns affected debates and decisions of the churches at international level. Chapter 3 examines the beginnings of contextual theology in the twentieth century, relating this to the Christian ashram movement in India as well as to the praxis of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches there. The fourth chapter looks at the physical context of worship in terms of space and architecture, while the fifth chapter examines instances of Christian worship and rituals. In Chapter 6 various themes are explored which emerged in the previous chapters such as the work of ashrams, praxis in local congregations and the critique of Dalit theologians. In the light of these themes a number of basic criteria are offered in relation to crafting authentic, local worship, not just for the Indian context, but for exploration and application in churches across the globe.

Chapter 1

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies: The Export Factor And thus over all the World may the BRITISH CONQUESTS be extended, while you gain still new Accessions to the Kingdom of Christ, and conquer not for yourselves, but for HIM! Hence will the Name of BRITAINS be made every Day more glorious by a continued Train of Victories over the common Enemy, the Great Tyrant of Mankind and Prince of this World.1

Setting the Scene The context for this discussion of inculturation is the considerable theological literature produced during the twentieth century on the inter-face between the Christian Tradition and the culture or cultures in which individual Christians, and the community of the Church find themselves at any one time and place. Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture published in 1951, and Paul Tillich’s Theology of Culture, published in 1959 bear testimony to the centrality of this focus during the twentieth century. It is in part from this emphasis on culture in academic theological discourse that the ‘task’ of inculturation emerges. The desire to locate culture in a dialogical relation to the Christian Tradition, either in terms of theology and culture or theology of culture lends an impetus towards the desire to re-model Christian practice in relation to context and culture. As Pope Paul VI commented the inter-play between Gospel and culture is without doubt a drama of our time.2 It will be necessary in this and the following chapters to examine in more detail where the imperatives for the task of inculturation originate, and also to ask why such imperatives emerge in each particular time and place. The main examples of inculturation to be investigated will be drawn from South India, but examples from other parts of the globe will be mentioned in this chapter, including South America. In order to embark upon an analysis of the processes of cultural adaptation in Christian practice I will first set out some possible understandings of culture, then I will investigate where the imperatives towards inculturation emerge from and some of the issues and concerns underlying these imperatives.

1 ‘Epistle dedicatory to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and members of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel’, in Propagation of the Gospel in the East: Being an account of the Success of two Danish Missionaries lately sent to the East Indies for the conversion of the Heathens in Malabar, (London, 1709). 2 Pope Paul VI: Evangelii nuntiandi, 1975, section 20.

4

Christian Inculturation in India

Many attempts have been made to define ‘culture’, and a particularly well known attempt sets out the following understanding: Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artefacts; the essential core of culture consist of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas, especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning element of future action.3

Emerging from such an understanding it has been argued that culture is (a) Something that is learned, not inherited; (b) something that is shared by all or almost all members of some social group; (c) something that the old members of the group try to pass on to the younger members, and (d) something (as in the case of morals, laws and customs) that shapes behavior, or structures one's perception of the world.4 Another well-known and complementary attempt at definition was made by Clifford Geertz5 who argues that culture relates primarily to the semiotic and thus to questions of significance. Cultural analysis is an attempt to discern and interpret meaning. If human behaviour is to be understood as symbolic action, then participants in the same culture or new-comers to it or observers of it will seek to understand what is intended or meant by behaviour. A potential problem here is the possibility that human actions become reified. Nonetheless Geertz argues that culture consists of socially established structures of meaning. Culture is a series of inter-worked systems of construable signs (or symbols), which he argues do not deliver up power, but provide a context for human existence. If the understanding of culture and the analysis of culture are dependent upon the notion of context, then as Geertz also argues there can be no general theory of cultural interpretation. Geertz concludes that the vocation of the analyst of cultures is not to provide answers to the deep existential questions of life, but to seek to identify how in a given context answers to those questions have been provided by those in the cultures themselves. Thus Geertz argues that Culture is best seen not as complexes of concrete behaviour patterns — customs, usages, traditions, habit clusters — as has, by and large, been the case up to now, but as a set of control mechanisms — plans, recipes, rules, instructions (what computer engineers call ‘programs’) — for the governing of behaviour . . .

3 A.L. Kroeber and C. Kluckholm, Culture a critical review of concepts and definitions, (Cambridge, Mass., 1952), p.151. 4 http://www.svt.ntnu.no/psy/Hroar.Klempe/Culture.htm. 5 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, (London, 1975).

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

5

The ‘control mechanism’ view of culture begins with the assumption that human thought is basically both social and public — that is, its natural habitat is the house yard, the marketplace, and the town square. Thinking consists not of ‘happenings in the head’ (though happenings there and elsewhere are necessary for it to occur) but of a traffic in what have been called significant symbols — anything, in fact, that is disengaged from its mere actuality and used to impose meaning upon experience. From the point of view of any particular individual, such symbols are largely given.6

These brief summaries raise important questions for any understanding of issues concerning the relationship of the Gospel or of Christ to culture as well as to the task of inculturation. Firstly are such concepts of the phenomena of culture brought to bear upon theological reflection and action? And secondly were this to be the case how would this affect the outcomes of reflection upon practice? The study and analysis of religion as culture and of religious cultures is a major sub-set in cultural studies. It will be necessary in the course of analysing both theological reflection and practice to bear in mind the insights and conventions of this sub-set of cultural studies. However for the moment the role of cultural analyst as interpreter of symbolic action understood as ‘control mechanism’ provides a sufficient basis upon which to proceed with the discussion of theological discourse concerning culture as well as the processes of inculturation. Having said this, it should be noted that these ‘definitions’ as with any others that might be used, are approximations, and should be used with this proviso in mind. Before looking at theological discourse concerning culture, I want to consider how the conceptualization of culture is understood and employed by those whose work crosses cultural boundaries, in today’s global economy. One way in which to reduce, if not eliminate prejudice and misunderstanding in terms of commercial marketing has been the use of what Lee calls, Self Reference Criteria (SRC).7 Lee identified a four-step approach: 1) Determining the problem or goal in terms of home country culture, habits and norms. 2) Determining the same problem or goal in terms of host country culture, habits and norms. 3) Isolating the SRC influence on the problem and how it complicates the issue. 4) Redefining the problem without the SRC influence and solving it according to the specific foreign market situation.8 This approach may well be an over simplification of the issues facing either commercial marketing or liturgical adaptation, but it sets out in an open and seemingly transparent way how to approach the issues of crossing cultural boundaries or of inter-cultural encounter. However such processes are not immediately transferable 6 C. Geertz, ‘The impact of the concept of culture on the concept of man’, in J, Platt, (ed.), New Views of the Nature of Man, (Chicago, 1966). 7 Lee, J.A., ‘Cultural analysis in overseas operations’, Harvard Business Review, 44 (1966): 106-14. 8 See: http://www.via-web.de/272.0.html (Conceptualization of Culture).

6

Christian Inculturation in India

to a context such as South India where indigenous people are themselves entering into the task of adaptation or inculturation. Indeed the starkness of Lee’s four-fold steps highlights the complexity of the quest for Indian-ness when the proponents themselves are already Indian and live out their lives in Indian culture. So I turn to examine theological reflection and discourse on the relation between Gospel / Church and culture. Cardinal Walter Kasper in a recent statement on the nature of ecumenical dialogue, emphasizes the need to relate and situate all theological debates within their context and culture.9 His concern testifies to the ongoing centrality of ‘culture’ in theological discourse today. Indeed more than this I want to argue that Kasper’s clear sighted understanding of the crucial status of culture bears witness to what might be called a ‘shift to culture’ in the practice of theology, which might be seesnas a parallel with the ‘shift to the subject’ attributed to Kant. The emphasis on culture in theological writing and debate is one of the outcomes of and effects upon theology of that ‘shift to the subject’. The effects of that shift are borne out in the theological method of Schleiermacher who in response to the Enlightenment Project redefined the focus of theology as giving an account of the human subject’s response of faith, in place of the prior focus on giving an account of the divine being, with its attendant ontological and metaphysical expressions in creeds and dogmas. It is also significant that Schleiermacher’s first work of note was, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers,10 which itself points to a concern with culture. What may be said to have occasioned this paradigm shift in theology towards a predominant focus on culture, what are its effects, and how, if at all, does it relate to the task of inculturation? Debates about theology in relation to culture and theologies of culture are by no means novelties of the twentieth century. They can reasonably be situated in the Tradition in relation to the implications of the Incarnation, and by extension to the debates about analogy: i.e. analogia entis or analogia fidei.11 Nonetheless the current focus on culture is a shift from giving an account of the human response of faith, to giving an account of the context in which that faith and subjectivity are formed, which arguably might be a move further away from the traditional account of theos – logos or more subtly be a means by which to clothe faith in realities of context.12 In seeking to trace where the paradigm shift in the twentieth century to culture comes from, I want to begin with Karl Barth. It is indisputable that his whole theological endeavour rests upon an appeal to the analogia fidei.13 Thus it may be argued that despite his neo-orthodoxy, his endeavour also sits within the framework of Schleiermacher’s method in giving an account of the human response of faith. Furthermore while Barth’s theological endeavour was initiated by his 9 Walter Kasper, Nature and Purpose of Ecumenical Dialogue, http://www.vatican.va/ roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20030227_ ecumenical-dialogue_en.html. 10 F. Schleiermacher, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers, (London, 1893). 11 See Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1.1 (2nd edn), (Edinburgh, 1975), pp. 243-44. 12 See Robert W. Jenson, ‘Christ as Culture 2: Christ as Art’, International Journal of Systematic Theology, 6/1 (2004): 71, where Jenson in reference to Rowan Williams expounds the defence of a realist epistemology in relation to context. 13 Barth, Church Dogmatics vol. 1.1, pp. 243-44.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

7

rejection of Kulturprotestantismus,14 and set forth in his theological manifesto in his commentary on The Epistle to the Romans,15 his rejection of ‘culture’ is far from absolute as is witnessed in his acknowledgement of the influence of Mozart upon him.16 The later Barth in Volume IV of the Church Dogmatics17 and the Humanity of God18 demonstrates an understanding of the Incarnation, which sets much greater store by context and places value on the human and the material. This change of response to culture in Barth’s work is symptomatic of an ambivalence to culture within theological discourse as well as within Church practice. Niebuhr’s classic work Christ and Culture is a benchmark to which many still refer today. It also bears witness to a sense of ambivalence, in the different types of inter-face identified between Christ and Culture as well as in the overall attitude he espouses which falls between outright acceptance or rejection of culture. It is as though in some sense, somewhere culture might be avoided. Kathyrn Tanner in her work Theories of Culture19 presents an interpretation of a variety of understandings of cultural analysis and of the inter-face between theology and culture, which clearly values culture in its own right and from her perspective is understood as God-given. Thus her work positively avoids the ambivalence, which I have identified. Hers is not the only work to do so, but through her appeal to a conceptuality of diversity she sets before us a dialogical framework for the inter-play between theology and culture which potentially avoids setting two static objects in confrontation with one another. More recently Robert Jenson has gone further still in the rejection of Niebuhr’s endeavour. He writes H. Richard Niebuhr’s famous book, Christ and Culture, has many merits, but nevertheless has for some time seemed to me foundationally misconceived. The title presumes that Christ is one thing and culture another; and the book is about possible prepositions to replace the non-commital conjunction. Christ must be against culture, or above culture, or ahead of culture, or whatever…. Thus it makes a logical tangle to speak of Christ ‘and’ culture absolutely, since by referring to Christ one is already invoking a specific culture, that of Israel. However Christ is related to other cultures or to the general human need to have a culture, the relation is not simply external; a relation between say, Christ and Chinese culture is itself a relation between Jewish culture and Chinese culture.20

14 Eberhard Busch, Karl Barth: His life from letters and autobiographical texts, (London, 1976), pp. 81-3. 15 Karl Barth Epistle to the Romans six editions between 1918–28. 16 Karl Barth, ‘W.A. Mozart 1756-1956’, Evangelischer Verlag, (1956), English translation in Religion and Culture: Essays in Honour of Paul Tillich, (London & New York), 1959, pp. 61-78. 17 Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol 4.1 & 2, (Edinburgh, 1956, 1958). 18 Karl Barth, The Humanity of God, (Richmond VA, 1960). 19 Kathryn Tanner, Theories of Culture: A new agenda for theology, (Minneapolis, 1997). 20 Robert W. Jenson, ‘Christ as Culture 1: Christ as Polity’, International Journal of Systematic Theology 5/3 (2003): 323.

8

Christian Inculturation in India

The works of Niebuhr, Tanner and Jenson, among many others, bear witness to my suggestion that there is a paradigm shift to culture in theological discourse. Thus despite Barth’s original rejection of Kulturprotestantismus, theology in the twentieth century had a relationship with culture at the heart of its agenda. Barth’s theological endeavour rests upon the interpretation that German Liberal Protestant theology sold out to the dominant culture of liberal values, such as progress.21 Thus in his experience the dominant culture is often likely to produce evil results. One can appreciate his analysis of events relating as they do to World War I, National Socialism and World War II. Barth crafts a response to this, in his doctrine of time. He argues that time and by extension culture are ‘fallen’ and thus stand in need of being redeemed and transformed. For Barth such redemption and transformation is only possible through the prism of a strictly defined Christology. Niebuhr is the inheritor of this set of conceptualities relating to culture and Christ. So that while on the one hand Niebuhr’s work opens up the landscape of the inter-play between theology and culture more than Barth himself allows, which is a positive development, on the other hand the ambivalence towards culture per se remains. In Tanner’s revisiting of this landscape, we are able to leave behind much of the context, which shaped Barth’s theology, and discover new ways in which to envisage and work with the relationship between the Christian Tradition and the culture, which Christians and the Church inhabit. However the paradigm shift to culture identified in modern theology remains the product of contrary and ambivalent influences. On the one hand there is the awakening of interest in culture from the time of the Enlightenment onwards, to be seen in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology, which theologians have used and embraced;22 while on the other hand the events of the twentieth century led to a deep felt suspicion of culture, and perception of the need to avoid, change or redeem culture. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) argues in his work Truth and Toleration that the Church per se and the life of the ‘People of God’ are ‘a culture’ and ‘a cultural agent’.23 Ratzinger argues for this understanding in relation to the notion ‘that faith itself is cultural. It does not exist in a naked state, as sheer religion’.24 He argues for a highly developed and nuanced understanding of the intercultural identity of Christians as relating both to one’s ethnicity and nationality as well as to one’s Church allegiance. There is he argues a ‘productive tension’ between these identities. If culture is more than mere form or mere aesthetics, if it is much more a way of ordering values within a historic form of life, and if it cannot ignore the question concerning the divine, then there is no way of getting around the fact that, for believers, the Church is a separate cultural entity in her own right. This cultural entity or agency, the Church, the 21 See G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, (New York, 1956), pp. 79-110. 22 For a more contemporary analysis of the background to these developments see Michel Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, (London, 1989). 23 Joseph Ratzinger, Truth and Toleration: Christian Belief and World Religions, (Ft. Collins, 2004), pp. 66-71. 24 Ibid., p. 67.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

9

people of God, does not – even in periods when particular peoples seem to have been fully christianized, as people used to believe was the case in Europe – coincide with any of these other historic cultural entities; rather, she retains her own overarching form and is indeed on that account significant.25

Whether Christian believers and churches in general will desire to embrace such a conceptuality, it is nonetheless a useful indicator in pragmatic terms, for is it not describing reality on the ground? This reality certainly needs to be understood from a self-aware and self-critical perspective. In Roman Catholic discourse it is likely that Ratzinger’s conceptuality will become a significant motif in years to come. Parallel with Ratzinger’s understanding, although constructed on the Augustinian notion of the totus Christus, Robert Jenson has also set forth an understanding of Christ and Church as embodying an ‘already’ distinctive culture. This shared understanding between Ratzinger and Jenson although differently constructed will undoubtedly influence the ways in which contextualization / inculturation is approached and practised. There is then a recognition that culture in some sense is useful in apologetic terms if in nothing else: as is seen in the title of Schleiermacher’s Speeches on Religion to its Cultured Despisers. It is this perception that culture has a place along with context in Christian Apologetics that connects the debates in theological discourse concerning theology and culture with the task of inculturation. It will be important throughout this study to bear in mind how the theological debates are mirrored in the praxis of inculturation, particularly in relation to the suspicion of culture. Robert Jenson also offers a number of important insights in relation to the task of inculturation. As well as arguing that ‘Christ’ itself is an en-cultured concept, he argues that the church itself has its own culture or cultures. He points out that the church … like any community, is responsible to cultivate her culture, and can lose her identity, if she does not.26

Furthermore he argues since the church is a culture, there are limits on ‘inculturation’. With any culture, there are some elements of other cultures that it can assimilate and others that it cannot without selfdestruction. So, for example, the disastrous effects of the churches’ extensive assimilation of the Enlightenment ideal of autonomy are now widely perceived.27

Jenson argues that if the church as the Body of Christ is a culture, then Christ is a culture, in another sense than simply referring to the Jewish origins of the concept of Christ-hood. Jenson appeals to Augustine’s concept of totus Christus, which he understands to have both eschatological and ecclesial dimensions. ‘Christ is and remains the second identity of the Trinity as one only; yet he and the community he brings with him into the life of the Trinity are again one and the same “whole

25 26 27

Ibid., p. 69. Jenson, ‘Christ as Culture 1: Christ as Polity’: 324. Ibid., p. 324.

10

Christian Inculturation in India

Christ”.’28 Jenson’s strong emphasis on the Christological dimension of ecclesial culture is an important factor to bring to the discussion of the task of inculturation. He draws out this emphasis further in the final lecture on Christ as Drama to indicate the corporate and on-going nature of the culture, which is the church. Jenson offers an incisive critique of the notion that a culture is to be understood mainly in terms of semiotics, in that such analysis abstracts just a moment from a culture, when in reality it exists only ‘diachronically’.29 Thus he argues ongoing cultures exist as drama; and ‘a culture…has no diachronic identity other than the coherence of its plot-line.’30 Edward Said also argued that the culture of nations is a ‘narration’.31 He writes that ‘The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and merging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them.’32 Jenson continues his line of thought suggesting that ‘If within a culture we have no notion of its plot, if we have no image of the culture as a whole, we cannot induct into the culture or cultivate it or know which alien forms it can adopt and which it cannot.’33 In relation to the church he argues that the conceptuality of ‘anticipation’ is crucial for an understanding the plot and culture, which it is seeking to embody and live out. Here again Jenson has posited crucial issues for consideration by those engaged in the task of inculturation. Three themes in particular emerge for consideration: the Christological, diachronic and eschatological dimensions of the culture of the church need to shape and inform the ways in which the church might adapt to or adopt from other cultures. These three themes, which Jenson identifies provide a useful summary of the main issues to be borne in mind in relation to the task of inculturation. The Christological theme relates the theological justification of inculturation to the Christian understanding of Incarnation, and of its possible ‘extension’ in the existence of the Church. This relates to Geertz’s notion that culture is a control mechanism. The second theme relating to the diachronic and narrative is a reminder on the one hand that culture is not simply a matter of semiotics, while on the other that narratives have the power to block other narration. Finally the eschatological theme is a reminder that inculturation is a process which involves transformation, towards a goal or telos, in the divine purposes in creating and redeeming the cosmos. Two other issues need also to be borne in mind: the treatment of culture and inculturation by some sections of the Christian community with ambivalence; and the potential of inculturation to collude with contemporary consumerism in the commodification of peoples and cultures.

28 Ibid., p. 325. 29 Robert W. Jenson, ‘Christ as Culture 3: Christ as Drama’, International Journal of Systematic Theology, 6/2 (2004):198. 30 Ibid. 31 Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism, London, 1994, p. xiii. 32 Said, p. xiii. 33 Jenson, ‘Christ as Culture 3: Christ as Drama’: 198.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

11

Politics and Power: Commerce and Colonies The imperatives towards inculturation emerge from two different but related movements, one is academic and the other political. The academic relates to developments in theology, anthropology, ethnography and sociology, which I have outlined already. While the political relates to the changes, which occurred as European powers relinquished their empires in the two-thirds world. There is a direct relationship between colonization, movements for independence and moves towards inculturation by the churches. So what is it that the task of inculturation seeks to overcome or rectify? It is often assumed that the most fundamental change in the Christian Tradition occurred with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christian Faith. Certainly there are many grounds to support such a view. It is customary to interpret the legitimization of Christian Faith by Constantine as removing it from the margins of society and placing it centre stage, as well as endorsing it with imperial power. It has been recognized that this influenced European empire makers of the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. However I want to argue that another more influential development, which took place in the Middle Ages, produced the grounds for the kind of missionary activity witnessed alongside the processes of colonialism and imperialism; i.e. the phenomena which historians have called the Crusades. The Crusades began as part of the ongoing practice within Christian Tradition of making pilgrimage to the Holy Places in Palestine. When this became problematic during the eleventh century, the pilgrims took up arms ostensibly to defend themselves, but the preaching of the ‘Crusade’ by leading figures such as Bernard of Clairvaux,34 changed the practice of peaceful pilgrimage into something else, something aggressive, which I suggest fundamentally changed the self-understanding of Christendom and the Christian Tradition in Western Europe. While the Church had long endorsed conflict,35 for example, William of Normandy conquered England under the Papal Banner, the Crusades took aggressive force into the realm of conversion and by extension missionary activity. It is the legitimation of armed force in the service of maintaining the truth, with the intended outcome of the forcible conversion of those who are perceived not to hold to the truth, which I suggest is an even more important change than the conversion of Constantine. It is this principle, which became a political tool in the hands of the Iberian monarchs as they sought to deliver those lands from the rule of the Muslim Caliphs in the late Middle Ages. It is then just a short step, for the same ruling dynasties to appeal to similar principles in the New World, in the shape of the Conquistadors. A parallel pattern emerges from this legitimation of violence as the nations of Europe established colonies across the globe. As well as identifying the effects of colonization in relation to the spread of Christianity by European states and missionaries, I want to reflect on a variety of forms of colonization, to explore whether a difference of imperative behind the 34 Bernard of Clairvaux – reference to preaching the second crusade at Vezelay: see: De Consideratione Libri Quinque, II, 1., in Migne, Patrologia Latina, 182, 741-45. 35 E.g. Augustine of Hippo on bellum justum (just war), City of God, XIX, 7.

12

Christian Inculturation in India

move to colonize brings about different effects with regard to missionary motivation and method, and thus the inter-play between European and indigenous cultures. For example, in the development of the British Empire, at least three different strands may be discerned. A dominant feature of the growth of the British Empire was the desire to trade; a desire motivated of course by the acquisition of wealth. This was the motivation of the transatlantic crossing by Columbus, in the search for a new route for the Spice Trade. The discovery of the Americas meant that the search for trade routes was replaced by a straightforward search for gold. The British were late comers in that search, but saw the colonization of North America in the first instance as a way in which to secure a supply of raw materials. This first instance of colonization relates directly to trade in commodities of various sorts. The second strand of colonialism to be identified was not state sponsored. Indeed it was occasioned by attempts to evade state control. A classic example of this is the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower in 1620. In this particular event it is possible to perceive the beginnings of the modern mythology of ‘freedom’. However despite the original intention to seek religious freedom (and tolerance), the success of this form of colonization, no less than that occasioned by the search for raw materials, is gained at the expense of indigenous peoples and their cultures. Thus even that colonialism which is based on the search for a place in which to have freedom, is only gained by the theft of those most basic commodities, land and freedom, through driving out the indigenous inhabitants from their homelands. The third strand of colonialism relating the British to the Americas is the triangle trade between Britain, West Africa and the Caribbean; i.e. the Slave Trade. In this trade the processes of commodification reach their nadir. During the Eighteenth Century the beginnings of mass production in the Severn valley in Shropshire, allowed that metal goods could be produced in quantity and transported to West Africa in order to exchange them for human slaves to work in the profitable sugar trade on the islands of the Caribbean, the products of which were exported back to Britain. The state sponsorship of this trade began with a charter issued by King Charles II in 1672 to the Royal Africa Company, and was explicitly endorsed by certain philosophers of the ‘Enlightenment’ who argued that only white Westerners were really human, or had true intellectual capabilities.36 It is a telling reminder of what may be interpreted as a form of institutional racism that the new volume of the Oxford History of England on the Eighteenth Century, A Polite and Commercial People, by Paul Langford37 contains only three references to the trade. The lack of recognition of this trade is a strange omission in that so many families’ fortunes were amassed on the back of this trade, as well as being a considerable factor in the processes of industrialization. The lack of recognition or the ‘forgetting’ of this history leads to serious gaps in the perception of what colonialism and imperialism actually entailed, and by extension to what this does to the power dynamics of the inter-play between European and indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa and to some extent Asia. It becomes apparent from this brief overview of three strands 36 1997). 37

See: Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, Race and Enlightenment: A Reader, (Oxford, Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People, (Oxford, 1989).

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

13

of colonialism that despite the different imperatives behind them, each is bound up with a process of commodification, whether that be of raw materials, land, or human beings. In seeking to interpret the interplay and dynamics between the cultures of the colonisers and the colonized, it is crucial to recognize the role played by these processes of commodification. That is to say that cultures themselves have often been treated as commodities. Indigenous cultures have been seen as dispensable, to be re-worked and adapted in relation to the dominant and supposedly superior culture(s) of the West. The instance of the British Raj in India is possibly a fourth strand of Empire. The British presence and rule in India, emerged from the East India Company’s expressed wish to have its trade protected from interruption or take over by other Europeans or local rulers. This lead to a military and bureaucratic presence in India, which facilitated uninterrupted access to a wide variety of commodities and cheap labour. However from the late Eighteenth Century a number of movements developed in India, which related to an emerging self-understanding in relation to politics, religion and culture.38 Most of these movements demonstrate a deep-seated frustration at the occupation of India by foreigners, and at the time in particular the British. Some movements demonstrate this frustration in Westerners as well as in Indians themselves. This may be seen in such movements as Theosophy39 and that associated with Sri Aurobindo, whose ashram is located in Pondicherry.40 This frustration related in part to the growing realization that the Christian churches, which had been produced by the efforts of Western Missionaries in India, looked like a foreign import. Some Church buildings were originally built as garrison churches (e.g. St Mary’s, Fort St George, Chennai, St John’s Vellore and St Mark’s Bangalore). Indeed cities such as Bombay [Mumbai] and Madras [Chennai] and Bangalore owe their origins to European traders and the garrisons sent to ‘protect’ them. Perhaps it is not surprising then that the church architecture left behind should be Western. However contrary to this, it is often the case that the buildings built to house the bureaucracy of the British Raj were designed with some attempt to reflect indigenous styles. The most obvious and famous example of such attempts must be Lutyens’ design for New Delhi. However church buildings were often built in imitation of a neo-Classical style such as St Martin-in-the-Fields, or a Gothic Cathedral. Indeed the shrine of Our Lady at Velanganni on the East Coast of Tamil Nadu is designed to be an imitation of the shrine church at Lourdes (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). The imitation does not end there. Across the two-thirds world there are instances of congregations, which have their origins in Church of England sponsored Missionary work, still using Hymns Ancient and Modern and the Book of Common

38 See M.M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance, (London, 1969), where the development of various such movements is outlined. 39 Helena Petrovna Blalvatsky together with Colonel Henry Steele Olcott brought the Theosophical Society to Madras (Chennai) in 1878, where the society still has its international headquarters. 40 Mirra Alfassa (1878-1973), known as ‘the Mother’ who was born in France of Turkish and Egyptian parentage, was a co-founder of the Aurobindo Ashram, settling there from 1920.

14

Figure 1.1

Christian Inculturation in India

St George’s Cathedral, Chennai

Prayer. The interior of the English-medium church of the Divine Patience in Madurai, whose ministers have included Stephen Neill, has a very familiar feel for any one brought up in the Church of England. The only sharp reminder one is not in England is that breakfast served after morning service is curry. These examples testify that most Western Missionaries worked with the implicit understanding that Christianity

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

Figure 1.2

Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Velanganni, Tamil Nadu

15

16

Christian Inculturation in India

was a European phenomenon, which could only be expressed through the medium of European cultures and styles. Whether intentionally or otherwise, through these missionary processes Christianity becomes a Western commodity imported into India, and other places similarly evangelized. The Western colonists exported the raw materials they sought, and imported Christianity, alongside other European cultural practices (e.g. bureaucracy and democracy). Christianity was thus deeply embroiled in the exchange of commodities which imperialism entails. It is from this context that the task of inculturation emerges; and it may easily be perceived that any attempt to redress the balance of cultural expression can itself potentially become subject to the pitfall of commodification. This remains an on-going issue, which did not end with colonial occupation. This is why a grasp of the issues raised by the practicalities of inculturation need to be related rigorously to the discourse concerning the relationship between theology and culture. Before discussing examples of other modes of inter-cultural relationship to be seen in missionary activity there is another outcome of the perception of Christianity as a Western phenomenon, which is noteworthy. An example of this in India relates to the historic ‘Syrian tradition’ mainly found on the Malabar coast, in modern day Kerala. While the Portuguese colonists who arrived on the Malabar coast in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may have acknowledged that some of the population were Christians, they certainly thought their own Christianity was the real or proper Christianity, and that the indigenous examples, were not. The situation of the indigenous Christians in India was further complicated (for the Europeans) in that the main ‘Syrian tradition’ in the sixteenth century related to the East Syrian or Nestorian tradition,41 a tradition, which Catholics in the sixteenth century understood to be heterodox. The discovery that the Christians, which some of the Portuguese colonists had hoped would assist them in their trading ambitions were heretics no doubt fuelled the destruction of documents such as palm leaf manuscripts, which would be invaluable evidence in seeking to understand and verify the origins of the St Thomas Christians. This marginalization of indigenous Christian groups in South India is replicated in other parts of the world as a by-product of colonization and imperialism. The Coptic Churches in Africa, and the Syrian and Armenian traditions in the Middle East have all experienced similar fates as a result of political ambitions and conquest, be that at the hands of fellow Christians or Muslims. However this Oriental Orthodox family of churches is an example within the Christian Tradition of a strand of Christianity, which has survived without the patronage of the dominant political authorities, and exemplify instances of inter-cultural cross-over which occurs outside the processes of overt power play or the commodification inherent in imperialism. As well as the potential for re-understanding inter-cultural cross-over through the investigation of the Oriental Orthodox traditions, there are examples in the history of Western Christian Missionary activity of an alternative approach to the cultural 41 The East Syrian or Nestorian Tradition is part of what today is known as the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, whose Christology may be described as non-Chalcedonian, in the sense that historically these churches were either not represented at the Council of Chalcedon (CE 451) or did not recognize the ‘definition’ promulgated by the Council.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

17

expression of Christianity. There are several examples in the work of the Society of Jesus.42 It is important to be aware of the origin of this group, in the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation. Different approaches to the presentation of Christianity in relation to local culture have often divided along the fracture line of the Reformation. Generally speaking Catholics have been more open to the concept of adaptation than Protestants have. The work of Bartholomeo Ziegenbalg (1683-1719) and Heinrich Plütschau (1678-1747), Lutherans of the Halle-Mission provides a notable exception to this generality, in their work in the Danish colony of Tranquebar, on the coast of present day Tamil Nadu. None the less this exposes one of the fundamental difficulties with the task of inculturation; that it suffers the effects, along with many other facets of Western Christianity, of its division during the sixteenth century into two opposing camps. In terms of inculturation this division is most clearly focused on attitudes towards iconography. In the context of India this difference is brought into sharp relief. For while Protestants have on the whole perceived Hinduism43 as the ultimate expression of idolatry, with its multiplicity of gods and goddesses to be seen in three dimensional statuary of the classic temples, Catholics express their faith in similar fashion to the Hindus in the statues of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Saints. However the examples of alternative methods of missionary activity I am concerned with, do not relate specifically to iconography. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some Jesuits sought to proselytize using different methods from those missionaries who worked alongside the colonists and their armies. The film The Mission (1986) is a dramatization of the practice of Jesuits in South America, who were working among the Guaraní Indians of modern day Paraguay and Argentina. The detailed story of that missionary activity is beyond the scope of this study. However, while the Jesuits undoubtedly introduced the Guaraní to Western cultural traditions and norms, including teaching them not to be cannibals, the basis upon which they sought to do this was not armed force, nor a blanket appeal to Western culture as a norm. The model of inter-cultural interpretation and inter-penetration which some Jesuits used was sufficiently subtle and outside usual missionary practice, for the colonial authorities to feel so threatened as to cause the destruction of the Jesuit mission to the Guarani and the expulsion of the Society from Spain and its empire in 1767, which contributed to the partial suppression of the order in 1773. In China, Matteo Ricci sought to dialogue with and value the traditions of indigenous Confucianism, and produced a translation of the Mass in Mandarin. His work became the inspiration for another striking example of deliberate inculturation to be seen in the methods adopted by Roberto de Nobili in the ancient temple city of Madurai in modern day Tamil Nadu. He landed in Goa in October 1605, but made 42 The Society of Jesus was founded by Ignatius Loyola and six others in 1534; it is usual to interpret the society as a phenomenon of the Counter- or Catholic-Reformation. 43 I make use of the term ‘Hinudism’ throughout this work on the basis that it is a useful generic label for philosophical traditions and religious phenomena in India, while also recognizing that most ‘Hindu’ devotees focus on just one strand of philosophy or one particular deity or manifestation of the divine.

18

Christian Inculturation in India

his base in Madurai, where like many other missionaries his first priority was to learn the local languages. He cut himself from all contact with other Europeans and lived and dressed as a sannyasin among Brahmins and others of high caste background in an attempt to proselytize among them. To this end he wrote or translated a number of works in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. His Larger Catechism44 is an attempt to produce a course of theology adapted to the needs of the local context. His methods were perceived by many to go too far along the path of accommodation to Hinduism, and proved to be very contentious. While the Catholic Church eventually withdrew its support from such endeavours, de Nobili’s methods nonetheless present a clear alternative to that used in general by the missionaries who worked alongside the colonists. It is from de Nobili’s example that a number of twentieth century initiatives in South India drew their inspiration and I shall in due course return to investigate them. Cultural Imperatives In this concluding section I want to sketch the landscape of the churches’ relationship with indigenous culture, with reference to South India. In setting out this analysis of the relationship of cultures, I shall be preparing the ground for the next chapter, when I will analyse the imperatives for inculturation in the twentieth century on a global scale. The main feature of the socio-cultural landscape of South India in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the implicit and explicit acceptance in the churches of European cultural paradigms. This predominance of European cultural norms rests implicitly upon the assumption that these were better than those to be found in the indigenous context. Such preconceptions are still current and are often the implicit imperative behind much religious proselytizing. In the context of India today such assumptions about Western paradigms continue to be perceived in relation to the work of some Christian mission agencies. This has undoubtedly added fuel to religious and political opposition to Christianity in India, which may be seen in the policies of the nationalist Hindu party, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) (1980)45 and its associated organization the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) (1925).46 Prior to the 2004 general election in India there were strong indications that the BJP sought to change the secular constitution of India, in which freedom of conscience and other religious freedoms are guaranteed. In certain states including Tamil Nadu47 laws were passed which made it illegal for any individual or any organization to set out to convert anyone from one religious faith to another. It is clear that from the Hindu fundamentalists’ perspective both Christianity and Islam are to be identified as ‘foreign’ because both accept and employ cultural paradigms, which largely have their origins outside of India. 44 Roberto de Nobili, Gnanopadesa Kandam I, II, III, IV [Larger Catechism] published originally 1655-57, (Tuticorin, 1963, 1966). 45 http://www.bjp.org/home.html. 46 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/655722.stm. 47 An ‘anti-conversion’ law was enacted in Tamil Nadu in October 2002.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

19

The landscape is complicated further by issues of caste and caste-ism. The vast majority of Christian adherents, whose tradition comes from the work of Western missionaries are lower caste or indeed mainly outcastes, those whom Gandhi referred to as Harijans, and who today are known by the Sanskrit word ‘Dalit’ meaning ‘broken, torn, scattered and crushed’.48 Prior to independence caste was hotly debated in relation to the creation of a new constitution. Among the political leaders Ambedkar argued that caste should not be tolerated in independent India, and that the constitution should outlaw the caste system. Gandhi disagreed and his view is that which is expressed in the current constitution. However the constitution sets in place processes to support the Dalit community and to enable its people to escape from poverty and oppression. There is however a loop hole, which in recent times the RSS and BJP have sought to exploit. This relates to a strict interpretation of caste as that by which only adherents of Hinduism live. Thus it can be claimed that the adherents of Islam and Christianity no longer belong to the caste system, and therefore Muslim and Christian people of lower or scheduled caste do not qualify for social welfare benefits. This has become policy in certain states and local government areas of India in an attempt to ‘encourage’ Dalits and others to ‘come back’ to Hinduism, which the RSS and BJP have sought to argue is the only truly Indian faith. Where such policy has been enforced there is evidence of considerable numbers ‘converting’ from Christianity to Hinduism. Thus the predominance of Western paradigms among the Churches has played directly into the hands of certain political and religious groupings in India today. The agenda of such groups as the BJP and RSS are rooted in the conviction that Brahminical paradigms are superior. There is also evidence that the current proponents of the Brahmins’ cause in the BJP and RSS rely on Aryan mythology similar to that employed by the National Socialists. During the BJP’s tenure of the central government considerable effort was employed to influence the educational curriculum and the production of history text books to reflect this mythology. Fortunately the tradition of democracy and of a free press is strong enough in India to offer a counter balance to these moves, which have become caricatured as attempts at sanskrit-ization or saffron-ization.49 It becomes clear that the clash of cultures in modern day India is rooted in the implicit and sometimes explicit appeal to particular cultural paradigms as norms, in the sense that they are deemed to be better than another paradigm. This has deepseated roots in Indian history, which may be traced back as far as the conquest of India by Islamic Moghul rulers. This perception of foreign intrusion has become more acute with the combined effect of Western colonialism and Western Missionary activity. From the arrival of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, through to the establishment of the British Raj, western Christian missionaries on the whole, though with notable exceptions, worked from the premise of the superiority of Western culture and the Christian faith. It is in part this predominance of western paradigms in the churches, which has found a reaction in the politics of Hindu fundamentalism. 48 49 gurus.

http://www.dalitchristians.com/Html/dalit_and_caste.htm. Saffron-ization relates to the saffron robes worn by some Brahmin priests or by

Christian Inculturation in India

20

The predominance of European cultural paradigms in the combined effect of Western colonialism and Western missionary activity is to be seen in Christian art, architecture, worship styles, mission styles, and church organization. One factor, which underlies this predominance, is what I identified as the common effect of the various forms of colonization: viz. commodification. Once land, raw materials and people are treated as commodities to be exchanged in commercial relationships, cultural expressions and paradigms will themselves be treated as commodities, to be imposed or rejected. Once culture becomes a commodity in the context of colonialism it is difficult to find middle ground where freely chosen cultural exchange or inter-play can take place. This difficulty reinforces the implicit understanding that cultural paradigms are in themselves not only vehicles for religious truth claims, but also inherently bound up with those claims. This is the issue, which the Catholic Church struggled to address in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in relation to the alternative paradigms worked by some Jesuits. On the whole Protestant missionaries did not even begin to address this issue at that time. Subsequently both traditions have sought to address this issue and this will be the focus of the next chapter. Another factor that I have already identified, which undergirds the predominance of European paradigms is the inherent racism in much Enlightenment thought.50 The assumption that white Europeans were intellectually superior to other races inevitably reinforces the assumptions that the paradigms and truth claims of Europeans (and Americans) are superior if not absolute, and thus ensures an uncompromising view of the cultural paradigms in which European Christianity is expressed. An example of these cultural, religious and intellectual assumptions is to be seen in the work, Liturgies Eastern and Western, Volume One, edited by Brightman and Hammond, and published in 1896. In this compendium of Christian liturgical sources, we find The Liturgy of the Nestorians. This liturgy is still used by the Chaldean tradition among the St Thomas Christians, and is the foundation for the new liturgical forms of the Uniate Syro-Malabar church in India. It includes what scholars are agreed is an ancient Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora, attributed to the Apostles, Addai and Mari. Addai is traditionally understood to refer to Thaddeaus, one of the twelve disciples of Christ, thus staking a claim for the antiquity and authority for the Anaphora. The distinguishing feature of this Anaphora is the absence of the Institution Narrative of the Eucharist, which in western traditions is generally understood to be a sine qua non of a Eucharistic Prayer or Prayer of Consecration. In compiling and editing his volume of texts Brightman, a priest in the Church of England, could not bring himself to publish the text without the inclusion of the Institution Narrative, and thus at what he deems to be appropriate place he inserts the Narrative:

50

See Eze, Race and Enlightenment: A Reader.

Cultures, Commerce and Colonies

21

Gehantha And with these heavenly hosts we give thanks to thee, o my Lord repeat, even we thy servants weak and frail and miserable, for that thou hast given us great grace past recompense m that thou didst put on our manhood that thou mightest quicken it by thy godhead, and hast exalted our low estate and restored our fall and raised our mortality and forgiven our trespasses and justified our sinfulness and enlightened our knowledge and, o our Lord and our God, hast condemned our enemies and granted victory to the weakness of our frail nature in the overflowing mercies of thy grace [OUR LORD JESUS THE SAME NIGHT IN WHICH HE WAS DELIVERED UP TOOK BREAD AND BLESSED AND BRAKE IT AND SAID TAKE, EAT: THIS IS MY BODY WHICH 1S BROKEN FOR YOU: THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE 0F ME. AFTER THE SAME MANNER ALSO HE TOOK THE CUP WHEN HE HAD SUPPED, SAYING THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD: THIS DO YE, AS OFT AS YE DRINK IT, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME or read it as in the other kuddashe] Kanuna And for all thine helps and graces towards us let us raise to thee praise and honour and confession and worship now and ever and world without end and he signs the mysteries and they answer Amen.51 Thus he effectively destroys the integrity of this ancient text, because for him it was unthinkable that a Eucharistic Prayer should not contain the Institution Narrative. In this example can be seen the effect of the predominance of Western European paradigms, religious, cultural and intellectual. Within the landscape there were alternatives, such as the examples of Jesuit missionary activity, which spring from different imperatives. However the religious and secular authorities came to see these alternatives as sufficiently threatening to require the Jesuits to cease such missionary activity. The issues raised concern methods of initial proselytization as well as the ongoing inter-play between religious truth claims and cultural expression. What the Jesuits were attempting in South America and South India was to offer an alternative to the hegemony of European paradigms generally accepted by the Church at that time. Thus the analysis of the task of inculturation is much more than a question of whether or not to borrow certain religious / cultural practices. It goes to the heart of the issue of what kind of relationship is possible between different faith systems and communities. It poses questions about religious faith and cultures in the context of pluralist societies and states. And for a faith such as Christianity it poses questions about its means to 51 F.E. Brightman and C.E. Hammond (eds), Liturgies Eastern and Western vol.1., (Oxford 1896), p. 285.

22

Christian Inculturation in India

accept the missionary imperative, ‘Go … and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…, and teaching them… (Matthew 28. 19-20).’ Evidently at the height of European imperialism in the nineteenth century that imperative was interpreted to include cultural paradigms alongside military conquest and commercial dominance and exploitation. Justified by the words of Oakley’s [1832-65] hymn Hills of the north, rejoice: Lands of the east, awake, Soon shall your sons be free; The sleep of ages break, And rise to liberty. On your far hills, long cold and grey, Has dawned the everlasting day. Such attitudes in India proved to be counter productive, the common cause of colonialism and evangelism in this instance only serving to harden resistance or indifference to the missionaries, among the vast majority of the population of India. In the next chapter I will consider what imperatives lie behind moves by the Christian Churches during the course of the twentieth century to find new religious and cultural paradigms in which to express their practices as well as the missionary imperative.

Chapter 2

Redefining Identities: Landscapes and Imperatives to 1963 O God, who to an expectant and united Church granted at Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit, and have wonderfully brought into one fold those who now worship you here: Grant us the help of the Holy Spirit in all our life and worship, that we may expect great things from you, and attempt great things for you, and being one in you may show to the world that you sent Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, world without end.1

Introduction In Chapter 1 I identified and investigated some of the factors underlying the explicit and official acknowledgment of the need to adapt liturgical practice, which was to emerge during the 1960s. Recognition that there is need to adapt practice springs from understanding that church practice is deficient, so it is important to analyse and interpret the factors, which underlie this perceived need. I will now investigate the imperatives, which underlie the explicit and official moves towards adaptation or inculturation proposed by the churches in the 1960s. The particular examples are statements made at the Second Vatican Council, the Faith and Order meeting in Montreal in 1963, and parallel statements made at the Lambeth Conferences of the Anglican Communion of that period. These statements testify to the churches’ desire to establish a new paradigm by which to express Christian truth claims and practices in relation to local cultures, compared with the paradigms employed in the period of European imperialism. However while the churches were explicit in their statements that change should occur, the imperatives underlying this remain largely implicit or ignored. This leads on the one hand to some having suspicion of the whole process of inculturation, while on the other hand to a rather less than transparent process, in which the pitfalls of commodification have become evident. A significant factor in relation to the causes of the churches’ explicit avowal of inculturation, in the case of India, relates to ad hoc local attempts at inculturation, which may be traced from the mid-nineteenth century. These attempts themselves are the product of several distinct factors, which may be identified in terms of both politics and religion. The investigation of the imperatives underlying the churches’ explicit avowal of inculturation in the case of India will involve the analysis of complex and diverse movements and issues. It will be necessary to rehearse several distinct narratives in

1

Church of South India, Anniversary Prayer.

24

Christian Inculturation in India

order to appreciate the web of inter-dependence and inter-action between what may at first seem unrelated and disparate phenomena. Background to the Moves towards Intentional Inculturation in the 1960s: The International Narrative to World War I One strand in this narrative is the Liturgical Movement. This may be understood from a variety of perspectives and my interpretation of it will be less than comprehensive.2 For some the movement is centred on the recovery of pure practice, in order to influence contemporary practice, to achieve a renewal of Church life. For others it is more explicitly a theological movement focused as much on the Church itself, as on the performance of its liturgical rites. The origins of the movement are disputed, though some would argue that the re-establishment of the Benedictine community at Solesmnes in 1833 is a useful marker. The discovery in 1848 of The Egyptian Church Order, later understood to be the Apostolic Tradition associated with Hippolytus,3 which it is usual to place in the early third century, is also influential in shaping the Liturgical Movement. The early date of this relatively sophisticated liturgical and ceremonial document gave scholars a platform on which to make claims for a highly developed and yet ‘pure’ expression of Christian worship in the Pre-Constantinian period. Thus prior to the Christianization of the Roman Empire, and prior to the major schisms within the Christian Tradition, scholars could appeal to an era which they deemed to be ‘pure’, and from which new liturgical and ceremonial paradigms could be worked. The details of the movement cannot be rehearsed here, but its primary components as they relate to a (re-)discovery of sources and the renewal of patristic scholarship are particularly relevant to this investigation of the imperatives underlying inculturation.4 This informed an appeal to the ‘pure and primitive’, from which were crafted models for the renewal of the Church. In particular the movement made a strong appeal to the Pauline metaphor of the Body of Christ. It is this package of ideals, which has informed and formed churches and their liturgical practices in the West during the twentieth century. It may be argued that the conceptuality of liturgical renewal developed by scholars in the Liturgical Movement with its emphasis on an overall or catholic vision of rites sets up a tension when compared with the focus on the local and specific, which the task of inculturation implies. This is particularly the case in Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions. For those churches, which follow in an extempore tradition, such as the Evangelical and 2 See: Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, (London, 1945); Gabriel Arthur Hebert, Liturgy and society: the function of the Church in the modern world, (London, 1935); J.H. Srawley, The Liturgical Movement: its origin and growth, (London, 1954); Charles Davis, Liturgy and Doctrine: The Doctrinal Basis of the Liturgical Movement, (London, 1960). 3 See: Geoffrey J. Cuming, Hippolytus: A Text for Students, (Bramcote, 1976); Paul Bradshaw & others (eds), The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, (Minneapolis, 2002); Alistair Stewart-Sykes (ed.), On the apostolic tradition / Hippolytus, (Crestwood, 2001). 4 There is a parallel European movement in the Roman Catholic Church known as nouvelle theologie and ressourcement or aggiornamento; see works for example by Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar and Jean Daniélou.

Redefining Identities

25

Pentecostal churches such a tension is much less evident, their tradition facilitating the possibility of local practice and custom much more easily. In parallel with the development of the Liturgical Movement in the Nineteenth Century, there emerged a concern for the re-unification of the churches, known as the Ecumenical Movement. The contexts where this concern developed were in the colonies, or former colonies of the European powers. There is clear and early evidence of a perception that colonialism also entailed the export of ideology and culture, and a realization that church division was not necessarily intrinsic to Christian Tradition. One of the first concrete examples of reflection on the implications of colonization for the churches is to be found in the Chicago Quadrilateral adopted by the meeting of bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA in Chicago in 1886. This in turn was presented to the bishops of Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference of 1888. The American proposal was amended but adopted, and became known as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888). The initial proposal put forward by William Reed Huntington was a distillation from his book, The Church-Idea: An Essay Towards Church Unity (1870).5 The quest for the re-union of the churches is focused in just four essential components, which were deemed to be irreducible, but nonetheless meant much was stripped away. The General Convention meeting in Chicago in 1886 set out its intentions and disclosed the imperatives behind the Quadrilateral as follows: We, Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Council assembled as Bishops in the Church of God, do hereby solemnly declare to all whom it may concern, and especially to our fellow-Christians of the different Communions in this land, who, in their several spheres, have contended for the religion of Christ: 1. Our earnest desire that the Savior's prayer, "That we all may be one," may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled; 2. That we believe that all who have been duly baptized with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are members of the Holy Catholic Church. 3. That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own; 4. That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visible manifestation of Christ to the world. But furthermore, we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender

5 William Reed Huntington, The Church-Idea: An Essay Towards Unity, originally published 1870 and 1899, (Harrisburg, 2002).

26

Christian Inculturation in India by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men. Furthermore, Deeply grieved by the sad divisions which affect the Christian Church in our own land, we hereby declare our desire and readiness, so soon as there shall be any authorized response to this Declaration, to enter into brotherly conference with all or any Christian Bodies seeking the restoration of the organic unity of the Church, with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass.6

The declaration immediately identifies issues of human choice, and places in a relative position, matters concerning worship and customs. This is in contradistinction to the ‘deposit’ it also identifies as being irreducible. It is important to recognize this, as holding to such a distinction would become a methodological device in much subsequent discussion of both ecumenism and of inculturation. In arguing not only that division is mistaken, but implicitly that the mistake results from the export of such division from Europe, the Quadrilateral statement sets the agenda for much subsequent discussion to the present day. Before World War I, there were a number of international gatherings, which indicate the emergence of a new climate in the relationships between religions, as well as among different Christian traditions. These various expressions of ecumenism found expression in two key landmark events. Firstly in 1893, as part of the Columbian Exposition of that year in Chicago, a World Parliament of Religions was held.7 During this event such figures as Swami Vivekananda, Manilal D’Vivedi and Protap Chundar Mozoomdar [Majumdar] spoke of the common spiritual quest of the major world religions. It may be argued that this event in Chicago in 1893 formed the shape of ongoing discourse and debate about religious pluralism. The affirmation of the commonality of the great world religions and the desire to mitigate competing truth claims had a profound effect on the emerging discipline of religious studies. Indeed it has been argued that the World Parliament of Religions signalled the beginning of the end of ‘Western cultural imperialism’. Dinges argues that the effects of this event mean that, ‘No sensitive Westerner can any longer look upon the religious traditions of the non-Christian world as cultural artefacts of “primitive” civilizations. As the philosopher F.S.C. Northrop has suggested, we are living in age in which we can no longer speak as though we enjoy some privileged frame of reference.’8 While not wishing in any way to underestimate the significance and influence of the World Parliament, it is also important to reflect that in other ways Western cultural imperialism remains a potent factor across the contemporary world, as a 6 PECUSA Chicago, 1886. 7 John Henry Barrows (ed.), The World’s Parliament of Religions: An Illustrated and Popular Story of the World’s First Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in connection with the Columbian Exposition 1893, (Chicago: 1893). Barrows organized and co-ordinated the event. 8 Williams Dinges, ‘US Forerunner of Present East-West Encounter’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 2 (1978).

Redefining Identities

27

consequence of both commercial and political factors. Such modern globalization is perceived by many to mark the culmination of western cultural hegemony. This is a further feature of the context of contemporary discussion surrounding inculturation. Most major Christian traditions were represented at the World Parliament of Religions, including Roman Catholics, Byzantine Orthodox and Protestants. It is significant that the Archbishop of Canterbury9 declined an invitation to participate, because of fears of the consequences of placing all religions on an equal footing. In this he shared the forebodings of many conservative Christians, who also reject a perceived implicit drive towards syncretism. A significant change of attitude is demonstrated in that within twenty years this leader of the Established Church of a major imperial power, the Archbishop of Canterbury10 would take his place alongside many others on an egalitarian footing at the World Missionary conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. It is this conference, which is the second landmark event of the period, and is widely acknowledged as a particular watershed in the development of the ecumenical movement. It was from the initiatives made at this conference that the Faith and Order Movement would become established. The 1910 Conference at Edinburgh was not the first international missionary conference, such gatherings had been held in Liverpool in 1860, London in 1885 and in New York in 1900.11 What distinguishes the Edinburgh gathering from the previous conferences, was that ‘Whereas previous conferences had been non-denominational, participants at Edinburgh represented missionary societies (not churches) across virtually the whole Protestant spectrum, but without R[oman] C[atholic] or Orthodox involvement.’12 The conference sought to address the problems, which faced the missionaries in the mission field as well as the more domestic issues of the sending missionary agencies. Eight international commissions had prepared for and brought reports to the conference.13 These included The Missionary Message in relation to the NonChristian Religions and Co-operation and the Promotion of Unity. Thus the Edinburgh Conference was intentionally or otherwise responding to the agenda articulated at the World Parliament of Religions. Three major ecumenical initiatives were the outcome of the Conference. An International Missionary Council was inaugurated, initially under the leadership of John Mott, to continue the main focus of the 1910 gathering. Two further movements emerge, Life and Work and Faith and Order. It is noteworthy that in preparation for the Conference that the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA had appointed a commission ‘for the consideration of questions touching Faith and Order’.14 The agenda for Church Unity initiated by PECUSA 9 In 1893 the Archbishop of Canterbury was Edward White Benson. 10 In 1910 the Archbishop of Canterbury was Randall Thomas Davidson. 11 William Carey had argued as early as 1810 that there should be conferences at ten year intervals for those engaged in the mission field. (D.F. Wright, ‘World Missionary Conference’, in Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, Nigel M. de S. Cameron (ed.), (Edinburgh:, 1993), p. 893. 12 Ibid., pp.893-4. 13 Ibid. 14 Lukas Vischer (ed.), A Documentary History of the Faith and Order Movement 1927-1963, (St Louis, 1963), p. 199.

28

Christian Inculturation in India

in 1886 also feeds into the outcomes from the 1910 Conference. Thus a picture emerges of a quest for a universal or catholic vision of religious faith, which is both inter-Christian and inter-faith, from which may be discerned some of the central features of twentieth century discourse on pluralism and multiculturalism. This catholic vision is facilitated considerably by new technology, in communication and transport, which enables the more speedy movement of both people and their ideas. Thus an emergent ‘globalization’ is to be discerned as both cause and effect of the quest for dialogue and mutual understanding in spiritual and religious matters. This resonates with the concern to which I pointed above, in relation to contemporary globalization in terms of ‘Western cultural imperialism’ driven by commerce and politics. The quest for Church and / or human unity is then to be understood in parallel with the technological factors which fuel globalization. Where then does the quest for inculturation sit in relation to these factors? Part of the answer to this question lies in the opposite tendency which also comes to the fore from the mid-nineteenth century, i.e. the quest for nationhood. This quest manifests itself in two contrary forms, the malevolent forces, which were expressed in the two world wars and in the ideologies of Fascism, National Socialism and Stalinist Communism; and the benevolent forces, expressed in the quest for independence from European imperialism. All of this may be seen as background to moves towards inculturation. In part the quest for inculturation is a feature of the Christian churches’ desire to counter the ethos of pluralism manifest at the World Parliament of Religions. Inherent in the drive towards missionary co-operation and Church Unity is a desire to stake out a claim for the uniqueness of the Christian Gospel. Several speakers at the 1910 Edinburgh Conference articulated these concerns. The session of the conference, which dealt with the commission on The Missionary Message in Relation to Non-Christian Religions, sought to begin to discern issues surrounding Christian uniqueness. Professor Cairns of Aberdeen argued that the situation which the non-Christian nations present at the present moment is something like the spiritual situation which confronted Israel in the days of the rise of the great prophets. Israel had been getting on comfortably enough with the traditional religion and the inherited faith, until suddenly a shadow fell upon the whole Israelitish life.15

However there are a number of others who express an alternative view. Dr Wardlaw Thompson spoke of the difficulty of the missionary being perceived as of ‘superior’ race16 by those with whom he or she is working and the ensuing ‘docility’ of indigenous people. Dong King-en of China spoke of the need to make Christianity there an indigenous religion rather than an ‘accidental import’,17 while Dr K. Chatterji, a converted Hindu, spoke of the problems raised by a conventional doctrine of Atonement for a Hindu. He enabled the conference to ‘realize the great harm done by unethical representations of the doctrine of the Atonement, and how pathetically missionaries are handicapped who do not appreciate the inner life of the people 15 Charles Clayton Morrison, ‘The World Missionary Conference’, Christian Century, (July 7, 1910). 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid.

Redefining Identities

29

whose religion they wish to supplant.’18 Also Dr Mackichan of Bombay stressed the need to approach the people of India from within their own thought patterns, while being clear that this did not mean changing the Christian message.19 Finally it is also of note that V.S. Azariah, later Anglican Bishop of Dornakal, participated in and addressed the Conference concerning The Church in the Mission Field, taking as his theme Native Church and Foreign Mission. Responding to the issues identified by Wardlaw Thompson, Azariah appealed for true ‘friendship’ between missionaries and the indigenous peoples.20 This plea is all the more evocative given the complexities of the relationship between Azraiah himself, the British hierarchy of the Church of England in India and the indigenous priests. These complexities are explored in some detail by Susan Billington Harper in her article, Ironies of Indigenization,21 where the resentment of Azariah by other Indian Christians is explored alongside attempts made to manipulate him as the first indigenous bishop by the British hierarchy. ‘Azariah faced the awkward reality that, in being groomed for the first Indian bishopric, he was being sculpted into a symbol of Indianization for and by Westerners.’22 These two landmark events are pointers to how the imperatives emerge, which lead to the explicit avowal of inculturation by the churches in the 1960s. It is also important to note how these two events are also linked into the parallel Indian narrative alongside the international, global narrative, in particular in the persons of Swami Vivekananda and Bishop V.S. Azariah. However before investigating how the imperatives continue to be shaped between the world wars, I want to look briefly at the work of the early Lambeth Conferences in relation to the shaping of the imperatives. Anglican Communion: Lambeth Conferences The Lambeth Conference of bishops of the Anglican Communion has met regularly at approximately ten-year intervals from its first gathering in 1867. Initially convoked to deal with such matters as overlapping jurisdictions, from the outset the bishops began to apply themselves to issues relating to the conversion of indigenous peoples in the colonies of the British Empire. In particular this concern was focused on two main areas, those of worship and marriage discipline; and in relation to the latter the vexed question of polygamy. The first Conference in 1867 identified the issue of worship and the status of the Book of Common Prayer as in need of being addressed. Thus while seeking to maintain ‘the spirit and principles of the Book of Common Prayer’ the Conference resolved: ‘That, nevertheless, each province should have

18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 W.H.T. Gairdner, Edinburgh 1910: An Account and Interpretation of the World Missionary Conference, (Edinburgh & London, 1910), pp. 109-11. 21 Susan Billington Harper, ‘Ironies of Indigenization: Some Cultural Repercussions of Mission in South India’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, (1995), pp. 13-20. 22 Harper, ‘Ironies of Indigenization’, p. 18.

30

Christian Inculturation in India

the right to make such adaptations and additions to the services of the Church as its peculiar circumstances may require.’23 These sentiments were reiterated by the Conferences in 1878,24 in 1897,25and in 1908.26 However the message from the Conferences is often qualified. Thus there is clearly anxiety about any divergence away from the use of bread and fermented wine for the elements of Holy Communion.27 By 1897 it is clear that the bishops of the Conference are concerned about emergent ‘pluralism’ as well as seeking to give qualified endorsement to ‘indigenous churches’. Thus resolution 15 in 1897 states: ‘That the tendency of many English-speaking Christians to entertain an exaggerated opinion of the excellences of Hinduism and Buddhism, and to ignore the fact that Jesus Christ alone has been constituted Saviour and King of mankind, should be vigorously corrected.’28 However resolution 17 commending work among ‘Mohammedans’ calls for special training for those engaging in mission work among Muslims, in particular in India.29 And Resolution 18 perceives that the emergence of indigenous churches requires as a first step indigenous leadership. Resolution 19 urges that ‘the Church should be adapted to local circumstances’, and that ‘foreign customs’ [i.e. Western] should be avoided.30 Thus it may be argued that the bishops of this conference were keen to promote Christian uniqueness, as well as indigenized churches, for their own sake, but also as an instrument of mission qua proselytization. The matter of marriage discipline and polygamy sheds further light on the deliberations and intentions of the Lambeth Conferences. The resolutions of the Conference in 1888 on polygamy allow local churches certain discretion,31 while in 1908 it was resolved that ‘native forms of marriage’ might be used so long as the rite was ‘free from all heathen and idolatrous taint’ and marriage was understood as life-long and exclusive.32 Thus the Lambeth Conferences prior to the First World War were already seeking to work with various qualified understandings of adaptation and indigenization in relation to worship, rites and other expressions of Christian life and mission. Such initiatives remained tentative, as is witnessed in the reality that Bishop Azariah was the only indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church in India prior to 1946. During this period alongside the realization that there needed to be changes in worship forms in the mission field there were also considerable pressures in England

23 Lambeth Conference 1867, Resolution 8. See: Randall T. Davidson (ed.), The Lambeth Conferences of 1867, 1878, and 1888. With the Official Reports and Resolutions, together with the Sermons preached at the Conferences, (London, 1889), p. 100. 24 Recommendation 10; Davidson, The Lambeth Conferences pp. 174-5. 25 Resolution 46. 26 Resolution 24. 27 E.g. 1888, Resolution 2; 1908, Resolution 32. 28 1897, Resolution 15. It is noteworthy that these concerns are expressed following the 1893 World Parliament of Religions. 29 1897, Resolution 17. 30 1897, Resolution 19. 31 1888, Resolution 5. 32 1908, Resolution 25.

Redefining Identities

31

and other western provinces for Prayer Book revision.33 These related to similar needs to relate worship forms to contemporary needs and concerns, the latter often relating to churchmanship issues which arose from the combined effects of the Evangelical Revival and the Oxford and Ritualist Movements, as well as first inklings of the Liturgical Movement. Thus in 1908 the Lambeth Conference appointed a committee to discuss ‘Prayer Book adaptation and enrichment’.34 This was largely composed of bishops of the Church of England, plus two from Scotland and one from the United States. The committee suggested various omissions to avoid repetition, certain additions and variations in the standard provision of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Alongside these suggestions the committee enunciated seven principles for the revising or adapting worship forms.35 The initiative of the Lambeth Conference produced a number of revisions in western provinces of the Communion.36 Thus during this period various imperatives toward inculturation were already becoming manifest in the Anglican Communion, as well as concerns and questions which continue to surround it today. Other traditions despite growing awareness of the issues pointing to inculturation, were more cautious or conservative and often took much longer to begin to embrace the necessary conceptualities undergirding inculturation. 1920s and 1930s: Worship and Culture In the period following World War I the churches of the West took up the goals and priorities, which had emerged as the outcomes of the Edinburgh 1910 Conference. However recovery from the effects of war meant that it was almost ten years before the Faith and Order Conference would meet in Lausanne. The inter-war period would see the emergence of extreme political movements and new theological paradigms. At first sight it might seem odd to hold these two seemingly disparate phenomena in the same sentence. However it becomes clear that the churches realized that not only were the ancient great world religions to be taken into account when making a response in terms of cultural adaptation, or inculturation, the forces of secularism, and in particular the secular ideologies of totalitarianism also needed to be addressed. This effect may be seen for example in the debates at one of the landmark events of the period, the Missionary Conference held at Tambaram in 1938 in South India. Hendrik Kraemer in his work, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, is undoubtedly influenced in his response to the world religions, and the possibility of inculturation, by the extreme expression of secularism in National Socialism

33 E.g. Report of Royal Commission for the Church England, 1906; a revision process was initiated in Ireland in 1879 and in the province of Japan in 1897. 34 C.J. Cuming, A History of Anglican Liturgy, 2nd edn, (London, 1982), p. 183. 35 Ibid., p. 184. 36 E.g. In 1909 Scotland and Ireland began processes of revision, with Canada and South Africa following in 1911 and PECUSA in 1913. These processes produced revised Prayer Books as follows: Scottish Prayer Book, 1912, PECUSA, 1913, South Africa 1919, Canada 1922 and Ireland 1926.

32

Christian Inculturation in India

and State Communism.37 Thus the evaluation of the processes of inculturation is caught up in the churches’ response to totalitarianism. In such a situation it is hardly surprising that Kraemer appeals to the neo-orthodoxy of Barth and Brunner, and the critique of Kulturprotestantismus. The effects of totalitarianism undoubtedly still influence the churches’ attitude to human culture and thus to inculturation. The events of the twentieth century remain a warning lest human culture is treated simply as a neutral factor or as inevitably ‘good’ in itself. However ambivalence towards culture does not meet grassroots needs and concerns. As well as the sharp critique of human culture in neo-orthodoxy, and in the Confessing Church of Germany,38 the identification of a religion-less age is also a feature of the landscape, which contributes to the imperatives towards inculturation. It is of note that the identification of the emerging age as religion-less develops in, what are apparently, two very different quarters. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his interpretation of the Church in a secular age, wrote of the ‘World Come of Age’.39 He argued that a religion-less Christianity needed to emerge as a response to the cultural and spiritual manipulation and chaos created by the Nazis in Europe. This echoed Barth’s polemic against the effects of Schleiermacher’s theological method as it matured into Kulturprotestantismus. The other instance of an appeal for a religionless age comes from Sri Aurobindo. He argues that the time had come for humanity to evolve into a new stage of spirituality, in which the outward-ness of religions would be left behind.40 While it would be stretching things too much to argue that there was some explicit link between these two understandings, nonetheless it should be noted that Aurobindo was as much a student of Western philosophy, and of the signs of times, as he was of Indian philosophy and spiritual traditions. The appeal made by Bonhoeffer and Aurobindo to transcend the present and seek a utopian outcome did not find popular acceptance in the aftermath of World War II or the outcome of Indian Independence. A possible interpretation of this ‘failure’ may relate to the failure or rejection of idealism generally, which may be said to be a feature of later twentieth century development, seen in the flourishing of popular capitalism and consumerism and the decline of state communism, as well as in the philosophical trends of postmodernism and post-structuralism. Against this background the churches initially responded as at Tambaram in a less than whole-hearted manner to the quest for inculturation, but later have found the imperative towards inculturation difficult to resist as the particularities of each context and culture have become more and more the focus of society and philosophy.

37 Hendrik Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, 2nd edn, (London, 1938), 1946, pp. 14-17. 38 E.g. Barmen Declaration, 1934. 39 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, enlarged edn, E. Bethge (ed.), (London, 1971), pp. 280-1, 282. 40 See, S.K. Maitra, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, (Pondicherry, 1941, 1965).

Redefining Identities

33

Faith and Order Conferences and Missionary Councils The two major landmark events of this period from the perspective of seeking to understand the imperatives behind inculturation, were the Missionary Conference held at Tambaram in 1938 and the Faith Order Conference held at Lausanne in 1927. These may be said to be landmark events because they shaped and expressed the landscape of the churches’ undertakings in terms of ecumenism and mission in the period between the wars and to the present day. At Lausanne the focus on Church, Ministry and Sacraments became the accepted agenda for the Faith and Order Commission.41 However it is in speeches such as that of Bishop Azariah of Dornakal that the heart of the concern for Christian Unity is articulated.42 Firstly it is of note that Azariah rejects any notion that there can be unknown converts or disciples of Christ, as Bishop Charles Gore had argued, a notion akin to Rahner’s ‘anonymous Christian’.43 Azariah promotes the cause of Christian Unity from the perspective of someone responsible for mass conversions among the low caste and outcaste populations of rural present-day Andhra Pradesh. He bemoans that across India there are many different denominations working in the mission field in the same locality. His is a plea for nothing short of organic unity. For him Christian disunity vitiated the promise of missionary work in India. Furthermore ‘The feeling of very many Indian Christians is that they were not responsible for the divisions of Christendom, neither would they perpetuate them.’44 Bishop Azariah also highlighted the effects of the growing nationalism in India. He argued that young Indian Christians sought to influence the spiritual well-being of their land as it sought its new national consciousness, but found that the churches divided them in this resolve. ‘The young Indian Christian wants Christ, he throws himself heartily into every institution that unites him with his brethren in fellowship and service, but he has no use for a Church that divides.’45 He also argued that Church division played into the hands of casteism in the churches. Division in the churches allowed much more easily the formation of excluding fellowships, along the lines of formal caste separation as in Hinduism. Nonetheless he also argues that a Church of and for India would be a place where ‘Indian religious genius’ would find ‘natural expression’.46 Bishop Azariah pleads with his European and North American brothers to share his perception that witness to Christ and the creation of a truly Indian Church could only come about through organic unity, and that this was a need which must be fulfilled immediately.47

41 H.N. Bate (ed.), Faith and Order: Proceedings of the World Conference Lausanne, August 3-21, 1927, (London, 1927). 42 Ibid. Bate, pp. 491-5. 43 Ibid., p. 421. 44 Ibid., p. 493. 45 Ibid, p. 494. 46 Ibid., p. 495. 47 Harper in ‘Ironies of Indigenisation’, also explores the complexity behind the casteism to which Azariah refers.

34

Christian Inculturation in India

The work of the Lausanne Conference was continued by the Conference held in Edinburgh in 1937.48 The conference again focused on the themes embraced at Lausanne, though discussion of the themes was broadened. Those participating in the conference were well aware of the political background against which they met. This undoubtedly influenced and sharpened their perceptions of the need for the creation of a means to find Christian and human unity.49 It is in the light of these concerns that the Conference moved that a World Council of Churches should be formed. Bishop Azariah again participated in this conference addressing the conference once more on the urgent need for church unity in such places as India. He spoke in particular of his wish that the churches of the West should endorse the moves in South India to create a union of the Protestant denominations.50 The practicalities of the task of inculturation were not addressed and inculturation per se remained implicit in these conferences. However the discussions and resolutions of these conferences and the initiatives taken by them contribute indispensable stages in the emergence of the official consensus and avowal of inculturation in the 1960s. During the same time span there were two meetings of the International Missionary Council, with conferences in Jerusalem in 1928 and in Tambaram, in present day Tamil Nadu in 1938. At the meeting in Jerusalem the divergence between two main schools of thought regarding mission surfaced and confronted each other for the first time in an international arena. The understanding of mission of the ‘old school’ was firmly rooted in a conceptuality of the uniqueness of Christianity, while the ‘new school’ sought to learn from the conceptualities developed by the comparative study of religion.51 From the perspective of the ‘old school’ the ideas of the new looked far too syncretistic. However this divergence is not simply about conceptualities or indeed missionary activity. The differences relate in particular to what might be expected of a convert in relation to their prior religious and cultural observances. Generally speaking, the old school would have expected a convert to ‘leave behind’ such observances, while in the new vision of things, a convert might continue with some of their prior practices as well as their ‘world-view’. As Quick observes, ‘A difficult situation is still further complicated by the natural and legitmate eagerness of oriental Christians that western interpretations of the Gospel shall not be imposed in the eastern world in such a way as to hinder its own distinctive expression of Christianity.’52 So Quick himself seeks to defend the uniqueness of Christianity while also avoiding a negative view of the great world religions. The best analogy to the relation of Christianity to other religions is to be found, not in the nature of solids or fluids but rather in the action of light. A strong light shed over any given area shows reflections of itself at every point where the surface is capable of 48 Leonard Hodgson (ed.), The Second World Conference on Faith and Order held at Edinburgh, August 3-18, 1937, (London, 1938). 49 German Evangelicals were unable to attend because of government restrictions. See: D.B. Forrester, in Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, p. 276. 50 Hodgson, pp. 53-4. 51 See Oliver Chase Quick, ‘The Jerusalem Meeting and the Christian Message’, International Review of Missions, 17/67 (1928), pp. 445-54. 52 Ibid.

Redefining Identities

35

reflecting, while at the same time it enriches its own purity by the variety of tints which it makes visible. In the same way other religions, seen in the light of the Christian Gospel, are revealed for the first time in their best and truest colours, and, by being thus revealed, enhance and enrich the glory of the Gospel itself. 53

The outcome of the meeting of the Council at Jerusalem also sought to express insights from both the old and new schools of thought. While on the one hand defending the absolute uniqueness of Christianity, on the other it sought to avoid any attitude of superiority from the western churches to the younger eastern churches. Thus the core debate about the churches’ understanding of culture and of the task of inculturation is encapsulated in these deliberations of the Jerusalem meeting, and is articulated for the first time in the context of a Christian international gathering. It is also of note that the Jerusalem meeting is the first instance of the churches seeking to grapple with issues surrounding inter-religious relations and the various theological understandings of what would come to be known as pluralism. Theses same issues were re-visited at the next meeting of the Council in 1938 in Tambaram. I have suggested that this rather than the Jerusalem meeting is to be seen as the land mark event in relation to mission in this period. This suggestion relates to the influence and effects of the meeting on the attitude of the churches to mission and culture, which continued in the period after the Second World War, indeed to the present time. This relates to the work of the Dutch missiologist Hendrik Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, and its on-going influence on debates concerning inter-religious relations and inculturation. Kraemer was certainly influenced by Neo-Orthodoxy, but took a more positive stance about world religions. However in the final analysis he argued for an unambiguous understanding of the utter discontinuity of the Christian Gospel in relation to all the other great world faiths.54 Kraemer’s views were by no means uncontested at Tambaram. Debate was mainly focused around understandings of ‘promise and fulfilment’. While some delegates argued that Christianity might be understood as the ‘fulfilment’ of a particular indigenous religion, Kraemer would not accept any such interpretation. In the view of Lesslie Newbigin [who himself attended the Council] the outcome of Tambaram was ‘a crucial turning point’ in that it was clearly affirmed that the aim of missionary activity was not the creation of ‘“outposts of Western Christianity scattered throughout the world”. Tambaram marked the emergence of a “new Christendom,” living in cultures different from those of the old Christendom.’55 Thus the pattern of the Jerusalem Meeting was reiterated in the sense that a compromise was reached embracing a firm stance on Christian uniqueness enunciated by Kraemer, but also valuing and affirming the indigenous culture and world views of those who were being evangelized. These two Council meetings send a complex message concerning both mission and culture to the churches. Their message is a compromise rooted in ambivalence to culture and context, which continued on 53 Ibid. 54 See Thomas J.J. Altizer, ‘Mission and Dialogue: 50 Years After Tambaram’, Christian Century, (April 6, 1988): 340. 55 Ibid.

36

Christian Inculturation in India

the whole to foster an on-going ambivalence to these issues in the churches and among some of their missionaries. However concern for the relationship between Christianity and other faiths, as well as the relationship between the Gospel and Christian life and culture was by the outbreak of war firmly embedded in the agenda of the Protestant churches. Anglican Communion: Lambeth Conferences During the inter-war period the Lambeth Conference of bishops of the Anglican Communion met twice in 1920 and again in 1930. The conference in 1920 dealt with a number of ‘Missionary Problems’, while in 1930 the focus did not explicitly address issues relating to inculturation. The problems addressed at the 1920 conference included how in the mission field episcopal ministry should relate in the same area to people of different race and language.56 Two further resolutions sought to address questions of liturgical variety and adaptation.57 It is clear from the following text that there was a perceived need for change and adaptation. While maintaining the authority of the Book of Common Prayer as the Anglican standard of doctrine and practice, we consider that liturgical uniformity should not be regarded as a necessity throughout the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The conditions of the Church in many parts of the mission field render inapplicable the retention of that Book as the one fixed liturgical model.58

Thus by 1920 the bishops of the Anglican Communion were prepared to countenance a considerable degree of liturgical variation across the Communion in recognition of what at this stage were perceived as ‘Missionary Problems’. The outcomes of this initiative and of similar resolutions by Conferences in 1867, 1878 and 1908 may be seen in the production of new liturgical rites, in particular of the Eucharist in a number of Anglican Provinces across the world. Alongside this the process of Prayer Book Revision was also being pursued in England. These undertakings may be said to be influenced by the agenda of the emerging Liturgical Movement, however on the whole the imperatives underlying them and the conceptualities around which they were composed are not to be seen as heavily reliant on the agenda of what would be understood as the more mature Liturgical Movement as it emerged from the 1930s onwards. Prayer Book Revision in England was confounded by Parliament in 1927 and 1928, largely in relation to conflicts arising from churchmanship issues. However in Asia and Africa provinces were able to issue experimental rites, which through trial processes and consultation came to be formulated as authorized forms of worship. The earliest ‘indigenous’ form was the Bombay Liturgy of 1920,59 which was authorized for experimental use in the Anglican diocese of Bombay in 1923. The 56 Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolution 35. 57 Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolutions 36 and 37. 58 Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolution 36. 59 See Bernard Wigan (ed.), The Liturgy in English, 2nd edn, (London, 1964), pp. 94113; produced in 1920 by J.C. Winslow, E.C. Ratcliff and others as The Eucharist in India, A Plea for a Distinctive Liturgy for the Indian Church.

Redefining Identities

37

Province of Korea initiated a process of consultation and drafting of forms in 1922.60 By 1933 a draft rite was published for discussion and a text was approved finally in 1938. The Ceylon Liturgy was first published in 1933.61 While the South African Liturgy appeared in a final form in 1929 after a considerable period of evolution.62 The Swahili Mass,63 complied during the episcopate of Frank Weston (1871-1924) for use in the diocese of Zanibar, was published in 1919, but was not translated into English.64 Liturgies for the dioceses of Nyasaland [Malawi] and Northern Rhodesia [Zambia]65 were produced in 1923 in the local vernacular, and again were not translated into English.66 These local or provincial rites were generally produced in the vernacular and in that sense were an attempt at producing ‘indigenous’ forms.67 However there is little evidence prior to 1940 that these rites were in any sense attempts at inculturation as such. Rather they reflect the agenda of the missionaries or missionary societies in the particular provinces. Often therefore they are an expression of the churchmanship of those societies rather than an attempt to engage creatively with local culture or indigenous social or religious practices. Nonetheless these rites do demonstrate that in the Anglican Communion in this period there were attempts to move away from the exported norms of the sending church. Post World War II: The World Council of Churches In the period following 1945 the impetus towards ending European Colonialism was manifest in particular in the creation of an independent and partitioned Indian subcontinent. The formation of the United Nations in 1945 signalled a determination among nation states to seek a new world order, in which the ending of colonialism was a prominent feature. Also the formation of the World Council of Churches [WCC] in 1948 may be seen as a further expression of the desired change in the relationship between nations and races, as well as being the outcome of a process going back as far as the 1910 Edinburgh Conference. Following the inaugural meeting of the WCC, the Faith and Order Commission held its third conference in Lund in 1952.68 A major concern of the Lund conference was to look behind the doctrinal disagreements and divergence in church practice, which held the churches apart, and to investigate in a dialogical process, social and psychological factors underlying

60 Ibid., pp. 166-77. 61 Ibid., pp. 82-93. 62 Ibid., pp. 73-83. 63 Ibid., pp. 162-5. 64 R.C.D. Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662-1980, (London, 1989), p. 142. 65 Wigan, pp. 143-61. 66 Jasper, p. 142. 67 Wigan argues that up until 1939 Anglicans led the way in vernacular rites. See p. vi. 68 Oliver S. Tomkins (ed.), The Third World Conference on Faith and Order held at Lund, August 15th to 28th, 1952, (London, 1953).

38

Christian Inculturation in India

the differences.69 For instance in the section on Ways of Worship the following was proposed: ‘we offer suggestions towards a new line of approach which may help the Churches to see that many of the differences in ways of worship are not bound up, as has been thought, with irreconcilable dogmatic differences, but may co-exist in one Church.’70 Thus it was recognized that habits of worship differ between countries and regions for a whole host of reasons and associations. The conference tentatively began to investigate connections between worship and local or particular cultures, arguing that ‘It would be a great mistake to suppose that such intimacy of relation between faith and cultural tradition is a bad thing.’71 The conference recognised that the study and understanding of issues relating to social factors was in its infancy,72 and accepted that it was a responsibility of the ecumenical movement to pursue such study. Thus in its recommendations the conference advocated: (g) The promotion of an analysis, psychological, historical and theological of the conditions and circumstances, both of origin and development, of particular traditions of Christian faith and worship.73

Although the Lund conference does not directly address the task of inculturation, it certainly opens up questions and lays the foundations for discussion of the relation between worship and culture. It may therefore be argued that it was only to be expected that the following conference in Montreal in 1963 would explicitly address the issue of inculturation. The Roman Catholic Church In the Roman Catholic there was also a marked change in the understanding and expression of the relationship between Church and culture and inter-religious relations in the period following the Second World War. Pope Pius IX had set the tone and understanding of these issues in his allocution Singulari Quadam (1854).74 In this he argues that eternal salvation is only assured for those within the fold of the Roman Catholic Church, and while acknowledging that it would be a mistake to claim to know the mind of God and set limits to the divine mercy, nonetheless he clearly rejects any notion that ‘the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatever’.75 A change of tone towards the nations of the world in their differences may be seen in the encyclical of Pope Benedict XV, Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum (1920).76 This was written in the aftermath of World War I, and commends the setting up of a League of Nations, as well as mutual understanding and reconciliation. While this 69 E.g. Tomkins, Chapter 5. 70 Tomkins, p. 44. 71 Ibid., p. 45. 72 Ibid., p. 46. 73 Ibid., p. 47. 74 J. Neuner and J. Dupuis (eds), The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, (London and Sydney, 1983), pp. 281-2. 75 Neuner and Dupuis, p. 282. 76 http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Ben15/b15pulch.htm.

Redefining Identities

39

was undoubtedly addressed the nations of Europe on the whole, nonetheless the style of Benedict XV represents a stage in the development of Roman Catholic tone and understanding during the course of the twentieth century. The encyclical of Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (1928)77 addressed the question of seeking Christian Unity, and offers a clear Catholic stance on these matters, as well as a clear critique of the endeavours of Protestants to overcome disunity. Nonetheless in this document the Papacy explicitly acknowledges that the ecumenical quest is in via. Furthermore in Rerum Ecclesiae (1926) section 2278 Pius XI argued for the need for indigenous churches and hierarchies in countries where a change of government might entail the removal of foreign missionaries, such as those emerging from colonial occupation. In the same encyclical he draws parallels between the spirituality of certain eastern religions and the contemplative orders of Catholicism, and suggests such cultural overlap could be used to promote conversions.79 A clearer affirmation of other cultures is a feature of the teaching of Pope Pius XII. In Summi Pontificatus (1939)80 he sets out a theology of human culture and the relationship of the missionary activity of the Church to this. 43. And the nations, despite a difference of development due to diverse conditions of life and of culture, are not destined to break the unity of the human race, but rather to enrich and embellish it by the sharing of their own peculiar gifts and by that reciprocal interchange of goods which can be possible and efficacious only when a mutual love and a lively sense of charity unite all the sons of the same Father and all those redeemed by the same Divine Blood. 46. [The Church] has repeatedly shown in her missionary enterprises that such a principle of action is the guiding star of her universal apostolate. Pioneer research and investigation, involving sacrifice, devotedness and love on the part of her missionaries of every age, have been undertaken in order to facilitate the deeper appreciative insight into the most varied civilizations and to put their spiritual values to account for a living and vital preaching of the Gospel of Christ. All that in such usages and customs is not inseparably bound up with religious errors will always be subject to kindly consideration and, when it is found possible, will be sponsored and developed.

While in his 1947 encyclical on worship, Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII is critical of over zealous modernizing of the liturgy, nonetheless he writes, 59. The Church is without question a living organism, and as an organism, in respect of the sacred liturgy also, she grows, matures, develops, adapts and accommodates herself to temporal needs and circumstances, provided only that the integrity of her doctrine be safeguarded.81

Here is an acknowledgement of the basis upon which the task of inculturation might be built. In his encyclical, Evangelii Praecones (1951) on ‘Mission’ Pope Pius moves 77 78 79 80 81

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11MORTA.HTM. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11REREC.HTM. Rerum Ecclesiae Section 28. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12SUMMI.HTM. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12MEDIA.HTM.

40

Christian Inculturation in India

closer still to a modern and explicit statement of the Catholic Church’s inter-action with human cultures. (56) The Church from the beginning down to our own time has always followed this wise practice: let not the Gospel on being introduced into any new land destroy or extinguish whatever its people possess that is naturally good, just or beautiful. For the Church, when she calls people to a higher culture and a better way of life, under the inspiration of the Christian religion, does not act like one who recklessly cuts down and uproots a thriving forest. No, she grafts a good scion upon the wild stock that it may bear a crop of more delicious fruit. 57. Although owing to Adam's fall, human nature is tainted with original sin, yet it has in itself something that is naturally Christian; and this, if illumined by divine delight and nourished by God's grace, can eventually be changed into true and supernatural virtue. 58. This is the reason why the Catholic Church has neither scorned nor rejected the pagan philosophies. Instead, after freeing them from error and all contamination she has perfected and completed them by Christian revelation. So likewise the Church has graciously made her own the native art and culture which in some countries is so highly developed. She has carefully encouraged them and has brought them to a point of aesthetic perfection that of themselves they probably would never have attained. By no means has she repressed native customs and traditions but has given them a certain religious significance; she has even transformed their feast days and made them serve to commemorate the martyrs and to celebrate mysteries of the faith.82

Thus by the early 1950s the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church had developed considerably in its explicit affirmation of the place of ‘indigenous’ cultures in relation to missionary activity and Christian living. The Roman Catholic Church, in particular in the period following World War II, officially recognized the needs to which missionaries had been pointing for many decades. Paradoxically in the period after the war, the rise of communism in China and in Eastern Europe, and secularization in the West, led to these developments in Catholic teaching. It is upon these teachings that the later decrees and instructions of Vatican II are built. Anglican Communion: Lambeth Conferences When the Lambeth Conference met in 1948 the focus was much more on the development of church and world in the aftermath of war than on the intricacies of liturgical matters; of the 118 resolutions only one deals directly with the Prayer Book.83 The issue addressed in this single resolution relates to the role of the Prayer Book as a symbol and instrument of unity in the Anglican Communion, because of its 82 http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12EVANG.HTM. 83 Lambeth Conference 1948, Resolution 78 on the Book of Common Prayer: (a) The Conference holds that the Book of Common Prayer has been, and is, so strong a bond of unity throughout the whole Anglican Communion that great care must be taken to ensure that revisions of the Book shall be in accordance with the doctrine and accepted liturgical worship of the Anglican Communion.

Redefining Identities

41

status as the standard for doctrine and worship. As Colin Buchanan comments, it was possible to make such a statement in 1948 because deviations from the Prayer Book were few and mainly authorized for use in single dioceses.84 However by 1958 when the Lambeth Conference met again matters had moved on considerably. Between 1948 and 1958 a number of Provinces had begun to draft new rites or complete Prayer Books, which embodied significant divergence from the ‘norm’ of the 1662 Prayer Book. By the time the conference met in 1958 the Provinces of Canada, India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, Japan and the West Indies were all poised to authorize new books. Buchanan reflects that despite the explicit understanding of Article XXXIV of the Thirty-Nine Articles,85 that national usage was to be expected and practised, the status of Provinces in the British Empire as ‘National Churches’ governed by the same Act of Uniformity as the Church of England meant that experimentation and adaptation was held back if not made impossible.86 For example in Ceylon and India the 1662 Prayer Book remained the norm until well into the twentieth century, which might only be translated into the vernacular. The only exception to this had been Winslow’s experimental rite published in 1920 and authorized for use in the Bombay diocese in 1922. A particular outcome of the 1958 Lambeth Conference was the setting up of a subcommittee to advise on Prayer Book Revision.87 The work of the committee relied in part on the liturgy of Church of South India, which had been influential on the liturgical reports prepared for the 1958 Conference, and on the Principles of Prayer Book Revision set out by the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon.88 The Committee were responsible for producing a document The Structure and Contents of the Eucharistic Liturgy.89 This first ‘Pan-Anglican Document’ was published in 1965 following a Liturgical Consultation held in Toronto in 1963.90 A ‘Second PanAnglican Document’ was produced in 1968 following the Lambeth Conference

84 Colin O. Buchanan (ed.), Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, (London, 1968), pp. 8-9. 85 Article XXXIV Of the Traditions of the Church. It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren. Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done to edifying. 86 Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, p. 9 and pp. 261-3. 87 Lambeth Conference 1958, Resolution 76. 88 CIPBC Principles of Prayer Book Revision, (London, 1957). See p. 49 for a fuller discussion of the contents and implications of this document. 89 Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, p. 22. 90 See Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, pp. 31-32 for the text.

42

Christian Inculturation in India

of that year.91 The production of these Pan-Anglican documents is an interesting development and highlights a strong tension within the Anglican Tradition between the desire for uniformity on the one hand and elasticity on the other. The effects of the Pan-Anglican Documents may be said to favour the focus on uniformity and family resemblance among Anglican Provinces rather than the conceptuality of local or national rites envisaged in Article XXXIV. Thus in the Anglican Communion initiatives towards inculturation are comparatively later than those made in the 1960s by the WCC and at Vatican II. This is largely because on the one hand the Lambeth Conferences had promoted indigenization from the first conference of 1867, while on the other the main focus of concern came to be maintaining the family resemblance of the Communion in particular in those countries following independence from Britain. The Indian Narrative: Pre-World War I Alongside the narrative of what may be said to have influenced and shaped the imperatives towards inculturation in the international setting, it is also important in relation to my investigation of inculturation in South India, to trace the parallel narrative of the Indian sub-continent during the same periods. Of particular interest to me is to be able to identify where these narratives intersect and also where it may be argued that the Indian narrative influences, shapes and directs the international narrative. Firstly it is crucial to analyse and interpret the effects of two movements in India from the Nineteenth Century. These are the Indian or Hindu Renaissance, associated with such developments as the Brahmo Samaj,92 and the nationalist movement for Indian independence from colonial rule. While being distinct these two movements are undoubtedly to be seen in tandem as a re-awakening of Indian self-respect and self-determination. The effects of these movements among Christians can be seen as early as 1858 following the Revolt of 1857. The association of Christianity with the British Raj was so self-evident and so keenly felt that in 1858 some Nadar Christians in Tinnevelly (Tirunelveli) in present day Tamil Nadu broke away from the Church Missionary Society 93 and formed The Hindu Church of the Lord Jesus.94 This is perhaps the first concrete instance of the person of Christ being deliberately separated from the institutional churches. There were parallel moves in Bengal, led by Lal Behari Day and Krishna Mohun Banerjea.95 In 1887 K.C. Banerjea and J.G. Shome, impatient with discussions among the churches, abandoned church allegiance and formed The Calcutta Christo Samaj, inspired as the chosen name indicates by the 91 See Colin O. Buchanan (ed.), Further Anglican Liturgies 1968-1975, (Nottingham, 1975), pp. 26-31. 92 See M.M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance, (Madras, 1970). 93 Church Missionary Society (CMS) was a missionary society of the Church of England, rooted in the Evangelical movement. 94 Kaj Baago, Pioneers of Indigenous Christianity, (Bangalore, 1969), p.1. 95 Ibid., p. 2.

Redefining Identities

43

Brahmo Samaj.96 Their purpose was ‘the propagation of Christian truth and promotion of Christian union, and it was the hope of its founders to gather all Indian Christians within it, thereby eliminating the denominations.’97 However this experiment was short lived and the Christo Samaj ended in 1894. The idea of an independent Indian Church was proposed by Shome at the Calcutta Missionary Conference in 1882, and K.C. Banerjea argued for the need for a ‘truly indigenous theology’ at the Bombay Missionary Conference in 1892.98 A main factor, which prevented the creation of an independent Indian Church at this stage, was the financial dependence of many low caste and outcaste Christians on western missionaries. A parallel movement also emerged in Madras in 1886 with the formation of The National Church of Madras, founded by S. Parani Andi (Pulney Andy). However in this instance the inspiration came not from India and the Brahmo Samaj, but from liberal theologians in Britain, in particular following the publication of Essays and Reviews.99 However the aims of the Madras group were the same as the Calcutta group. Both sought to reclaim the Asian character of Christianity and to create a single self-supporting and selfgoverning church for India, from which the marks of western denominations had been eradicated. S. Parani Andi also argued that Indian Christians needed to work with the philosophy and thought-forms of India in order to become truly indigenous; and furthermore he argued only Indians themselves could do this.100 Kaj Baago101 and M.M. Thomas102 argue convincingly that in the nineteenth century it was not Indian Christians who first formulated an indigenous interpretation of Christ, but members of the Brahmo Samaj, and Baago identifies in particular Kesavanchandra Sen and P.C. Mozoomdar.103 These men are seen as inspiring Christians to take up the task of beginning an indigenous Christian Theology; and also contribute to the separation of Christ from the Church, which becomes an ongoing feature of the development of indigenous understandings of Christ and Christianity in India. The initial separation of Christ and Christianity is probably to be attributed to Ram Mohun Roy, founder of the Brahmo Samaj;104 and this is also a feature of the writings of Vivekananda and others in the Ramakrishna Mission. There is clear evidence of this influence upon Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Parani Andi, A.S. Appasamy and Brahmabandhab Upadyay.105 It is not my intention to make any detailed investigation of their work. This has already been done by Baago and Thomas. However it is of note that Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Parani Andi, and A.S. 96 Ibid., p. 5. 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid., p. 6. 99 Frederick Temple, et al., Essays and Reviews, (London, 1861). 100 Baago, Pioneers p. 9 See, Collection of Papers, the first six annual reports of the ‘National Church’ of Madras, pp. 93-4. 101 Baago, Pioneers. 102 Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ. 103 P.C. Mozoomdar, a member of the Brahmo Samaj was a participant in the World Parliament of Religions, 1893. 104 There will be a fuller discussion of the influence of Ram Mohun Roy on p. 67. 105 Baago, Pioneers p. 12. See for example, Collection of Papers, p. 79; and Appasamy Pillai, Fifty Years’ Pilgrimage of a Convert, (London, 1924), p. 7.

44

Christian Inculturation in India

Appasamy each in slightly different ways argue that the Vedas may be understood as parallel with the Old Testament or as anticipating Christianity. Thus anticipating much twentieth century discussion of the relationship between Christianity and other faiths and in particular Hinduism. I shall return to discuss the life of Brahmabandhab Upadyay in the following chapter. It is noteworthy that he was utterly clear that the Indian church needed to acknowledge and use India’s vast cultural and religious heritage. These understandings spring out of his acceptance of the agenda of radical nationalism and his consequent desire to rid India of the effects of western culture.106 Also in this period there is the figure of Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) a convert to Christianity from Sikhism who never became an affiliate of any particular church. He had used yoga to seek realization of God, and declared that he reached illumination, having received samadhi in a vision of Christ.107 Although understood be a ‘Protestant’, he adopted the life-style of a sannyasi as Brahmabandhab had done and became a wandering preacher, journeying across Northern India. Unlike several of the other figures who pioneered an indigenous Christianity in India, Sundar Singh based his theology on the thought forms of the Upanishads rather than the Vedas. Perhaps surprisingly he was accepted both by theologians in the West and by western missionaries in India. The reason for this may be that despite his thorough grounding in the Hindu scriptures, he was also forthright in his denunciation of Hinduism. Baago argues that Sundar Singh’s contribution to indigenous theology is much greater than has often been admitted, and that his influence continues to the present day.108 Finally in the quest for an indigenized Christianity in India in the period prior to 1914 there are a number of western missionaries who pioneered an Indian Liberal Theology, which saw Christianity very much as the fulfilment of other faiths. One of their number, E.P. Rice was keen to distinguish between Christ and the Church.109 Others such as T.E. Slater and J.N. Farquhar110 expounded the ‘fulfilment theory’ in which they argued that Hinduism would or should be replaced by Christianity.111 While William Miller and Bernard Lucas argued that all the higher religions would develop in parallel into an ultimate convergence.112 By the outbreak of the First World War the effects of the Indian Renaissance combined with those of Indian nationalism had had a considerable influence among Indian Christians and had called many basic western Christian assumptions into question, as well as shaping the agenda for an indigenous Church and an indigenous theology in India. It is evident from this 106 Pillai, p. 36. See also A. Väth, Im Kampfe mit der Zauberwelt des Hinduismus, (Berlin, 1928). 107 Pillai, p. 53. See also B.H. Streeter and A.J. Appasamy, The Sadhu: A Study in Mysticism and Practical Religion, London, 1922, pp. 6-7. 108 Pillai, p. 70. 109 Pillai, pp. 72-3. E.P. Rice, ‘The New Theology and Missionary Work’ in Harvest Field, 1908, pp. 363-76. 110 T.E. Slater, The Higher Hinduism in Relation to Christianity, (London, 1903) and J.N. Farquhar, The Crown of Hinduism, (London, 1913). 111 Baago, Pioneers, pp. 73-4. 112 Baago, Pioneers, pp. 75-80. See also, O. Kandaswamy Chetty, Dr William Miller, Madras, 1924 and William Miller, ‘The Place of Hinduism in the Story of the World’, in Madras Christian College Magazine, (1st series, April 1896).

Redefining Identities

45

narrative so far, that figures such as Vivekananda and Mozoomdar who participated in the World Parliament of Religions, were also influential upon those who were shaping the paths towards an indigenous Christianity in India. Another element in the Indian narrative concerns developments in the understanding and practice of mission alongside which was the growing perception of the need for Church unity. At the All India Missionary Conference held in Madras in 1902 it was recognized that with the ever increasing nationalist feeling there was a parallel growth of Hindu opposition to Christian missionary activity. The Arya Samaj (1875) and the Ramakrishna Mission (1897) were certainly examples of a Hindu counterpoint to Christian activities. This recognition of the effects of nationalism, combined with the possibilities, which mass movements among the ‘depressed classes’ held out for conversion, led those advocating mission, also to promote the search for co-operation and union of the churches.113 Co-operation among missionaries and mission agencies had been promoted through provincial meetings since the conference of Bengal missionaries in Calcutta in 1855, and at a national level since the first National General Missionary Conference held in Allahabad in 1872. However by 1900 it had become evident that simply sharing problems and discussing them needed to be taken further in united action. In 1897 a ‘South India Missionary Association’ comprised of Anglicans, Lutherans, Congregationalists, Baptists and Methodists was inaugurated. This produced concrete results including the founding of the United Theological College in Bangalore (1910), and inspired other regions of India to take similar action, and this led to the creation of the National Christian Council. The Anglican Bishop of Madras Henry Whitehead enabled the full participation of Anglicans in these processes by his support of the 1902 Fourth All India Missionary Conference in Madras. From this turning point the process of seeking Church Unity in South India took on a new energy and vision. However before pursuing the implications of ecumenism in South India, I want to examine the influence of two figures, who feature in both international and Indian narratives in the evolution of the missionary movement. They are Bishop V.S. Azariah and Dr John Mott. Both were participants in the 1910 Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, and both were to be involved in the development of missionary work in South India. The contribution of V.S. Azariah at Edinburgh has been noted above. It was originally planned by Bishop Whitehead that Azariah would be consecrated in 1910, however due to various problems and complaints, the consecration was delayed and Azariah was able to attend the Edinburgh conference.114 This fortuitous eventuality meant that Bishop Azariah would participate in and influence the evolving Faith and Order and Mission movements until his death in 1945. Thus there is a direct connection between the emerging agenda for mission and unity in India and those agendas in the international forum, in the person of V.S. Azariah.115 It is also the case that John Mott, who chaired the Edinburgh Conference was instrumental in discussions in 113 Baago, A History of the National Council of India 1914-1964, (Nagpur, 1965), p. 4. 114 Susan Billington Harper, In the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V.S. Azraiah and the Travails of Christianity in British India, (Grand Rapids and Cambridge, 2000), p. 125. 115 Bishop V.S. Azariah participated in the Faith and Order Conferences in Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh (1937) and the Mission Conference in Tambaram (1938).

46

Christian Inculturation in India

India in relation to both mission and unity. He made five visits in all to India, the first in 1896-7 and the last for the Tambaram Conference in 1938.116 The life and work of these two men demonstrate the different ways in which influences flowed between India and the West in the period to 1940. Their lives and work also symbolize the deep-seated connections between the quest for mission and unity in India and in the West and at the international level. Developments in Church Unity were well advanced by 1910 in South India, with the creation of the South India United Church in 1908, from the unions of Presbyterian churches in 1901 and the Congregationalist churches in 1905. In 1909 the Basel Mission of Malabar also joined the union.117 It is upon this foundation that the scheme, which led to the formation of the Church of South India was constructed. 1920s and 1930s After the First World War negotiations for church union recommenced with Anglicans beginning discussions with the South India United Church in 1919, the Wesleyan Methodist Church participating from 1923. By 1929 a Scheme was published for the creation of a United Church. This drew upon the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral,118 thus ensuring that the Historic Episcopate would feature in the United Church, while also incorporating elements of Church government from the other traditions. The 1929 Scheme was given cautious approval by the Lambeth Conference in 1930.119 The inter-action between the ‘older’ and ‘younger’ churches, is to be seen in the expectation that the Anglicans would report to the Lambeth Conference, and demonstrates that there were tensions and different priorities to be negotiated. While the effects of developments in India played a considerable role in shaping the international agenda, the influences at this stage were by no means mono-directional. For instance the South India Scheme played a central role in shaping negotiations in England between the Church of England and the Free Churches during the 1930s.120 The processes whereby the scheme for the Church of South India was negotiated demonstrate further levels of interaction between the Indian and the international narratives. From the outset the scheme was intended to manifest an Indian expression of the Spirit while also being clearly part of the Church Universal.121 However this placed the scheme in an on-going tension between the interests and concerns of the universal in relation to the local. Sundkler argues that during the 1930s when the negotiations became more difficult, it seemed that the issues were not so much 116 Baago, A History of the National Council of India 1914-1964, p. 8. 117 H. Paul Douglass, A Decade of Objective Progress in Church Unity 1927-1936 (Report No 4. for Edinburgh 1937), (New York and London, 1937), p. 50. 118 See the Tranquebar Manifesto (1919) in Bengt Sundkler, Church of South India: The Movement Towards Union 1900-1947, (London, 1954), pp. 101-7. 119 Douglass, p. 54. 120 Douglass, pp. 17-18. 121 Ibid., p. 204.

Redefining Identities

47

concerned with how to relate to South India, but with ‘building a replica of the early church on Indian soil’.122 Thus he argues that the real debate focused on attitudes to exegetical and patristic questions, in particular in relation to church polity and governance. Here again the debates in South India reflect wider debates in the Liturgical and Ecumenical Movements, and in the emergence of nouvelle théologie. Thus within the churches of South India and also in the political scene it came to be felt that the Church union scheme was simply a ‘Western contrivance’.123 Leading church figures such as Bishop Azariah tended to reinforce such impressions, although Sundkler defends him against such wholesale accusations.124 In 1930 A.J. Appasamy was able to rally two hundred Indian Christian leaders to sign the Manifesto on Church Union,125 which gave counter-weight to the arguments about western predominance in the processes. However Susan Billington Harper remains of the view that these initiatives were European in origin and that many Indians were ambivalent about them.126 Post World War II In the immediate post-war period there was a good deal of political frenzy, which culminated in independence and partition for the sub-continent. Individual Christians and their churches were caught up in these events, which often meant Christians were the subject of strong critique from the Hindu majority. M.M. Thomas wrote a number of essays and papers during this period, published as a collection, Ideological Quest within Christian Commitment 1939-1954.127 M.M. Thomas offers a picture of what the period felt like, how nationalist feelings and political manoeuvring impacted upon the churches, and he offers his own reflections. In particular I want to highlight his critique of Indian nationalism and of ‘Gandhism’. Essentially Thomas defends Indian nationalism, and wholeheartedly seeks to support it as a Christian believer.128 He cites Jawaharlal Nehru, in commending a vision of nationalism, which is neither exclusive nor introverted.129 However he does offer critique of Gandhi’s appeal to swadeshi doctrine as a ‘religious duty’.130 He is also critical of a nationalist appeal to India as a holy land, or as ‘Mother’ (Bharathamatha). Writing in 1945 Thomas also draws attention to the emerging tendencies to outlaw ‘conversion’. He particularly highlights Hindu revulsion against Western missionaries seeking to make converts.131 122 Ibid., p. 178. 123 Ibid., p. 205. 124 Ibid., p. 199. 125 Ibid., p. 205. 126 Harper, Ironies of Indigenization. 127 Thomas, Ideological Quest within Christian Commitment 1939-1954, (Madras, 1983). 128 M.M. Thomas was a member of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. 129 Thomas, Ideological Quest p. 133, citing Nehru’s speech at the 1929 National Congress. 130 Ibid., p. 138. 131 Ibid., p. 146.

48

Christian Inculturation in India

Thus features of the political and religious landscape, which endure into the twenty first century in India, are addressed by Thomas and held up as warnings to the churches even before independence. I shall examine below the response of both Protestants and Catholics to this background as it emerges following independence, noting that there is considerable divergence in their responses, which is also to be seen in the way that the two traditions manifest their concerns for inculturation in their respective international councils and conferences. The Church of South India In the period following World War II the momentous events leading to the newly constituted Republic of India are mirrored in the inauguration of the Church of South India in the same year. Following the achievement of its union the focus of the Church of South India in post-independence India was the transition to structures and instruments of administration and governance and the production of new liturgical forms. The Church of South India Rite for The Lord’s Supper or the Holy Eucharist132 was celebrated for the first time at the second meeting of the Synod of the CSI in 1950, and a final text was approved by Synod in 1954. The complete and final text of the Book of Common Worship133 was produced in 1961 and authorized by Synod in 1962. Thus the focus of the deliberations of the CSI at this stage did not address the creation of a specifically Indian form of worship, but sought rather to make provision for worship on the basis of the scholarship and understanding, which was current in the Liturgical Movement. While it would be mistaken to interpret this focus as simply remaining rooted in western thought and scholarship, nonetheless the forms employed in the production of The Book of Common Worship remain essentially western in form and content. The liturgical work of the CSI is another instance of how the narrative of India touches and influences the international forum and its agendas. Buchanan argues that work on the CSI liturgy influenced the Prayer Book Report to the 1958 Lambeth Conference, as well as the work of Liturgical Consultation, which was initiated by that Conference. Buchanan rests his claims for this influence on the person of Dr Leslie Brown,134 who was secretary to the committee, which drafted the report to the 1958 Lambeth Conference and subsequently chaired the group, which produced the first Pan-Anglican Document.135 Another notable event in this period was the publication of a report by a select committee of the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon in 1957 on the Principles of Prayer Book Revision.136 The report gives a balanced account of the 132 See Wigan, pp. 209-22. 133 The Church of South India, The Book of Common Worship, (London, New York, Madras, 1963). 134 Dr Leslie Brown worked as convenor of the CSI committee, then as Archbishop of Uganda chaired the Lambeth sub-committee, and then chaired the Toronto Liturgical Consultation in 1963, producing the first Pan-Anglican Document in 1965. 135 Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, pp. 8-9 and 22-4 and 31-2. 136 Principles of Prayer Book Revision, The Report of a select committee of the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, (London, 1957).

Redefining Identities

49

effects of the Book of Common Prayer on worship in the sub-continent, highlighting both positive and negative aspects.137 It also examines issues relating to inculturation, and makes certain proposals. It recognises that from the beginning of the twentieth century there was a perceived need for ‘an idiom congenial to the worshipper’.138 It also notes that on the whole the laity had no voice to make known its preferences. The report details a number of liturgical experiments, highlighting in particular adaptations to the marriage rite. These focus on the use of the ‘lucky thread’ or Mangalasutra in place of the western use of rings. On the whole the report supports what it terms a ‘complementary approach’ to indigenization.139 Thus worship in the vernacular is enhanced with the use of local music, including newly written lyrics, folk melodies and rustic musical instruments.140 The creative use of architectural styles is also commended, with the cathedrals of Dornakal and Kurunagela held up as particular examples.141 However the report especially focuses on ‘Spontaneous Adaptation in Villages’.142 This is commended in particular because it is spontaneous rather than self-conscious. The continuing use of local customs is met with approval. Again wedding rites, together with harvest festivals are held up as particular ‘successes’. The committee sets its face against attempts, ‘to create services of an indigenous type artificially by a kind of laboratory process…’143 Thus the committee adopts a particular stance regarding inculturation, which provides a clear alternative to the conceptuality of ‘intentional inculturation’. The issue, which emerges from such a stance is highlighted in the report when it identifies that the laity have no voice. In one sense the report argues that the laity express their voice through spontaneous adaptation or indeed tenaciously maintaining rustic traditions and customs. However there is surely place for a process of education, which seeks to empower people to reflect on their traditions and practices in order to worship in ways that are authentically Indian. Finally the report dealt with the Indian Liturgy of 1920 and its later revisions. Again the report offers a balanced critique of the rite, recognizing that in origin the West Syrian tradition used in the rite is no more indigenous to India than the Book of Common Prayer. Nonetheless it commends the rite in that, ‘it transports the participant out of time into the eternal sphere and thus corresponds with an instinct deeply rooted in Indian religion’.144 But the report frankly admits that very few parishes had ever used the rite regularly. This testifies to the sharp difference of the rite from usual Anglican provision, and possibly to the cerebral and intellectual aspects, all of which did not commend it to congregations for ordinary usage. Thus the 1957 report gives considerable insight into the thinking of the Anglicans in the sub-continent on the issues relating to inculturation, and it

137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144

Principles of Prayer Book Revision, pp. 75-6. Principles of Prayer Book Revision, p. 77. Ibid., p. 80. Ibid., p. 80. Ibid., p. 80. Ibid., pp. 80-82. Ibid., p. 81. Principles of Prayer Book Revision, p. 83.

50

Christian Inculturation in India

tells a rather different story from that of the Roman Catholic Church during the same period. The Roman Catholic Church in India The post war period also saw renewed activity among the Roman Catholic hierarchy in India. A Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) had been formed in 1944.145 This facilitated the convoking of the First Plenary Council of India at the request of the bishops in Bangalore in 1950 to address issues of reform and adaptation. The teaching and pastoral measures set out at the Council were formally approved by Pope Pius XII in 1951.146 Thomas Pothacamury, bishop of Bangalore in the first sermon at the Council pointed to the heart of what needed to be addressed, indicating that the twin forces of secularism and nationalism in India were causing Christianity to be looked on with suspicion, as a foreign faith, inhabiting a western culture.147 The Council clearly set its face against any syncretistic vision of the equality of all religions and the notion that a new all-embracing religion would evolve out of the major world religions. However the bishops taught that: ‘We acknowledge indeed that there is truth and goodness outside the Christian religion, for God has not left the nations without a witness to Himself, and the human soul is naturally drawn towards the one true God.’148 The Council qualified this positive stance with the caveat that ‘serious errors’ had occurred in the major religions, and that salvation is only to be found in the name of Christ. It is interesting to reflect following this Indian initiative that Pope Pius in his encyclical Evangelii Praecones (1951) echoes and expands these sentiments, which would find full expression in the work of the Second Vatican Council. Thus here again is a clear example of how the Indian narrative intersects with and profoundly influences the agenda of the international Christian context. Following the 1950 Plenary Council, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) established a commission on Indian Christian art, with the aim of exploring how Indian music and art could be adapted for Christian purposes, particularly in worship.149 A significant feature of the early 1950s was the conflict,150 which emerged between Hindu militants and Christians missions, which came to a head in the state of Madhya Pradesh with the appointment of the Niyogi Committee in 1954. The Hindu militants sought an exclusively Hindu state in Madhya Pradesh, and objected to any missionary activity by Christians or other minority religions. In appointing the Committee the Government of Madhya Pradesh indicated that 145 Conference of the Metropolitans of India, (Madras, 1945). 146 Neuner and Dupuis, p. 285. 147 See J. Bayart and J. Putz, ‘The First Plenary Council of India’, in the Clergy Monthly 14 (1950): p.19; also Paul Pulikkan, Indian Church at Vatican II, (Trichur, 2001), p. 17. 148 Acta et Decreta primi Concilii plenarii Indiae, 2nd edn, (Ranchi, 1959), pp. 24, 25; translation Neuner and Dupuis, p. 285. 149 Pulikkan, p. 32. 150 G.X. Francis, The Background of the Niyogi Report, in A. Soares, et al., Truth shall Prevail, Reply to Niyogi Committee, (Bombay, 1957), pp. 109-39.

Redefining Identities

51

representations have been made to the Government from time to time that Christian missionaries, either forcibly or through fraud and temptations of monetary or other gain, convert illiterate aboriginals and other backward people, thereby offending the feelings of non-Christians…; it has further been represented that Missions are utilised directly or indirectly for purposes of political or extra-religious objectives.151

Thus can be seen the depth of hostility that was being articulated by some Hindus against the churches and their missionary activities. The Niyogi Committee went on to articulate further its concerns about the effects of conversion: ‘As conversion muddles the convert’s sense of unity and solidarity with his society, there is a danger of his loyalty to his country and State being undermined.’152 Further the committee articulated its concern that there was a conspiracy between ‘the Papacy representing the Catholic Church and the American Democracy, united in a frantic drive for gathering proselytes to Christianity to combat Communism: the former to extend its religious empire and the latter to obtain world leadership.’153 The Catholic Church and other Christians made various responses to these perceptions and accusations, pointing out that the breaking down of the Caste system and ongoing interaction with western cultures irrespective of the churches was the cause of ‘a very radical transformation of the Hindu society’.154 One outcome of this background of hostility and confrontation was the convening of an All India Study week held in Madras in December 1956 on Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ.155 This kind of initiative had been envisaged by the Plenary Council, which had been held in 1950, and the growing hostility towards Christianity gave impetus to the quest for inculturation, manifest in this gathering. Among the participants was Bede Griffiths who spoke of the need for liturgical inculturation. He advocated the development of a Mass in Sanskrit, akin to that in classical Chinese. But counselled that such adaptation should not be superficial, arguing that ‘one had to undertake a serious study of the fundamental significance of Hindu religion and its symbolic expression and then relate it to the Christian religion and to the liturgy of the Mass.’156 He also advocated that Hinduism should not be dismissed as false, but be valued, despite in certain ways being corrupted and distorted. In particular he set out his own understanding of the value of Hindu concepts of transcendent mystery. The Madras meeting concluded with a positive statement of the Catholic Church’s desire to make a positive contribution to the New India in realizing and developing its ‘way

151 Soares, p. v. 152 Ibid., p. 60. 153 Ibid., p. 66. 154 M. Ruthnaswamy, ‘Christianity and Indian Nationalism’, in Soares, pp. 193-7 and Pulikkan, p. 26. 155 The Madras Cultural Academy, Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras, 1957). 156 Bede Griffiths, ‘Symbolism and Cult, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ’, in The Madras Cultural Academy, Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras, 1957), pp. 52-61.

Christian Inculturation in India

52

of life and genius’. Thus the study week marked a watershed in the development of understanding and the practice of inculturation in the Catholic Church in India. Undoubtedly this experience and the resultant commitment to inculturation would also play their part in influencing developments at Vatican II. Finally it is noteworthy that the ashrams of Shantivanam (1950) and Kurisumala (1957) were founded against this background of growing hostility to Christianity, and that, as seen above those involved in their founding such as Bede Griffiths contributed extensively to the understanding of inculturation in the Catholic Church in India and by extension at Vatican II. Intentional Inculturation The narratives of the evolving situations on the international level and in India provide insights into the imperatives, which underlie the explicit avowal of inculturation by the churches in the early 1960s. The focal concerns of these narratives, which provide the imperatives towards inculturation are the churches’ missionary activity and growing nationalism. This is particularly to be seen in India, but these factors were evident across the globe, particularly in relation first of all to the period of colonialism and subsequently in the post-colonial situation. Thus the statements made from the 1960s onwards were themselves an acknowledgement and owning of what was already taking place; while also seeking to authorize and encourage new initiatives on a broader more comprehensive front. The period from 1960 onwards may be characterized as one in which inculturation is explicitly acknowledged to be of central concern to the life and witness of the churches. Church Statements: Their Pre-understandings and Imperatives Faith and Order The report of the Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order held in Montreal in 1963, explicitly addresses ‘Worship, Mission and Indigenization’ in the fourth section of the report on Worship.157 Matters of cultural identity are also addressed in the fifth section report ‘All in each place’.158 The conference was influenced by requests to deal with moves towards inculturation from both African and Asian delegates.159 There are two paragraphs of the conference report, which deal with indigenization: 127. We find ourselves in strong agreement that the message of the Gospel must be enacted in a form, and proclaimed in an idiom, comprehensible by those to whom it is addressed. This enactment may be through the timely preaching of the word, through liturgy and rite, or through the ‘living sacrifice’ of Christian lives. Worship need not be unduly restricted 157 P.C. Rodger and L. Vischer (eds), The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: The Report from Montreal 1963, (London, 1964), pp. 69-80. 158 Ibid., pp. 80-90. 159 Ibid., p. 29.

Redefining Identities

53

to set forms or structures. When a man has a living faith in God, he should be encouraged to express it in spontaneous praise and thanksgiving. 128. Just as faith finds its own ways of expression in worship, so the Church’s mission involves indigenisation, a process of becoming rooted in the culture of the people. This process occurs normally, and most authentically, where Christian faith and worship possess the maturity and vitality to appropriate and convert prevailing cultural forms for the service of Christ. In this way Christian worship not only takes root in the culture but converts it to Christ, and so shares in the reconciliation of the whole creation to God. We ought not to be so much concerned with adapting worship to the local culture that we forget that the culture itself is to be transformed. Indigenisation, we believe, is more nearly conversion than accommodation. The indigenisation of Christian worship, required in every time and place, is the offering of the created order back to God, but converted and transfigured by the redemption that is in Christ.160

This is a fulsome statement, which is evidently crafted carefully to balance a variety of stances on indigenization and of the interpretation of the relationship of the Gospel and/or Church to ‘culture’. The statement bears the stamp in particular of the missionary experience of the need to relate to those who are being addressed. It is not suggesting a process or a programme whereby a range of indigenized liturgies are to be crafted, indeed it seems to counsel against this. Nonetheless it seems to assume that indigenization is something real and achievable, and indeed that it is something, which happens ‘naturally’ without particular programmes of action. In paragraph 128 the appeal to a situation where Christian faith and worship ‘possess maturity and vitality’ and which is therefore in a position to ‘appropriate and convert’ the local culture, seems in a way to deny the very heart of the paradox which the task of inculturation seeks to address. That is, that where Christian faith and worship is mature and vital, more often than not it is expressed in a thoroughly western style and ethos. Thus while the Montreal statement certainly tackles the issue of the form and idiom of the Gospel, it provides little by way of response to the perceived need in India for example that mature Christian communities need a strategy in order to overcome the perception that Christianity is a foreign religion. Paragraph 168 of the report also demonstrates what one might interpret as ambivalence to cultural context, arguing that while cultural expression has nourished Christian unity, it has also on occasion become an ‘idol’ dividing the Christian and human community.161 Undoubtedly this has been and continues to be the case. However what is at issue here is that one can glimpse an underlying attitude that somehow culture is dispensable in relation to Christian faith. Or indeed that there might be a culture-free or culture-neutral form of expression of Christianity. Without a clearer theology of culture implicit ambivalence to culture is inevitable. Furthermore the relationship between different faith communities and religions is also a crucial element in crafting a theology of culture and of inculturation. The Montreal Conference did not have this concern on its agenda, and thus again it is not surprising that the statements on culture and indigenization needed further work and qualification in the 160 Ibid., p. 76. 161 Ibid., p. 86.

54

Christian Inculturation in India

light of a theology of inter-religious relations and dialogue. However the Montreal statement was a first attempt by the Faith and Order Conferences to address issues of inculturation, and it marks the accession of this issue clearly onto the international agenda of the churches. The Faith and Order Commission worked on this area subsequently, producing Towards Koinonia in Worship in 1994, which includes a section Koinonia and the Inculturation of Worship.162 This provides a detailed context for the discussion of inculturation as well as seven principles and clear guidance on criteria for the processes of inculturation under the headings of theological, liturgical and cultural criteria. Thus albeit thirty years on from the Montreal conference, the Faith and Order Commission provided the churches with substantial guidance on the principles and processes of inculturation. Two paragraphs of the Ditchingham provide a clear indication of the change of stance from that to be found in the Montreal Report. 36. Inculturation is a form of creative activity accountable to both received liturgical tradition and the actual praxis of the church as well as to the integrity of culture; it tends toward the unity of churches in essentials of faith; and it serves as an instrument of evangelization. Cultural diversity of local churches expresses the richness of the entire koinonia. Their worship mirrors the unity and catholicity of the Church. At the same time, inculturation enhances the koinonia of local churches across confessional lines by bringing about a closer cultural resemblance among them in worship. 38. Certain observations need to be made regarding culture, namely: that God can be encountered in culture; that Christ awaits to be discovered in every culture; that sinfulness also exists in culture; and that hence the Church is called to evangelize culture in order to bring out more fully the presence of Christ.163

There is evidently a continuity of thinking between the Montreal report and the Ditchingham statement. However in this later statement there is clear understanding of the unavoidability of culture, and although briefly stated there is a clear theology of culture in paragraph 38. The Second Vatican Council The other major statement, which was published in 1963 was that on the Liturgy made by the Second Vatican Council. A section of Sacrosanctum Concilium164 is dedicated to Norms for adapting the Liturgy to the culture and traditions of peoples. The major part of this provision is set out below: 37. Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. Anything in these peoples’ way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error 162 WCC, Towards Koinonia in Worship, (Geneva, 1994). 163 Ibid. 164 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, December 1963. Reproduced with the permission of LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.

Redefining Identities

55

she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit. 38. Provisions shall also be made, when revising the liturgical books, for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions, and peoples, especially in mission lands, provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is preserved; and this should be borne in mind when drawing up the rites and devising rubrics. 39. Within the limits set by the typical editions of the liturgical books, it shall be for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to specify adaptations, especially in the case of the administration of the sacraments, the sacramentals, processions, liturgical language, sacred music, and the arts, but according to the fundamental norms laid down in this Constitution. 40. In some places and circumstances, however, an even more radical adaptation of the liturgy is needed, and this entails greater difficulties. Wherefore: 1) The competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, must, in this matter, carefully and prudently consider which elements from the traditions and culture of individual peoples might appropriately be admitted into divine worship. Adaptations which are judged to be useful or necessary should when be submitted to the Apostolic See, by whose consent they may be introduced. 2) To ensure that adaptations may be made with all the circumspection which they demand, the Apostolic See will grant power to this same territorial ecclesiastical authority to permit and to direct, as the case requires, the necessary preliminary experiments over a determined period of time among certain groups suited for the purpose. 3) Because liturgical laws often involve special difficulties with respect to adaptation, particularly in mission lands, men who are experts in these matters must be employed to formulate them.

An implicit theology of culture is to be discerned here, which is qualified only by the rejection of that which is understood to be ‘superstitious’. A general level of inculturation is widely encouraged, while in more particular cases the process is to require greater oversight. The idea of composing entirely new rites is not specifically mentioned in the text, however such an eventuality is implicit in the reference to a ‘more radical adaptation’. Such provision matches well with what the Indian hierarchy had come to perceive as a necessity to combat the allegations of the alienness of Christian worship in India. And there can be little doubt that the provision was intended to meet these needs. The visit of both Pope John XXIII to Bombay in 1961, and of Pope Paul VI in 1964, immediately following the third session of the Council may be taken as evidence of this claim. The Bombay Eucharistic Congress of 1964 was the occasion for which Pope Paul chose to visit India, and took the opportunity to reinforce the intentions and reforms of the Council, as well as symbolically seeking to heal any tension with the Indian Government.165 Paul Pulikkan argues that ‘one could say that the dialogue with other religions and cultures and a deeper 165 38th International Eucharistic Congress Bombay 1964, 2 vols. (Bombay, 1966).

56

Christian Inculturation in India

aspiration for inculturation of Christianity into the indigenous cultures were the key points which the Pope wanted to emphasize during his visit.’166 In one of his sermons during the visit Pope Paul gave thanks for religious freedom in India enjoyed by preachers of the Christian Gospel: They communicate the message of Jesus with highest respect for the convictions of others, in the language and cultural expressions of the people, and encourage Christians, to express their faith and devotion in harmony with the civilization of India in truly Indian forms. Thus the Church, having gathered the varied treasures of many cultures of East and West, will be further enriched by the contribution of her Indian sons, drawn from their country’s rich and ancient traditions.167

While the sentiments expressed by Pope Paul may seem idealistic, nonetheless they bear testimony that his intention in India was to iterate the ideas of the Council on inculturation. As well as making inculturation a key factor in liturgical life the Second Vatican Council also addressed the issues of the relationship between Christianity and other religions, and the basis of any dialogue between them. Thus inculturation is placed within a much broader theological context. It is not simply reduced to practical matters and processes. It is placed within a holistic approach to re-understanding the Church’s mission and role in the contemporary world. In 1965, following the Papal visit to India, the Council issued the first conciliar decree on non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate. In this decree a theology of other faiths and of dialogue with them is set out: The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.(4) The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.168

The Roman Catholic Church thus commits itself to a path of respect and dialogue with people of other faiths, while also clearly retaining belief in the unique position of Jesus Christ. These teachings are also to be received and understood alongside the decree on Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes (1965), in which the notion that other religions may be seen as a preparation for the Gospel is explored: 166 Pulikkan, pp. 453-4. 167 Pope Paul VI, sermon preached on December 4th, 1964 at St Paul’s Parish. See P. De Letter, ‘Pope Paul VI in India’, in Catholic Missionary Society, 29 (1965): p. 185. 168 Nostra Aetate, 1965. Reproduced with the permission of LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.

Redefining Identities

57

3. This universal design of God for the salvation of the human race is carried out not only, as it were, secretly in the soul of a man, or by the attempts (even religious ones by which in diverse ways it seeks after God) if perchance it may contact Him or find Him, though He be not far from anyone of us (cf. Acts 17:27). For these attempts need to be enlightened and healed; even though, through the kindly workings of Divine Providence, they may sometimes serve as leading strings (paedagogia) toward God, or as a preparation for the Gospel.169

Thus the Vatican Council clearly sets out its teaching on the role of other religions in the context of Christian mission. It is a stance that not all Christians will wish to embrace. However other religions are clearly valued as possible means of finding God and truth. Finally in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church, Gaudium et Spes, the imperative to dialogue is related to the Church’s mission in the world: 92. By virtue of her mission to shed on the whole world the radiance of the Gospel message, and to unify under one Spirit all men of whatever nation, race or culture, the Church stands forth as a sign of that brotherhood which allows honest dialogue and gives it vigour. Such a mission requires in the first place that we foster within the Church herself mutual esteem, reverence and harmony, through the full recognition of lawful diversity. … We think cordially too of all who acknowledge God, and who preserve in their traditions precious elements of religion and humanity. We want frank conversation to compel us all to receive the impulses of the Spirit faithfully and to act on them energetically. For our part, the desire for such dialogue, which can lead to truth through love alone, excludes no one, though an appropriate measure of prudence must undoubtedly be exercised. We include those who cultivate outstanding qualities of the human spirit, but do not yet acknowledge the Source of these qualities. We include those who oppress the Church and harass her in manifold ways. Since God the Father is the origin and purpose of all men, we are all called to be brothers. Therefore, if we have been summoned to the same destiny, human and divine, we can and we should work together without violence and deceit in order to build up the world in genuine peace.170

The process and the theology of inculturation are set within a broad and rich context in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and in the Papal encyclicals of both Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. The teaching of the Catholic Church on the value of human culture, other religions and dialogue provide for those seeking to participate in the process of inculturation, considerable theological resources and guidance. As these imperatives are put into practice in the context of South India, it becomes clear that there is need for yet further clarification and guidance. I will examine these processes, the critique of them, and possible ways forward in subsequent chapters. This will include examining some of the later Papal teaching 169 Ad Gentes, 1965. Reproduced with the permission of LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA. 170 Gaudium et Spes, 1965. Reproduced with the permission of LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.

Christian Inculturation in India

58

and responses to that in India. One document, which is of particular significance is The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation (1994).171 In this document the Vatican sets out the conditions for Liturgical Inculturation, together with principles and norms for doing so. I shall return to a considered evaluation of this document in Chapter 6, together with an analysis of the 1999 document, Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, issued by the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the implications of Ratzinger’s Truth and Toleration for understandings of culture and inculturation. The Lambeth Conference A parallel process of declaration and clarification as seen in the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission and in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church at Vatican II and following, may also be discerned in the resolutions of the Lambeth Conference and the work of Anglican Consultative Council (ACC). However if one looks for a parallel statement about inculturation among the resolutions of the 1968 Lambeth Conference,172 one is disappointed. There are significant resolutions on Christianity and Other Faiths (No. 11) and Religious Dialogue (No. 12), which are akin to the much more extensive Vatican II statements. These place the process of inculturation within a broader theological context. The 1968 resolutions while positive in tone, are by no means as explicit in their content as the parallel Vatican II statements. However the report to the Conference on the ‘Renewal of Faith’ makes the following statement about ‘Culture’: When the Christian faith becomes completely identified with any particular culture the result is stagnation: the faith dies with the culture. Only by God’s grace and in a new culture will it be renewed. The Church must always be sensitive to the arts and other cultural forms of the community in which it is placed, and must make discerning use of them so that they may appropriately express the Christian faith to that community. In particular there is need for bolder experiment in adapting local and familiar art-forms and prayer-forms, as well as modern forms of expression, in the development of the Church’s teaching and liturgy. We should not hesitate to give expression to exuberance and joy.173

Thus while there is no resolution on inculturation this report did promote liturgical adaptation in a positive way and sought to embrace culture in a broad sense within this task. Furthermore while the agenda of the 1968 Conference did not promote inculturation explicitly the conference did resolve to create the Anglican Consultative Council, which would become instrumental in the promotion of liturgical renewal in the Anglican Communion, as well as inculturation. 171 Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation: Fourth Instruction for the Right Application of the Conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy (nn. 37-40) Rome 1994, (Boston, 1994). 172 The Lambeth Conference 1968: Resolutions and Reports, (London and New York, 1968). 173 Ibid., pp. 75-6.

Redefining Identities

59

The agenda of the Lambeth Conference in 1978174 addressed the question of general inculturation in Resolution 36 and dialogue with other faiths in Resolution 37. However a theology of inculturation still remained relatively un-developed. The Conference Report, What is the Church for?175 addressed the issues of ‘The diversity of cultures and the questioning of cultures’ (Section 4.A). In this section an attempt to craft a theology of culture is made, which holds together the importance and value of local cultures with the understanding that ‘Christ is also the ultimate judge of culture’.176 The report provides further elucidation of this balance as follows: Often, when a person is converted to Christ, he feels he has died to his old culture. He feels it is too bound up with the ‘old man’ he has put off. But slowly as he grows in Christian maturity, he rediscovers its abiding value. The process of formation through all the cultural influences that bear on him, and of transformation as he ‘puts on Christ’, continues during his whole life…. There are many dangers and many unresolved issues in the Christian transformation of culture. Despite these difficulties our faith demands that a Christian be not removed from his culture in order to be a member of the Church:177

Thus the conference began in earnest to grapple with the formulation of a theology of culture. And at the following conference, in 1988, builds upon this, and offers insight into the task of inculturation itself.178 Two of the Conference’s resolutions address the task of inculturation, while various sections of the reports underpin the stance adopted in the resolutions. Resolution 22 on Christ and Culture states: This Conference: (a) Recognises that culture is the context in which people find their identity. (b) Affirms that God's love extends to people of every culture and that the Gospel judges every culture according to the Gospel's own criteria of truth, challenging some aspects of culture while endorsing and transforming others for the benefit of the Church and society. (c) Urges the Church everywhere to work at expressing the unchanging Gospel of Christ in words, actions, names, customs, liturgies, which communicate relevantly in each contemporary society.179

While Resolution 47 on Liturgical Freedom also addresses inculturation. This Conference resolves that each province should be free, subject to essential universal Anglican norms of worship, and to a valuing of traditional liturgical materials, to seek

174 The Report of the Lambeth Conference 1978, (London, 1978). 175 Ibid., pp. 54-74. 176 Ibid., p. 59. 177 Ibid. 178 The Truth Shall Make You Free: The Lambeth Conference 1988: Reports, Resolutions and Pastoral Letters from the Bishops, (London, 1988). 179 Ibid.

Christian Inculturation in India

60

that expression of worship which is appropriate to its Christian people in their cultural context.180

A further resolution, No. 20 addresses inter-faith dialogue. This Conference commends dialogue with people of other faiths as part of Christian discipleship and mission, with the understanding that: (1) dialogue begins when people meet each other; (2) dialogue depends upon mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual trust; (3) dialogue makes it possible to share in service to the community; (4) dialogue becomes a medium of authentic witness. Acknowledging that such dialogue, which is not a substitute for evangelism, may be a contribution in helping people of different faiths to make common cause in resolving issues of peacemaking, social justice and religious liberty, we further commend each province to initiate such dialogue in partnership with other Christian Churches where appropriate.181

Taken together these three resolutions present a much clearer and more explicit theological statement of culture per se, as well as the relationship of the Church in its life, worship and mission to its cultural context. In each case the resolution is related to the reports made to the Conference. The Report on Ministry and Mission has a section Local Expressions of the Liturgy, which expands on resolution 47.182 The Report on Dogmatic and Pastoral Concerns has a section Christ and Culture, which addresses the complex issues surrounding the task of inculturation. In section 28 the report addresses the need for responsible change where Christianity has been associated with colonialism. ‘Here the communication of a Gospel embedded in one culture is bound up with some of the most problematic features of a cultural life – the realities of a foreign system of economic power and political and legal control.’183 And later in the same report further complexities are identified: The Indian experience, both ancient and modern … has pointed up the possible ambiguities of the inculturation of Christianity. It can suggest the endorsement of some of the social forms or mythologies from which people actually seek to be free. It can take for granted that a particular culture is more static and more monolithic than in fact it is. It can run counter to the social processes, even the religious ideals, within the overall context, which make for creativity and change. It can appear as patronising, romantic and unreal, especially when industrialisation, urbanisation and secularisation are proceeding at a rapid pace. An uncritical approach to traditional social forms has little to say to those caught up in the poverty traps of the exploding cities in the developing world, where new social patterns and educational needs appear.184

180 181 182 183 184

Ibid. The Lambeth Conference 1988. Ibid., p. 67. Ibid., p. 88. Ibid., pp. 89-90.

Redefining Identities

61

This critique of the pitfalls of inculturation evidently refers to such issues as casteism and the use of cultures within the local context, which may prove alienating or oppressive. It is to these issues that I will return in subsequent chapters when instances of inculturation will be expounded and analysed. However it is significant that the 1988 Conference for all its positive and encouraging words about the task and processes of inculturation should therefore also seek to identify the dangers of assuming that the use of a certain culture in adapting Christian rites will inevitably be appropriate.185 The 1988 Lambeth Conference was followed in 1989 with a meeting of the Anglican Liturgical Consultation, which drew up the document, Down to Earth Worship.186 This enunciated the following principles: [1] FIRST PRINCIPLES The incarnation is God’s self-inculturation in this world, and in a particular cultural context. Jesus’ ministry on earth includes both the acceptance of a particular culture, and also a confrontation of elements in that culture. … [5] WORLDWIDE ANGLICANISM … Our lack of inculturation has fostered both the cultural alienation of some Christians and an over-ready willingness of others to live in two different cultures, one of their religion and the other of their everyday life. Other Christians again have left our Churches because of the cultural insensitivity. Similarly non-Christians have found the foreign-ness of the church a great barrier to faith. … [6] IMPLEMENTATION Inculturation must therefore affect the whole ethos of corporate worship, not only texts but also, for example, the use of buildings, furnishings, art, music and ceremonial. From one aspect it means cultural de-colonization of worship, from another it requires recognition of the special needs of an ethnic or other minority, which may be culturally distinct from the prevailing ethos… True inculturation … has to make contact with the deep feelings of people. It can only be achieved through an open-ness to innovation and experimentation, an encouragement of local creativity, and a readiness to reflect critically at each stage of the process – a process which in principle is never ending. The liturgy, rightly constructed, forms the people of God, enabling and equipping them for their mission of evangelism and social justice in their culture and society.

185 The 1998 Lambeth Conference largely reiterated the resolutions of 1988 and so I do not propose to examine them in detail here. 186 Down to Earth Worship, the Statement of the Third International Anglican Liturgical Consultation, York, 1989 published in David R Holeton (ed.), Liturgical Inculturation in the Anglican Communion, including the York Statement ‘Down to Earth Worship’, (Nottingham, 1990), pp. 8-13.

62

Christian Inculturation in India

The York Statement provides the most fulsome and complete statement of inculturation for the Anglican Communion to date. Here is to be found a clear theological understanding of culture, as well as of the task of inculturation. The question, which remains for me, is why when the need for inculturation was so keenly perceived in India as long ago as the late nineteenth century and certainly from the early 1950s does it take the Anglican Communion and the WCC until the late 1980s or early 1990s to become focused and clear sighted about this need and task? The narratives of the churches local and universal, great and little, provide a clear picture that the traffic was by no means only in one direction. Indeed it was the concerns of the non-Western Christian communities and their desire for an indigenous form of life and mission, which was the catalyst to the imperatives, enunciated in the international councils and conferences of the churches.

Chapter 3

Whose Values; Which Cultures? The Effects of Local Theologies …if in faith in Jesus Christ we are ready to learn, to be told, what Godhead, or the divine nature is, we are confronted with the revelation, of what is and always will be a mystery, and indeed a mystery which offends. The mystery reveals to us that for God it is just as natural to be lowly as it is to be high, to be near as it is to be far, to be little, as it is to be great, to be aboard as to be at home.1

Introduction In this chapter I investigate how the church declarations examined in Chapter 2 were received and acted upon, particularly in the context of South India. I will offer an analysis of the imperatives and values, which undergird the principles and processes of inculturation before and after the emergence of Dalit Liberation Theology in the 1980s and the critique, which it presents of inculturation in the context of India. I will focus in particular on the crucial role played by different conceptualities of inter-religious relations and dialogue, theories of contextualization, and traditions of mystical or contemplative prayer within Christianity and Hinduism. The chapter is arranged in three main sections. The first section addresses the background of the ongoing relations and dialogue between the Christian and Hindu traditions and communities in India. The second section addresses the initiatives taken in India following the 1963 declarations, including an exposition of the Ashram Movement and New Christian Movements, together with an appreciation of particular leaders and founders connected with these initiatives. The final section addresses the emergence of Dalit Liberation Theology and the critique of attempts at inculturation to date. Theology and Inter-Religious Encounter The discussion of the ongoing relations and dialogue between the Christian and Hindu traditions and communities in India, relates intimately to the emergence of local or contextual theologies. The beginnings of local or contextual theologies in India, pre-dates the 1963 declarations by almost 130 years. While it would be mistaken to assume that these early beginnings lacked self-awareness and inner critical questioning, it is the case that later theological discourse has raised awareness 1

Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 4.1 (Edinburgh, 1956), p. 192.

64

Christian Inculturation in India

of the implicit and explicit processes involved in the crafting of local or contextual theologies, particularly after the 1963 declarations put the task of inculturation officially on the agenda of the churches. Theological discourse concerning inter-religious dialogue relates to two quite different stances on the relationship of ‘Christ / Gospel and Culture’. On the one hand the relationship is seen in terms of the determining effects of Christ’s uniqueness, and thus of discontinuity; while on the other hand the relationship is seen in terms of a parity which is characteristically expressed in a positive view of multiculturalism. Stephen Fuchs in his article Culture at the service of evangelisation in India2 provides an overview of Western Christian Missionaries’ practice and understanding. Fuchs offers an assessment of the effects of the lack of self-understanding on the part of earlier missionary activity, and of the current situation in India, as a result of globalization. It is unfortunate that in India the missionaries have often acted against the laws which govern culture change, with disastrous results for their work. The history of past mistakes may prove a heavy burden for future missionaries. … On the other hand, India too is undergoing a profound culture change and moving towards a world culture which will bury many dissipative differences.3

The complex situation, in which local or contextual theology is emerging in India, is undoubtedly one where the development of anthropological insights is beneficial. The application of the findings and methods of anthropology and sociology to the relationship between church(es) and local culture(s), and to the construction of local theologies has been a significant feature of the international landscape since the statements of Second Vatican Council and the Faith and Order Commission in the 1960s.4 The recognition that context and culture are crucial elements in the Churches’ life and mission led to the emergence of a new theological genre. Interest in applying anthropology among theologians is to be seen in the launch of a periodical Practical Anthropology by Robert B. Taylor in 1953. However as Darrell L. Whiteman argues it was not until the 1970s that the usefulness of anthropology was recognized among Protestant and Evangelical Christians.5 By the 1970s it came to be understood among these churches that simply providing the Bible in the vernacular was insufficient, it was necessary that in any given context people ‘should have the mind of Christ within their own culture’.6 This would entail a profound re-orientation. No longer would local cultures be perceived as ‘totally depraved’; rather they were to be seen as channels of prevenient grace. The discipline of anthropology was identified as providing the means whereby it 2 Stephen Fuchs, ‘Culture at the Service of Evangelisation in India’, in The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Vol. 1, George Menachery (ed.), (Trichur, 2000), pp. 198202. 3 Fuchs, ‘Culture at the Service of Evangelisation’, p. 202. 4 E.g. Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1975. 5 Darrell L. Whiteman, ‘Anthropology and Mission: The Incarnational Connection’, International Journal of Frontier Missions, 21/2, (2004): 79-87. 6 Whiteman, ‘Anthropology and Mission’, 80.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

65

would be possible to distinguish between ‘what is unique to one culture and what is more characteristic of all human beings’.7 It would also facilitate the identification of appropriate forms in which to present the Christian message for those to whom it is communicated. Ishtiyaq Danish, working in India, provides further insights into the development of contextual theology.8 Danish argues that there has been considerable development in the understanding of what it means to construct a contextual theology. Referring to the report Ministry in Context, produced by the Theological Education Fund (TEF) in 19729 he suggests that ‘contextualization’ emerged as a significant term, but was still a very complex notion. By 1988 the concept had become more comprehensible, however he argues that several issues still needed to be clarified: such as the relationship between contextualization and the older term ‘indigenization’; is contextualization simply the same or does it entail more? Furthermore does contextual theology produce syncretism? Danish argues that contextualization is broader than the older indigenization.10 The Tambaram conference of 1938 had defined that ‘An indigenous church, young or old, in the East or in the West, is a church, rooted in obedience to Christ, which spontaneously uses forms of thought and modes of action natural and familiar to its own environment.’11 Danish suggests that contextualization will include all of this, but will also develop a local or contextual theology, which some have termed ‘ethno-theology’.12 The work of Charles H. Kraft of Fuller Seminary in the United States marks a significant stage in the development of the thinking of Evangelical Christians in regard to the relationship of the Gospel to the local context and culture.13 In particular he gave weight to the methodology of ‘Dynamic Equivalence’ as a possible way in which Gospel and Culture might be brought into dialogue.14 Kraft uses this concept in relation to the task of Biblical translation, setting out how translating into a ‘receptor language’ needs to be able to communicate levels of implicit as well as explicit meaning. Since Kraft used ‘Dynamic Equivalence’, it has come to be used as a term in relation to contextualization / inculturation more broadly. It is a result of this paradigm shift that the possibility of constructing contextual theologies was taken up by Evangelical Christians. R. Daniel Shaw writing from the perspective of ‘Gospel and Culture’ in his article, Contextualizing: the Power and 7 Whiteman, ‘Anthropology and Mission’, 83. 8 Ishtiyaq Danish, ‘Contextualization: A New Missionary Approach to Muslims’, al Tawhid (A Journal of Islamic Thought and Culture), 5/3 and 5/4. 9 The report was sponsored by the World Council of Churches. 10 At the time when western missionaries began to consider the future of the churches they were responsible for bringing into being an understanding of an indigenous church which would include: the church becoming self-supporting financially; self-governing and selfpropagating. 11 International Missionary Council, ‘The World Mission of the Church’, in Madras Conference Repor,t (London and New York, 1939), p. 26. 12 E.g. James O. Buswell III, ‘Contextualization: Theory, Tradition and Method’ in Theology and Mission, D.J. Hesselgrave, (ed.), (Grand Rapids, 1978), pp. 87-111. 13 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perpective, (Maryknoll, 1979). 14 Kraft, p. 275.

66

Christian Inculturation in India

the Glory15 describes a set of parameters for constructing local theologies by new churches resulting from missionary activity. He expounds the view held by some that while there is a need to take local culture and its world view seriously and use the concepts vital to a people’s daily living to present the Gospel. … This raises the double sided concern of (1) the necessity of critique within a cultural context and (2) the need to protect against syncretism. … Thus there is a constant tension between God’s truth and cultural truth.16

Secondly he sets out an alternative view based upon the understanding that insofar as human beings are created by God, by extension culture is also part of the creation.17 In pursuit of the out-workings of this perspective Shaw argues that there are three possible stances in relation to the task of making a contextual theology: [a] the rejection of all local traditional beliefs and rites, [b] the uncritical acceptance of traditional local beliefs and rites, or [c] what he designates ‘Critical Contextualization’.18 This he argues is a dialogical method in which to assess and determine which local traditional rites and beliefs may be kept in the light of a community embracing the Christian tradition. In particular he argues that this method will ensure that ‘The world view of a people [will be] understood and appreciated resulting in new ways of fulfilling their needs. So-called “functional substitutes” should come about as a result of thorough research by outsiders as well as insiders.’19 In this method any beliefs and rites, which are held not to conflict with the values of the Christian tradition are retained, and for any which are deemed to conflict a substitute is to be identified. The method entails both retaining Christian and local values and practices, as well as offering the potential for creating new practice and expressions of belief. Thus contextualization is understood to be manifest as both product and process,20 and that both of these outcomes relates to the explicit recognition that the [new] churches will be performing as hermeneutical communities. Shaw explicitly acknowledges the result of the practice of his method will mean that ‘As the hermeneutical community interacts with the world around it, change is inevitable.’21 The method, which Shaw espouses is by no means unique, but he clearly articulates the implications of embracing a dialogical, consensual model of creating a local, contextual theology. Perhaps the main weakness in such a model is that it is too optimistic in its view of the processes and their potentialities. Two major works have expounded the relationship between the Christian and Hindu theological traditions. One is more widely known in the West than the other. The title of each work in itself indicates a different stance on the question of inter15 R. Daniel Shaw, ‘Contextualizing: the Power and the Glory’, International Journal of Frontier Missions, 12/3, (1995): 155-60. 16 Shaw, ‘Contextualizing: the Power and the Glory’, p. 155. 17 See: R. Daniel Shaw, Transculturation: The Cultural Factor in Translation and Other Communication Tasks, (Pasadena, 1988), p. 11. 18 Ibid., p. 156. 19 Ibid., p. 157. 20 Ibid., p. 158. 21 Ibid., p. 160.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

67

religious relations and dialogue. Raimundo Panikkar, the more widely known author in the West, argues for The Unknown Christ of Hinduism,22 while M.M. Thomas, points to The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance.23 Undoubtedly each work and its author have much to contribute to the exploration of inter-religious relations and dialogue. It is noteworthy that Panikkar, a Roman Catholic, begins his exploration from a stance of emphasizing that there is an apparent lack of continuity between two traditions, and that this needs to be established.24 While M.M. Thomas, of the Mar Thoma Syrian tradition, begins his exploration from entirely the opposite perspective that there is an explicit continuity between the two traditions. This continuity, Thomas argues, is to be perceived in the Indian Renaissance from its beginnings. This is to be identified with the writings and spiritual career of Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) who founded the movement in Hinduism known as the Brahmo Samaj. Ram Mohan Roy explicitly used the Gospels of the Christian New Testament as a means by which to expound traditional Hindu teachings.25 The emergence of a re-invigorated form of Hinduism from this inter-religious ‘dialogue’ in the Brahmo Samaj and other movements, which followed has a significance for the churches, which Thomas seeks to expound and interpret.26 However in terms of the impact of these two authors on a Western audience it is Panikkar’s view, which has tended to predominate. Nonetheless for my present purposes it is Thomas’s perspective, upon which I intend to draw. For as it will become clear, the ‘modern’ ashram movement, in both Hinduism and Christianity, is rooted in the Brahmo Samaj movement. Thus, it may be argued that central figures in this debate such as Bede Griffiths are as much the inheritors of the tradition of Brahmo Samaj as they are of Roberto de Nobili. The methods relating to inter-religious dialogue between Christian and Hindu traditions are rooted as much in a movement in Hinduism as they are in any movement in Christianity. There are of course other works in addition to those of Panikkar and Thomas, which are evidence of the breadth and depth of engagement with issues surrounding the development of a distinctively Asian and/

22 R. Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany, (London, 1964, 1981). 23 M.M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance, (Madras, 1970, 1991). 24 See Panikkar’s collection of Hindu Scriptures, The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari – An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man and Contemporary Celebration, (Delhi, 1977, 1989, 1994). 25 E.g. Ram Mohan Roy, The Precept of Jesus: the Guide to Peace and Happiness, extracted from the Books of the New Testament, ascribed to the four evangelists (with translations into Sanskrit and Bengalese), 1820. 26 Not all commentators would agree with me, for instance, Chaturvedi Badrinath, Finding Jesus in Dharma: Christianity in India, (Delhi, 2000), p. 112f., argues that Hendrik Kraemer had already made Thomas’ line of thought redundant, in that what the Brahmo Samaj movement and others produced was a theology which was incompatible with that of the churches.

68

Christian Inculturation in India

or Indian Christian theology in relation to the context of the main Asian religious traditions.27 Initiatives, Values and Methods The declarations made in 1963 concerning the possibility that the churches should adapt their practice to local cultures and customs, gave little indication of why this was thought to be necessary. Neither the Montreal statement nor Sacrosanctum Concilium made reference to the reason why it was thought necessary to include these declarations. Perhaps it was felt to be self-evident. However the imperatives behind this change in declared policy were studiously not stated, while the criteria offered to inform the processes of adaptation relate in the WCC report to issues of comprehensibility and in the Vatican II document to issues relating to the exclusion of anything superstitious. The value systems underlying these declarations were unstated and remained implicit. However it is also clear that Sacrosanctum Concilium should not be read in isolation, but alongside the other documents of Vatican II, and after. Thus in Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965) there is a detailed exploration of the status of culture and the Church’s relationship with culture,28 which may be said to inform the declaration on indigenization. Statements parallel with that on worship, concerning indigenous churches can be found in Ad Gentes Divinitus, the Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity (1965).29 But it is in Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (1965),30 that there emerges what is of most significance in relation to the task of inculturation. That is to say, the declaration holds in an elegant balance Christ’s commission to evangelize with the recognition that non-Christian religions ‘often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men’.31 Furthermore the declaration encourages Christians to value the social life and culture of these religions. It is in this statement of the relationship between the Church and other faith communities that it is possible to begin to discern the value base for the processes of inculturation. While there are parallels to be found in the Montreal document, they remain much less developed, reference is made to the divisions in society and the world and concern is expressed for human unity as well as church unity.32 The scope of what was produced at Montreal is evidently much less than that at Vatican II, however in later papers produced by the Faith and Order Commission a parallel concern with the Churches’ relationships with non-

27 E.g. Douglas J. Elwood (ed.), What Asian Christian are Thinking, (Quezon City, 1976); and V.C. Rajasekaran, Reflections on Indian Christian Theology, (Madras, 1993). 28 Gaudium et Spes (1965), sections: 53-62. 29 Ad Gentes Divinitus, (1965), e.g. section 6. 30 Nostra Aetate (1965). 31 Nostra Aetate (1965). 32 P.C. Rodger and L. Vischer (eds), The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: The Report from Montreal 1963, (London, 1964), pp. 85-90.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

69

Christian religions has emerged.33 Nonetheless it remains the case that in general the documents, which address the adaptation of Christian practice to local custom do not demonstrate self-awareness of the value systems inherent in them. Even a large scale work such as Aylward Shorter’s Toward a Theology of Inculturation has little reflection on values or criteria upon which to judge such issues.34 This has fostered the perception that inculturation can apparently take place in a value-free or neutral environment. This is of course simply naïve, and no doubt many practitioners have been aware of the issues facing them when making choices and decisions about how to proceed when undertaking adaptations. Criteria used in creating new rites and customs have evolved locally and have often been contentious, largely I would suggest because the value systems being used have remained implicit, if not concealed. What is needed is much greater clarity and transparency about the processes of decision making, such as those described by Shaw in his method of Critical Contextualistion. The identification of criteria in the processes of inculturation has been left largely to practitioners and scholars to reflect upon the issues and learn, often by making mistakes, from the attempts being made. Some writers such as Bevans35 have focused upon the creation of local theologies per se, rather than upon cultural adaptation, but these two endeavours would seem to overlap, and indeed often to inform one another. Bevans has identified five possible methods, which relate in many ways to the kind of approach discerned in the work of Niebuhr on Christ and Culture. Robert J. Schreiter36 offers a similar analysis of the possibilities of creating local theologies. He works with three models, Translation Models, Adaptation Models, and Contextual Models.37 In his analysis of Translation Models, Schreiter identifies ‘dynamic equivalence’ as one method of translation. His critique of this method points to the positivist understanding of culture inherent in such a process, which ‘assumes that patterns in a culture are quickly decoded and understood’.38 Thus the method is rooted in a ‘kernel and husk’ theory of culture and adaptation. Schreiter is also critical of Adaptation Models, where he points to the practice of attempting ‘to force cultural data into foreign categories’.39 Finally in relation to Contextual Models, Schreiter identifies two particular models: [a] which seeks to promote cultural identity and [b] which seeks liberation from oppression and social

33 The Subunit for Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies [DFI] was founded in 1971; e.g. Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies, (WCC, 19790; Faith and Order document: Nurturing Peace, Overcoming Violence: In the way of Christ for the sake of the World, 2003. 34 Aylward Shorter, Toward a Theology of Inculturation, (London, 1988). 35 Stephen B. Bevans, Modules of Contextual Theology, (Maryknoll, 1992, 2002). There is a useful chart of the six models, which identifies (the Translation Model, the Anthropological Model, the Praxis Model, the Synthetic Model, the Transcendental Model and the Countercultural Model) on pp. 141-3. 36 Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, (Maryknoll, 1986). 37 Ibid., pp. 6-16. 38 Ibid., p.8. 39 Ibid., p. 10.

70

Christian Inculturation in India

ills.40 His critique of these relates in terms of [a] avoidance of conflictual factors and possible cultural romanticism; while of [b] he suggests that reflection can precede as well as follow action and that liberation movements can become too wedded to particular ideological stances. It will be important to note Schreiter’s analysis of Contextual Models as these relate directly to the Indian context. I would suggest that most attempts at inculturation prior to the emergence of Dalit Liberation theology followed [a] the promotion of cultural identity, while Dalit Liberation theology is selfevidently based upon a liberation model. Schreiter’s exposition of models not only enables analysis and evaluation of these different approaches, but also allows for the possibility of enabling the proponents of these different models to seek more mutual understanding and possible ways forward. Schreiter himself offers the beginnings of making such an analysis in his sections on Listening to a Culture,41 and Criteria for Christian Identity.42 In the first of these sections he begins to raise questions, which facilitate an analysis of inherent values. Thus he writes of the task of identifying crucial factors in culture in seeking to create contextualized theology. ‘Among these are the values of the culture, its sources of identity, the ills that consistently befall the culture, the modes of behavior and codes of conduct in the culture, the cultural ideals, and the sources of power in the culture.’43 In defining the first of the criteria, The Cohesiveness of Christian Performance, Schreiter suggests that cohesiveness is necessary for a Christian community, not only for its ongoing life together, but also in relation to its context. A study of the church tradition indicates that in the interrelation of its doctrines and symbols, there is a marvellous cohesiveness. The cohesiveness manifests a consistency, although not always consistency of a linear kind. The consistency is often one of balancing the great antinomies of life and death, good and evil, which mark human existence.44

Here Schreiter points to the reality that contextualization or inculturation is unlikely to be a straightforward process. It may well include this ‘balancing of antinomies’. It has become apparent that this is certainly the case in a context such as India. Gerald A. Arbuckle45 echoes these sentiments for example in the section Inculturation: New Testament Hints.46 Here he echoes the understanding that inculturation demands listening, that it is likely to be a slow process, the outcome of which will include moral, affective and community / justice ‘conversion’. Here again Arbuckle seeks to address the issue of the values involved in the processes of inculturation, and of the necessity that this awareness relates both to the process and its outcomes. Indian

40 Ibid., p. 13. 41 Ibid., pp. 39-49. 42 Ibid., pp. 117-21. 43 Schreiter, p. 40. 44 Schreiter, p. 118. 45 Gerald A. Arbuckle, Earthing the Gospel: An Inculturation Handbook for the Pastoral Worker, (Maryknoll, 1990). 46 Arbuckle, pp. 188-93.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

71

Christian authors such as Michael Amaladoss47 have also addressed these issues, and I shall return to examine his work in the conclusion of this chapter. Sigurd Bergman in God in Context provides a useful survey of recent models of contextual theology and offers his own alternative Human Ecological Model as a way of bringing many of the current models into a synthesis.48 He argues that through the synthesis, which he constructs, the human ecological model, [enables] religion and the Christian belief in God [to be] understood as part of a complex context of physical, social and conceptual production and reproduction patterns. … In that way it contributes to Christianity’s continuity and its renewal in a variable culture.49

Other writers such Anscar Chupungco,50 are focused on worship and liturgical adaptation. He is concerned to set out the different methodological approaches more specifically in relation to rites, rituals and customs. He identifies no less than seven possible labels, which have been applied to cultural adaptation, from ‘Indigenization’ through to ‘Acculturation’.51 He seeks to defend the useful retention of a distinction between ‘Acculturation’ and ‘Inculturation’.52 Chupungco argues that ‘Acculturation’ is a more self-conscious process of replacement, while ‘Inculturation’ is a more organic, bottom up (rather than top down) process. The distinction, which Chupungco identifies is an important one, however the choice of terminology remains opaque and arbitrary at a grass roots level. He also identifies three methods of adaptation, viz.: Dynamic Equivalence, Creative Assimilation and Organic Progression.53 Dynamic Equivalence concerns the possibility of the direct replacement of a ‘Western’ worship component with a local one. Creative Assimilation concerns the ongoing process whereby contemporary forms of verbal and symbolic expression come to be used liturgically, this may occur to a greater or lesser extent as a self-conscious process by liturgical practitioners. Finally Organic Progression concerns processes of deliberately supplementing liturgical provision with practices from local / indigenous culture[s]. In the Roman Catholic Church this became officially sanctioned following Vatican II. It is crucial to note Schreiter’s critique of the procedures, which Chupungco advocates. This points to Chupungco’s lack of awareness of some of the issues relating to inherent values. Chupungco does not neglect to describe the principles, which need to be involved in relation to such methods and processes. He does this in particular in 47 E.g. Michael Amaladoss, Becoming Indian: The Process of Inculturation, (Rome and Bangalore, 1992); and Beyond Inculturation: can the Many be One? (Delhi, 1998). 48 Sigurd Bergmann, God in Context: A Survey of Contextual Theology, (Aldershot, 2003), pp. 95-106. 49 Bergmann, pp. 106-7. 50 Anscar Chupungco, Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis, (Collegeville, 1992). 51 Chupungco, pp. 14–28. The seven possible terms are: Indigenization, Incarnation, Contextualization, Revision, Adaptation, Inculturation and Acculturation. 52 Chupungco, e.g. pp. 166–71. 53 Ibid., pp. 37-51.

72

Christian Inculturation in India

relation to the Conciliar documents of Vatican II.54 Writing specifically in relation to ‘sacramentals’,55 Chupungco identifies three sets of principles relating to inculturation: Theological, Cultural and Pastoral. In summing up the theological principles he writes, ‘Thus, not only do sacramentals sanctify almost every event in the life of the faithful, they also endow material things with divine meaning and purpose: everything can be directed toward human sanctification and the praise of God.’56 Here the factors which constitute the life of the faithful in terms of events and material things, i.e. culture, is accepted and deemed capable of ultimate spiritual value. However in his treatment of cultural principles, Chupungco is less positive, pointing to ‘undesirable cultural features’ which may be identified in various rites past and present.57 Nonetheless he is clear that in order for worshippers to be able to participate fully, present day culture needs to be attended to and appropriate adaptation made. The pastoral principles echo the concern to facilitate full participation by the faithful. However the issue of the value base underlying decisions to make changes still remains to be addressed. Culture is treated as a neutral commodity to be used as those with the authority to make change see fit, albeit in relation to the principles which he identifies. One explicit value in these principles is the encouragement of full participation by the laos, the faithful. The implications of this are addressed in terms of the Canon Law, but implications in terms of social and political power structures, which a culture embodies, are not envisaged. However if the criterion of full participation were to be invoked consistently, then concerns regarding power, oppression and justice would undoubtedly need to be faced and adaptation pursued accordingly. Adaptation becomes problematic where the criterion of full participation is understood not from the perspective of the participants, but from that of a (clerical) elite. The need to involve the worshipping community, or at least their representatives in decision making becomes paramount. Pre-1963: Values and Methods In seeking to identify and analyse the values and methods inherent in the processes of inculturation in South India in the second half of the twentieth century, it will be useful background to discuss the values and methods which were used by those engaged in such processes in the first half of the century. One way in which to set this discussion in context is to examine some of the preconceptions, which were evident in the international councils and conferences discussed in Chapter 2. The World Parliament of Religions in 1893, the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 and the Faith and Order conferences of 1927 and 1937, and Missionary conferences of 1928 and 1938 each contribute to a wide variety of preconceptions, which influence theological attitudes towards Christian understandings of other religions, the conceptualities of 54 Ibid., pp. 58-71. 55 I.e. Rituals and / or symbols which supplement the seven sacraments understood by the Roman Catholic Church. 56 Chupungco, p. 64. 57 Chupungco, p. 64.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

73

‘mission’ and culture, worries concerning syncretism, and the growing perception of the need for ‘missionary churches’ to become ‘indigenous churches’. All of these themes in international Christian discourse inform and form attitudes and theological understandings in relation to the task and processes of what would come to be known as ‘inculturation’. The contribution of five participants in these events is particularly of note, and symbolizes two way communication and influence between the international councils and conferences and the context of India; and they are Vivekananda in relation to the Ramakrishna Mission, Mozoomdar in relation to the Brahmo Samaj, V.S Azariah, Bishop of Dornakal, John Mott, Chair of the International Missionary Council and Hendrik Kraemer. Of these five only Bishop Azariah was personally involved in and responsible for the processes of inculturation in India. However each of these five in a variety of different ways shape preconceptions and attitudes, which become manifest in the explicit and implicit values and methods of inculturation in India prior to the Second World War. Vivekananda and Mozoomdar mark the beginning of a process of re-understanding among a section of Western commentators, educators and theologians, which by the end of the twentieth century had formed a broad consensus of theological opinion, and led to a re-evaluation of the great world religions. Thus the value base upon which churches and missionaries approach people of other communities has to a large extent been changed. Not simply a matter of political correctness, it is no longer acceptable to perceive those of other faiths as heathen idolaters. However the basis for such change still has at least two conflicting value bases. Those who are influenced by the line of thought to be seen in Farquhar and expounded especially by Kraemer, such as Charles Kraft, work with the preconception that the Christian faith bears witness to the definitive revelation of God, so that others faiths are fulfilled by Christianity. While those influenced by the line of thought propounded by Mozoomdar, work on the preconception that all the major world faiths are of equal value, and equally bear witness to what is ultimate. The work of John Mott and V.S. Azariah in India is set in the context of this divergence of understanding. The theological sympathies of both are evidently closer to Kraemer’s understanding than that of those who espouse the equality of all faiths.58 However it is against the background of a Hindu revival as well as of Indian nationalism that Mott and Azariah seek to express and put into action their theological preconceptions and values. The perception that Azaraiah was simply following the agenda of western missionaries has already been explored. His espousal of the cause of Indian nationalism and the effect that this had on his pastoral and missionary work as well as his work for indigenization is testimony that his values were not simply formed by his contact with western missionaries and the British hierarchy of the Anglican Church in India. As well as discussing the influence of those who facilitated a two way process of inter-action between the Indian and the international contexts, it is also crucial to examine the thinking and practice of those Indian and European Christians who sought to pursue the task of inculturation in the earlier part of the twentieth century. 58 See Susan Billington Harper, In the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V.S. Azraiah and the Travails of Christianity in British India, (Grand Rapids and Cambridge, 2000), pp. 246-7.

74

Christian Inculturation in India

There are a number of figures to mention. They are a symbolic selection from those who sought to pursue indigenous church life and expression. Brahmabandhab Upadhyay and Sadhu Sundar Singh, who in different ways expressed a faith in Christ as sannyasi, each sought to embody a vision of an indigenous church in India, using the potent symbol of themselves embracing a fundamental expression of Indian living. The method each uses is a direct correlation in personal, existential terms of Indian life-style and Christian faith. The value base is less clear. While living as a sannyasi may be interpreted in terms of the explicit and implicit acceptance of the asrama as understood in Brahminical Hinduism, this is not necessarily the only interpretation. Others, from within the Hindu faith, have lived as sannyasi, and have been critics of Brahminical Hinduism.59 However neither Brahmabandhab Upadhyay nor Sadhu Sundar Singh employed the methods of Roberto de Nobili, in that he as a sannyasi dealt only with certain castes, using other missionaries to deal with the lower castes and outcastes.60 Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, through his connections with the Brahmo Samaj was more likely to sympathize with a philosophical approach to Hinduism. On the other hand Sadhu Sundar Singh may be said to be less influenced by such concerns, and was openly critical of elements in Brahaminical Hindusim. K.T. Paul is another Indian Christian who sought an indigenous church life, whose formation was very different. He sought to find such church life through seeking church unity and through the establishment of indigenous leadership and self-determination. The Indian nationalist movement played a considerable role in his theological reflection, through which he developed an understanding of the interplay between divine providence and human society. In his view ‘mission’ could be understood in terms of the church assisting in the process of creating a just social order for all.61 Thus society and justice are valued in terms of God’s purposes, while Christian distinctiveness is upheld. Alfred Coore, Jack Winslow and Ernest ForresterPaton (and his Indian colleague Savarirayan Jesudasan) represent a desire on the part of some Europeans to mitigate the effects of western missionary activity. Among them, they sought to embody their concerns in architectural forms, worship and ritual as well as through life-style. Coore wrote of realizing ‘Christianity in Indian dress’.62 Winslow and Forrester-Paton sought to give expression to their desire for an indigenous church through the founding of Christian ashrams. An interpretation of what is at stake here, may be said to be a mixture of European guilt and the desire to overcome that guilt by making efforts to compensate for past ‘mistakes’. Winslow 59 E.g. Sri Narayana Guru (1855-1928), who preached the doctrine, ‘one caste, one religion, one god for humanity’ and attracted a large following among the lower castes. His followers’ headquarters are the Sivagiri ashram in Varkala, Kerala. 60 There were two missions in Madurai: one established prior to de Nobili’s mission and de Nobili’s own. Later de Nobili specifically trained and commissioned others to work with lower catses / outcastes. See Vincent Cronin, A Pearl to India: The Life of Roberto de Nobili, (New York, 1959), pp. 251-2. 61 See John C. England et al (eds), Asian Christian Theologies: A Research Guide to Authors, Movements, Sources, vol. 1. Asia Region, South Asia, Austral Asia, (Maryknoll, 2002), pp. 223-4. 62 Alfred Coore, ‘Indian Church Building’, Cambridge Mission to Delhi, 12, (Oct 1927).

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

75

in his essay commending the Bombay Liturgy and explaining the foundation of the Christa Seva Sangha suggests that his motivation is one of enabling the church(es) to become indigenous in India.63 The vision of the work at Christukula was grounded in the principle that Christianity in India should be expressed in an Indian way. It is significant that Gandhi himself visited Jesudasan there, which is a remarkable endorsement of the life style and ethos of that ashram. Jesudasan offers insight into the theological underpinning to this praxis: If St John had been writing his Gospel in India I imagine he would have used the term ‘Om’ in place of Logos and it would have very well fitted into his meaning of the Incarnate Word. In our Ashram every morning we reverently say together ‘Om! Shanty! Shanty! Shanty!’ We lose something very precious in our spiritual Indian heritage by a needless and foolish fear of syncretism. Our Faith is not founded upon an abstract philosophy nor even on theological formulas but on a person – the Lord Jesus Christ. So long as He is the Centre of our devotion there is absolutely no fear of our compromising Him with anything else …. He has been also the True Light that has been enlightening every man that has come into the world outside the visible Christian organisation.64

Here is to be discerned the theological reflection which guided and sustained Jesudasan. There are strong parallels with de Nobili’s theological justification for adaptation, in particular the conceptuality that Indian Philosophy and religious traditions might be seen as the equivalent in India of the contribution of Greek Philosophy and Pagan religious customs to the structuring of Christian thought in Europe.65 In the Roman Catholic Church in India the formation of means of discussion and decision making had been in preparation as early as 1937,66 but just as World War II delayed the formation of the CSI it also held back these moves. Following the formation of the CBCI in 1944, the first Plenary Council of India met in 1950. The Council sought to promote the task of inculturation and in 1953 the CBCI established a commission on Indian Christian Art. These endeavours were given further expression in the All India Study Week in 1956 on Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ. Much of the impetus towards inculturation stemmed from the Catholic Bishops’ concern to respond to aggressive nationalist and Hindu ‘extremist’ pressures. However the values and methods espoused by the Catholic Church did not meet like with like. The pressures did not produce a narrow exclusivist reaction. Rather the responses to this indicate an openness to the faith traditions of India and a concern to value them. At the 1956 study week, I.E. Extross SJ exhorted engagement in the study of Indian (Hindu) philosophy and theology, and made mention in particular of Shankara and Ramanuja,67 as a mean of facilitating the task

63 Jack Winslow in The Eucharist in India: A Plea for a Distinctive Liturgy for the Indian Church, (London, 1920). 64 S. Jesuadasan, ‘Ashram Movement and Indigenisation of Worship’, in L.C. Richard (ed.), The theology of Dr. Savarirayan Jesudason, (Madras, 1989), p. 20f. 65 de Nobili, Tusana Tikkaram [The Refutation of Calumnies] 1641. 66 Paul Pulikkan, Indian Church at Vatican II, (Trichur, 2001), p. 15. 67 Pulikkan, p. 32.

76

Christian Inculturation in India

of inculturation. Thus the post War period sees the beginnings of officially endorsed encouragement towards the task and processes of inculturation, which emerged from hostility to Christianity in India. Nonetheless the response to this is made in openness and with an acceptance that there is goodness and truth in other faiths. The values and methods however are still firmly rooted in the conceptualities of ‘western’ style missionary activity and conversion, rather than being complemented by conceptualities of dialogue and mutuality, which emerge following Vatican II. Post 1963: Values and Methods Following the statements of the Second Vatican Council and the Faith and Order Commission a number of initiatives emerge in the Asian context in general and in India in particular. The values and methods inherent in these initiatives and statements are important contributions to the emerging picture. In 1957 at a meeting in Prapat in Indonesia preparations were made for the establishment of a regional fellowship of churches, the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC), which held its inaugural assembly in Kuala Lumpur in 1959.68 In 1966 the EACC meet in Hong Kong and produced its statement Confessing the Faith in Asia Today. This included five responsibilities, which the churches were to have in relation to culture: i) the responsibility to learn ii) the responsibility to interpret iii) the responsibility to belong iv) the responsibility to mediate v) the responsibility to be creative.69 While this statement is essentially methodological in ethos, nonetheless its implicit values relate to a positive assessment of and engagement with local culture(s). A similar ethos is to be perceived in the Roman Catholic All India meetings, which occur from the 1960s, beginning with the Eucharistic Congress in Bombay in 1964. This Congress marks a moment in the processes of Vatican II, which issues forth in the final set of documents, which reinforce and herald a strong commitment to inter-religious relations and dialogue. The All India meetings, which were sponsored by the National Biblical Catechetical and Liturgical Centre [NBCLC], on Worship, Culture and Non-Christian Scriptures70 demonstrate an ethos of openness and espousal of dialogue. The methods and values embraced in these meetings are rooted in the documents of Vatican II and explicitly value other religious traditions in a positive light, generally perceiving those traditions as equal partners in dialogue. On the whole these traditions are seen as a ‘preparation for the Gospel’, which fulfils and purifies them. 68 Masao Takenaka, The Place Where God Dwells: An Introduction to Church Architecture in Asia, (Hong Kong & Auckland, 1995), p. 12. 69 Takenaka, p. 13. 70 Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris, Paul Puthanangady (ed.), Bangalore, 1988.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

77

The Ashram Movement A significant factor in the emergence of an awareness of the issues involved in interaction of the Christian Tradition with local cultures in the context of India, as well as the living out of the task and processes of inculturation, is the Christian Ashram Movement.71 While the origins of the ashram movement in the twentieth century among the churches are clearly discernible in relation to the Hindu Renaissance, ‘the Ashram’ is often claimed to be as old as ‘Hinduism’ itself. The ashram is a place of retreat or ‘hermitage’,72 often associated with the forest, where a ‘guru’ and his disciples live together to pursue their common spiritual quest, seeking to achieve moskha (liberation). Ashram is from the Sanskrit asrama,73 a word which also refers to the concept and practice of the four stages of life: viz., Brahmacharya: the period of studentship, Grihastha: the stage of the householder, Vanaprastha: the stage of the forest-dweller or hermit, and Sannyasa: the life of renunciation or asceticism. The classic statement of these stages is found in the laws of Manu or the Manusmriti.74 Patrick Olivelle argues that the current conceptuality of asrama as four stages of life is the product of what he calls ‘Brahminical hermeneutics’, thus lending credence to the argument that adopting the life of a sannyasi is to endorse the values of Brahminical Hinduism and the caste system. The modern Ashram Movement, which is associated with Gandhi as well as the Brahmo Samaj, draws inspiration from the long history of the ‘forest hermitage’ in India. The revival of ‘the modern ashram movement was seen as a venture to recover this unique and creative and enlivening social, educational and religious institution.’75 The inspiration of the early Christian Ashram movement may be traced to the Brahmo Samaj as well as to the Gandhian ashram movement, and it became a crucial means of encounter between the Christian and Hindu traditions. The leadership of the Brahmo Samaj (founded 1828) passed from Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) to Devendranath Tagore (1817-1905)[father of the poet Rabindranath Tagore (18611941)], who was instrumental in the founding of the Santiniketan Ashram, some

71 See Helen Ralston, Christian Ashrams: A New Religious Movement in Contemporary India, (Lewiston / Queenstown, 1988). 72 The model of the forest hermitage is to be found in the Indian Epics, especially in the Ramayana. 73 Patrick Olivelle, The Asrama System: The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution, (New York and Oxford, 1993), p. 8 argues that asrama is a neologism not known in the vedic Samhitas and Brahmanas nor in the early Upanishads. He concludes that asrama understood as four stages of life, rather than as four separate permanent vocations is an attempt to resolve conflicts, which arise from contradictions in the vedic literature; thus it is a classic example of Brahminical hermeneutics. p. 34. 74 Manusmriti, ET The Laws of Manu, (G. Buhler), (New Delhi, 2004) e.g. chapter 6. 75 Richard W. Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, International Review of Mission, (July 1974): 282f. Taylor points to Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘The Religion of the Forest’ in Creative Unity, (London, 1922), and also ‘The Message of the Forest’.

78

Christian Inculturation in India

100 miles north of Calcutta.76 This ashram became a centre for education and for the renewal of art in India, and is a common origin and factor in the parallel phenomena of the emergence of ashrams in Hinduism and Christianity in the twentieth century, as loci for spiritual exploration and renewal. However in terms of the Christian tradition it should not be forgotten that the ashram movement also has its roots in the practice of Roberto de Nobili, and those who came after him, who lived as monks, sannyasi. While the ongoing tradition of de Nobili was broken in the eighteenth century when the Vatican withdrew its support from the experiment and indeed forbad it to continue. Nonetheless those Christians who shared in the revival of the ashram ideal, with its origins in the Hindu Renaissance, may also be said to be the inheritors of de Nobili, most of whom consciously appealed to his example.77 While it is usual to identify Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (1861-1907) as the first modern example of a Christian seeking to live out the sannyasi ideals, three priests: Thomas Palackal, Thomas Porukara and Kuriakos Elias, of the Syro-Malabar Rite began living as sannyasi under the Carmelite rule in 1831.78 The order, which evolved from the initial experiment into the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) followed a practice of being more accessible to outsiders for spiritual guidance than Carmelites would usually allow. The order continues to live a communal life, which combines contemplation and active service, and retains some elements of sannyasi living.79 Upadhyay was a convert from Hinduism, becoming a Roman Catholic in 1891, taking up the vocation of a sannyasi in 1894, and from that time was a convinced advocate and practitioner of adaptation. Prior to his conversion to Catholicism, Upadhyay had learnt from Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1824-83), who had also taught Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) and who went on to found the Ramakrishna Mission, a later expression of the Hindu Renaissance. Upadhyay and Vivekananda knew one another well, and Upadhyay was also close to the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Thus it is evident that there was a network of friendships, which crossed the boundaries of religious tradition and informed the initial ashram movement within Christianity in India. It is important to recognize this, for while it is true that declarations of the Faith and Order Commission and Vatican II gave authorization and further impetus to the task of inculturation in India, factors which undoubtedly influenced the practice of Christian ashrams, nonetheless the origins of and inspiration for the ashrams themselves are cross-cultural and pluriform and pre-date the initiatives of the 1960s. Upadhyay together with Brahmachari Rewachand [Animananda] attempted to found a Hindu-Catholic monastery near Jabalpur in 1899.80 Following this attempt 76 Santiniketan was founded by Devendranath Tagore in 1888, but did not have a community resident there until 1901 when Ravindranath Tagore founded an ashram school. The first ashram of modern times was probably Bharat Ashram founded in 1872 at Belgharia near Calcutta by Keshub Chunder Sen. (See Richard W. Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, pp. 281-92; pp. 281f.) 77 See: Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, ‘Conversion of India – an appeal’, Sophia, (October 1894); Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) Swami Parama Arubi Aanandam (Father J. Monchanin) 1895-1957: A Memorial, (Tiruchirapalli, 1959), p. 78. 78 Kuriakos Elias, Chavara, 4 volumes, (Mannanam, 1981-82). Volume 1, The Chronicles, pp. 1-121 deals with the history of the community. 79 Wayne Teasdale, Toward a Christian Vedanta, (Bangalore, 1980), p. 24. 80 Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, p. 285.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

79

they founded a boys school in Calcutta, which was then relocated to Santiniketan, to support the work of Rabindranath Tagore. However Upadhyay and Animananda did not remain at Santiniketan. It was not until 1940 that Animananda made another attempt to form an ashram in Ranchi (Bengal), Taylor argues that this was the first real attempt to found a Catholic ashram in the sannyasa tradition in modern times.81 The ashram movement among Catholics was inspired by the example of Roberto de Nobili as well as the Hindu Renaissance movement, and the Gandhian movement. Protestant Christians also began to develop an interest in the potential of the ashram, especially in relation to the notion of being a ‘mission without missions’. The idea is given its first articulation among Protestants by S.K. Rudra in 191082 and again by K.T. Paul at the meeting of the National Missionary Society in 1912.83 As general secretary of the Society, K.T. Paul,84 advocated the use of the ashram in relation to its indigenous ethos, which he saw particularly relating to younger people. The ashram, he suggested, could assist in the training of young Christians in relation to three distinct areas: affording [a] an evangelistic opportunity in an indigenous context; [b] knowledge of medicine for the treatment of common diseases; [c] training in artisan occupations.85 Other advocates of the ashram ideal among Indian Christians of Protestant tradition were often criticized by the Western missionaries.86 The renowned Christian poet N.V. Tilak founded what may be said to the first Protestant Ashram in Satara in 1917.87 This was open both to the baptised and non-baptised, but due to Tilak’s death in 1919 the ashram did not survive long. A more enduring experiment was begun in 1921 at Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu by Dr S. Jesudason (1882-1969) and Dr E. Forrester-Paton (1891-1970). This Christukula [Family of Christ] ashram adopted a Gandhian style, which was simple, monastic in ethos and clearly identified with nationalist political ideals (Figure 3.1).88 Jesudason, whose family had been converted to Christianity in 1690 by the Jesuit mission in present day Tamil Nadu, draws explicitly on the example of the life-style of those Jesuits as sannyasins, for the life style that he and Forrester-Paton pursued. He also drew inspiration from the model ashrams of Shantiniketan and Satyagarha.89 The ashram had an effective ministry under its founders, in terms of teaching and healing, was at the forefront in the field of architectural expression, and the writing of Tamil lyrics. 81 Ibid., p. 286; Taylor also argues that by 1977 there was no memory of Animananda ever having been in Ranchi. 82 S.K. Rudra, ‘Young men of India’, National Missionary Work, 21, (December 1910). 83 See P.O. Philip, ‘The Place of Ashrams in the Life of the Church in India’, The International Review of Mission, 35, (1946). 84 Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, p. 283. 85 Ibid., p. 283. 86 Ibid., p. 284; he refers to criticism made by Jack Winslow, in Narayan Vaman Tilak – The Christian Poet of Marashtra, (Calcutta1923), p. 124ff; and to The Harvest Field, (January 1921), p. 3f. and (February 1921), p. 76. 87 Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, p. 284. 88 Ibid., p. 284. 89 Shantiniketan was the ashram founded by the Tagore family and Satygarha was founded by Gandhi. See S. Jesudason, Ashrams, Ancient and Modern: Their aims and ideals, (Vellore, 1937), pp. 20-35.

80

Figure 3.1

Christian Inculturation in India

Christukula Ashram, Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

81

Another Protestant experiment was the Christa Seva Sangha [Christ – Service – Society].90 Founded in 1922 near Pune by Jack C. Winslow, this ashram had two clear objectives: ‘(1) A life of common service and equal fellowship for Indians and Europeans. (2) The Indian Presentation of Christian Life and worship.’91 The experiment evolved after Winslow had left in 1934, becoming known as the Christa Prema Seva Sangha. This continued until 1961. Later an ecumenical ashram founded by Anglican and Roman Catholic sisters was revived on the same site in 1972 and is ongoing. Winslow’s experiment may be seen alongside his advocacy of the Bombay liturgy as an attempt to redress the ‘damage’ done to Christianity in India through the Western missionaries’ lack of understanding of India’s social, cultural and religious heritage. The values and methods employed during the experiment are clearly set out by Winslow, and the rule of the community became the basis for the rule of the Anglican Society of St Francis. Winslow was explicit in his appeal to the sannyasa ideal of Hinduism, though he makes no explicit appeal to de Nobili’s praxis. The main value base of these experiments is the propagation of the Christian Gospel on the basis of respecting and using elements of Indian / Hindu theology, ritual and customs and respect for a common human dignity.92 There are a number of other Christian ashrams in South India, such as the Christavashram, Manganam, near Kottayam in Kerala, as well as more generally throughout India. The work of these ashrams is the subject of Helen Ralston’s volume, Christian Ashrams: A New Religious Movement in Contemporary India. The calling of four European men in the 1950s is also highly significant for the development of Christian ashrams in South India. Jules Monchanin (1895-1957) a Frenchman, came to India in 1939. Monchanin embraced the sannyasi ideal and in 1950 together with another Frenchman, Henri Le Saux founded the Saccidananda Ashram at Shantivanam [Forest of Peace] near Kulittalai on the banks of the Kaveri river in Tamil Nadu. The second figure Henri Le Saux (1910-1973) is also known as Abhishiktananda. The third is Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) who developed the work of Shantivanam taking on the role of guru there in 1968. The fourth is Francis Mahieu (1912-2002) a Belgian priest and monk who with Bede Griffiths founded an Ashram in Kerala, Kurisumala [Hill of the Cross] in 1958. While there are Indian Christian figures in this movement the main figures were Europeans. This is a factor, which it is difficult to interpret with any certainty. One view might be to argue that this represents foreign interference, a hang over from colonialism, albeit in the post-colonial period. Other views approach this phenomenon from a different perspective. However in terms of the discussion of the values underlying inculturation, this feature of mid-twentieth century practice cannot simply be set aside. So I will return to discuss the contribution, which Europeans have made to the processes of inculturation in India. 90 Jack C. Winslow, Christa Seva Sangha, (Westminster, 1930). 91 Winslow, Christa Seva Sangha, pp. 10-17. 92 Taylor, ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, pp. 287-92, also refers to three ‘ordinary’ ashrams in Madhya Pradesh, which are mainly peopled by Christians from Kerala. I have chosen not to make reference to these as they fall outside the scope of this study.

82

Christian Inculturation in India

The ethos of Shantivanam and Kurisumala is rooted in a sannysasa style of monasticism, which may be interpreted as an expression of Brahminical Hinduism, although this is not the only interpretation (Figure 3.2). Some argue that this form of inculturation often employs high caste forms of religious expression. However the value base of this movement does not inevitably endorse or perpetuate the values of

Figure 3.2

Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, Kulittalai, Tamil Nadu

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

83

the caste system. In such matters as the form and practice of liturgical expression the later ashram movement has been open to critique from Dalit Liberation theology. The founding of the Saccidananda Ashram at Kulittalai on the bank of the Cavery river in Tamil Nadu by Monchanin and Le Saux in 195093 raises intriguing questions concerning the motivation of these Europeans in their desire to found a community in India and to do so according to the customs and ideals of sannaysa. Monchanin, who took the name Swami Parama Arupi Anananda [a man of the supreme joy of the Spirit – the Formless One] was influenced by Henri de Lubac,94 who encouraged him to approach theology through mysticism, and mystical experience. Monchanin wrote that the outcome of his encounter with de Lubac meant that he needed ‘to rethink everything in the light of theology and to rethink theology through mysticism, freeing it from everything incidental and regaining, through spirituality alone, everything essential. … He believes that it is in coming into contact with India that I will be able to rework theology…’.95 The choice of a name for the Ashram is indicative of this desire to ‘rethink everything’. Saccidananda [Sat – Cit – Anananda] [Being – Consciousness / Knowledge – Bliss] was first used by Keshub Chandra Sen in 188296 as a designation of the Christian Trinitarian understanding of God from a Hindu point of view. Upadhyay also used the designation in a well known hymn or poem.97 Sat – Cid – Ananda I worship [the One who is] Being, Knowledge, Bliss, The Highest Goal, whom ascetics yearn for but the worldly dismiss. [Refrain] The Supreme, Ancient, Higher than the high, [Who is] Fullness, Wholeness, Beyond yet nigh. The Pure Threesome, unrelated Wisdom, Hard to comprehend. [1] The Father, Impeller, Highest Lord, Unborn, The Seedless Seed of the tree of being, The universal Cause, who a watched-over creation doth tend. [2] The Word unsounded. Infinite, The Person begotten, supremely Great, The Substance of the Father, Form of knowledge, our saving Friend. [3] The One who from the union of Being and Knowledge doth flow, The Sacred Breath and Cloud of Joy, Who Cleanses, Moves swiftly. Speaks the Message and life intends. [4] Brahmabandhab Upadhyay / Julius Lipner98

93 Abbé Jules Monchanin and Dom Henri Le Saux, A Benedictine Ashram, (revised ed.) (Douglas, 1964); and Ermites du Saccidananda, (2nd edn.), (Tournai, 1957). 94 Teasdale, p. 29; see also Henri de Lubac, Images de l’abbé Monchanin, (Paris, 1967). 95 Jules Monchanin, ‘In Quest of the Absolute’, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras, 1957), p. 25. 96 Used by K.C. Sen in a lecture on the Holy Trinity in January 1882. 97 Upadhyay published the hymn / poem in Sophia in October 1898. 98 Translation of Upadhyay’s hymn Sat-Cid-Ananda, by Julius J. Lipner, in Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, (New Delhi, 1999), p. 201. Reproduced with the permission of

84

Christian Inculturation in India

Thus even in the name Saccidananda, the ethos and values of the ashram are already encapsulated. The spiritual, theological and cultural forms of India and of western Christian tradition and Benedictine monasticism are to be brought together in ways that each illuminates the others. Henri Le Saux, whose spiritual journey and thought will be examined in detail below (see pp. 86-9), took the name Abhishiktananda (which means bliss or joy of Christ). While living as a professed Benedictine in France, he was able to study and became drawn to the apophatic traditions of Christianity and Indian religions. He was particularly drawn to the thought of ‘God beyond all names’ enunciated in the hymn by Gregory Nazianzen;99 and in his early work Love and Wisdom (1942) on the Trinity100 he quotes from Tagore’s poem Gitanjali.101 In 1947 he began a correspondence with Monchanin and arrived in India in 1948. About eighteen months later they founded the ashram at Kulittalai. The main motives of these two men were essentially personal, a personal spiritual quest, which they like others before and since felt could best be, or only be made in India. The consequences, which emerge for inculturation and inter-religious dialogue are therefore dependent upon the primary motivation of these men which was a personal sense of calling. It is important to be clear about this in seeking to evaluate their contribution to inculturation and dialogue. Thus while it is clear that Jack Winslow for example was rooted in a missionary background and saw the Bombay Liturgy and the Christa Seva Sangha as means of ‘helping’ Indian Christians to achieve an indigenous church. Such motivation is not to be attributed to Monchanin, Le Saux, Bede Griffiths or Francis Mahieu. For the story of the latter two, who together founded the Kurisumala Ashram in 1958, is also one of personal quest. Bede Griffiths lived as a professed Benedictine monk for twenty-two years in England and Scotland before journeying to India in 1955. He had begun considering the potential inter-relation between Christianity and eastern religions during his time at Oxford. The opportunity of his journeying to India came about through an Indian Benedictine, Father Benedict Alapatt. He had been living in Europe and early in the 1950s made it known that he intended to found a monastic community in India. Bede was given permission to join this endeavour, and the two men were able to begin a small community in the village of Kengeri near Banaglore.102 It was here that Bede’s life-long commitment to dialogue began. From these contacts he learnt of the community at Shantivanam, and visited there in 1956 and 1957. Oxford University Press India, New Delhi. 99 Gregory Nazianzen, You who are beyond all, what other name befits you? No words suffice to hymn you. Alone you are ineffable. Of all beings you are the End, you are One, you are all, you are none. Yet not one thing, nor all things. . . . You alone are the Unnameable. MPG 37.507-508 Translation cited in Pascaline Coff, ‘Abhishiktananda: An Interview with Odette BaumerDespeigne’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 51 (1994). 100 Henri Le Saux, Love and Wisdom, 1942. 101 Coff, ‘Abhishiktananda: An Interview with Odette Baumer-Despeigne. 102 Judson B. Trapnell, Bede Griffiths: A Life in Dialogue, (Albany, 2001), pp. 49f.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

85

The experiment at Kengeri did not flourish, and Bede became aware of the need to incarnate monasticism more thoroughly in Indian customs and in particular in the sannyasa tradition.103 Francis Mahieu had also arrived in India in 1955 and spent a year at Shantivanam. Both he and Bede felt called to found a new community and in 1958, they were able to obtain land in Kerala to do so. Fr Francis had been professed as a Cistercian in Belgium, and became convinced that he was called to make such a foundation in India, and in doing so to facilitate encounter between Christians and Hindus.104 Abhishiktananda was concerned that Fr Francis would be more concerned with the Cistercian element of his vocation than with the inter-religious element.105 However Fr Francis thoroughly embraced the life of a sannyasi and fostered innovative developments in liturgical inculturation as well as understanding the ashram as a context for encounter and dialogue. These examples of monastic living and the processes of inculturation and interreligious dialogue were not only conducted at a rational analytical level, they were rooted in the practices of meditation and contemplation in the Hindu and Christian traditions, and thus in relation to mystical theology. It is noteworthy that Michel Foucault understood such ‘mysticism’ as a primary challenge to the status quo.106 It was at this level that an inter-religious dialogue was conducted. From reflection on the practice of contemplation and inter-religious dialogue two different approaches emerged, which sought to delineate the extent of the scope of the possible outcomes of inter-religious dialogue between Hindu and other Indian traditions and Christian tradition. It is in the context of this mystical exploration that the connection between the task of inculturation and inter-religious relationships is explicitly acknowledged for the first time. Although to be fair the possibility and practice of inter-religious relations must be said to underlie what de Nobili in the seventeenth century and those in the later nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries were doing as sannyasins. Indeed the hostility to de Nobili’s endeavour may be seen to be rooted in the alternative view of inter-religious relations; i.e. that Christianity should in no way be seen to compromise its truth claims. The vocations of two Europeans, Henri Le Saux, Abhishiktananda, and Dom Bede Griffiths, provide the narrative background to the emergence of two closely related yet different approaches to and outcomes from inter-religious relations and dialogue. Both men were professed Benedictine Monks of the Roman Catholic Church, and both were associated with Shantivanam, the ashram in Tamil Nadu. The enduring contribution of these two extraordinary individuals to the understanding of the task of inculturation, relates to their spiritual lives and practices and their reflections on these, which were rooted in inter-religious dialogue and relationships. The insights

103 Bede Griffiths, Marriage of East and West, (London, 1983), p. 18. 104 Fr Sylvester, ‘The Life and Ideals of Father Francis Acharya’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue 73, (2004). 105 Abhishiktananda, quoted in Fr Sylvester, ‘The Life and Ideals of Father Francis Acharya’. 106 See Michel Foucault, Les mots et les choses, (Paris, 1966); English: The Order of Things, (London, 1970); see also J. Bernauer and J. Carrette (eds), Michel Foucault and Theology, (Aldershot, 2004).

86

Christian Inculturation in India

that each continue to offer to the world relate to, ‘the experience and interpretation of advaita (non-duality) – a level of spiritual realization and a philosophy that each sought to reconcile with the Christian revelation.’ 107 The appeal to advaita and the inevitable hostility such an appeal would elicit among many Christians is to say the least intriguing. Advaita is not uncontested among Hindus, or among the scholars and philosophers of the six Vedic Schools of Thought. Among Indian Christians there was no consensus upon which to draw; for example while Brahmabandhab Upadhyay happily embraced the philosophy of advaita, Sadhu Sundar Singh did not.108 However at the All India Study Week in 1956, I.E. Extross SJ made direct appeal to Sankara and Ramanuja.109 In doing so he points to the possibility of appealing to the two different schools of advaita and qualified advaita. However those in the ashram movement such as Abhishiktananda and more recently Sara Grant have focused solely on Sankara’s understanding of unqualified advaita. Sara Grant in Towards an Alternative Theology110 writes of three main challenges which the thought of Sankara poses to Christians: (1) that doing theology is not like doing mathematics, but is an existential endeavour in relation to truth and life; (2) the apophatic character of the Upanishads and advaitic experience shatters the comfortable self-assurance often exhibited in Christianity; (3) that God is not ‘up there’ and this requires the re-birth of Christian theology. Thus Sara Grant argues strongly that the caricature of advaita theology needs to be overcome in order to allow a nuanced understanding of the vision of Sankara to assist Christians in seeking the truth, both in India and beyond. There are also considerable parallels to be drawn between an understanding of advaita and the Christian doctrines of perichoresis (indwelling) and theosis (deification),111 which may also explain and justify an appeal to advaita. Judson B. Trapnell, writing in 1996 explored the reflections of Abhishiktananda and Bede Griffiths on advaita, in three successive articles published in the Journal of Theological Reflection, Vidyajyoti. Trapnell argues that while Abhishiktananda and Bede Griffiths share much experience in common, ultimately they arrive at fundamentally different conclusions about advaita in relation to the Christian tradition, which leads to different conceptualities of the possible relationship between the Christian and Hindu traditions. The difference of approach and understanding between the two men may in part be explained by the different ways in which 107 Judson B. Trapnell, ‘Two Models of Christian Dialogue with Hinduism’ (I), Journal of Theological Reflection, (Vidyajyoti), 1996: 101; see also, Teasdale, pp. 123-28. 108 Lipner, pp. 131-6. 109 I.E. Extross, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras, 1957) pp. 24-5. 110 Sara Grant, Towards an Alternative Theology: Confessions of a Non-Dualist Christian, (Bangalore, 1991). 111 The doctrines of perichoresis and theosis are generally associated with the Orthodox Traditions. However the understanding that the Persons of the Holy Trinity mutually indwell and inter-penetrate each other is also accepted by theologians in the West Tradition, and became widely expounded in the twentieth century by theologians such as Leonardo Boff (Trinity and Society) and Catherine Mowry LaCugna (God for Us). The doctrine of Theosis rooted in the passage from 2 Peter 1.4, also has exponents in the West including Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

87

each fulfilled and lived out their vocation as monks or sannyasins. While Bede Griffiths explored the connections between Hinduism and Christianity from the Christian context of the ashram Shantivanam, Abhishiktananda often pursued these connections in Hindu contexts. For instance he spent time at Tiruvannamalai (also in Tamil Nadu) a famous temple city, at the foot of the sacred mountain, Arunachala, associated with the god Shiva, and celebration of the gift of fire (Figure 3.3). Here where the Hindu Guru Sri Ramana Maharshi had lived an ashram was founded, and Abhishiktananda made several retreats there, living as a hermit in a cave on the sacred mountain.112 It was at this time he embraced the notion of advaita, and sought to experience the ‘undifferentiated abyss’ of which Hindu advaitins speak. However his disciple Marc Chaduc writes that Swamiji never ceased to contemplate the Mystery which has a Face even as the Gospel presents it in the person of Jesus, and at the same time the Mystery that has no face as it was revealed in the hearts of India’s Rishis, the sages of yore [an experience which] requires nothing less than the total surrender of the little self-ego to the inner Mystery.113

Figure 3.3

Arunchaleshvara temple, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu

112 He visited first in 1949 with Jules Monchanin (see Coff, ‘Abhishiktananda’) and spent long periods in the caves at Arunachala between 1952 and 1958. However during these times he still celebrated the Eucharist and recited the Breviary. See also Abhishiktananda, The Secret of Arunachala, (Delhi, 1979). 113 Cited in Coff, ‘Abhishiktananda’.

88

Christian Inculturation in India

The difference then between these two outstanding spiritual gurus may be stated as follows, albeit that this will be a rather brief exposition and inevitably something of a caricature. Abhishiktananda was much more willing to embrace the Hindu understanding of advaita, and personally, existentially to experience non-duality or undifferentiation through meditation. Thus he advocates ‘the unity of all in the divine mystery’114 by which he points to the dissolution of all difference, all diversity in ‘the unfathomable communion of divine love’.115 Bede Griffiths’ experiences of and reflections upon advaita are rather different and that difference is focused on his explorations of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Bede Griffiths holds in tension the Hindu perception of ultimate non-duality and the Christian perception of ultimate diversity, expressed in the conceptuality of the divine as trinitarian, rather than unitarian. Both men had what they understood as experiences of the advaitic night. The advaitic night is the experience of the loss of differentiation, and the encounter with non-duality, the transcending of difference, and indeed of one’s self. This experience is also a transcending of religious signs and symbols. However for Griffiths symbols are not simply left behind, the meaning of the experience of non-duality is more qualified. For Griffiths, ‘[the] path of surrender is one that has sought step-by-step to maintain the link between the world of advaita and the “world of signs” as two different levels of experience that may and must eventually be intergrated.’116 The process of integration, or re-integration of ‘signs’ in relation to the goal of ultimate non-duality in one particular strand of Hinduism may be seen in parallel with a Christian understanding of the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. That is to say the creation is renewed and changed in the process. For Bede Griffiths both the experience of advaita and the reintegration of the world of signs into that experience relates to the doctrine of the Trinity, in which the ultimate is one, i.e. non-dual and yet also diverse, i.e. multiplicity. Through his exposition of John 17.21 ‘May they all be one: as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be in us’, Griffiths points to a Christian understanding of advaita, that is at once about both non-duality and distinctiveness.117 Here Griffiths is appealing to the classic New Testament text, the root of the doctrine of perichoresis: the mutual indwelling of the three divine hypostases, in order to expound his understanding of Christian advaita. As a further underlining of the importance of diversity, Griffiths appeals to the writings of Maximus the Confessor in defence of the enduring uniqueness of each soul in the ‘pleroma’ of non-duality.118 Thus Griffiths defends a position in which it is possible to hold a Christian understanding of advaita on the basis of a

114 Judson B. Trapnell, ‘Two Models of Christian Dialogue with Hinduism’ (III), Journal of Theological Reflection, Vidyajyoti, 60 (April, 1996): 247. 115 Trapnell, ‘Two Models of Christian Dialogue with Hinduism’ (III), p. 252. 116 Ibid., p. 254. 117 Bede Griffiths, The New Creation in Christ: Christian Meditation and Community, (London, 1992), p. 49. 118 See Trapnell, Bede Griffiths, p. 166; and Bede Griffiths, ‘A meditation on the Mystery of the Trinity’, Monastic Studies, (1986): 72.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

89

classical exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity, understood in terms of Byzantine Orthodox conceptualities, such as perichoresis and theosis. Thus in the reflections of Abhishiktananda and Bede Griffiths two different approaches to inter-religious relations may be discerned, which underlie the task of inculturation. The outcome of Abhishiktananda’s reflections leads to an understanding in which one is left with the feeling that the philosophy and theology of the Hindu mystical tradition are held as equal to, though sometimes in tension with the Christian tradition. In 1969 Abhishiktananda in Hindu Christian Meeting provides a summary of where his experience had led him, and how this might inform others. It is only in the depths of their own spiritual experience that Christians and Hindus alike are able to understand each other, and thereby outgrow the limitations inherent in every Tradition. Only those who have experienced in themselves the Mystery of Being may understand India’s spiritual quest… For them religion is no longer a conventional pattern of thought and behaviour received from a Tradition, but a living experience of God Himself … with the necessary commitments that flow from it.119

More recently Brother John Martin Sahajananda of Shantivanam continues to affirm the importance of Abhishiktananda’s ‘trans-sectarian and trans-cultural understandings of spirituality’.120 Trapnell also echoes this affirmation, arguing that such an appreciation of spiritual experience remains fundamental to Hindu-Christian encounter and dialogue at the present time.121 While in Bede Griffiths’ work one is left with the two traditions in an ongoing tension, in which the Christian conceptuality of ultimate multiplicity is retained and celebrated. These two distinctive approaches to inculturation demonstrate the richness and diversity of attempts at adaptation made to date. This diversity is also to been seen when the emphasis placed on meditation and the contemplative life in ashrams such as Shantivanam and Kurisumala is compared with the activism of other ashrams, which stand in the Gandhian tradition. New Christian Movements Expressions of indigenous Christianity in India have not only been found in the historic churches but also in churches of the so-called ‘Little Tradition’ often (though not exclusively) in Evangelical and Pentecostal congregations and missions. These independent churches seek to express and respond to the needs and aspirations of local congregations through their Christian living and worshipping. Rajendra Chandra Das (1887-1976), who worked as a missionary in Varanasi, is a spokesperson for this movement. He has been referred to as the ‘Evangelical Prophet for Contextual 119 Abhishiktananda, Hindu Christian Meeting Point: Within the cave of the heart, (Delhi, 1969), cited in Sr Paschaline Coff, ‘Abhishiktananda: An Interview with Odette Baumer-Despeigne’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 51 (October 1994). 120 Words from Brother John Martin in an email to Judson B. Trapnell, cited in, Abhishiktananda’s Contemplative Vision and Contemporary India, The College Theology Society, Annual Meeting, World religions Section, (Jamaica, New York, 2002), http://www. infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_es/s_es_trapn_vocation.htm. 121 Trapnell, Bede Griffiths, pp. 194-207.

90

Christian Inculturation in India

Christianity’.122 Interestingly he advocated that Christian ashrams would enable the churches in India to escape from Western missionary patterns of practice and ministry. There are many present day expressions of this movement but on the whole there is little written about these congregations and their life, worship and mission.123 I shall mention four examples, three of which are based in Southern India. The Ceylon Pentecostal Mission, known also as the Pentecostal Mission or Pentecostal Church originated in Kerala.124 It was founded in 1923 and became based in Sri Lanka and then spread into Kerala and Tamil Nadu and also beyond India. The life-style of the full time workers is ascetic including leading a celibate life. This is seen as an indigenous expression of spirituality, relating to Buddhist and Hindu traditions of renunciation (sannyasa). The New Life Assemblies of God in Chennai have a history going back to the early twentieth century, but have latterly become a very large community of c. 25,000 worshippers based at Saidapet in Chennai. The worshipping community embraces a modern indigenous style, as well as sponsoring medical work in the surrounding rural area. There is also ministry of a practical and spiritual nature to the slums of Chennai. The church is centred on a cell church structure with c. 2,000 care cells meeting in members’ homes.125 ‘A radical egalitarianism is experienced in the care cells and in the congregation where rich as well as poor sit together and worship side by side irrespective of caste or social background. Here university graduates serve together with slum residents, and a cobbler ministers to both.’126 The Gospel Echoing Missionary Society began as a local congregation in the Chrompet area of Chennai and has been able to bring into existence congregations in North India where previously there were none. The church sponsors social action among children and polio victims and also runs a number of schools. This ministry and mission has been founded and sustained upon the cross-cultural missionary approach and method embraced by the original congregation in Chennai.127 The Din Bandhu (Friend of the Poor) Ministries in Yavatmal, Maharashtra began in 1990, under the leadership of Sunil Sardar, who was an activist among local farmers. Initially Sunil Sardar faced fierce opposition from those Hindus who sought to prevent conversions. He was arrested and jailed. However this ‘persecution’ became a catalyst to enquiries and conversions and their ministry was extended to include local tribal Banjara peoples. Various indigenous innovations were pursued such as addressing Jesus as Baliraja ‘the King who was sacrificed for his people’; and Baptism became known as Ganga Snan ‘Holy Bath’ in order to suggest notions of repentance and cleansing.128 Sunil argues that ‘The ritual 122 Roger E. Hedlund, ‘The Witness of New Christian Movements in India’, paper for IAMS Assembly, (Malaysia, 2004), p. 4. 123 See however Michael Bergunder, Die Südindische Pfingstbewegung im 20 Jahrhundert, (Frankfurt, 1999) – as yet not translated into English. 124 Bro. Paul C. Martin, A Brief History of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission, presented at the Hyderabad Conference on Indigenous Christian Movements in India, (October 1998). 125 Hedlund, ‘The Witness of New Christian Movements in India’ p. 9. 126 Ibid., p. 10. 127 Ibid., p. 11. 128 Ibid., p. 13.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

91

dipping of people in the River Ganges can be used as a bridge to bring people to Christ.’129 This movement has been rooted in the life experience of the people of India, a life experience, which is often one of extreme poverty. These churches have been engaged in mission to those on the margins as well as those in a more affluent context. ‘The transformational power of the Gospel has made possible a new identity of dignity and worth for oppressed peoples.’130 This has lead to a new understanding of the role of the churches as well as new indigenous patterns of theologizing. Thus ‘Awareness of the role of church in the struggles of the alienated for humanization is growing. A new subaltern hermeneutic involves “the rediscovery, re-reading and reinterpretation of their socio-political history, and religious and cultural resources and texts” by subaltern groups.’131 The Emergence of Dalit Theology In order to evaluate the task and processes of inculturation in India, it is important to examine the emergence of Dalit Liberation Theology and the contribution it has made in this area. The plight of the outcaste peoples in India, those whom Gandhi referred to as the ‘Harijans’ [children of God], has been recognized no doubt for many centuries, in different ways, including the critique of caste made by the Hindu Renaissance Movement. The abject poverty of so many in India, and the relationship of this to caste was addressed in the period of British rule in India, when measures were taken on behalf of those who were designated the ‘Scheduled Castes’ i.e. the lower castes, within the system and more especially those many millions of people who are deemed to be outside the caste system, who are designated as either tribal peoples or outcastes. The latter today are usually referred to by the word ‘Dalit’ a Sanskrit word which means ‘crushed or downtrodden’.132 Today there are c. 160 million people who are Dalits.133 India’s caste system divides its population into thousands of social groups, placing Dalits at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The perceived difference between those within the caste system and those who fall outside it (or ‘outcastes’) is grounded in the Hindu story of creation. According to the Hindu scriptures the Vedas (literally meaning ‘knowledge’), God created four castes: ‘the Brahmin [or priestly caste] from His head, the Kshatriya [or warrior caste] from His arms, the Vaishya [entrepreneurs and business caste] from His thighs and the Shudra [or service caste] from His feet.’134 The four castes developed out of

129 Sunil Sardar, Redeeming the Hindu Culture for His Glory, unpublished paper, 2000. 130 Hedlund, ‘The Witness of New Christian Movements in India’, p. 15. 131 Anthoniraj Thumma, Voices of the Victims, (Delhi, 1999), p. 18. 132 See Luke 4.18,19 and Isaiah 61.1,2. 133 It is estimated that there are a further c. 68 million people in the category of Scheduled Tribes (Adivasi), making a total of c. 228 million people in the ‘Scheduled’ group. 134 Rig Veda X, xc 11 and 12 quoted in R.C. Zaehner, Hindu Scriptures, (London, 1966), pp. 9-10.

92

Christian Inculturation in India

early class division dating back to c. 1500BCE, around the same time as the Vedas were written (c. 1400BCE).135 James Massey in his book, Roots of Dalit History, Christianity, Theology and Spirituality136 seeks to reconstruct the introduction or emergence of the caste system some 3500 years ago. Such an attempt is fraught with difficulty not least since ‘history’ has been in the hands of the high castes for so long. However there are racial and cultural factors, which endure in India, which along with various others forms of evidence, support Massey’s interpretation. There are many social divisions within India cultures, and there are tribal peoples as well as the Dalits who exist outside the Caste System. The main thrust of Massey’s argument rests upon an understanding that the ‘Aryan people(s)’ who arrived in India c. 3500 years ago came to dominate social and political structures and imposed upon the indigenous peoples the Vedic creation story and its social out-workings in caste. It is from this understanding that Massey and others have sought not simply to offer a critique of Caste, but to challenge its very existence as unjust in terms of human rights and unacceptable in terms of the Christian understanding of the human person as made in the image and likeness of God (imago dei). This challenge is offered not only to the social / political out-workings of Hinduism but also to its philosophical and theological understandings of re-incarnation and karma. Once such a critique is acknowledged then its implications for inculturation have also to be recognized. If the sociopolitical structures of India are so firmly challenged, then the relationship of Caste and culture has also to be recognized, which leaves those with task of inculturation with a host of complex decisions to make. Dalit Liberation Theologians have argued that much that has been used in the early attempts at inculturation, and this applies in particular to the ‘de Nobili model’, has been borrowed directly and explicitly from Brahminical practice. From the Dalit perspective this is to borrow from and place at the centre of Christian worship, symbols and practices, which are also symbols of their enslavement, poverty and rejection for the past three and a half millennia. There is then a divergence of opinion and understanding concerning the use of ‘Indian Culture’, which has arisen as a result of the movement to liberate the Dalits in India. Many Dalit Liberation theologians perceive that the use of signs and symbols has been indiscriminate and has borrowed too heavily from the high caste Brahmin tradition of India. When I contacted Voice Of Dalits International in relation to my intentions in visiting India I received what I can only say was a ‘chastening’ response, which railed against the ‘commodification’ of the Dalits and their needs and cause. Indeed my correspondent at VODI highlighted once again the Western tendency to categorize and ‘commodify’ Indian Culture altogether. Western perceptions of Indian Culture, often reinforced by modern tourism, tend to be highly selective. My correspondent at VODI in a sense corroborates my other reflection that

135 This is a fairly standard interpretation of the development of the caste system. However there are alternatives and I will expound some of these in the following chapter (see pp. 110-11). 136 James Massey, Roots of Dalit History, Christianity, Theology and Spirituality, (Delhi, 1996).

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

93

‘inculturation’ emerges from the Enlightenment imperative towards categorization, commodification and also colonialism. Alongside this critique of inculturation there needs to be set the Christian understanding of the Incarnation. God chose a particular time and place to become incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth. ‘God moved into the neighbourhood.’137 The theological implications of the incarnation in terms of culture and particularity are immense. What lies at the heart of the critique of the move towards inculturation is the way in which certain cultural expressions of Christianity have become ‘privileged’. The privileged status of, for instance, ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Christianity through imperialism and colonialism is something which ‘inculturation’ seeks to address or redress. Thus the issues, which emerge from the move towards inculturation concern, are: who initiates change, and upon what basis. It becomes necessary to address questions of power and authority in both church and the wider context, and to analyse the power dynamics in relation to each socio-cultural context where inculturation is envisaged or practised. Theological reflection upon the oppression of the outcaste peoples of India led to the emergence of Dalit Liberation Theology during the 1980s.138 There are a number of different methodological approaches to be found among those who expound this liberation and its accompanying praxis. Some argue that only Dalits themselves, who have experienced the oppression of casteism can reflect authentically upon the plight of these peoples, while others accept that non-Dalits may seek to offer their reflections too. This latter approach is built upon the recognition that the oppressive structures of casteism involve the whole of Indian society, which in its entirety requires reforming in order to free the oppressed Dalit peoples.139 A.P. Nirmal takes an alternative view arguing that Dalit Christian theology can only be begun from an exclusivist understanding that God favours the Dalit and does not favour the non-Dalit.140 The goal of such a theology is the realization of the full humanity of the Dalit peoples, and their status as made in the imago dei, alongside all others.141 The praxis advocated to bring such revolutionary ideas into the lives of the people, include the eradication of all forms of discrimination in church life, especially at the Eucharist; and the promotion of eating together and marrying across caste boundaries; and in terms of social, economic and political development programmes of conscientization among Dalit peoples.142 The abolition of caste and casteism is not something which will easily be brought about. This means that many statements

137 A phrase from ‘Labyrinth’ an alternative worship installation by ‘Grace’. 138 E.g. CBCI made statements on caste and casteism in 1982 and 1988: see Michael Amaladoss, A Call to Community: The Caste System and Christian Responsibility, (Anand Gujurat, 1994), p. xii ; also A.P. Nirmal, Towards a Common Dalit Ideology, (Madras, 1989); M.E. Prabhakar (ed.), Towards a Dalit Theology, (Delhi, 1989). 139 E.g. K. Wilson, in Prabhakar, Towards a Dalit Theology, p. 56. 140 A.P. Nirmal, ‘Towards a Dalit Christian Theology’, Asia Journal of Theology, 6 (1992): 302. 141 Nirmal, ‘Towards a Dalit Christian Theology’: 304. 142 See Michael Amaladoss, Life in Freedom: Liberation Theologies from Asia, (Maryknoll, 1997), p. 30f.

Christian Inculturation in India

94

have been made condemning casteism in empathy with the Dalit cause, but few concrete strategies have emerged.143 Conclusion In his work Becoming Indian: The Process of Inculturation, Michael Amaladoss seeks to elucidate the difference between adaptation and inculturation, and then expound the process of inculturation. He suggests that simply dressing a liturgical rite in local symbols is not inculturation. He sets out a vision of inculturation in which culture is transformed, providing both deep-seated continuity and real change.144 Thus the process of inculturation implies that the relationship between the Gospel and culture becomes dialectical, while also remaining rooted in an incarnational model. A process in which both Gospel tradition and culture are changed in the encounter.145 Barth in Volume IV of the Church Dogmatics clearly sets out the far reaching impact of a radical understanding of the incarnation of God in Christ.146 It is a process, which should not separate ‘culture’ from socio-economic and political structures.147 Amaladoss also emphasizes that the process should be ‘natural’. However he argues that ‘Because the natural process had been blocked for some centuries, we have to undo the artificial structures in place and create an appropriate climate before the natural process can start functioning.’148 He recognizes the difficulty, which this presents to the church of the present day. Nonetheless he believes that the task is unavoidable. An issue of crucial importance, which he identifies, is the transformation of the question: ‘What is to be inculturated?’ into ‘Who inculturates?’ The ‘Who’, for Amaladoss, is the local church community, which in its context responds to the Word of God proclaimed. Thus the encounter between Church community and its context, results in dialogue between Church community and other local communities, a dialogue, which in the Indian context will inevitably be inter-religious. Michael Amaladoss envisages that such encounter and dialogue are to be understood against the theological understanding that, ‘God’s self-manifestations are integrated in a cosmic plan that reaches out to the whole of humanity.’149 Thus inculturation is the response of the people to God’s self-manifestation, a response, which entails a double process, at both a cosmic and a contextual / ecclesial level. In his later work, Beyond Inculturation: Can the Many be One? Amaladoss revised his understandings. He begins with the recognition that despite many statements about the need for inculturation, there is little agreement about how it is to be done or what its implications are.150 As a way forward he advocates that a priori definitions of inculturation are to be avoided, rather a process of encounter 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Amaladoss, A Call to Community, p. xiii. Amaladoss, Becoming Indian, p. 5. Ibid., p. 10. Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 4.1 p. 192 (see opening of this chapter). Amaladoss, Becoming Indian, p. 6. Ibid., p. 7. Ibid., p. 15. Ibid., p. xii.

Whose Values; Which Cultures?

95

between Gospel and culture is to be encouraged. This process is to be seen in the wider context of the encounter between God and humanity. He also stresses the need for the local community to recognize that it is a hermeneutical community,151 as well as the need for inculturation to be given into the hands of the community rather than reserved to a scholarly elite. Thus popular culture will need to be valued, as well as the competence of the local community (sensus fidelium) to make decisions being recognized and encouraged.

151 Ibid., p. xiv.

This page intentionally left blank

Chapter 4

Art, Architecture and Topography: Temples and Churches in South India To his most beloved son, the Abbot Mellitus; Gregory, the servant of the servants of God. … Almighty God has led, you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine, our brother, tell him what I have long been considering in my own mind concerning the matter of the English people; to wit, that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed there. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may the more freely resort to the places to which they have been accustomed.1

Introduction In the last chapter I examined how the imperative for inculturation emerged from a variety of sources in both Christianity and Hinduism. In particular this investigation focused on the creative work of the ashram movement within Christianity in the twentieth century. I concluded the investigation with an analysis of the critique put forward by Dalit Liberation theologians of the methods and values, which had been employed in the task of inculturation in South India. This critique of the processes of inculturation, demonstrates that these processes are rooted in certain conjunctions of what is understood to constitute Indian religion and culture, as well as particular interpretations of the history and development of that mix of religion and culture. This results in a particular view of what ‘Indian-ness’ may be said to be. In this chapter I shall be examining practical and concrete examples of inculturation in South India, in particular buildings and architectural styles, which relates to the realm of aesthetics, taste and art. I begin with a brief examination of what it is that inculturation seeks to overcome; what it is, that Hindu commentators and Indian nationalists, such as Gandhi perceive about the Christian Tradition in India. This will be followed by an examination and analysis of some theories concerning religious buildings. I will then seek to address the question of what ‘Indian-ness’ may be said to be: investigating some recent attempts to state what constitutes the heart of the historic cultural heritage of India, noting that this must be set against the effects of globalization. This investigation will be made in relation to political theorization as 1 The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of England, Chapter 30, A copy of the letter which Pope Gregory sent to the Abbot Mellitus (601 CE), (London, 1907).

98

Christian Inculturation in India

well as historiography. I will also give some consideration to understandings of art in India. Finally I shall come to the heart of the matter of this chapter, concrete and practical examples of inculturation to date; and I shall look at this in relation to what may be said to be ‘unintentional inculturation’ and ‘intentional inculturation’. This will also prepare for the theme of the next chapter in which I will examine examples of worship and particular liturgical rites. Building and Rites: Theories and Critiques Western European Christians began to settle in the sub-continent during the sixteenth century and by the later 1500s there were a number of examples of what may be termed Portuguese style churches to be found in southern India, many of which survive to this day. There are also survivals from a much older settlement by Jewish communities, a particular example of which is the synagogue in Kochi [Cochin]. This dates from the sixteenth century and provides a useful comparison with the architecture of the Christian communities of Kerala, the Syrian, Catholic and Protestant, as well as for example the Armenian Church in Chennai and the Chaldean Church in Thrissur. On the whole the early European settlers built churches in a style, which was essentially a copy or mirror of what the builders knew from their experience in Europe of the latest styles in church architecture.2 These churches were built variously to accommodate the ex-patriot communities of merchants, settlers and military personnel, or indigenous peoples whom missionaries were beginning to convert to Christianity. Over the centuries, since the late 1500s, churches have been built by Dutch, French, German, Scandinavian and British colonists as well as the Portuguese. There have also been missionaries from a wider source of European and North American denominations, all of whom have brought with them a style of church building with which they were familiar in their land of origin. Thus even today a Lutheran Church may well have an ethos and style in its architecture and the worship offered which is very similar to something you might witness and experience in Germany or Scandinavia. The same can be true of churches, which were originally founded by members of the Church of England. Though this phenomenon is somewhat reduced by the gradual emergence of a shared style and ethos in the Church of South India. Nonetheless it is still possible to attend worship in the larger cities such as Bangalore, Madurai or Palayamkottai and participate in worship, which has an obvious distinctiveness, which can only by labelled ‘Anglican’. As Masao Takenaka argues, some of the missionaries were farsighted enough to advocate and encourage indigenous expression of Christian faith from an early stage but generally Western forms of church structure and church architecture were transplanted in Asia. Moreover, many Asian 2 There are exceptions to this, which are to be seen in the development of a hybrid style in art and architecture in works influenced by the Jesuits. See Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Art on the Jesuit Missions in Asia and Latin America 1543-1773, (Toronto and London, 1999). See above Chapter 3.

Art, Architecture and Topography

99

churches at that time not only imported Western architectural styles for their buildings but also the interior decoration and atmosphere was often dominated by colonial mentality.3

In general this is much less likely in a rural, village context where worship has always been less formal, less influenced by the needs and expectations of the colonists and thus more indigenous or folksy.4 Such distinctions between urban and rural contexts relate to the different sense of community in each place. They also manifest the expectations of local communities and their individual members, and these expectations shape the ethos and style of worship, and thereby also the task and processes of inculturation. Among Roman Catholics there are different traditions of architecture and worship for the Latin rite communities and the Uniate communities. I shall return to examine the architectural phenomena associated with the St Thomas Christians of various rites and loyalties. However both Latin and Uniate rite Catholics are the inheritors of buildings of ‘foreign’ styles. I have noted already that the Portuguese brought a particular architectural style to India, which can be seen in both Latin rite and Uniate / Syrian churches. But alongside the ‘Portuguese / Renaissance style’, NeoGothic is to be found in abundance, and often on a very large scale. The basilica of St Thomas in Chennai (Mylapore), the basilica of our Lady of Sorrows in Thrissur, and the Catholic cathedral of St Philomena at Mysore all vie with one another to be the biggest and best Gothic building in southern India. A further example of neoGothic is to be found at Velanganni on the coast of Tamil Nadu, where the shrine of Our Lady of Health is built to mirror the shrine of Our Lady at Lourdes. There are also earlier foundations from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century which are of a neo-Classical style, and again some were built as intentional copies of well-known churches, such as the church of St Andrew in Chennai, which is intentionally a copy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square, London. These neo-Classical buildings are often Anglican foundations, built as reminders of home for the colonists of the East India Company, and their garrisons. It is undoubtedly this latter association, which leads to the connection being made between Christianity and imperialism. The foreign style of church buildings came to be seen as a symbol of foreign occupation and thus reinforced the determination of those who sought an independent India, to be rid of alien Christianity as well as foreign rule. Some church buildings remain as a testimony to that occupation; e.g. the garrison church of St Mark in Bangalore, or the church of St John beside the parade ground in the Fort at Vellore. The association between colonialism, buildings and religion is inescapable. Writing in 1914 E.B. Havell identified a general perception that Christianity was ‘European’ which led him to conclude that an Indian Christian architecture needed to be encouraged.5 He notes that ‘It is already a great thing that the Madras Christians 3 Masao Takenaka, The Place Where God Dwells: Am Introduction to Church Architecture in Asia, (Hong Kong and Kyoto, 1995), p. 11. 4 Distinctions in style of worship between urban and rural contexts is by no means peculiar to India, it is something which can be perceived across the globe and across Christian traditions. 5 E.B. Havell, ‘Christian Architecture in India’, The Madras & Tinnevelly Diocesan Magazine, 11 (1914): 49-51.

100

Christian Inculturation in India

in the villages build for themselves little mud churches with thatched roof in their own way. …No doubt this … must come from below upwards and from the people themselves.’ 6 In the face of such perceptions it became evident that inculturation was a pressing need. The question therefore emerges: what could be the alternatives to these foreign styles of architecture? In terms of religious buildings the most obvious answer would appear to point to the indigenous architecture of religious buildings, i.e. Hindu temples. The interpretation of the development of temples and temple architecture is as much disputed as the interpretation of the early history of India, which I shall examine when discussing ‘Indian-ness’. The first thing to recognize is that the temple and the images, which it holds are not as central to ‘Hinduism’ as the great monumental temples themselves might suggest. N.C. Chaudhuri argues that, ‘not a single text of the revealed scriptures of the Hindus refers to images or temples, and even the epics do not.’7 Thus it is inferred that originally ‘Vedic’ worship using sacrificial fire was offered in the open air. Other early forms of worship would have included woodland retreats (tapovanas) and visiting special places or shrines on pilgrimage (tirtha-yatra).8 The evolution of these sacred places (tirtha) is documented elsewhere,9 however it is important to recognize that place and space and landscape are foundational to Indian religious understanding and expression, and it is these factors which give the temples their origins and status. Thus in South India there are three particular groupings of tirthas: ‘five bhuta-lingas dedicated to Shiva,10 the six centres of the deity Murukan (Murugam),11 the six tirthas of Ayypan’.12 This ongoing rooted-ness of religious observance and spirituality in the landscape and the elements, is possibly something which might be used rather more by Christians when considering the task of inculturation. Indeed Jyoti Sahi a Christian artist has argued for a greater appreciation and awareness of these elements of Indian culture.13 The period of the emergence of the temple in Indian religions is disputed. There is general acceptance that none of the structures excavated on the Indus Valley 6 Ibid., p. 50f. 7 N.C. Chaudhuri, Hinduism: A Religion to Live By, (London, 1979), p. 90. 8 E.g. The Mahabharata has a chapter devoted to going on pilgrimage: Mahabharata: Aranyaka-parvan (Book of the Forest) Tirtha-yatra-parvan, III, 80-93, 109, 114, 118-20, 129, 140-53. Several Puranas make mention of shrines across India: Matsya Purana chapter 13: 103-12, 186-94; Skanda Purana, chapter 2 called Tirtha Khanda; Vayu Purana chapters 10512; Kurma Purana, I, 30. 9 E.g. E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: A Case Study of West Bengal, (Delhi, 1984); Anuradha Roma Choudhury on ‘Hinduism’ in, Sacred Place, Jean Holm and John Bowker (eds.), (London, 1994), pp. 67-76. 10 Morinis, Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition, pp. 29 and 46-7. 11 Fred Clothey, ‘Pilgrimage Centres in the Tamil Cultus of Murukan’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 40 (1972): 79-95. 12 S. Padmanabhan, Sabarimala Yatra, (Nagercoil, no date), and Choudhury, ‘Hinduism’, p. 70. 13 Jyoti Sahi, ’Sons of the Soil: Symbolic Thought in a Geo-Political Context’, Kerygma (publication of an International Seminar held at St Paul University, Ottawa, August, 1980).

Art, Architecture and Topography

101

sites are to be understood as temples. However many examples of female figurines were found during the excavations, which may possibly point to a ‘Mother cult’.14 Chaudhuri argues that the earliest temple structure in the sub-continent is to be identified at Surkh Kotal in Afghanistan.15 It is argued that the earliest examples of temple structures in present day India are to be identified at Deogarth and Bhitargaon, which show dedication to Vishnu and dated between the fifth and seventh centuries CE.16 The lateness of this dating is sometimes attributed to the destruction of temples and monuments by the Moghul invaders. However another interpretation, offered by Srinivsan, is that earlier temples may have been built from wood and brick and therefore have left few or no remains.17 He argues that the use of stone in temple building is to be attributed to Asoka (c. 299-232 BCE), who was the third monarch of the Indian Mauryan dynasty and a patron of Buddhism.18 There is no one style of temple architecture; styles vary from region to region or even from state to state. A particular contrast in temple styles is to be found between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There are also differences between towns and villages, some times of scale, but also of style. Village temples often evoke the memory or survival of a different religious culture prior to what is present day Brahminical Hinduism, which is rustic, folksy and local.19 There is further diversity in terms of different religious communities, or in some case survivals from them: Jainism, Buddhism and Islam. However Srinivasan argues that it is mistaken to categorize architectural styles for the three Indian religions separately: ‘Thus to the Indian mind the indigenous architecture remains basically and essentially Indian. It cannot be sub-divided into what is usually attempted to be made out as “Hindu”, “Jain” or “Buddhist” architecture.’20 One of the notable features of the landscape of India must be the mosques, which continue to be built in the ‘usual’ distinctive Muslim style associated with the Mosques particularly of West Asia and Turkey. There is considerable debate about the effects of the Muslim ‘occupation’ on art and architecture in India.21 The monuments of Moghul Empires and states are not inconsiderable; the most famous building in India, if not the world, the Taj Mahal is a product of that political reality. Defenders of the stance of the Hindu ‘right’ have come to see Muslim rule as an 14 Chaudhuri, Hinduism, p. 76. 15 Ibid., p. 52. 16 Ibid., pp. 76-7. 17 K.R. Srinivasan, Temples of South India, (New Delhi, 1979), p. 2. 18 Srinivasan, p. 2. Asoka is known from his edicts written on rocks and pillars throughout India (see English translations by Amulyachandra Sen, C.D. Sircar and D.R. Bhandarkar), and from a second century book called the Asokavadana, which was translated into Chinese by Fa-ch’in in c. 300 CE. The Mauryan Empire extended over most of present day India and Pakistan, apart from the southern most area, approximately equivalent to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. 19 See Pauly Maniyattu, Heaven on Earth: The Theology of Liturgical Spacetime in the East Syrian Qurbana, (Rome, 1995), pp. 307-8. 20 Srinivasan, p. 2. 21 See William Dalrymple, ‘Trapped in the ruins’, The Guardian Review (20th March 2004); also David Gilmartin and Bruce Lawrence (eds.), Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia, (Gainesville, 2000).

102

Christian Inculturation in India

occupation, akin to British rule; and have interpreted the period of Muslim rule as a disaster not only for Indian self-determination, but also for art and architecture as well. The Muslim invaders stand accused of the destruction of Hindu temples and palaces on a large scale. Alongside this there is the perception that indigenous Hindu styles were overlaid by or replaced with a new foreign Moghul style. This interpretation has not gone unchallenged22 and an alternative is that the period of Muslim rule was not so much an occupation as an indigenous religious / political reality created originally by foreign incursion. The Moghul rulers sponsored not simply a foreign style but a new ‘hybrid’ style,23 which combined elements from original Indian styles with external elements from the Muslim world. For example it is this hybrid style to which Lutyens gave new expression in his designs for New Delhi.24 None the less the predominant styles of architecture in South India remain evident in the temples and palaces, which take their origin either from the monumental style of the Chola period, or the more domestic style of the rulers of Malabar coast. It is these styles, from which on the whole those who have sought to create an indigenous church architecture have borrowed. This raises a question about the very nature of a temple, and whether such borrowing is fitting at all. There is a vast literature concerning the ideology of the temple. I have only taken note of a small section of this work. However I will attempt to present a brief overview and analysis of the meaning and purpose of Indian temples as it relates to potential Christian borrowing of temple styles and features. A list of the core themes or features associated with temples might include: a concept of the ‘centre’ (of the world), a / the sacred mountain, sacred waters, tree of life, sacred geometry, the four cardinal directions, initiation ritual, sacred dance, the celebration of creation in terms of the separation of order from chaos often associated with New Year festivals. The floor plans of Hindu temples are often conformed to a mandala, which relates to the creation myth focused on the sacrifice of the cosmic person Purusa. This immediately connects the temple to several of the above themes.25 The word temple comes from the Latin templum, which it is usual to understand as referring to a place set aside. This comes from the Greek temenos whose root meaning is ‘to cut’. Thus it may be said that a temple is a precinct or a piece of land dedicated to a god. Equally it may signify the sacred mountain, which is the centre of the earth, the place of connection between heaven (the abode of the gods) and earth. The Sumerian word, temen refers to a heaped up pile of earth; thus the neo-Babylonian ziggurat E-Temen-An-Ki is understood to mean the House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth.26 Hindu temples may also be known as Prasada

22 Dalrymple, ‘Trapped in the ruins’. 23 See Bailey, concerning the influence of the Jesuits on art and architecture at the court of Akbar. 24 See William Dalrymple, ‘The rubble of the Raj’, The Guardian Review (13th November 2004). Dalrymple argues that Edwin Lutyens successfully fused elements of eastern and western styles in the designs for New Delhi. 25 John M. Lundquist, The Temple, (London, 1993), p. 5. 26 Ibid., p. 6.

Art, Architecture and Topography

103

(referring to favour, grace or free gift); this indicates the presence of the god Shiva and (goddess) Shakti, who symbolize the principles and forms of existence.27 The Buddhist term Pagoda is understood to originate from the Sanskrit dhatu-garbha. Dhatu refers to the magical, to sacred relics, possibly of the Buddha himself. Garbha is ‘womb’, and refers in a Hindu Temple to the inner-sanctum of a temple, which also suggests a cave in a mountain-side. The understanding of the temple in relation to the sacred mountain relates to the concept of creation as the defeat of the forces of chaotic water, from which emerges heaped up earth, and the victorious creator god. The mound of earth is charged with an energy of primordial life, which provides the fundamental mythological conceptuality of the temple as a holy place. A similar interpretation has been associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, where the rock on which it was built (now enclosed by the Dome of the Rock) is understood to be the centre or navel of the body of the earth. Three types of temple are mentioned in ancient Indian texts: Meru, Mandara, and Kailasa,28 ‘all of which are the names given in the Indian tradition to the world mountain, which forms the axis of the universe.’29 The Meru type is understood in terms of being the centre of the cosmos.30 Built as a square or rectangle its walls face in the direction of the four cardinal points, often with the main gate facing to the East.31 There may be up to four concentric walls surrounding the inner sanctum. And around the temple itself the city streets form a network of, perhaps, three concentric streets, with streets cutting across these to the cardinal points, for example the Meenakshee Temple in Madurai and the Vaddukanatha temple in Thrissur (Figure 4.1). In Buddhist tradition the alignment of temples to the four cardinal points relates to the appeasement of the naga, or chthomic serpent, which is believed to dwell beneath the surface of the earth where the temple is built. The four directions, also relating to the four seasons are used by priests to determine the correct sites for the burial of gifts for the naga. The temple in this tradition also relates to the mandala, a map of the sacred, and the colours of the mandala relate to the spirituality of inner and outer space.32 Much more might be said of temples in the various Indian traditions, however emerging from this short analysis something of the relationship of architectural form to the mythology and cosmology becomes evident, which a temple expresses.33 Different Christian Traditions will respond variously to such conceptualities of a sacred place. Indeed it should be acknowledged that some traditions within Christianity would not own the concept of ‘sacred space’ at all. However other 27 See George Michell, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to its Meaning and Forms, (Chicago and London, 1977, 1988), pp. 30-31. 28 Lundquist, p. 8. 29 Ibid. 30 For more detail: Choudhry, ‘Hinduism’, pp. 79-80 and p. 86 endnote 2 and Michell, pp. 22-3. 31 Chris C. Park, Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion, (London and New York, 1994), p. 205. 32 Martin Boord ‘Buddhism’ in, Sacred Place, Holm and Bowker. 33 See Maniyattu, pp. 309-10, where he describes seven steps in the construction of a Hindu temple.

104

Figure 4.1

Christian Inculturation in India

Meenakshee temple, ‘Golden Lily’ tank, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Art, Architecture and Topography

105

traditions would find parallels between the conceptuality underlying church building and architectural form and that of Hinduism and Buddhism or indeed the wider phenomena of temple building. While in a Christian understanding the cosmology of a church building might relate more to salvation and an eschatological vision of the future, parallels may certainly be drawn, including the orientation of most churches on an East-West axis. Thus potential borrowing of architectural styles and forms by Christians from Hindus is not ruled out by this analysis. The question therefore emerges how to determine what should be borrowed in terms of style and culture; i.e. what is ‘Indian-ness’? What is Indian-ness? Before proceeding to an analysis of examples of inculturation in church building, the question of what may be said to constitute ‘Indian-ness’ needs to be raised. One approach to this question is to examine the emergence of a self-awareness of what ‘India’ may be said to be. This requires an attempt to be made to establish a chronology of developments, and so will require an excursion into the realm of historiography. This is an area, which has been and remains disputed. The long history of the peoples of the sub-continent, which disappears into the mists of antiquity and pre-history has inevitably elicited widely conflicting constructions and interpretations. Those who have in the recent past sought to construct the notion of ‘Indian-ness’ from an interpretation of the cultural and political development of the inhabitants of the sub-continent over at least five millennia, are faced with a vast array of evidence. Inevitably some of this is conflicting or indeed impossible to interpret. However these obstacles have not prevented many groups setting out their vision of ‘Indian-ness’ in relation to their re-construction of the past. Most of these re-constructions are influenced by perceived needs or political and/or religious expectations or ideologies. Thus the construction of ‘Indian-ness’ is often begun on the basis of a pre-determined outcome for the investigation. It should be recognized that notions of ‘objectivity’ and ‘neutrality’ have been relativized by the impact of post-modern philosophy, and it is no longer possible to sustain the notion of an impartial ‘view from nowhere’. So the question emerges how does the quest for ‘Indian-ness’ respect and do justice to evidence from antiquity and to the living traditions of India today? In order to begin to address this question I will set out some of the current constructions of ‘Indian-ness’. Present day constructions originate in the main in the vision of and the quest for independence from British colonial rule. At the point of independence a consensus was expressed in the Indian Constitution of a state, which acknowledged that even the partitioned ‘India’ remained a pluralist society, and that the state as such would be rooted in the concept of a secular authority. This consensus was the product of the vision of many leaders at the time, but is undoubtedly greatly influenced by the personality and vision of Gandhi. The reality of partition in itself demonstrates that ‘communalism’ was an inherent problem for any interpretation of ‘Indian-ness’. The origins of communalism are themselves variously interpreted. However the

106

Christian Inculturation in India

decision of the British authorities to permit Muslims to form a separate electorate34 must certainly have strengthened and fuelled the ambitions of the different religious communities. Since independence this underlying consensus, often associated with and embodied in politics by the Congress Party, has come to be challenged by those who embrace an alternative vision, which is usually designated by Hindutva. The notion that to be Indian is to be ‘Hindu’, that in some sense the nation of India should be ‘a Hindu nation’. This has the implication that those who are not Hindus, are not ‘Indian’. This vision and the processes associated with it are variously described as Aryanization, Sanskritization or Saffronization, with more or less pejorative overtones, depending on the context, in which each is used. The conceptuality of Hindutva is by no means uniform, indeed there are various and sometimes conflicting prescriptions of how it is to be achieved and what is to be the outcome. Alongside and parallel with this quest for Hindutva, is the growing self-awareness of the Dalit peoples, and their demands for justice and recognition, and the implications of this for the quest for ‘Indian-ness’. Thus while the proponents of Hindutva seek to create a construction of the past in order to support their theorisation of India and ‘Indianness’, the advocates of Dalit liberation, work for the deconstruction of an ‘Aryan’ past, and present their own vision of a construction of the past and of ‘Indian-ness’. Into the midst of all this construction and deconstruction of the historiography of India, the St Thomas Christians and the tradition of the Apostolate of St Thomas in India, present further complications to an already complex picture. The traditions associated with the Apostle Thomas raise questions about the religious culture of the peoples of South India in the first century CE, and by extension whether a Vedic religion or ‘Hinduism’ was ever established in South India prior to the ‘Hindu Revival’ of c. fifth century CE. What then are the main factors with which the different contenders for the historiography of India have to work? I want to suggest that there are five main factors, which are pertinent to an understanding of ‘Indian-ness’ in relation to this study of contextualization / inculturation. The five factors may variously be described in ethnic or cultural terms, and some relate to specific periods in history. The first factor is the existence in antiquity of what has been called the Indus Valley Civilization, also designated by the label ‘Harappan’, from one of the cities of Indus valley.35 The second factor are the ‘Aryan’ people(s), who are linked to the ancient Sanskrit literature of the Vedas, who may or may not be a distinctive ethnic group, but generally it is accepted that they shared a common culture, and whom it is usual to argue were from outside the sub-continent and migrated into India. The third factor is the Dravidian people(s), with whom the equally ancient Tamil language is associated. In this instance it is usual to argue that these were indigenous to the subcontinent, or were inhabitants prior to the arrival to the Aryans. Again it is usual to argue that they were racially distinct from the Aryans, having a darker skin colour. The fourth factor is the Adivasi (tribal) peoples, whom it is usual to argue were the 34 The Government of India Act of 1909 – also known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, began the practice of separate electorates for the different religious communities in India, especially the Muslim community. 35 See John Keay, India: A History, (London, 2000), Chapter 1.

Art, Architecture and Topography

107

earliest settlers in India, and whose culture and religion remain distinct to this day. Finally the fifth factor is the Dalit peoples, the ‘Untouchables’ who are out-castes from the classic Brahminical Hindu varna36 or caste system. It is generally accepted that these peoples are not a distinct ethnic group, but shared some factors in common which lead to their exclusion from the structure of the caste system. Apart from the first of these factors, each of the others continue to have their own propagandists in the present day. Each group in constructing their vision of ‘Indian-ness’ will be appealing to these factors and setting them in relation to one another in a particular pattern depending on the ideological interpretation of chronology which is current in the group. Alongside these groups are also to be set the Muslim, Christian, Jain and Buddhist communities.37 In relation to the Christian churches a number of different perspectives and interpretations can be identified. The picture, which I am attempting to portray and analyse is one of immense complexity. Discussion will inevitably be partial (in both senses of the word) and will be a simplification of the reality on the ground. However with that recognition I shall attempt to discern some of the main issues, which face those seeking to bring about inculturation within the Christian Tradition. The propagandists of Hindutva take their inspiration from figures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, who are associated with the emergence of a new sense of identity among Hindus in relation to the quest for nation-hood and independence. In relation to Hinduism as a religion, this was usually associated with an assertion of a ‘pure form’ of Hinduism, which is rooted in the Vedas. Thus a uniform monotheistic version of Hinduism is envisaged and re-constructed. In Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism, Jyotirmaya Sharma38 argues that the four proponents of Hindutva which he examines also seek to establish that Hinduism is the most ancient, perfect and evolved religious faith of all; which none the less permits and advocates the use of violent force in the pursuit of the Hindu nation.39 The rejection of non-violence (ahimsa) by the advocates of Hindutva, so characteristic of Gandhi’s stance, is based on the view that it is a Buddhist / Jain concept which weakened the Indian nation, exposing it to foreign invasion and rule, firstly by the Moghuls and later by Europeans and particularly the British. Thus non-violence is dismissed as effeminate and a re-assertion of the masculine qualities of Hinduism is vigorously argued. The four proponents of Hindutva, which Sharma expounds are Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883) (founder of the Arya Samaj),40 Aurobindo Ghose (18721950) (co-founder of the Aurobindo Ashram), Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) (he also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks) and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966) (he founded the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha). Each of these propounds a

36 Manusmriti, ET The Laws of Manu, G. Buhler (ed.), (New Delhi, 2004), Chapter 1, ‘The Genesis of the Universe’ describes the origin of the four castes and their duties. 37 And others – new religious groups as well as older traditions such as Zoroastrians. 38 Jyotirmaya Sharma, Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism, (New Delhi, 2003). 39 Ibid., p. 8. 40 Arya Samaj was founded in 1875 in Bombay – to spread the doctrines of the newly reinterpreted Vedas.

108

Christian Inculturation in India

different basis for and understanding of Hindutva, though they share in common the features outlined above. Dayananda argued that the Vedas contain the truth in its purest form, and that the religion of the Vama Margis, the Shaivites and the Vaishnatives and even the bhakti movement are a corruption of and distraction from that original purity. Thus he appeals to a monotheistic Golden Age in antiquity, which was based on egalitarian, non-sectarian and non-idolatrous values.41 In order to maintain this vision of the past he is highly critical and dismissive of western Indologists.42 He sets out a foundation myth for India and indeed the whole world, in which he argues that originally the human race was of one sort or class, but later this became divided into two: the Aryas, who were ‘good’ and while the Dasyus were ‘bad’. These distinctions were reinforced by racial stereo-typing.43 He goes on to argue that the pure Vedic religion was corrupted by Jainism and Buddhism; in particular he criticizes the Jains for the introduction of idols and idol worship.44 Of later Hindu writers Shankara is singled out as one of the main protagonists for the re-introduction of the pure Vedic type religion.45 The writings and thought of Sri Aurobindo Ghose went through a considerable development. However Sharma argues Aurobindo should be considered as a proponent of Hindutva in terms similar to Dayananda’s defence of Vedic religion. Aurobindo argues for a process of ‘re-Aryanization,’46 in which the institution of catuvarna (Four Castes) would be revived. This would not be the caste-system, as such, but the revival of the warrior caste, the kshatriyas,47 in order to create and preserve the Hindu nation. In his version Hinduism would be without rigid dogmas or institutions, and would embrace all faiths. Vivekananda shares the vision of a pure Vedic religion as the basis for the Hindu state. Hinduism requires to be rid of all trantic, puranic and bhakti influences. A re-visioned vedanta tolerant and all-embracing would be introduced. He re-asserts the authority of the Vedas and the Upanishads, proclaiming what he terms ‘Practical Vedanta’.48 He especially favours Shankara and an advaita understanding of reality.49 Savarkar’s vision of Hindutva is much more secular, however one of the defining features concerning who is in and who is out of the Hindu nation for him relates 41 Sharma, pp. 14-18. See Dayananda Saraswati, Satyarthaprakash: Light of Truth, (New Delhi, 2002) (Reprint). 42 E.g. Sir William Jones, On the Gods of Greece, Italy and India (1784), The Sanscrit Language, 1786 J.G. Herder, Werke, U. Gaier, et al. (eds.), (Frankfurt am Main, 1985); Friedrich von Schlegel, Über Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808) and A Course of Lectures on Modern History, (Vienna, 1810; London, 1849) and Max Mueller, What Can it Teach us? (London, 1883). 43 See Dayananda, p. 266. 44 E.g. Dayananda, pp. 343-4 and 364. 45 Sharma, p. 30. 46 Sharma, p. 57. 47 See Sri Aurobindo, On Nationalism, (Pondicherry, 1973), p. 351. 48 Aurobindo, e.g. p. 112. 49 E.g. Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works Vol. III, (Calcutta, 1951 and 1999), p. 347.

Art, Architecture and Topography

109

to an interpretation of the ancient conflicts between the Aryas on the one hand and the Mlechas (outcastes) and Yavanas (outsiders) on the other.50 Thus he uses the mythology of past conflicts and divisions to support present definitions of India and ‘Indian-ness’. It is significant that in making an appeal to the literature of the Vedas, each of these proponents of Hindutva is stepping behind present day religious devotion and expression to a reconstructed version of a pure ‘Hinduism’. Thus the basis of Hindutva is not so much based upon popular present-day ‘Hinduism’ as upon a reconstruction of a past for which the evidence is highly contested. Among those who approach the quest for ‘Indian-ness’ from a Dravidian perspective are M. Deivanayagam and D. Devakala,51 who argue on behalf of the Revival Movement of Dravidian Religion, that the Dravidian people were those who formed the Indus Valley Civilization. From there they colonized Sumeria and created that civilization. Thus it is argued that the Dravidians have been responsible for major ancient civilizations and for the Semetic religions of the Jews, Christians and Muslims as well as of the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. This theory is related to the erection of and possible worship of monoliths.52 The proponents of this view also appeal to the Sangham (Sankam) literature53 composed in Tamil between 3rd century BCE and 3rd Century CE. The interpretation of this Sangham literature remains a work largely to be undertaken. However it is evident that this literature may well have much to contribute to an understanding of the history of South India, the Dravidian peoples and their culture and the period of the Apostolate of St Thomas.54 However the central core of this argument as such rests upon claims related to the Indus Valley Civilization. These are claims, which will remain unsubstantiated as long as the script of that civilization remains undeciphered. The inability to decipher the script remains a stumbling block to relating that civilization to other civilizations and other peoples with any confidence. A further example of the relation between historiography and the interpretation of ‘Indian-ness’ is highlighted in relation to a much later period. The Nobel Laureate, Vidia Naipaul55 has recently lent his support to the view that the period of the Moghul invasions and rule, was essentially a period of destruction, in 50 Sharma, p. 127, See Savarkar, Hindutva, (7th edn) (Mumbai, 1999) p. 28. 51 M. Deivanayagam and D. Devakala, see http://www.geocities.com/Athens/ Ithaca/1412/. 52 Ibid. 53 Sangam Literature: The earliest extant literature of the Tamils is called Sangam literature and it is dated between 500 BC. and 200 A.D. Though a considerable part of the early poetry has been lost, some of the bards and patrons decided to preserve a part of it in certain anthologies (about 4th century A.D.). These are the Ten Idylls (Pattuppattu) and the Eight Anthologies (Ettuttohai). Four hundred and seventy three poets, of whom thirty are women, have been identified. These are mainly classified into two strands [a] Akam dealing with love and [b] Puram dealing with war. See http://www.tamilar.org/tamil-language.asp. 54 I.e. What was the cultural and religious landscape of South India in period of 1st century CE? Did it include ‘Hinduism’, was it mainly Buddhist and Jain? did it include caste? 55 Dalrymple, ‘Trapped in the Ruins’.

110

Christian Inculturation in India

which Hindu culture and artistic and architectural style was dominated and overlaid by foreign Islamic styles and values. William Dalrymple56 has sought to challenge this view, appealing to such works as Beyond Turk and Hindu,57 arguing that the period of Moghuls was one in which Hindu culture was reinvigorated and became immensely rich because of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious context. Reflections upon ‘Indian-ness’ are not confined to the sub-continent itself. With the emergence of a significant Indian diaspora in Europe and North America and elsewhere, reflecting on what constitutes Indian-ness for the members of the diaspora is a live issue.58 This reflection further enriches and complicates notions of what Indian-ness may be said to be, and testifies to the ongoing evolution of Indian culture, particularly in relation to the effects of globalization. The factors of a diaspora community are becoming a feature of most national identities in today’s world, so that nationhood can no longer be seen simply as an expression of those who reside in a particular geographic area. ‘National identity’ emerges from an ongoing dialectical process between ‘residents’ and the diaspora. Finally in relation to the quest for ‘Indian-ness’ the advocates of Dalit liberation have sought to establish how the condition of being ‘outcaste’ emerged, in order to understand its origins and to be able to challenge and eradicate current practices of caste-ism. A typical interpretation of the emergence of the caste system traces its origin to the arrival of the Aryan tribes c. 1500 BCE. The post-Rigvedic literature makes reference to primitive forest dwellers on the fringes of the ‘new’ society, which emerge with the Arya. A link is made between those on the fringes of society and those to whom the Manusmriti refers as Mlechha (outsider) or in particular the Chandala (enslaved / broken).59 It is also inferred that the Dravidian peoples, who had settled in the sub-continent prior to the Aryans were driven south by them, and some of whom also became marginalized. The Manusmriti designates the marginalized on the basis of the conceptuality of (ritual) purity and its antithesis pollution.60 Thus the marginalized become identified with pollution, which may have arisen from their lack of acquiescence or from opposition to Aryan domination. Ambedkar offers a radical alternative to the typical interpretation of the emergence of untouchability. In The Untouchables 61 he argues that The distinction between the Hindus and the Untouchables in its original form, before the advent of untouchability, was the distinction between Tribesmen and Broken Men from alien tribes. It is the Broken Men who subsequently came to be treated as Untouchables. There are two roots from which untouchability has sprung: a) Contempt and hatred for

56 Ibid. 57 Gilmartin and Lawrence. 58 E.g. Vijay Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk, (Minneapolis and London, 2000); Sandhya Shukla, India Abroad: Diasporic Cultures of Postwar America and England, (Princeton and Oxford, 2003). 59 Manusmriti, passim. 60 Manusmriti, chapter 5. 61 B.R. Ambedkar, The Untouchables, (Bangalore, 1948).

Art, Architecture and Topography

111

the Broken Men, as for Buddhism by the Brahmins, b) Continuation of beef-eating by the Broken men after it had been given up the others.62

Ambedkar explains his hypothesis for the Broken Men in terms of tribes, which remained nomadic and aggressive, when most of the peoples had become settled agriculturalists. The relationship between the settled and nomadic tribes was highly ambivalent. The settlers became relatively wealthy, with supplies of grain, which elicited envy and incursion from the nomads. Some of the settlers came to employ some nomads as ‘mercenaries’ to defend themselves from other nomads. However the mercenaries were not integrated into settled society and were deliberately kept at a distance from the main settlements, and were treated as contemptible aliens, because of their mercenary status. Ambedkar draws on parallel instances among the Celtic people of Britain. However in those instances the mercenaries seem to have been absorbed into mainstream society after about nine generations.63 This did not occur in India, he argues, because of the conceptuality of pollution surrounding aliens and beef-eaters. While it may seem that Ambedkar’s interpretation is idionsyncratic, there are scholars, such Stephen Fuchs,64 who support his theory. Fuchs also argues that the Untouchables demonstrate a freer attitude to life, when compared with the more ‘inhibited’ Brahminical social culture and its appeal to dharma, and its concern for the after life and reincarnation.65 Another factor to be borne in mind when discussing the origin of untouchability relates to the composition of the Manusmriti (between 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE).66 It has been argued that the Smritis indicate a Hindu revival movement, which sought to re-claim those who had become Jains or Buddhists. Buddhism was of course a direct challenge to Brahmin supremacy and orthodoxy, in its assertion of equality and fraternity for all. For the Buddha had rejected the Vedic myth of the varna hierarchy.67 The Smritis effectively change the grounds for the caste hierarchy from a basis in racial purity to one in ritual purity. However the ritual purity is secured through the strict application of rules requiring marriage only from within one’s caste (endogamy).68 While Buddhism represents an alternative to the vision of society set out in the Smritis, it remains unclear as to the extent of the permeation of caste across the sub-continent and across society in general by the beginning of the Christian era and the time of the Apostolate of St Thomas. While it seems clear that South India was mainly peopled by adherents to Jainism and Buddhism at that time, it is unclear whether a varna hierarchy or an

62 S.M. Michael (ed.), Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values, (New Delhi, 1999), pp. 14-15. 63 Ibid., p. 15. 64 Stephen Fuchs, At the Bottom of Indian Society: The Harijan and Other Low Castes, (Delhi, 1981), p. 13. 65 Michael, p. 22. 66 See O. Shrirama, ‘Untouchability and Stratification in Indian Civilisation’, in Michael, Dalits in Modern India, p. 63f. 67 Rig Veda X, xc 11 and 12 quoted in R.C. Zaehner, Hindu Scriptures, (London, 1966), pp. 9-10. 68 Manusmriti, Chapter 3.

112

Christian Inculturation in India

equivalent was rooted in the Dravidian south before the Hindu ‘revival’ there from the 5th century CE. Thus in seeking to establish some sense of or criteria for ‘Indian-ness’ these various interpretations of history may well influence the construction of the notion of Indian cultural heritage today. As I have sought to demonstrate even those who seek to assert Hindutva also bring into question the relationship of the varna mythology, as well as current Hindu devotional practice to core ‘Indian-ness’, as much as the advocates of Dalit Liberation Theology. Furthermore it should be noted that eminent historians such as Romila Thapar have called the notion of an ‘Aryan people’ into question, describing this notion as, ‘perhaps the biggest red herring that was dragged across the path of India’s historians.’69 John Keay points out that the appeal to Aryanism by the Nazis in the 1930s has further discredited the notion of the Aryas.70 He argues that the use of arya in ancient Sanskrit literature is only adjectival. Thus it was used to distinguish a certain group from others, with a meaning relating to wealth or respectability. Indeed he suggests that ‘those who composed [the literature] were anything more than a proud minority self-consciously endeavouring to retain their mainly linguistic identity amongst a diverse, industrious, and probably indifferent local population is questionable.’71 This raises a range of questions, which fundamentally challenges many assumptions about the origins of Hinduism and ‘Indian-ness’. However it is also clear that whatever the relativization of claims for the aryas may entail, it does not relativize the status of the Vedas or the Sanskrit epics in contemporary India. There is a parallel in the Judeao-Christian Tradition concerning questions of the historicity of the Exodus – Conquest narrative, and of the Twelve Tribes of Israel as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. These ancient foundational narratives may well be constructs, but this does not invalidate the Hebrew Bible as ‘Scripture’. But it does call into question the conquest mythology, which has so often informed and given legitimacy to later Christian aggression. In parallel the questionable status of the aryas may also call into question the creation mythology, which underpins the varna hierarchy. This analysis of factors underlying what ‘Indian-ness’ may be said to be, makes it evident that the interpretation of the past is contested and problematic; that inevitably interpretations are rooted in the preconceptions and ideologies of those making the interpretations. The contested nature of these interpretations must surely serve to be a warning to anyone seeking to pursue the task of contextualization / inculturation, that any construct of ‘Indian-ness’ is always likely to be incomplete and partial. It is also clear that the more radical approach embraced by both the proponents of Hindutva and Dalit Liberation explicitly seek to challenge in different ways current expressions of ‘Indian-ness’. Thus the values inherent in ‘human rights’ and the pursuit of ‘justice’ in order to secure those values, of necessity become central to the task of contextualization/ inculturation. These detailed instances of the quest for ‘Indian-ness’ highlight the complexity of inter-cultural dealings in the present day world. Issues of identity and 69 Romila Thapar, ‘The Study of Society in Ancient India’, in Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, (London, 1996) (reprint), p. 212. 70 Keay, p. 19. 71 Ibid.

Art, Architecture and Topography

113

culture and of power-play, values and justice need to be faced by the churches as they seek to be faithful to the Gospel and to be authentic local communities. Values: Form and Content in Art My investigation relates not only to ideas and theories, which inform the task of inculturation, but also to the processes and outcomes of that task. Two particular outcomes are manifest in related areas, art and architecture, as the setting for the communal celebration of liturgy through text and ritual. These manifestations of the task of inculturation, are not simply to be treated as objects or artefacts to be quantified and described superficially, they require some understanding of aesthetics, in order to evaluate not only their usefulness but also their inherent values and implicit messages. Thus it is not enough to focus upon the end product, the external manifestation, i.e. the form which inculturation takes, it is also necessary to evaluate the content, and indeed the relation between the two. So in order to begin to understand and evaluate the outcomes of the task of inculturation in India, it will be necessary to examine the relationship between form and content in art and architecture, and in liturgy and ritual of Indian religious traditions. The concrete manifestations of Hindu art, architecture and in particular ritual is often caricatured in terms of an external formalism. This view has been challenged in a detailed examination of the origins, underlying theories and practice of bhakti in Hinduism. Bhakti is the offering of personal, one might say existential devotion, or worship to the divine, or to a specific deity. It may be understood and practised in relation to the common rituals, but its goal is personal spiritual growth and perfection, and is often characterized as a movement of the ‘heart’. Susmita Pande in Birth of Bhakti in Indian Religions and Art72 sought to dispel the understanding that bhakti was a phenomenon which only emerged in Hindu practice in the medieval period.73 Pande traces the practice of bhakti through the different strands of Hindu scriptures to the earliest period of recorded practice found in the Vedas. Hindu theologians and commentators on the whole support such a claim, although there are dissenting voices from such a consensus.74 Pande argues that from ancient times Indian art forms have been rooted in this understanding of bhakti. The form emanates ultimately from heaven and immediately from the “immanent space in the heart” resulting in a concord of seer and seen. … The quintessence of art lies neither in transient sensational pleasure nor in any utilitarian purpose but in a kind of bhakti, a form of self-surrender where the ego is subsumed in a higher transcendental spirit.75 72 Susmita Pande, Birth of Bhakti in Indian Religions and Art, (New Delhi, 1982). 73 In general the main Bhakti Movements are documented from c. 13th Century C.E., although the first may be as early as the 6th Century C.E., associated with the Tamil poet Karaikkal-ammaiyar. There are also nine forms of Bhakti Yoga. 74 See Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami, Hindu Dharma: The Universal Way of Life, (Mumbai, 1996), pp. 14f; Julius J. Lipner, Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, (London and New York, 1994), where ‘devotionalism’ (Bhakti) is entered in the index as passim. 75 Pande, p. 190.

114

Christian Inculturation in India

This understanding of Indian art forms is crucial in relation to the investigation of the values, which underpin the task of inculturation. It clearly sets out the close correlation of form and content, and an existential understanding of the aesthetic quality of Indian art forms. This clarifies the problems inherent in adaptation, in that it becomes evident that borrowing can never be a neutral or value-free exercise. In terms of Shaw’s method of Critical Contextualization, the relationship between form and content needs to be understood and evaluated in order to make a judgement about the appropriateness of form in relation to Christian values. Furthermore Pande’s exposition of art forms in terms of bhakti, also draws out the connection between bhakti, art forms and advaita (non-duality). Thus any attempt to adapt Indian art forms for Christian purposes is immediately faced by a profound ideological issue. However the issue need not necessarily be insurmountable. Works such as Dayanandan Francis’s, Aspects of Christian and Hindu Bhakti76 have explored possible connections between the traditions. Francis focuses in particular on parallels between Hindu understandings, and the Christian notion of being ‘in Christ’. The discussion of art and issues of adaptation is often focused in the long standing traditions of Hinduism, and there has been a concern to emphasize that the issues facing those involved in the task of inculturation are rooted in the ancient origins and traditions of Hindu culture and religion. However it is also crucial to note that art and architecture and worship are no more static phenomena in India than anywhere else. So it is necessary to recognize and assess the influence, which colonialism and the rise of Indian nationalist feeling in the quest for independence have upon the evolution of art forms, as well as the ongoing effects of globalization. While it may be clear that bhakti is an ancient element of Hindu practice, it is also the case that Hindu custom has been influenced by Christian practice of collective (congregational) worship.77 It is also the case that there emerged a highly selfconscious move towards a clearly defined ideology of Indian art.78 Alongside the ‘Renaissance’ to which M.M. Thomas refers, there emerged a new school of artists, associated with Abanindranath Tagore, which sought to develop a re-invigorated notion of ‘Indian-ness’ in art forms. ‘Abanindranath’s art movement … evolved its exclusive claims to a “nationalist” identity through the force of a new visual idiom, a new language of art criticism, and a special “Indian” aesthetic.’79 While on the one hand the exclusivist stance of this movement made moves towards adaptation potentially more difficult, on the other it assisted those Christians who perceived the need to adapt, with a clearer understanding and agenda for making Christian forms more ‘Indian’.80 The emergence in India of aspirations to independence and nation-hood, alongside the ‘Renaissance’ of Hindu spirituality and Indian art

76 T. Dayanandan Francis, Aspects of Christian and Hindu Bhakti, (Madras, 1987, 1997). 77 Jyoti Sahi, Holy Ground, (Auckland, 1998), p. 77. 78 Tapati Uha-Thakurta, The Making of a New ‘Indian’ Art: Artists, aesthetics and nationalism in Bengal, c. 1850-1920, (Cambridge, 1992), p. 3. 79 Tapati Uha-Thakurta, The Making of a New ‘Indian’ Art, p. 9. 80 See Coomaraswamy, Ananda K., Art and Swadeshi, (Madras, 1930), also Sri Aurobindo, The National Value of Art, (Pondicherry, 1922, 1994).

Art, Architecture and Topography

115

forms clearly provides a multi-layered background to the quest by Christians in India to discover ways and means by which to express the Christian tradition in Indian forms. The early advocates of indigenization,81 were undoubtedly influenced by their context: in terms of concern for social reform, political nationalism and revitalized art forms. Their engagement with the task of inculturation was driven by the desire that Christianity should be able to be seen as an indigenous tradition and not simply as an adjunct of British imperial rule. In seeking to identify and assess the value base of the Indian Christian advocates of indigenized art forms, it should be noted that such endeavours have occurred prior to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Also a number of commentators have already sought to provide analysis of the value base of indigenous Christian art in India. Gauvin Bailey argues that indigenous styles of art and architecture emerged as a result of Jesuit missionary activity in Goa and at the Court of Akbar. Bailey identifies the beginnings of a hybrid church architecture, a synthesis of Moghal and European styles, for example the Padres Santos Chapel, built north of Agra in 1611.82 He identifies a similar process in Moghal miniature and mural painting.83 It is not clear to what extent these developments were selfconscious moves towards an indigenous Christian style. However it is clear that the mutual respect between the Moghal emperor Akbar and the Jesuit missionaries allowed these developments to occur. John F. Butler also chronicles the emergence of indigenous styles of art and architecture. He recognized that There is … a real need for caution as regards Christian imagery; but caution ought not to mean mere conservative negation. There is scope and need for much research and experiment, especially as regards the meaning and use of symbols. Indigenizing of symbols goes deeper than indigenising of styles, and study about it is much needed.84

Here Butler demonstrates awareness that in advocating the use of Indian styles and symbols more is at stake than mere appearance or superficial decoration; meaning and value are also involved in adaptation. More recent writing by authors such as Jyoti Sahi85 and Masao Takenaka86 have explored the issues of creating indigenous styles. Both writers demonstrate a clear awareness that such development involves awareness of social, political and economic factors as well as an understanding of a more narrowly defined religious / cultural understanding of the meaning of styles and symbols. Unintentional Inculturation In this section I shall investigate what may be designated ‘unintentional inculturation’. I shall make an analysis according to the major Christian traditions to be found in South India: viz. the St Thomas / Syrian traditions, the Roman Catholic tradition 81 82 83 84 85 86

E.g. Brahmabandab Upadhyay, Sadhu Sundar Singh, V.S. Azariah. Bailey, p. 132. Ibid., p. 137. John F. Butler, Christian Art in India, (Madras: 1986), p. 16. Sahi, Holy Ground. Takenaka, Christian Art in Asia.

Christian Inculturation in India

116

and the Protestant traditions as well as the more recent Evangelical and Pentecostal churches. The timescale relating to each of these traditions varies quite considerably, which affects what is to be discerned in terms of unintentional inculturation. However I do not intend that the investigation be concerned primarily with developmental issues, but rather with what currently may be witnessed and interpreted. Syrian Churches In the tradition of the St Thomas Christians a number of common features are to be witnessed in contemporary practice, which may be said to be unintentional inculturation. That is to say that it is possible to draw parallels between what is to be witnessed in Christian Church buildings and their surroundings and Hindu Temples and their surroundings. Evidence will be drawn from within the modern state of Kerala, since this is where the main concentration of St Thomas Christians is to be found. While it is important to recognize that Christians of the St Thomas Tradition are fragmented by different rites and different ecclesial loyalties and jurisdictions, at the level of architecture and practice there are undoubtedly features common to most if not all of the ecclesial jurisdictions (Table 4.1).

Table 4.1

St Thomas Christian Traditions East Syrian (Chaldean)

West Syrian (Antiochene) Reformed Syrian Mar Thoma Church

Oriental Orthodox Malabar Indian Independent Orthodox Syrian Church Church

Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church

Eastern Catholic SyroMalankara Catholic Church

SyroMalabar Catholic Church

East Syrian Assyrian Church of the East

I will investigate rites of these different jurisdictions in the following chapter. However I shall also be discussing certain features, which strictly speaking relate to ritual or ceremonial. In following the chapter on worship I shall focus on rituals and sacraments, which will entail some overlap with elements touched upon here. The division between the spaces for worship and the worship, which occurs within them is an arbitrary one, so there will inevitably be some cross over between the two chapters. I begin with a discussion of the style of Church architecture to be found among the St Thomas Christians in Kerala. The exterior of church buildings is often characterized by different layers of tiled roofs over the nave and sanctuary spaces of church buildings. The higher roof usually covering the sanctuary is typical of the older church buildings, and it is usual to point to parallels with the style of Hindu

Art, Architecture and Topography

Figure 4.2

117

Shiva temple, Chenganoor, Kerala

temples in Kerala. A particular instance of such parallels may be found in the town of Chenganoor, south of Kottayam. The church in Chenganoor dated by some to 4th century CE and a nearby Hindu Temple share a number of common features and there is evidence to suggest that Hindus and Christians employed the same architect.87 Both buildings continue to be places of worship and continue to evolve through processes of upkeep and restoration (Figures 4.2 and 4.3). However the similarities are not confined to the main buildings themselves but extend to their precincts as well. Indeed one might argue that the parallels are more evident in the precincts. Both temple and church have an elaborate gateway or gopura88 leading into the compound of each, and within each compound standing stone lamps (vilakkumadas) are to be found which are exactly similar. The gateway into the church compound and the porch and entrance into the main church building are extensively decorated with motifs, which suggest a combining of traditional Hindu and Christian motifs, mainly from the animal kingdom. In the precincts of church and temple various forms of obelisk or stambhas are to be seen.89 These include granite crosses and flagpoles. Outside the church compound at Chenganoor a large standing cross is to be found and the plinth of this incorporates the lotus flower and various animal and Christian motifs. The plinth also incorporates places for oil lamps or wicks, and the 87 E.g. Cecil Hargreaves and K.G. Mathew, 25 Indian Churches, (Calcutta and Delhi), 1975, pp. 51f. 88 See James Menachery, ‘Thomas Christian Architecture’, in The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Vol.2, George Menachery (ed.), (Trichur, 2000), p. 142. 89 Menachery, ‘Thomas Christian Architecture’, p. 139.

Christian Inculturation in India

118

Figure 4.3

Orthodox Church, Chenganoor, Kerala

possibility of a small fire. At this stage it may seem questionable to designate these phenomena and the practice, which lead to them as ‘unintentional’. However the designation is an attempt to distinguish between phenomena of the twentieth century which are rooted in the deliberate quest to make Christianity appear more ‘Indian’, and those phenomena which pre-date that quest. In the years prior to the twentieth century I want to suggest that the phenomena to be seen are the product of a shared cultural heritage, in which ‘borrowing’ and ‘cross-over’ occurred and existed in an un-self-conscious way. The example of the church and temple at Chenganoor is not unique. However there is clearer evidence here that Hindus and Christians employed the same architect. The other ‘obelisk’ feature, which churches and temples share in common are the large wooden or copper or brass flagpoles (kodimara) in the precincts. In both traditions the hoisting of the flag (kodiyettu) signifies the beginning of a major festival.90 There are other examples of pillar stone lamps (vilakkumadas)91 to be seen in church precincts, such as at one of the seven churches of St Thomas at Niranam. These lamps are a particular feature of Hindu temples in Kerala and are generally not found outside of that state. At Niranam there is also a fine example of domestic Keralan architecture in the precinct, which was the priest’s house and now is the resting place of relics of the Apostle Thomas, given recently by the Catholics in Mylapore to the Malankara Indian Orthodox church. There are also numerous examples of standing stone crosses, of which square or polygonal plinths generally 90 91

Ibid., p. 140. Ibid.

Art, Architecture and Topography

119

are decorated with a combination of Hindu and Christian motifs, and with wickholders designed to shelter the flames from wind and rain.92 A particular example of an evolved use of the stone lamp is to be seen at another of the seven churches of St Thomas, at Palayur (near Guruvayur) where an elaborate fountain-like structure combines seven lamps and a smaller stone cross in combination with Hindu motifs. Alongside this structure there is also another stone lamp, which is understood to be of a considerable age. This is very akin to a stone lamp to be seen at the birth place shrine of Adi Shankara in Kaladi.93 Another distinctive feature in the buildings of the St Thomas Christians, is the separation of the nave from the sanctuary by a curtain or screen with up to three curtained doorways.94 This is typical of Syrian Christian traditions, although today it is retained more in the West Syrian Rite, Malankara churches than in the East Syrian Rite, Malabar churches. The sanctuary (madubaha) is interpreted by some commentators as bearing a strong resemblance to the garbha-griha of the temple.95 The decoration and presentation of the screens, which separate sanctuary and nave are often crafted in a style, which evokes a sense of Indian-ness in its ornamentation and today in the use of small coloured electric lights. Such decoration, incorporating modern technology is also to be seen in the decoration of altar-pieces and the ‘reredos’, as well as on occasion tombs. Here the effects of technology and globalization are to be seen in the development of style and culture in church tradition and Indian society in general. Another distinctive ‘Syrian’ feature may be seen on occasion in the retention of a ‘bema’ in the centre of the nave. A modern example is to be found in the chapel of the Malankara Indian Orthodox Catholicos in Kottayam. On the whole this tradition, which also relates to the internal arrangement of a classic Jewish synagogue96 has been lost. However there are examples of pulpits in Keralan churches, which may have echoes in the ‘bema’ tradition, such as that in Palai, where the pulpit is emerging from the mouth of a sea creature and is supported by it. This development may also be the product of European, particularly Portuguese, influence, which is notable in the re-worked style of the façade of the older church at Palai. James Menachery comments that many pulpits are designed in the form of a flower, usually the lotus, some of which are ‘carried by an elephant on its trunk’.97 A further example of the evolution of an Indian Christian style is to be seen in the St Thomas Cross (Nasrani Menorah) which often adorns the exterior of buildings as a roof finial or piece of stone or plaster work, or internally as stone work over an altar (Persian Crosses)98 or as the motif on the sanctuary curtain. While this has its roots in

92 E.g. Standing crosses at Chenganoor and Angamali. 93 Adi Shankara’s shrine at Kalady run by the Sringeri Math is situated on the bank of the river. Of the two major shrines within, one is dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya and the other to Goddess Saradamba, guardian deity of Sringeri. The samadhi of Adi Shankara’s mother Aryamba is also located here. 94 This is typical of the arrangement of Oriental Orthodox church interiors. 95 Menachery, ‘Thomas Christian Architecture’, p. 143. 96 See for example the bema in the Synagogue in Cochin. 97 Menachery, ‘Thomas Christian Architecture’, p. 145. 98 Ibid., pp. 145-6.

120

Christian Inculturation in India

the ‘Persian Cross’, it is certainly the case that this motif has evolved in a particular way among the St Thomas Christians of Kerala, over many centuries. An area of particular development among some of the St Thomas Christians has been the decoration of churches with wall paintings.99 This has occurred through the influence of Portuguese settlers, and examples of churches decorated in this manner are the Syro-Malankara church of Cheriapally, Kottayam100 and the Jacobite Syrian church at Angamali.101 This development or evolution in the Syrian tradition, which generally does not employ representational art or icons as in Greek Orthodoxy, is something which may be traced to both European and Hindu influences. There are striking parallels to be drawn between the style of the wall paintings in Mattancherry palace, Kochi102 and in the Hindu temple in Etumanoor103 and those in the churches, indicated above, in Kottayam and Angamali. This suggests a rich crossing-over of styles and influences from the sixteenth century possibly into the eighteenth century. It is also possible to interpret this development in terms of the emergence of a distinctive Indian style of Christian church architecture and decoration, which initially emerged as a result of the arrival of European colonists. One further example of cultural cross over to be witnessed in the St Thomas traditions is the almost universal use of brass oil lamps. The older tradition is of a suspended oil lamp from the roof in the middle of the nave. But more recently standing brass oil lamps have been introduced which vary in scale and are often surmounted by the St Thomas Cross, although the motif of the peacock or other Hindu decoration is not unknown. How far one is to say that the use of the lamp is ‘Hindu’ rather than ‘Indian’ lies at the very core of the debates about inculturation and Indian-ness. The use of lamps in churches and in Christian homes is widespread among St Thomas Christians and is evidently a long standing and deeply rooted practice, which like other customs may simply be an indication of ‘Indian-ness’ rather than of borrowing from their Hindu neighbours either consciously or otherwise. In concluding this analysis of ‘unintentional inculturation’ among the St Thomas Christians of Kerala, the work of Pauly Maniyattu, Heaven on Earth, which addresses the theology of space and time in the East Syrian liturgical tradition, makes a significant contribution to the interpretation of cultural cross-over between the Christian and Hindu traditions. Pauly Maniyattu argues that there are strong parallels between understandings of church buildings in East Syrian tradition, and understandings of the Hindu Temple. This relates in particular to understandings of the Church as both the people of the worshipping congregation and the building being understood in terms of the ‘mountain of God’.104 Maniyattu also draws out 99 See George Menachery, ‘Christian Contribution to Art and Architecture in India’, Christian Contribution to Nation Building: A Third Millennium Enquiry, Ponnumuthan, Aerath and Menachery, (eds.) (published privately, 2004). 100 Cheriapally was built in 1579 by the local Rajah, ruler of the native state for his Christian subjects and it shows strong temple architectural influences. 101 Morth Mariam Church, Angamali, established c. 409 CE. 102 Mattancherry Palace or the Dutch Palace was built in 1555 CE. 103 The Temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva was built during the sixteenth century CE. 104 Pauly Maniyattu, Heaven on Earth: The Theology of liturgical spacetime in the East Syrian Qurbana, (Rome, 1995), pp. 21-2.

Art, Architecture and Topography

121

parallels between East Syrian traditions of the church building and Chaldean or Akkadian cosmogony in terms of both mountain and city.105 He also compares these traditions with traditions in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus he writes, The Jews built their temple with due respect for cosmic symbolism. The court of the temple represented the sea (that is, the lower regions), the holy place represented the earth, and the Holy of Holies, heaven. According to Hebrew tradition, the rock of Jerusalem went down deep into the waters below the earth (tehom). According to the Mishna, the temple stands exactly above the tehom.106

So Maniyattu argues that there are parallel understandings of sacred space in Mesopotamian, Israelite, Indian and East Syrian traditions. The Christian ‘temple’ is to be understood as the centre of the cosmos and the meeting place of the visible and invisible worlds; a place where during the Eucharist it may be said that heaven is on earth.107 This Christian understanding of the worship space, being so close to the Indian understanding has meant that ‘In India the church buildings (of the East Syrians) were built in the fashion of the Hindu temples. The only Christian distinction was the crosses that were put upon the roofs and in front in the open air.’108 As regards the interior of the church buildings, Maniyattu does not suggest any direct ‘Hindu’ influence upon the ordering of the interior. However there are none the less striking parallels to be observed. Thus the curtained sanctuary of the East Syrian tradition is seen as akin to the garbha-griha of the temples; while the use of standing oil lamps (nilavilakku) or hanging lamps (tukkuvilakku) is something shared by both traditions.109 The theological underpinning of these perceptions of sacred space and in particular of the sanctuary is rooted in East Syrian interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews.110 Maniyattu offers a clear rationale for the evolution of architectural style and form among the East Syrian St Thomas Christians. He interprets this as being a parallel expression of a shared heritage between different religious traditions. The recognition of such commonality is certainly one way in which the task of contextualization / inculturation may be approached, and some Christian traditions have been exploring the potentiality of such a approach in the present day. Roman Catholic Churches In the church buildings of Latin rite Roman Catholics one may also witness levels of unintentional inculturation. These relate to the use of standing brass oil lamps, which are generally found near to or in the sanctuary, or associated with the veneration of 105 Ibid., pp. 272-6. 106 Ibid., p. 291 – tehom (Hebrew ‘the depth’). 107 Ibid., p. 315. 108 Ibid., p. 315. 109 Ibid., p. 316. Interestingly he also argues that the sanctuary curtain is not only to be seen as related to the Holy Place of the Jerusalem temple, but also to Mesopotamian temples. 110 Ibid., e.g. p. 324.

Christian Inculturation in India

122

the image of a saint. Another striking custom (to Western eyes) is the use of flower garlands to decorate lecterns, altars, statues and pictures. There are other examples of such inculturation, which I will discuss in the following chapter. However in terms of the style of church buildings and their decoration and furnishing most of those built before the middle of the twentieth century depend very directly on European concepts of a church building and the precepts of neo-Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Protestant Churches: CSI, Lutheran Examples of unintentional inculturation in Protestant traditions are more difficult to identify. Generally speaking such iconography and symbolism as there is, is dependent solely on the traditions of Western European Protestantism. There are variations in symbolism, which relate in older churches to the founding mission, which originally built the church. However while the use of lamps and garlands is not unknown in Protestant churches it is much less common than in Roman Catholic or St Thomas / Syrian traditions. Indeed some town churches retain features such as ‘commandment boards’111 on the East Wall of the Sanctuary in churches of Anglican origin, which have largely disappeared long ago in England. Takenaka provides a pertinent critique of the effects of Protestant traditions, due to the fear of idolatry, many Protestant church buildings in Asia focussed on the pulpit. Because of the emphasis on preaching the word of God, any consideration of creative forms of artistic expression was seldom pursued and usually was entirely neglected. Consequently, many Asians accustomed to appreciate the artistic atmosphere of traditional Asian religions feel Christian church buildings are more like Western chapter halls rather than places which promote a religious atmosphere for ordinary Asian people. 112

However in villages one can often find a tradition, which is much less self-conscious about its western or missionary origins, where local cultural expression may be found. For instance in the year 2000 many village churches could be seen decorated with paper streamers and tinsel and such like, which one can often witness as street decorations, for secular or religious festivities of all sorts. This again points to an ‘Indian-ness’, which is not dependent on Brahminical Hinduism, notable for its exuberant use of colour and lights and gateway structures, evoking an ethos of celebration and festivity. Road Side Shrines Another feature of unintentional inculturation is to be seen in the phenomena of wayside or road side shrines. Stone or brick structures, often plastered and sometimes 111 From the late sixteenth century the East wall of parish churches in England were adorned with painted boards with texts of the Lord’s Prayer, Apostles’ Creed and Ten Commandments – such are still to be found for example St Francis Kochi, and St Mark’s Bangalore. 112 Takenaka, Christian Art in Asia, p. 11.

Art, Architecture and Topography

123

glazed are to be found in abundance in South India. Usually three or more storeys high, adorned with an appropriate symbol on top, the Christian examples usually commemorate a saint, although memorials of Christ are not unknown. Parallels with these Christian shrines are to be found in examples of shrines to Hindu [local] deities, famous gurus or shrines to a particular [local] politician. Again this suggests an Indian rather than strictly Hindu phenomenon. Generally speaking Christian examples are built by Roman Catholic or St Thomas Christians, although way side memorials relating to Protestant traditions are not unknown. A religious way side shrine will usually have incorporated into the design the possibility of burning oil soaked wicks or of lighting a small fire. And indeed where this is not incorporated into the design, it nonetheless often becomes local custom to do so. Here can be witnessed the deepseated nature of such customs and expectations, which characterize popular ‘Indianness’. Intentional Inculturation: Buildings The expression of intentional inculturation in the building of churches in India has been documented in three publications. The first of these 25 Indian Churches was published in 1975 by Cecil Hargreaves, who provided written descriptions and K.G. Mathew, who provided line drawings. This also includes an essay by Jyoti Sahi on Some Thoughts on the Design of Churches in India, in which he set out three principles to guide experimentation in seeking an indigenous church architecture. A second publication by Jyoti Sahi and Paul Middleton, Adisthan: Sacred Space, Indian Christian Ventures, was published in 1993.113 This extends the earlier work and reflects on buildings inspired by the work of NBCLC and its founder Father D.S. Amalorpavadass. Thirdly Jyoti Sahi published a larger work, Holy Ground: A New Approach to the Mission of the Church in India in 1998.114 Together these three works provide a comprehensive overview of the main examples of intentional inculturation in the building of churches in India during the twentieth century. Reflection on the need to undertake the task of inculturation has been ongoing in South Asia since 1966 when the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC) meet in Hong Kong and produced its statement Confessing the Faith in Asia Today.115 Reflecting on this statement Takenaka argues for the need for Asian Christians to discover a means of inheriting understandings of sacred space from both the Christian tradition and from local Asian traditions. This means that there is a need to celebrate nature as well as salvation-history.116 Also he suggests that as the meeting place of God and human beings, there must be a special symbolic space of holiness. … Similarly, there should be a holy place set apart to symbolise the encounter between time and eternity. Moses took off his shoes when he saw the burning bush since 113 Jyoti Sahi and Paul Middleton, Adisthan: Sacred Space, Indian Christian Ventures, (Bangalore, 1993). 114 Jyoti Sahi, Holy Ground: A New Approach to the Mission of the Church in India, (Auckland, 1998). 115 Takenaka, The Place Where God Dwells, p. 12. 116 Ibid., pp. 14-15.

124

Christian Inculturation in India this place was the holy place where God revealed himself in the midst of the wilderness. (Exodus 3:5) We need to have a special space of holy emptiness in our church. 117

In order to demonstrate this aspect of inculturation I will examine a series of church buildings, designed and built during the second half of the twentieth century in South India. This is a deliberate choice, because it can be argued that there is an imperative behind and outcome from each of these ventures, which shares a common vision of Indian-ness and of the necessity for and parameters of inculturation. I shall look at instances in a variety of traditions: viz. the Church of South India, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malankara Church, as well as an ecumenical example (though this is essentially set in a Protestant context). The architectural expression of the quest for an indigenous Church in India began in the early twentieth century. The Revd Alfred Coore who worked mainly in Delhi, designed a church at the Turkoman Gate, which was completed in 1906.118 While this example is not as clearly indigenized as later examples of his work, the early date demonstrates that he along with others were turning their minds to creating an Indian form of church architecture. Writing later on Coore explores the need to develop such forms: …there is a strong tendency to simply reproduce all the features and arrangements to which we ourselves are accustomed and they have easily become traditional in India. The same things are seen in English churches in India, and a feeling of solidarity is produced. Now, however, another point of view has been put forward. Educated Indians have a real, if somewhat vague, desire to realise Christianity in an Indian dress, and if this is to be done churches would not simply be copies of English ones…119

Coore was responsible for the design of a number of indigenized churches over the next four decades.120 His work testifies to the growing awareness of the need for architectural inculturation in order to facilitate the emergence of an indigenous church in India. Another example of indigenous church architecture in this period is to be seen at the Kristukula Ashram, Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu, which was founded by Dr S. Jesudasan and Dr Forrester Paton. The use of indigenous styles of architecture was pioneered here – the prayer hall or Jeyabalam was designed by Jesudasan and built in a Dravidian style, with a pillared hall and gopurams over the gateway to the courtyard as well as over the sanctuary. The jeyabalam or ‘house of prayer’ was begun in 1925 and completed in 1933.121 Another example is that of the Cathedral of the Epiphany, commissioned and partly designed by Bishop Azariah, begun in 1915 and completed in 1939.122 The Cathedral is built deliberately in a style which 117 Ibid., p. 16. 118 See Hargreaves, p. 7. 119 A. Coore, ‘Indian Church Buildings’, Cambridge Mission to Delhi, 12 (October 1927), cited by Sahi in Holy Ground, p. 63. 120 E.g. The Chapel of the Brotherhood, Delhi 1940s, and Almut Memorial Church, Mehruali, Delhi 1928. 121 See Hargreaves, p. 41f. and Sahi, Adisthan: Sacred Space, p. 28. 122 See Hargreaves, p. 25f. and Sahi, Adisthan: Sacred Space, p. 28f.

Art, Architecture and Topography

125

combines elements of Hindu and Muslim architecture, which reflects the tradition of the former state of Hyderabad in which Dornakal diocese is located (Figure 4.4). Despite the low caste background of the converts in the diocese, and also of Bishop Azariah’s own polemic against caste and casteism,123 the Cathedral was built in lavish style. Azariah defended the luxury: ‘it was just because his people were so poor that he had to give them one touch of magnificence in their lives, and this had been most fittingly in the form of a share in a fine diocesan church.’124

Figure 4.4

Cathedral of the Epiphany, Dornakal, Andhra Pradesh

Bishop Azariah’s understanding is testimony that in the mid-twentieth century it was still commonplace to assume that certain styles were a fitting expression for all members of Indian society. The decision to pursue a policy of indigenization remained in the hands of the few. The question of the extent to which such policy was essentially a Westerner’s policy is something which needs further investigation. Susan Billington Harper argues that Bishop Azariah’s understanding of the need for inculturation was not simply borrowed from Western missionaries and the European hierarchs. None the less she points to the highly ambivalent nature of the endeavour

123 Sahi, p. 143, citing Susan Billington Harper. 124 Butler, p. 145.

126

Christian Inculturation in India

in which Azariah was caught up.125 She argues that in the period prior to Indian independence that the zeal of Western missionaries ‘for indigenisation – for the development of some kind of Indian ethnic self-determination and self-expression in ecclesiastical matters – ultimately threatened to undermine itself by becoming another form of foreign domination.’126 Two examples of indigenous church architecture from the Lutheran tradition are also instructive. The Church at Usulumpatti, a town near Madurai in Tamil Nadu was the vision of the Swedish missionaries Jan Himmelstrand and his wife, and was completed in 1937. They commissioned a church in local style on the plan of an enclosed temple hall (mandapam), surmounted by a dome rather than gopuram. The precincts include a bell tower. The buildings include the rich use of Christian / Indian/ Hindu motifs on the pillars and the window grills. This example demonstrates that early initiatives are to be found across a variety of Protestant traditions. A generation later a chapel was built at the Gurukul Lutheran Seminary in Chennai in 1967. The nave is constructed in the style of an enclosed mandapam with the intention of invoking the sense of ‘religious pilgrimage’.127 The altar is a particular distinctive feature designed to evoke ‘the “saimanthangi” or “burdenbearer” type, an adaptation for Christian worship of the stone platforms or stone slabs sometimes found on roadsides as resting-places for travellers with heavy loads.’128 These two Lutheran examples suggest that adaptation can draw upon traditions at a number of different levels, seeking to evoke not only a general Indian-ness but very specific connotations and connections. Following Independence the work of Joseph John, a Church of South India pastor, in seeking an indigenous architectural style is significant. He worked among the poor and marginalized in the CSI diocese of Vellore and although he himself died in 1998 his vision of a Christian community at Deenabandupuram on the border between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh continues. The period of the building of these churches was the 1950s and 1960s (Figure 4.5). Joseph John’s vision was of a Christianity, which had an Indian as well as a compassionate face. He drew his inspiration from his contact with Drs Jesudasan and Forrester-Paton at the Christu Kula Ashram, where he had lived following his formal education. He was responsible for commissioning and building a number of churches. In association with two of the buildings he also began local festivals, which are now attended by many thousands of pilgrims each year on the dry river bed at Poonai, north of Vellore, or on Zion Hills west of Vellore. For the festival the church building at Poonai is extended with temporary structures to give cover to at least a proportion of the worshipping pilgrims. A notable feature of this church is the baptismal font shaped in the form of a lotus flower, with a cross planted in its midst. All the church buildings which Joseph John was responsible for, are designed in the form of a pillared temple hall (mandapam), which are built from stone, with motifs carved on them which usually combine Hindu and Christian symbols. The east wall of 125 Susan Billington Harper, ‘Ironies of Indigenization: Some Cultural Repercussions of Mission in South India’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, (January 1995): 13-20. 126 Ibid., p. 18. 127 Hargreaves, p. 33. 128 Ibid.

Art, Architecture and Topography

Figure 4.5

127

Church at Deenabandupuram, built by Joseph John

the buildings is generally solid, while the other sides are open to the elements, and in the centre of the East wall in most examples is a niche or alcove, which is reminiscent of the womb-house (Garbha Griha) [holy of holies] to be found in the inner sanctum of a temple. However it is notable that these niches are on a smaller scale and less detailed than parallels found in Catholic examples, where the blessed sacrament is

128

Christian Inculturation in India

usually housed. In these Protestant examples this did not arise and so functionality indicates no need to make the space larger or more elaborate. South of Vellore in the village of Muttattur129 there is an example which combines Hindu and Muslim styles, with four towers reminiscent of minarets at the corners of the platform on which the church is built. This has a domed tower or gopuram (fortress of the cows)130 above the sanctuary. This Indo-Saraceno style is akin to the style adopted by Lutyens for the government buildings in New Delhi. According to his own precepts and expectations Joseph John was successful in creating an Indian style for his churches. However his initiative was not, on the whole adopted by others. Undoubtedly cost is a factor in this, but reluctance or suspicion of the imperatives behind such projects must also be reckoned to play their part. On the other side of Tamil Nadu near the Western coast of South India, at the border lands between Tamil Nadu and Kerala a Belgian Roman Catholic priest Fr James Tombeur131 had a similar vision and commissioned and built a series of indigenized parish churches in the 1960s and 1970s.132 Fr Tombeur belonged to the Society of Auxiliaries of Missions (SAM) along with his guru Fr Jules Monchanin. SAM was inspired by the vision of Fr Vincent Lebbe (1877-1940) whose work was in China. Alongside other new orders SAM sought to promote the contextualization of church life. Fr Tombeur’s work was centred on one large parish, which had a number of scattered congregations. His vision was of a greater diversity in style from that to be witnessed in the work of Joseph John. One at Nellayan Puram (1965) is built in a style inspired by the Tamil style of temple building, with a tall gopuram at the entrance, which is said to mirror the style of the Meenakshee Temple in Madurai. Another at Melpalai is built in a Keralan style, with typical pitched tiled roofs (Figure 4.6). Another is built as a temple hall, complete with outdoor drama stage and water tank. Here however the temple hall is enclosed. Another example is built in the style of a village ashram at Edaikodu. In the achievement of his vision Fr James sought to express Indian-ness in a variety of styles, and combined the traditional with modern techniques and designs as well, thus creating a new style of Indian architecture. It is interesting that the sanctuary space in each building is also different, though in most the idea of the womb house is explored and re-worked usually to provide a place for the sacrament house. Fr James’ work shows a development from the initial work of Joseph John in that here diversity and novelty is explored as well as traditional methods, motifs and styles. His work is also a witness to the increased interest in inculturation following Vatican II. A further example of the effects of Vatican II can be witnessed in the Chapel at the National, Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre at Bangalore. Here under the inspiration and guidance of Fr D.S. Amalorpavadass the whole campus was designed to express a synthesis of Indian and Christian religious traditions, and to embody this synthesis in Indian architectural styles.133 The chapel was constructed 129 Sahi, Holy Ground, p. 158. 130 Ibid., p. 31. 131 James Tombeur, Led by God’s Hand, (Thirumalai Ashram, 1990). 132 Sahi, Adisthan: Sacred Space, pp. 20-24. 133 D.S. Amalorpavadass, NBCLC Campus: Milieu of God-Experience: An Artistic Synthesis of Spirituality, (Bangalore, 1982).

Art, Architecture and Topography

Figure 4.6

129

Church at Melpalai, built by James Tombeur

as the converging point of the whole campus. It has a cruciform ground plan (Figure 4.7). However the building is consciously designed to express the theology of a temple as a place of encounter with God. Traditional Hindu motifs are employed to create a chapel of the blessed sacrament. The sacrament house itself and the gopuram situated above it each explicitly draw upon the conceptuality of Indian / Hindu spiritual traditions and conceptuality.134 While the wrought iron designs of the windows express Biblical and Vedic traditions and symbols side by side. For example these include depictions of the four asramas and the four Gospels.135 Following on from the impetus towards inculturation provided by Vatican II and mediated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Fr Amalorpavadass sought to present India with a worked example of a building which expressed a conscious synthesis between Indian / Hindu and Christian religious traditions. Here the intention is not simply to provide Christianity with an Indian face, but to express a deep-seated convergence and mutuality between the traditions. In recent tears the new director of NBCLC Fr Thomas D’Sa was commissioned a new prayer hall as well as centre for the exploration of Indian dance traditions. This pursuit of convergence and mutuality between Hinduism and Christianity is also the inspiration and goal of two ashrams in South India: Shantivanam and Kurisumala. At Shantivanam there is an attempt to express western Benedictine 134 Ibid., pp. 38-9. 135 Ibid., pp. 21-37.

Christian Inculturation in India

130

Figure 4.7

Saccidananda Chapel, NBCLC, Bangalore, Karnataka

monasticism in an Indian style. The chapel, which is crowned with a gopuram and built as a temple hall, also incorporates a womb-house for the blessed sacrament.136 Here the vision of the founder Fr Monchanin is given explicit and concrete form in the exterior style of the chapel building, as well as in the internal form of the worship space. The outer gateway is built as a gopuram with a three-headed trimurti, depicting God as Holy Trinity. The blending of Indian and Christian religious traditions is explicitly acknowledged and celebrated. Between the gopuram and the ‘mandapam’ or outer court of the Temple is a cross enclosed in a circle. The circle represents the cosmic mystery, the wheel of the Law (dharma) of Hindu and Buddhist tradition. The cross at the centre of the circle signifies that the cross of Christ is the centre of the universe and of human existence. At the centre of the cross is the word om which in Hindu tradition is the Word from which the whole creation comes and through which we came to the knowledge of God, and is thus a fitting symbol of Christ the Word of God.137

The detailed inter-weaving of Indian and Christian traditions is founded on the understanding that there is the possibility of a deep-seated convergence between the two traditions. Indeed the monks and nuns of Shantivanam live out that convergence 136 Sahi, Holy Ground, pp. 81-83, 110. 137 Saccidananda Ashram, (Tannirpalli, Kulitalai, Shantivanam, no date).

Art, Architecture and Topography

131

in their daily living and worshipping. Thus the buildings have shaped and provided the context for the inherent pre-understanding of convergence. The expression of the ideals of convergence and mutuality is parallel at Kurisumala, however the exterior of the buildings including the chapel is not constructed in an explicitly Indian style. However the internal arrangement of the worship space combines the SyroMalankara tradition with various indigenous elements. Another attempt to create a whole campus in a style, which expresses Indian-ness by combing traditional and modern styles was made by the architect Laurie Baker for the campus of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary at Arasaradi, Madurai. In the midst of the campus is set the Chapel, built in the style of a pillared temple hall, surmounted by a modern styled gopuram (Figure 4.8). The hall space is open at the sides and is flanked by enclosed gardens. Over the sanctuary from inside the gopuram hangs a large modern style lamp. Also designed to complement the Chapel is a brass relief of Christ the King, who is depicted as an Indian Chola king.138 The example at TTS of a church building in a modern Indian style has the marks of Protestant simplicity, and provides a flexible worship space, which has a subtle indigenous ethos. Laurie Baker gives us his own reflections on the Chapel at TTS, I was asked that [the chapel] should be simple, functional, twentieth century, Indian, and that it should ‘look like a church’! NO one could tell me exactly what they meant by ‘Indian’ or by ‘looking like a church’! The early Christians had to borrow and adapt to their own usage the pagan buildings around them. In this twentieth century in India we still have almost no indigenous church architecture or style, so I decided that we must be both bold and humble and make use of the beautiful local Dravidian temple styles of building. I hope we will learn to be grateful to those who have kept this beautiful architecture alive and living for us to admire and want to adapt to our own usage. The idea behind the design is that everyone, from whatever religion, will associate the gopuram shape with worship. Our cross above it leaves no doubt that it is a place of Christian worship. Within, the aim is to achieve simplicity of space to allow for the easy performance of different types of meetings for worship… There is nothing fancy or distracting so that all our attention may be directed towards the altar and what is going on in the sanctuary. Rather than emphasising the idea of ‘mystery’, or of something holy and apart and unattainable, the flood of extra light coming down into the sanctuary is to remind us that Jesus showed us that he was Light in a world of darkness, and the openness of the sanctuary is there to remind us of the free access all can have to that great Light.139

Finally there are twenty-first century examples of church building I would like to mention. The first is that of the newly completed cathedral at Tiruvalla for the SyroMalanakara Church. A modern church had been built in 1974 by Laurie Baker,140 138 This relates to the name arasardi, footstep of the king, which refers to the visit of the king of Sweden. He originally gave the land for the establishment of a Lutheran mission on the site in the early 1900s. 139 Laurie W. Baker, ‘The Theology of Bricks and Tiles’, in, Venturing into Life: The Story of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Samuel Amirtham and C.R.W. David (eds.), (Madurai, 1990), pp. 233-4. 140 See Sahi, Holy Ground, pp. 145-7, and Gautam Bhatia, Laurie Baker: Life, Works and Writings, (New Delhi, 1994), pp. 183-8.

132

Figure 4.8

Christian Inculturation in India

Chapel of Christ the King, TTS, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Art, Architecture and Topography

Figure 4.9

133

St John’s Cathedral, Tiruvalla, Kerala

however the concrete of the building deteriorated to such an extent, that it has been re-built to a new and larger design, which echoes Baker’s original in its appeal to the local Keralan temple architecture. The building is circular and the roof conical (Figure 4.9). The interior is a synthesis of Syrian, Indian and modern styles. With signs and symbols inspired by Christian and Hindu sources, and a large brass standing oil lamp as a central feature of the ‘nave’ space, and a large mosaic / fresco adorning the apse wall of the sanctuary. In precincts of the cathedral there is a cylindrical bell tower or campanile, and a traditional metal flag pole, as is often found in the precincts of the ancient Syrian churches. The second example, St Andrew’s church at Kothagudem in Andhra Pradesh in the CSI diocese of Dornakal, was dedicated in 2005 (Figure 4.10). Here a lively, large congregation of charismatic Christians has recently commissioned and built a church in a modern indigenous style. The pastor and the church committee commissioned a Hindu architect to design the church. The nave is an enclosed temple hall with an apsidal end. The façade of the building draws together elements of Hindu, Moghul and Christian architectural style and traditions. Outside the Western façade in the church precinct is a large open air octagonal baptismal font suitable for the full immersion of adults. This represents a courageous and bold attempt by the present day Charismatic tradition of the Christians in Dornakal diocese to find a contemporary idiom for indigenous church architecture, which echoes the vision of the founder of their diocese V.S. Azariah.

134

Christian Inculturation in India

Figure 4.10 St Andrew’s Church, Kothagudem, Andhra Pradash

The emergence of Christian theology from the perspective of the Dalit and tribal (Adivasi) peoples is a factor, which needs also to be brought into dialogue with those who have been involved in the processes of intentional inculturation in terms of the design and construction of church buildings / sacred spaces. An important feature of the experience of Dalit people who become Christians or Muslims, is the possibility of freedom of access to the sacred space [church building or mosque], from which as outcastes from the varna system they were excluded. Such access is highly symbolic of a person’s changed status in society. This changed status was in some people’s eyes reinforced by the difference between church buildings and Hindu temples. The western model of a church offered a clear alternative to the temple and was often situated at the centre of the news cities, which the colonialists built. The church gave its members a new identity, especially to those Indian Christians who as Dalits had formerly been denied access to the Hindu temple.141

However following independence such church buildings were clearly identified as leftovers from the British occupation, and such perceptions of Christianity meant that to some extent Indian Christians were marginalized from the mainstream of Indian life. Jyoti Sahi interprets this marginalization as making, ‘The present position of 141 Sahi, Holy Ground, p. 163.

Art, Architecture and Topography

135

Christian Dalits as twice-alienated … often a direct outcome of nationalism and a return to a Hindu caste-ridden society, which has become politicised.’142 One way in which Indian Christians can counteract this direction in Indian society is to resist such regressive tendencies by appealing to a more global perspective. It is in the light of these trends that the achievements of earlier attempts at architectural inculturation are being rejected by Adivasi and Dalit peoples. As those whose forebears have for millennia been excluded from mainstream Indian society, the Adivasi and Dalit peoples have no interest in borrowing from or re-constructing the religious, philosophical and cultural practices and ethos of Hindus. Therefore for such peoples to find an indigenous rather than western form of expression of architecture means doing something quite different from adapting ‘royal’ temple styles. Jyoti Sahi describes a number of attempts to adapt tribal architectural forms in order to create indigenous church buildings.143 However the situation is not so clear-cut for Dalit Christians, whose culture does not have parallel examples with the Adivasi. Nonetheless there have been some experiments, such as the Maithri Ashram at Sunanda village in the Kolar district.144 The ashram has sought to assist the local people who were bonded labourers; and has given symbolic form to their search for freedom in artistic forms such as the grills for the ashram designed by Caroline MacKenzie depicting the stories of the Exodus story and of the prophet Jonah. ‘It was felt that these stories were appropriate in reminding the bonded labourers that God is on the side of the oppressed and that one of the important functions of religion is to liberate rather than to enslave people.’145 Such attempts at finding expression of the liberation of the Dalit peoples in an indigenous style will need to be an ongoing task of development rooted in a dual process listening to the people and enabling their conscientization. The church building must not only ground a community in its past but should also act as a sign of liberation from former systems of oppression. We can never ignore the fact that the built temple or church has tended to serve an oppressive role as much as a liberative one.146

142 143 144 145 146

Ibid., p. 163. Ibid., pp. 164-6. Ibid., pp. 169-70. Ibid., p. 173. Ibid., p. 176.

This page intentionally left blank

Chapter 5

Rites and Rituals: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi? The Church, as the community of the new covenant, confidently invokes the Spirit, in order that it may be sanctified and renewed, led into all justice, truth and unity, and empowered to fulfil its mission in the world.1

Introduction In Chapter 4 I investigated the ways in which church buildings related to the religious and cultural context of South India. I also examined instances of what may be deemed to be unintentional inculturation as well as examples that are explicitly intentional, from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this chapter I shall make a similar investigation of worship rites, rituals and associated customs. Looking firstly at what may be deemed to be unintentional instances and then at intentional examples. I shall do this in relation to Syrian, Catholic, and Protestant Traditions. To begin the investigation I shall examine and analyse the main imperatives and policy statements underlying the project of inculturation in the churches in South India. As the title of the chapter suggests, throughout this investigation it will be important to ask how worship and belief relate to each other in the rites and rituals being discussed. The understanding of worship as leitourgia (liturgy) suggests that worship is the work of the holy people of God (laos). This key understanding is something which will need to be borne in mind especially in this consideration of the processes of change and adaptation in Christian worship. The understanding of worship as leitourgia is not meant to favour any particular form of church polity or expression of ecclesial authority, rather it is a reminder that the socio-religious culture of any local community or congregation of the holy people of God needs to be taken seriously and above all understood and respected. This it seems to me is the most fundamental criterion to bear in mind when seeking to evaluate the processes and outcomes of contextualization / inculturation. The imperatives and policies, which have guided the processes of adaptation or inculturation in South India since the statements of the Second Vatican Council and the World Council of Churches in the 1960s, have on the whole been clearly articulated. One of the leading figures in the initial phase of inculturation in the Roman Catholic Church in India, following the initiative of Vatican II was Fr D.S. Amalorpavadass, whose work was mainly conducted from his base at the National 1

Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, (Geneva, 1982), Eucharist paragraph 17.

138

Christian Inculturation in India

Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre in Bangalore. He approached the task of inculturation in recognition of the complexity of the socio-religious landscape of India, but also with a clear vision of finding a workable synthesis. He argued that indigenization needed to work with the multiplicity of Indian culture; ancient and modern, and regionally divergent. While at first sight this may seem a reasoned and reasonable starting place, many have come to question the validity of this set of assumptions. However the appeal to ‘ancient religious values’ is not something that can or should be ignored. Sundar Clarke, a former bishop of Madras in the Church of South India offers a further explication of such an appeal. ‘Many of us confuse indigenization with Hinduization. … In our life, worship and witness we can be much more Indian without being Hindu or Muslim. We need to adapt Christianity into our own culture without making it Hindu or Muslim but presenting Christ in Indian terms.’2 Here is to be seen a difference of emphasis between Catholic and Protestant traditions, which I suggest is rooted fundamentally in a difference of emphasis and of conceptuality in the understanding of the relationship of Christianity with other religious traditions. For Fr. Amalorpavadass the relationship was to be pursued through the exploration of commonalities in the different traditions of spirituality. In particular he favoured utilizing the Hindu notion of the ‘quest for and discovery of God’ as a tool by which to craft an authentically Indian Christian theology as well as genuinely Indian forms of worship. On the other hand for example the Japanese Christian theologian Kosuke Koyama warns that contextualization is not to be pursued as uncritical accommodation. For him culture is never an absolute; it is not a ‘cage’,3 to which the Church has to conform. Rather for him culture is a ‘dynamic, relational concept’. ‘Authentic contextualization is a prophetic mode of living in the given historical cultural situation. It challenges the context and attempts to make critical theological observations…’. 4 Nonetheless Sundar Clarke was clear that in India there remained the need for the church to embrace the imperatives towards what he calls a ‘particularised’ form of worship, which reflected a proper relationship with Christians’ neighbours in the wider context.5 The imperatives towards change for the Roman Catholic Church in India are certainly focused and empowered by the decisions made by the Second Vatican Council. Paul Puthanagady has clearly expounded the policy and the means of delivering it owned by the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in India.6 Firstly, he writes that this policy is rooted in an acknowledgement of the complexity and diversity of ‘Indian culture’, as already noted. Thus it is recognized that any attempt to produce an Indian liturgy will need to be pluriform, rather than uniform. Secondly, there is explicit acknowledgement that each of the three liturgical traditions represented in contemporary Roman Catholic Church life in India; viz. Syro-Malabar, 2 Sundar Clarke, Let the Indian Church be Indian, (Madras, 1980, 1985), p. 18. 3 Kosuke Koyama, cited in Masao Takenaka, Christian Art in Asia, (Tokyo, 1975). 4 Kosuke Koyama, cited in Takenaka, Christian Art in Asia. 5 Clarke, Let the Indian Church be Indian, p. 20. 6 Paul Puthanagady, ‘Liturgical Renewal in India’, Ephemerides Liturgicae, 91 (1977): 361f.

Rites and Rituals

139

Syro-Malankara and Latin Rite are foreign. From this emerges the quest to craft an ‘authentic Indian Liturgy’. Thirdly the process of inculturation is to be planned as a phased programme. In the first phase the ‘creation of an Indian atmosphere of worship’ is to be sought. In the second Indian rites and texts would be composed. And in a third and final phase the possibility of the use of non-Biblical scriptures would be explored. This latter is seen to be the most contentious proposal. In 1988 a seminar was held at NBCLC, Bangalore Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris. This seminar explored the possibility of shared worship between Christians and those of other faith traditions, and related in particular to the latter phase concerning the possibility of Christians using the scriptures of other traditions in worship. In the inaugural address Archbishop Leobard D’Souza7 referred to the inter-faith meeting at Assisi (1986) on the theme of peace, which had been called together at the initiative of Pope John Paul II. The Assisi meeting was seen as a lived expression of the worth to be accorded other faith traditions commended in the documents of Vatican II,8 and also appealed to the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who sought to embrace the pluralism of the contemporary world in pursuit of a ‘global theology’.9 Fr Amalorpavadass in his keynote address reiterated this appeal to pluralism and citing Karl Rahner set inculturation in the context of seeing Christianity as an equal partner with other faiths.10 He also recalled that NBCLC had held a seminar on the use of Non-Biblical scriptures in 1974, and sought to build on the understanding, which had emerged then to explore possibilities of inter-faith prayer and worship. He noted that living in a multi-cultural context was by no means simply a matter of academic debate but one, which would affect all members of a society. This reality he recognized could raise deep-seated issues and could produce either collaboration and creativity or conflict and destruction.11 Here is an example of one of the most influential proponents of inculturation in Roman Catholic circles in India recognizing that the relationship between different religious traditions, in a pluralist context such as India, defines the heart of the issues surrounding inculturation. At a similar period Pope John Paul II in Salvorum Apostoli (1985)12 set out the ‘double movement’13 of the process of inculturation as, ‘the incarnation of the Gospel in native cultures and at the same time the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church.’14 ‘[and] an intimate transformation of the authentic cultural values by their integration into Christianity and the implantation of Christianity into different human cultures.’15

7 Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris, Paul Puthanangady (ed.), (Bangalore, 1988) pp. 15-16. 8 E.g. Nostra Aetate. 9 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Towards a Global Theology: faith and the comparative history of religion, (London, 1980). 10 Puthanangady, Sharing Worship, pp. 38-9. 11 Ibid., p. 39. 12 John Paul II, Salvorum Apostoli, (1985). 13 Varietates Legitimae:Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy, (1994), 4 – see also Gaudium et Spes, 58. 14 Salvorum Apostoli, 21. 15 John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, (1990), 52.

Christian Inculturation in India

140

Inevitably different people will place emphasis at different places in this double movement process. An imperative towards the transformation of values was embraced in the final statement of the 1988 seminar at NBCLC within the context of placing emphasis on the potential (or actual) convergence between the different faith communities. Citing the Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, the statement concludes as follows: The leaf becomes flower when it loves. The flower becomes fruit when it worships. (Tagore). Religions have often been preoccupied with protecting their own self-interest and their own particular worship. When religions fail to love, their leaves – symbols and sacraments – do not even flower. Love expresses itself in action, in genuine concern for other and the determination to change unjust power structures that condemn millions to a subhuman existence. The leaves of our worship have to flower and blossom in love. … The Spirit of the Lord, at work in all religions, beckons us and all people to worship, to worship together. Sharing Worship springs from the depth of love, God’s own love, alive in the depth of every person’s heart.16

In this statement of the purpose of ‘sharing worship’ between different faith communities, the transformative effect as well as the mutuality of inter-religious relationships is acknowledged. In particular the reference to ‘unjust power structures’ should be noted, which may with certainty be taken to refer within India to the oppression endured by ‘many millions’ of low caste and outcaste people. Thus what is revealed here is a clear concern for the implications of worship and inculturation in terms of social justice. However what is also to be noted is that the method of achieving this goal, through inter-faith dialogue and the use of many different layers and levels of socio-religious expression, may be said to be rooted in the methods and heritage of Roberto de Nobili. In the years since the 1988 seminar at NBCLC much has changed in India and the world. The political and religious landscape has changed in India in ways that have militated against the kind of open dialogue envisaged in 1988. Although the resurgence of communalism may have been stemmed for the present, other factors such as globalization continue to shape the cultural landscape of the world. India is by no means immune from such influences and the consequent changes. Unintentional Inculturation The discussion of unintentional inculturation in relation to worship is inevitably set against the background of a shared cultural and ritual heritage. An instance of such shared heritage in India is manifested in the tradition of greeting visitors or people of particular significance on a given occasion. The practice I have in mind is the use of garlands and flowers to welcome and honour visitors or particular individuals, and also the use of a sacred flame waved in front of such persons, the rite known as aarti. 16

Puthanangady, Sharing Worship, p. 801.

Rites and Rituals

141

One of the issues facing the practice of contextualization / inculturation in India is the attribution of some rites to high caste praxis or to those who favour political or religious ‘saffronization’. Undoubtedly an evaluation of rituals in relation to social standing and power-play is crucial. However as I shall demonstrate below it is an over-simplification to attribute aarti to Brahminical practice. The reception and interpretation of rites and ceremonies from any shared heritage is an intricate and complex undertaking, which may require the discernment of local usage in relation to local or wider power dynamics or other external influences. The expression of ‘Indian-ness’ may also be seen in such customs as the removal of footwear before entering a church building or shrine. This is in direct parallel with practice in relation to entering a temple. It is interesting to reflect that traditionally Dalit peoples never wore footwear. Thus the removal of footwear is in one sense a symbol of equality. Also life-cycle customs at the birth of child or in death are shared Indian customs practised ‘because they always have been’. Such customs are manifest in the practice of a daughter returning to be with her mother for the delivery especially of her first child. One might even argue that this is more human than Indian. In respect to death common practice may be seen in terms of honouring the dead and symbolic use of a place of samadhi (balance). I was struck by the parallel devotional practices at the samadhi of Sri Aurobindo in the Ashram at Pondicherry and at the shrine of St Alphonsa at Bharananganam near Palai in Kerala. In each instance devotees knelt by the shrine kissing the samadhi stone structure and circumperambulating often on their knees. Such circum-perambulation can also be seen in the shrine at the Sri Ramana Maharshi Ahram in Tiruvannamalai and generally in relation to Hindu shrines. That Christians continue such practices, is often a matter of unconscious sharing in the customs of the land of their birth. Syrian Churches I begin with an analysis of what may be seen as unintentional inculturation in the churches in South India, with the tradition with the longest history, the Syrian tradition. It might be assumed that this tradition will demonstrate the most examples of unintentional inculturation having had the longest period of time to be ‘at home’ in South India. It is usual to claim that despite the ‘latinization’ of the Malabar rites of the St Thomas Christians through contact with Europeans since the sixteenth century, that they were nonetheless, ‘Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Syro-Oriental in worship’.17 It is generally agreed that the rite used by the St Thomas Christians of the Malabar coast prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century was the East Syrian or Chaldean Rite of Addai and Mari, which in the West has traditionally been associated with the Nestorian heresy. That is to say the liturgical tradition of the St Thomas Christians was related to Edessa and Nisibis rather than Antioch. The earliest surviving manuscript evidence suggests that the use of the Malabar church

17 Placid Podipara, ‘Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental in Worship’, in George Menachery (ed.), Thomapedia, (Ollur, Kerala, 2000), p. 107.

142

Christian Inculturation in India

was dependent on a liturgical text of the Beth Kokhe Cathedral of the diocese of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.18 This along with further evidence of the relations between the Persian and Malabar churches led some to argue that the practice of the St Thomas Christians was straightforwardly an expression of East Syrian church life, customs and traditions. However other sources of evidence emerge after the arrival of Europeans in Malabar during the sixteenth century, which can be interpreted to suggest that the customs and practices of the St Thomas Christians were much more indigenous than the initial interpretation might seem to suggest. The Synod of Diamper of 159919 pointed to ‘superstitious practices’ of the church in Malabar. Diamper prohibited a number of practices, which suggest that to some extent the St Thomas Christians lived and worshipped according to indigenous norms, rather than those current among East Syrian rite Christians elsewhere. For example the playing of Hindu musicians and instruments was forbidden in worship. Rice was not to be thrown in a circle at weddings, and weddings were to take place in church; each of these prohibitions suggests that ‘Hindu’ customs were prevalent in the Malabar church. Furthermore Christians were not to participate in the celebration of the Hindu festival of Onam; a festival still very popular in Kerala today. Christians should not wear ear lob ornaments. Also the sick were not to be brought to church; nor to have palm leaf scriptural formulae attached to them; again these prohibitions mirror Hindu customs.20 There is further evidence from a letter written in August 1618 by Fr John Mary Campri SJ that such practices relating to the sick nonetheless continued. A century earlier (1519) a western traveller, Barbosa,21 commented on the distinctive style of tonsure [kudumi] worn by the clergy as well as their long beards and white shirts, which may be interpreted as parallels with the Indian sannyasi tradition. Barbosa also comments on the elements used at Holy Communion and their distribution. A type of salt bread was used and enough was consecrated so all

18 An epistolary copied in 1301, Vat. Syr. 22. ‘The feasts in this calendar are typical of the East Syrian Calendar’. Jacob Vellian, An Historical Introduction to the Syriac Liturgy, (Kottayam, no date), p. 11. The colophon of the manuscript suggests a on-going relationship between the churches of Seleucia and Malabar: ‘This holy book was written in the royal, renowned and famous city of Chingala (Cranganore) in Malabar … in the time of the great captain and director of the holy catholic church of the East… our blessed and holy Father Mar Yahd Alaha V… and in the time of bishop Mar Jacob, Metropolitan and director of the holy see of the Apostle Mar Thoma, that is to say, our great captain and the director of the entire holy church of Christian India’ (fol. 93v). 19 Michael Geddes, ‘A short history of the Church of Malabar together with The Synod of Diamper’ (London, 1694), in George Menachery (ed.), The Nazranies, (Thrissur, 1998), pp. 30-112. 20 Vellian, pp. 12-15. 21 Duarte Barbosa; his work was included in Ramusio’s Italian work published from Venice in 1563. A Portuguese manuscript, found at Lisbon, was published in 1813. The Spanish version of the manuscript exists in Barcelona and Munich. The first English translation was made by Lord Stanley (Hakluyt Society, 1865) and the second one by M.L. Dames from the Portuguese text in 1918. E.g. A Description Of The Coasts Of East Africa And Malabar In The Beginning Of The Sixteenth Century, Durate Barbosa; translated by Stanley, Henry E.J., (1918).

Rites and Rituals

143

could communicate at each celebration, while raisins were soaked overnight and made into a juice for the ‘wine’. Monserrate22 in 1579 comments that rice flour was used to bake bread, while later Paulinus A. Bartholomeo,23 a Franciscan missionary writes that coconut ‘sap’ [thagaram] was used for communion wine; and another Franciscan24 writing in 1705 reports that rice cakes and palm wine were used for Holy Communion. Such practices relating to the elements for Communion are not dealt with at Diamper, which raises the question as to whether they were not known at that time, or perhaps were tolerated, or indeed came (back) into practice after the synod. These usages testify to the impossibility of finding indigenous supplies to make wheat bread and grape wine in the region of the Malabar coast. Adaptation of some kind in that period was almost inevitable. Interestingly Monserrate also comments that churches look the same as Hindu temples, presumably from the outside. There is further evidence of Indian customs relating to marriage ceremonies. In the East Syrian marriage rite of Malabar, the tali or golden ‘chain’ made from threads from the bridal veil is used instead of a ring. The tali tied around the bride’s neck by the groom would be adorned with a cross, while for Hindus another image would have been used. Again there is no mention of this at Diamper, but in the seventeenth century the practice of such customs among Christians is testified by de Nobili.25 Such practice in marriage rites remains current today. There is also evidence of more localized adaptation, particularly in relation to local festivals. Processions at Christian festivals often use ceremonial umbrellas [muthukua], so that it is difficult to distinguish Christian festive processions from Hindu processions (Figure 5.1). In the northern part of Kerala Christians will often use elephants borrowed or hired from the local temple for their processions. There is also evidence of offerings being made by the people to Christian priests of animals and of food [prasad] as would occur in temples to Hindu priests. These practices may be understood as adaptations, but in many ways they were no doubt simply practical and ‘natural’ customs, which arise out of the context, its climate and geography as much as from any self-conscious borrowing of indigenous socio-religious traditions. Podipara argues that prior to the sixteenth century the St Thomas Christians were as one ‘Hindu’ caste among many others, and yet these people were Christian and followed the East Syrian rites.26 While some of this interpretation must remain a matter of conjecture, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the main thesis is defensible, though the whole matter is one of great complexity. A complexity compounded by the paucity of evidence due to the destruction of such materials as palm leaf manuscripts by the Portuguese. However it is likely that the St Thomas Christians had a social standing akin to the Hindu Brahmins and followed customs at birth and marriage, which bear strong resemblance to those of the Brahmins, with 22 Antony Monserrate, On Salsette, Chorao, Divar and the Molucas, (1579). 23 Paulinus A. Sancto Bartholomeo, Centum adagia malabarica cum textu originali et versione latina, nunc primum in lucem, (Rome, 1791); Amarasinha, (Rome, 1798). 24 Vellian, p. 14. 25 Roberto de Nobili, Adaptation, (Narratio Fundamentorum quibus Madurensis Missionis Institutum caeptum est et hucusque consisit, 1619), translated by J. Pujo, (Palayamkottai, 1971). 26 Podipara, ‘Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental in Worship’, p. 107.

144

Figure 5.1

Christian Inculturation in India

Procession at the Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala

the addition of some Christian symbolism. One indication is that these Christians were generally vegetarians, and almost certainly ate no beef. Pauly Maniyattu argues that there are connections to be made between Hindu, Chaldean and East Syrian understandings of sacrifice, which he relates in particular to the East Syrian rite of the Eucharist. He identifies the element of fire (agni) as the focal point for his exposition of these connections.27 The centrality of sacrifice in Indian tradition, testified in the Vedas, is rooted in the cosmic sacrifice of Purusa, from which the universe originates. ‘The whole cosmic reality may be seen as involved in the cosmic sacrifice. All that which exists is made to share in the sacrifice (SB III.6.2.26). There are three levels distinguishable in the cosmic sacrifice … the sacrificing person, the sacrificing mantra (formula) and the space of sacrifice.’28 Maniyattu’s perception of the connections to be made is taken further in his appeal to the goal of sacrifice as communion with God. Thus he writes that ‘Through the performance of the Vedic sacrifices the sacrificer achieves a configuration of the perennial annual cycle as immorality (amrta) within himself, and at last performs the

27 Pauly Maniyattu, Heaven on Earth: The Theology of liturgical spacetime in the East Syrian Qurbana, (Rome, 1995) p. 303, ‘According to the Indian mythology, Agni (fire) was brought from heaven by Matarisvan. (Rg Veda VI.8.4) Agni is the sun at man’s reach, the great sun in miniature’. 28 Maniyattu, p. 311.

Rites and Rituals

145

purusamedha sacrifice. In this yajna the performer vows to consummate this total identification with the entire universe, with all that it contains…’. 29 The cosmic dimensions of sacrifice and the attainment of communion with God are seen as fundamental and shared concepts between Hindu, Semitic and Christian traditions. To substantiate this claim Maniyattu sets out a list of parallels between the rite of Assyro-Babylonian sacrifice and elements in the East Syrian Qurbana.30 Finally he draws a parallel between the role of the fire-god Agni in Hinduism and the conceptuality of Christ’s offering of himself on the Cross and the relation of this to the Eucharist.31 The parallels and connections, which Maniyattu draws out are well researched and produce a detailed and convincing argument. However his conclusions concerning Christian rites and his understanding of sacrifice are not shared by all. Nonetheless this rather speculative approach to the correlation of different religious traditions may be useful in seeking to analyse the validity of certain attempts at intentional inculturation in relation to the Christian Eucharist. Finally it is noteworthy that in the Syrian tradition it is customary to bury bishops in a sitting position. This practice is known among other members of the oriental orthodox family of churches but also has parallels in the treatment of saints in Hindu tradition. As a matter of affection bishops are often referred to as thirumeni (holy body). The holy body in life is treated as holy in death too. Roman Catholic Churches In 1968 the first of an on-going series of ‘All India Meetings’ was held by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. Following this in 1969 ‘Twelve Points’ were enunciated on Indian-style ritual actions, which might be used in the liturgy. These Twelve Points included the practice of semi-prostration instead of genuflection; squatting on the floor instead of kneeling; the use of oil or camphor lamps instead of candles; shawls instead of stoles; floral tributes could be included in the offertory, joss-sticks for incense; chapatti for wafers and aarti, the circular waving of a lamp to honour the celebrant, Bible, eucharistic elements or congregation. Referring to an earlier period Thompson comments that the Roman Catholic Church had created a feast to occur in the time following the rains, to celebrate the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, Israeli Yatra. He notes too the custom of decorating churches with small lamps [chiraghs] at Christmas, which can be seen as a custom parallel with customs at Diwali.32

29 Ibid., p. 313. 30 Ibid., p. 322. 31 Ibid., p. 323. 32 H.P. Thompson, Worship in Other Lands: A Study of Racial Characteristics in Christian Worship, (London, 1933), pp. 72-3.

146

Christian Inculturation in India

Protestant Churches: CSI, Lutheran, Mar Thoma H.P. Thompson writing in 1933 gives detailed examples of practices among Protestant Christians in India in the 1920s. He comments in particular on ways which were used to connect Christianity with the wider community, as well as instances by which the churches sought to maintain links with indigenous practice and customs. From Dornakal, the diocese of Bishop Azaraiah, Thompson gives a detailed account of the practice of staging nativity plays in the streets as pageant and ‘entertainment’ for the crowds of Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Lamps were used and incense lit in relation to the story of the Magi.33 Thompson acknowledges that converts were consistently exhorted to cast away ‘all emblems of paganism’.34 Thus in the family home the image of the Hindu god revered before conversion would be discarded in favour of a Christian image such as a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or a crucifix. This assisted those leaders who sought to maintain the home as a spiritual centre, as it is in Hinduism, with rites associated with work and the human life-cycle. In relation to marriage, for rites surrounding betrothal Thompson suggests that the churches sought to avoid Hindu excess while not abandoning indigenous practice entirely. Thus there is a description of a couple, who wore shoes in church and as part of the ceremony the woman’s sari and man’s scarf were tied together.35 There is evidence of the use of the marriage pandal (open air booth), flowers and sandalwood paste. Mango tree branches and banana leaves were retained in the decoration of the home for marriage rites, mainly denoting ‘fruitfulness’ or fertility. The custom of the exchange of garlands by bride and groom is also retained in some descriptions. Thompson gives an extensive account of the celebration of harvest in both Dornakal and Tiruneveli.36 The question of Christian participation in local festivals is also acknowledged by Thompson. Sometimes this might take the form of an overlap of the celebration of harvest by the local community and of Easter by the Christians. It is clear that Bishop Azariah of Dornakal was himself concerned that conversion to Christianity should not lead to a desacralization of every day life for the converts and their villages. So he sought to promote rituals in everyday life to express a Christian understanding of incarnational theology as well as retain an ethos parallel to that prior to conversion.37 In 2005 a colleague and I visited a Dalit village in the north of Tamil Nadu in the region of Pulicat. When we arrived we were greeted by one of the older women of the village with a metal tray of camphor with a lighted wick. We were garlanded and then the old woman performed aarti before us and then anointed our foreheads with the camphor, as well as being invited to receive the light with a gesture of our hands. The deep-seated status of symbols of fire and light and the honouring of visitors is evidently displayed in the ritual, which was offered to us. No doubt many visitors to India could recount similar stories. What we witnessed was the continuing 33 Ibid., pp. 23-5. 34 Ibid., p. 27. 35 Ibid., pp. 45-50. 36 Ibid., pp. 55-8. 37 Susan Billington Harper, In the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V.S. Azariah and the Travails of Christianity in British India, (Richmond UK and Grand Rapids MI, 2000), p. 194.

Rites and Rituals

147

practice of traditions of an Indian shared cultural heritage. A cultural heritage which manifests itself naturally in the context of a village is the stuff of which an indigenous Christianity should surely be made. Also in 2005 the same colleague and I were visiting the parish of St Andrew Kothagudem in Andhra Pradesh. During our stay the pastor of the church was visited by an older woman and a younger man, who had with them a young sheep. The conversation between the pastor and his visitors included a moment when the woman began to sob. At the conclusion of the visit the pastor prayed and them blessed the sheep with the sign of the cross. Later when I asked what the visit had been about the pastor answered that the woman had come with her son to bring a thank-offering to the church for ministrations at the time of her father’s recent death. The sheep had been dedicated as an offering and would be sold at auction for the benefit of the church. In his context the pastor embraced and accepted and adapted the indigenous and deeply-ingrained practice of India. Parallels can be drawn between such practice and that of bringing similar offerings to the temple priests. Such practice is born of a rural agricultural economy and of a respect for the holy man and his wisdom and ministrations. Unintentional contextualization / inculturation is something which occurs at many different levels of society and of ritual / cultural heritage in India. As an outsider one can see such occurrences more clearly. They are a reminder that similar practice undoubtedly also happens in the cultural milieu of wherever the church is. In the West the erosion of the kind of cultural heritage to be witnessed in India may have removed the more ancient customs. However it would be mistaken to assume that the churches in the West are less embroiled in their cultures than those in India. What is needed is a selfawareness of those cultures and of the relationship between them and the churches. Such self-awareness is surely necessary so that the inter-play between church and culture is not counter to the proclamation of the Gospel and its values. Intentional Inculturation In this section I shall examine deliberate inculturation; i.e. intentional change to liturgical rites and customs. My focus will mainly be on the rite of the Eucharist in three main traditions found in South India, Syrian, Roman Catholic and Protestant. However where possible I will also comment upon usage in other sacraments and forms of worship. I begin with a brief examination of the Syrian rites in the context of the modern state of Kerala. I have already noted that there is intriguing evidence from the Synod of Diamper and other sources of local practices, which indicate a cultural identity in the late Middle Ages between the Hindu population and the St Thomas Christians. The situation today of the Syrian rite Christians in Kerala is a complicated one, in terms of jurisdictions and allegiances. There continues to be a considerable amount of unintentional ‘inculturation’ particularly in relation to the rites of the human life-cycle: viz. birth, marriage and death. However, in terms of the text of Eucharistic rite, as Bryan Spinks has argued ‘When the East Syrian rite arrived in

148

Christian Inculturation in India

India it was already the tradition of another culture, and we have no evidence that the Thomas Christians ever evolved their own authentic Indian liturgical tradition.’38 The formal liturgical rites of the St Thomas Christians still relate to the traditions of Syria, but today while some still use the East Syrian, Chaldean tradition others use the rite of the West Syrian tradition. It would appear from the surviving evidence that the East Syrian tradition is the older ‘original’ tradition. As already noted the earliest concrete evidence of this usage is 1301. While the earliest evidence of West Syrian usage is in 1685 long after the arrival of European colonists. Today those St Thomas Christians whose usage is of the West Syrian tradition are largely unconcerned to make intentional attempts to modify, adapt or make changes to sacramental rites or the rituals and customs associated with them. However for those of East Syrian tradition whose allegiance is to Rome, the Syro-Malabar Church, the picture is very different. While the West Syrian tradition has remained largely unaffected by what is called ‘latinization’ the opposite was true for the East Syrian Rite. There have been ongoing debates concerning the effects of introducing elements of the Latin Rite into the East Syrian liturgy. A succession of revisions of the rite has ensued following the Second Vatican Council.39 The debate in current times is focused on a difference of approach to the process of seeking an authentic Indian / East Syrian or Malabar rite; i.e. whether to quarry the rites of the past to find authenticity, or to look to the present day to do so. Spinks argues that the process of seeking authenticity for the Syro-Malabar tradition has gone too far into the past. For him the ‘pure’ East Syrian tradition of the rite of Addai and Mari is an irrelevance in the quest for a rite for India / Kerala in the present day.40 Spinks also articulates the view that the quest for an authentic and indigenous rite after Vatican II reflects the guilt felt by some Westerners for the perceived wrongs of their spiritual forebears.41 He argues that it is only possible to go forward in terms of liturgical revision and renewal. The past may be of use, but it should be neither defining nor confining. The debates in the Syro-Malabar Church are on-going, with considerable interest in the possibility of a more indigenous liturgy.42 Having examined the situation among the St Thomas Christians, I want to turn to focus on the attempts at intentional inculturation made in the Roman Catholic Church. This will entail looking at an example within the Syro-Malankara tradition created by the monks of Kurisumala Ashram in Kerala. Otherwise attention will be focused on attempts either at adapting the Latin Rite, or among Latin rite Christians. The quest for inculturation has been endorsed by the visits to India of both Paul VI and John Paul II. Pope John Paul indeed sought to suggest that the great challenges 38 Bryan D. Spinks, Western Use and Abuse of Eastern Liturgical Traditions, (Rome and Bangalore, 1992), p. 142. 39 The East Syrian Rite of the Syro-Malabar Church was ‘restored’ from 1954 with a ‘final’ text in 1957. For the Eucharist [Qurbana] the anaphora of Addai and Mari was included. This was translated into the vernacular, Malayalam in 1962. Following Vatican II a series of experimental rites were issued. The Qurbana in 1968, 1978, and finally 1988, and the Breviary in 1986. For a more complete account of these developments see Vellian, pp. 38-46. 40 Spinks, Western Use and Abuse, p. 142. 41 Ibid., p. 143. 42 E.g. Dr Andrews Thazhath, The Quest for Identity, (Thrissur, 1992).

Rites and Rituals

149

of inculturation still needed to be taken up fully in India.43 However subsequently the Vatican has been less enthusiastic about the actual attempts made.44 I will begin the investigation with an analysis and critique of the Mass for India, composed at NBCLC, and still in use there. The Mass for India The Mass for India was first published in 1974 and maintains the overall shape of the Latin Rite: viz. four sections: Introductory rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist and Concluding rites. Paul Puthanangady argues that the three main indigenous traditions of worship in India: Vedic, Tantric and Agamic may in different ways be related to the Christian Eucharistic, understood in terms of sacrifice and personal communion, and that these traditions were explicitly drawn upon in the creation of the new rite for India, in particular the Agamic form, and to a lesser extent the Vedic.45 The rite begins without an entrance procession, in place of which rites are celebrated to ‘form’ the worshipping community present. The presiding priest is greeted with a tray of flowers, with a small lamp in its midst. The priest then similarly greets the congregation. Puthanangady argues that this has no specific religious meaning and is also used in social life.46 However some might argue that this is akin to rituals and gestures performed by Brahmin priests in temples; i.e. it is akin to a form of puja. Rites of purification, which follow, involve sprinkling the congregation with water. A large brass lamp is then lit and priest and people stretch out their arms and hands towards the light to receive the light of Christ drawing it back with a gesture of arms and hands to their foreheads (Figure 5.2). The Liturgy of the Word includes the ceremonial placing of a book (the Lectionary) on a low reading desk, during which it is garlanded and incensed. All remain seated on the floor throughout; e.g. no one stands for the gospel reading. At the preparation of the gifts for the Eucharist a tray adorned with eight flowers is also presented, which is waved over the eucharistic elements and placed on the low altar. The Anaphora, which is no longer in general use, focuses on an understanding of Salvation-History, which acknowledges God’s involvement in the history of India. The concluding rite includes no dismissal, as it is not customary to ‘dismiss’ or send anyone away from a celebration in India. The scope and radical nature of this rite has inevitably elicited a considerable amount of critique. I will draw in particular upon the critique of two

43 See Bishop Theophane Thannickunnel O. Praem, ‘The Challenge of Inculturation’, in Jacob Theckanath (ed.), Liturgical Renewal – An Ongoing Challenge, (Bangalore, 1991), p. 18. 44 Anaphora of 1974 was withdrawn from use following concerns expressed by the hierarchy. 45 Puthanangady, Sharing Worship, p. 362. 46 Ibid., p. 363.

150

Figure 5.2

Christian Inculturation in India

Mass at NBCLC, lighting the lamp

Western scholars, Bryan Spinks47 and K. Virginia Kennerley48 in seeking to evaluate the Mass rite and in particular the Eucharistic Prayer (Anaphora).

The Anaphora of the Mass for India in its longer form contains seven stanzas in which salvation history is proclaimed. The first three stanzas proclaim God’s work of creation including thanksgiving for the five elements, traditionally featured in classical Indian spirituality, as well as for the rivers, mountains and seas, which are sacred to Hindus. These also include thanksgiving for the divine invitation to participate in the life of saccidananda.49 The three following stanzas continue with thanksgiving for salvation history, including a focus on the ‘cosmic covenant’ with all, which is related to the Old Testament figures, Noah, Job and Melchisedech. This 47 Bryan D. Spinks, ‘The Anaphora for India: Some Theological Objections to an attempt at inculturation’, Ephemerides Liturgicae, 95 (1981): 529-49. 48 K. Virginia Kennerley, ‘The Use of indigenous sacred literature and theological concept in Christian Eucharistic Liturgy in India’, Studia Liturgica, 19/2 (1989): 143-61. 49 Saccidananda, sat-cit-ananda: ‘being, knowledge, bliss’ a formula used in association with the Christian doctrine of God as Holy Trinity: e.g. poem by Brahmabandhab Upadhyay.

Rites and Rituals

151

is applied to India, and includes an understanding of salvation history in India, which embraces the search for God in animistic religions, in Hindu religion as known in its three margas: viz. karma, jnana, bhakti,50 as well as in Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In the seventh stanza the Christ event is proclaimed, as the fulfilment of salvation history and Christ is celebrated as master and guru. The Anaphora also incorporates intercession, and in this St Thomas and St Francis Xavier are identified as the patrons of India. The Anaphora is built upon phraseology from the Bible, from Hindu scriptures including, the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Spinks sees no fundamental objection to this crafting of the prayer, arguing that ‘In principle this is no different from equating Jesus with the Logos of Hellenistic thought-forms, or the employment of pagan sacrificial terminology in the canon missae…’.51 However where Spinks does find there are issues to be resolved, is in the stanzas of proclamation in particular the first and fifth stanzas. In the first stanza of the proclamation of creation, Spinks asks whether in the processes of inculturation, the Christian doctrine of God and creation has been qualified by placing too much emphasis upon Hindu mythology and philosophy. He finds the allusions made to Hindu understandings of ‘creation’ which might entail notions of monism, polytheism or a cyclical understanding of time and thus of karma and re-birth, are a step too far. However it has to be said that the text itself makes no explicit reference to any of these features of Hindu philosophy and mythology. Where Spinks’ critique is reflected in the text is in relation to notions of emanation.52 For Spinks the Hindu notion of Brahman, the Supreme deity or spirit has won out against a truly Christian concept of God in this first stanza.53 In particular Spinks identifies this with the phrase ‘with the touch of your hand’ in which he sees a denial or rejection of the Judaeo-Christian conceptuality of the Creator God, whose ‘Word’ in Genesis 1 and John 1 is the instrument of creation. This he sees as an instance where in the process of expressing Christian concepts in the medium of other conceptualities, these later conceptualities have predominated and thus changed Christian truth claims. Such critique of course goes to the heart of the issues raised by adaptation or inculturation. Spinks is clear that in relating to other cultures Christianity is called as much to transform them as to be clothed in them. Furthermore he argues that the process of simply depending upon ancient sources in order to express Indian culture, or Indian-ness is flawed. As an example he suggests that the appeal to the Upanishads is similar to suggesting that in creating an Anaphora for Palestine, one would need to use the Ugaritic texts.54 While no doubt he has a point here, it might be argued that the parallel is false in that the Upanishads remain a used and living source in India while the Ugaritic texts are no longer in use. However his point about focus on the

50 Marga is a way to final liberation (moksha); karma: way of duty; jnana: way of knowledge; bhakti: way of devotion. 51 Spinks, ‘The Anaphora for India’, p. 533f. 52 Ibid., p. 537. 53 Ibid., pp. 538-9. 54 Ibid., p. 541.

Christian Inculturation in India

152

past is sustained and in seeking to express Indian-ness today, there is surely as much need to reflect India in the context of globalization, as in terms of the Vedas. The critique of stanza five in the salvation history section relates in particular to the issue of inter-religious dialogue and of the Christian tradition in relation to pluralism. The main trust of Spinks’ critique is that Stanza V assumes that the processes of inter-religious dialogue are complete55 and that it is possible therefore to weave together the plurality of religious traditions of India into a harmonious construct in relation to the Christian Tradition. This certainly presumes a great deal and indeed can be seen as a rather hegemonic Christian claim. Spinks also questions the individual references to each religious tradition. He raises questions about the appeal to ‘knowledge’ as potentially Gnostic and also the implicit appeal to material sacrifice. However he is particularly sceptical about the mention of God’s ‘inscrutable decrees’,56 which he identifies with an appeal to Islamic thought. He associates this phrase with Islamic understandings of predestination, which he sees as incompatible with Christian concepts of God. He concludes that stanza V is ‘premature and out of place’.57 While Spinks by no means condemns the initiative expressed in the Anaphora towards an authentic Indian form of worship, he strongly argues that stanzas I and V are untimely and points to the need to maintain an ongoing and open dialogue between liturgical and doctrinal scholars. Virginia Kennerley identifies a further set of issues in her critique of the Mass for India. She raises the issue of the reception of such a liturgy in the rural parishes of India, and argues that many priests in rural parishes have condemned the rite as too sophisticated. This points to the extensive plurality of cultures in India, and thus to the need for different forms of worship for use in different regions and different socio-religious contexts. She suggests that an Indian rite would need to allow local adaptation around a common core, for both the rite itself and the Anaphora.58 In relation to the Anaphora Kennerley comments in particular on the use of Hindu phraseology. She highlights two designations of Christ, firstly ‘the true person’ satpurusha. This is a direct reference to and association of Christ with archetypal divine being, known in the Vedas, through whose primordial sacrifice [yajna], all creation is accomplished. Secondly Christ is designated ‘true master’ sadguru, the true and ultimate guru.59 Kennerley also draws attention to the fifth stanza and acknowledges that this takes a deliberately universalist approach, however she is less critical of this than Spinks and sees this approach as expressing the validity of cosmic revelation as understood in the documents of Vatican II. She also draws attention to the use of sat cid ananda in the third stanza and is content that this has a genuine pedigree in the twentieth century in its association with the Holy Trinity.60 Kennerley also comments on the remainder of the Anaphora. She highlights the designation of the Holy Spirit as ‘Supreme Spirit’, paramatman, with its explicitly 55 56 57 58 59 60

Ibid., p. 543. Ibid., p. 546. Ibid., p. 547. Kennerley, ‘The Use of indigenous sacred literature’, p. 147. Ibid., pp. 148-9. Ibid., p. 150.

Rites and Rituals

153

Hindu inference; and also the designation of God the Father as ‘Supreme Lord of the Universe’, paramajagadishwara, with the same kind of inference.61 She also notes the use of the word ‘fulness’ in both the anamnesis and epiclesis. This of course resonates strongly with usage in the Pauline corpus in the New Testament, however it also resonates with the term purunam in classical Hindu theology. The phrase ‘One-without-a-second’ [ekadvitiya] in the second epiclesis, is identified as ‘courageous’ by Kennerley.62 This refers directly to the Hindu tradition of advaita, non-duality, which may be taken to imply that everything expect Brahman is illusion maya. The doxology of the Anaphora concludes with a people’s acclamation: Om, Tat, Sat, which Kennerley suggests is either brave or rash!63 This has very strong Hindu resonance. Kennerley offers her most incisive critique of this phrase and by extension the whole Anaphora, when she asks, what do Christians who have no knowledge of the Hindu scriptures make of the inclusion of such a phrase? The answer of course is very little; indeed many who have some knowledge might find themselves alienated by its inclusion. Again one possible interpretation of this inclusion is once again a kind of Christian imperialism, commandeering the phraseology of another tradition at such a crucial moment in the whole rite. There is one final allusion which Kennerley comments upon in the concluding rite, where ‘God the indweller [antaryamin] of your heart’ is invoked. Here is a subtle inference to the tiny flame, purusha indwelling every human heart, reference to which is found in the Upanishads.64 Kennerley commends the composers of the Mass and Anaphora for producing a very beautiful rite, which she suggests is, ‘deeply expressive of the consciousness of Christians in dialogue with Hinduism.’65 However it would appear that for the vast majority of Indian Christians the references and inferences of such a rite are too subtle, and require a level of education in and awareness of Hindu scriptures, which is simply not shared by most faithful Christians. Thus Kennerley’s critique points to issues of relating inculturation to concerns of people at the grass roots of the church. While Spinks points to issues of a more general kind, both offer useful insights into the theological and cultural issues raised by these particular texts as well as by the task of inculturation per se. Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, Kulithalai, Tamil Nadu Worship and prayer at Shantivanam, a Benedictine house of the Roman Catholic Church, entails a conscious bringing together of Hindu and Christian traditions. For example the ashram community consciously follows in the way of Hindu sannayasa, expressed in a life-style, which embraces poverty and simplicity. Signs of this life are the wearing of saffron-coloured robes, walking barefoot, sitting on the floor and a vegetarian diet.66 61 62 63 64 65 66

Ibid., p. 151. Ibid., p. 151. Ibid. Ibid., p. 152. Ibid. Saccidananda Ashram, (Tannirpalli, Kulitalai, no date).

Christian Inculturation in India

154

The community meets for prayer in common three times a day, in the morning after meditation, when the prayer is followed by the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, at midday and in the evening. At our prayer we have readings from the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita as well from the Tamil classics and other Scriptures, together with psalms and readings from the Bible, and we make use of Sanskrit and Tamil songs (bhajans) accompanied by drums and cymbals. We also make use of ‘aarti’, waving lights before the Blessed Sacrament, and other Indian customs….67

Various signs and symbols accompany these prayer times, including the use of sandal paste in the morning, kumkumum is used at midday to mark the ‘third eye’ on the forehead, and in the evening ashes (vibhuti) are used. The sandal paste is understood as a symbol of divinity and grace; the third eye is the eye of wisdom, known not only in India, but also in the icon tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church. Wisdom is also associated with the feminine, either in terms of the mother goddess in Hinduism: the Blessed Virgin Mary or Christ himself in Christian tradition. Ashes used in Western Christian tradition on Ash Wednesday are used each day as a symbol of purification from sin. The offering of ‘aarti’ in lights or incense is understood as an expression of honour and worship. The root meaning of aarti before the central shrine in a temple seems to be this. The inner sanctuary of a temple is always kept dark to signify that God dwells in the cave of the heart. When lights are waved before the shrine, as it were, reveals the hidden God.68

The honouring of the Blessed Sacrament in this way, points to Christ hidden in the sacrament and allows the congregation to share in the light of Christ, taking the light to themselves in gestures of the hands and arms. The Eucharist is celebrated according to the Latin rite, but this is enriched through the use of various symbols, particularly at the taking of the bread and wine. At the offertory of the Mass we make an offering of the four elements – water, earth, air and fire. Every Hindu puja consists in the offering of the elements to God, as a sign of the offering of the creation to God. In the offertory therefore, we offer the four elements as a sign that the whole creation is being offered to God through Christ as a cosmic sacrifice.69

The rituals and symbols employed at Shantivanam as part of the Daily Office and Mass are unmistakably symbols used in temple worship. Equally the form of the Mass is manifestly that of the Latin rite. The mode of inculturation of the Eucharist here is not to create new liturgical texts, but to express Western forms in an Indian way, using Indian rituals and symbols. The Office is supplemented with the use of Sanskrit chants and the reading of Hindu and other scriptures as well as the use of symbol and ritual. However the setting of these practices in the common life and worship of a Christian monastic community, does transform these rituals and symbols. The Hindu forms are apparent, but the Christian ethos and context, and 67 68 69

Ibid., pp. 4-5. Ibid., p. 7. Ibid., pp. 7-8.

Rites and Rituals

155

the content of the rites bring about a transformation: a transformation of what is originally ‘Hindu’ and also a transformation the Latin rite. One way in which to categorize the outcome would be to use the language of hybridity. However another way of describing the outcome would be to recognize the rites as sui generis. The worship offered at Shantivanam is the outcome of dialogue and encounter, which I examined in some detail in Chapter 3. It is also the context in which the emergence of new human community is sought in accordance with the vision of the ashram community, and articulated by Bede Griffiths and Brother John Martin.70 The critique of such practice based on the understanding that the rites and symbols employed are borrowed in part from high caste traditions is not something, which can be denied. However the context of the ashram community is a transformational context. It is also an experimental context. As with any monastery its life is not meant to be lived out generally, although it may well be inspirational. The question therefore arises: to what extent can the liturgical and ceremonial practices of Shantivanam provide a context in which the transformation of wide-spread Hindu customs be achieved? Equally it is important to consider the reception of such experimentation by Hindus themselves. Selva J. Raj asks the question: ‘Do these contrived or formal experiments actually promote or erode the prospects of interreligious dialogue?’71 Selva J. Raj recounts that in the late 1980s many Hindus and some Christians’ strong protest against the Catholic attempt to adapt Hindu religious symbols, rituals, images, institutions, and architecture into Christian forms of worship as offensive to their religious sentiments. The Sanskritization of Christianity also sparked animated theological debate between Swami Devananda and [Bede] Griffiths.72

It is clear from Selva J. Raj’s research that, ‘The reaction of Hindus is … quite varied. While some adopt the proverbial universalist and tolerant approach, others regard such efforts as highly offensive to their religious sentiments.’73 A particular critic of the experiments at Shantivanam was K.V. Ramakrishna Rao,74 who asks if such experiments in relation to Hinduism would ever be repeated by Christians in relation to Islam. Other critics perceive the experiments as ‘reckless religious and cultural adventures’, or simply as ‘fraudulent’.75 Such critique raises the fundamental question of the ownership of religious rites and symbols. Are such matters the copyright of a particular faith or religion; or do they exist in such a way as to be more loosely component parts of a more generalized culture? It is evident 70 E.g. Bede Griffiths, The new creation in Christ: Christian meditation and community, (Robert Kiely and Laurence Freeman (eds.), (London, 1992) and Brother John Martin, Sahajananda, Human Being is Greater than Religion: A reinterpretation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, (Thannirpalli, 2001). 71 Selva J. Raj, ‘Adapting Hindu imagery: a critical look at ritual experiments in an Indian Catholic ashram’, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 37/3-4, (2000): 333-53. 72 Ibid. 73 Ibid. 74 K.V. Ramakrishna Rao in the Indian Express, February 13, 1989. 75 Raj, ‘Adapting Hindu imagery’.

156

Christian Inculturation in India

from the breadth of the popular response to the experiments at Shantivanam that there is no ready made consensus concerning these issues. Kurisumala Ashram, Vagamon, Kerala Kurisumala Ashram [Hill of the Cross] is a Cistercian house of the Roman Catholic Church, and in many ways the life of the community has parallels with the life lived at Shantivanam. As mentioned already Bede Griffiths and Francis Mahieu had both stayed at Shantivanam for several months before the foundation of Kurisumala in 1958. However there are aspects of the life of Kurisumala, which are quite distinctive. Firstly, the house is Cistercian rather than Benedictine, which means that the monks have less contact with local communities than their counter-parts at Shantivanam. Secondly, as noted in the previous chapter the buildings of the ashram are not designed as they are Shantivanam to be expressive of the encounter between Christian and Indian traditions. Thirdly the rite of the monks here is West Syrian, rather than Latin. And finally, the ashram community here has published a significant set of liturgical texts for both the Daily Office and the Eucharist, which are the fruit of many years of experimentation in the processes of inculturation. The Daily Office is published in four volumes of Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit.76 The form of the Office is rooted in the West Syrian tradition, and the title refers to words of St Ephrem the Syrian.77 Three offices are provided for: Evening Prayer, Night Vigil and Morning Prayer. The basis of the English translation of the Syriac, is Bede Griffith’s translation of the Syrian Office, published in 1965.78 The most innovative element of the offices is what is called Seeds of the Word. The phrase has been widely used from the time of the Second Vatican Council, although its origins are patristic, referring, ‘the rays of the truth which enlighten all men, the divine revelation found in the sacred writings and traditions of the great religions of the world.’79 The publications of Kurisumala make consistent reference to the initiatives of Vatican II and to the visits of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II to India, and to their statements on inculturation, thus clearly relating these expressions of inculturation to these initiatives. The Seeds of the Word, refers to a hymn (or prayer) introduced into each office, which draws from the sacred writings of India. Though these prayers come from an altogether different cultural and religious tradition: Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, they were found to fit quite remarkably with the ancient poetry of Christian West Asia. Is this not also a sign of the underlying unity of man’s religious and spiritual quest in spite of the great cultural diversity? How have we

76 Francis Acharya (ed.), Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit: The Prayer of Asian Churches, 4 vols, (Vagamon, 1996). 77 See, S.P. Brock, The Harp of the Spirit, (London, 1983), a translation of eighteen poems of St Ephrem. 78 Bede Griffiths, The Book of Common prayer of the Syrian Church, (Vagamon, 1965). 79 Francis Acharya, Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit, vol. 1, p. 9.

Rites and Rituals

157

used these sacred writings? They have often been quoted literally but we have also, in accord with the Syrian tradition of hymnody, drawn on them in a midrashic fashion. Thus texts from different sources have been brought together when they were found mutually enlightening. At times they have been woven with our own sacred scriptures, often to reveal astounding affinities. At other times they have been interwoven with comments from contemporary sages or spiritual leaders of India, thus bringing out their enduring value in our own time. While doing this we never felt unfaithful to our Christian – even our biblical faith.80

Thus Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit demonstrates a high level of experimentation and creativity, as well as a highly developed understanding of the correspondence between different religious traditions and their texts. The provision for the Eucharist on weekdays is published as Bharatiya Pooja, [Indian Worship].81 On Sundays the West Syrian rite continues to be used. The Bharatiya Pooja may be seen in parallel with the Mass for India. However just as with the office, this eucharistic rite is rooted in the West Syrian tradition. The rite begins with the ritual use of water, and the lighting of the lamp. The liturgy of the word follows, and the eucharistic liturgy commences with the offering of bread and wine accompanied by the ritual use of flowers and mantras. The Anaphora, Udgita-Avahanam is constructed on lines, which suggest the shape and content of the Antiochene anaphoras. Salvation History is celebrated and on the whole the wording is rather less controversial than that of the Anaphora of the Mass for India. However the opening paragraph concludes with the statement: ‘Your glory pervades the whole creation. Every atom, every sphere of life is filled with Your presence. There is nothing more universal than You. There is nothing beside You.’82 The notes on the text of the Anaphora make explicit reference to the Svetesvatara Upanishad IV 13-14, in relation to these claims for divine immanence, as well as to the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. The final sentence might also be interpreted as referring to the concept of advaita. The concluding paragraph relating to creation refers to the Trinity as ‘Being, Knowledge and Bliss’ [sac – cid – ananda] and to God as ‘father and mother’.83 Again the notes defend such usage in relation to Indian and Christian scriptures. In particular appeal is made to St Ephrem for the use of feminine imagery in his work.84 The section on the Fall, makes use of the word and concept of Dharma [duty], and to ‘the prophets and teachers of dharma’.85 This leads into a Christological section, giving thanks for the incarnation and redemption in Christ, which concludes with an epicletic hymn and the Institution Narrative. The Anamnesis and Epiclesis follow the Narrative, and make use of Syrian gesture, including the fluttering of the priest’s hand over the elements, in relation to the invocation of the Holy Spirit. The prayers of intercession follow on from the epiclesis, 80 Francis Acharya, Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit, vol. 1, pp. 20-21. 81 Bharatiya Pooja, (Vagamon, no date). 82 Ibid., p. 41. 83 Ibid. 84 See: S.P. Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of St Ephrem, (Rome, 1985), p. 140. 85 Bhaartiya Pooja, p. 42.

158

Christian Inculturation in India

as is the pattern in the Antiochene tradition and testified in the Mystagogical Lectures attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem.86 At the conclusion of the prayers of intercession there is an elevation again parallel with West Syrian custom, but accompanied by ‘triple aarti, or Trivithaarti, with light, incense and flowers’.87 The Bhaartiya Pooja demonstrates once again a highly developed liturgical and inter-religious sense. The rite is not intended for use outside the ashram community, and is the creation of a group whose life is committed to the search for God in the context of South India in a very particular way. Nonetheless the rites at Kurisumala of the Office and Eucharist are a demonstration of one interpretation of the imperatives enunciated by the Second Vatican Council and are a significant contribution to the outcomes of those imperatives and to the material produced by the task of inculturation and now under debate and analysis since the emergence of Dalit Liberation Theology. Church of South India When the Eucharistic rite of the Church of South India was first produced (1950) it was hailed as an important step forward for the Ecumenical and Liturgical Movements. However later reflection lead to a re-evaluation of the rite as ‘a miscellany of foreign liturgical writings, fabricated in the theologian’s or liturgist’s study rather than emerging from South India’s worshipping congregations.’88 The use of this Eucharistic rite in rural parishes raises many issues about its relevance or resonance with the lives of worshipping people, just as the Mass for India might. Villagers often express their faith outside of worship through the use of dance and drums and other instruments, and also the epic-poetry of their forebears, performed as a kind of recitative. Could not such forms be used in the celebration of the Eucharist? While it is true that the rite itself is essentially foreign in its form and content, the ethos of worship of itself is less problematic. Worship is often accompanied with local instruments and songs [bhajans], including bhakti-style lyrics, with the congregation seated on the floor.89 Indian melodies are also used to sing such texts as the Nicene Creed. The use of lamps in worship has also become quite widespread.90 Bishop Sundar Clarke also offers a critique of the standard CSI rite of the Eucharist. He goes beyond the critique of Garrett and argues that the rite is essentially the product of the English and of high caste Indians.91 In distinction to this Sundar Clarke argues that worship should reflect the struggles of the faithful to fight poverty, caste oppression and all forms of injustice and exploitation. Thus the only way forward is for liturgy to reflect these struggles and the culture of those who are engaged in struggle. He commends the use of local indigenous art forms, and dance; e.g. Bharathanatiyam 86 St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s lectures on the Christian sacraments: the Procatechesis and the five mystagogical Catecheses, F.L. Cross (ed.), (Crestwod, 1995). 87 Bhaartiya Pooja, p. 54. 88 T. S. Garrett, Worship in the Church of South India, (London, 1958), p. 6. 89 Garrett, pp. 7-8. 90 See Samson Prahbakar, ‘Authenticity and Relevance of the Liturgy of the Eucharist’ in Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, (Bangalore, 1998), pp. 38-9. 91 Sundar Clarke, Let the Indian Church be Indian, (Madras: 1980, 1985) p. 69.

Rites and Rituals

159

(traditional Indian dance).92 He also commends the use of the fruits of nature much more, to demonstrate an inter-connected-ness with the creation; such as the use of mango and palm leaves, sugar cane and lamps as symbols of light; e.g. a central lamp, kuthuvilka. The element of water, he suggests, is also important. He recognizes that this conceptuality has strong echoes with the understanding of advaita, but he is clear about distancing himself from any understanding of reality as illusion, maya. Here the symbol of the Cross plays an important role in the expression of the reality of suffering. He also advocates a more joyous and festive spirit in worship, including hand-clapping and arm raising. He is keen to explore the use of the body and posture, mentioning the possibility of using yoga and prostration.93 The work of Sundar Clarke and others such as Eric Lott, Christopher Duraisingh and Samson Prabhakar,94 lead in 1986 to the publication of a draft Indian Contextual Liturgy for use in the CSI. While this rite does contain references in Sanskrit, on the whole it is deemed to be less ‘elitist’ than its Roman Catholic counterpart, using only generally accepted rituals.95 Those composing the CSI contextual rite consciously set their faces against what is seen as the Sanskrit culture of The Mass for India. They were conscious that the vast majority of CSI congregations are rural and of low caste or outcaste status. Thus to produce a liturgy heavily reliant upon the thought forms of the ancient Hindu scriptures and philosophy is seen as being as equally remote from the Indian villager as the Judaeo-Christian thought forms which it sought to adapt. Kennerley articulates the reality that, ‘Its Brahmanic quality is also offensive to former Hindus who have experienced oppression from the higher castes.’96 Thus the CSI rite avoids the agamic ritualistic style of the NBCLC rite, in favour of a more spontaneous, prabhandic style. Indeed the very words indigenization or inculturation are rejected as being synonymous with ‘sanskritization’ (Figure 5.3). In the CSI there is a preference for the word ‘inter-cultural’ to describe the experimental liturgy. Nonetheless fears of syncretism still remain, together with an antipathy amongst some towards Hindu traditions and customs. These factors together with the effects of globalization have tended to militate against the processes of inculturation. However it is clear that many of the twelve points identified by the Roman Catholic church in India, have also been employed in worship by Protestant traditions such as the CSI and the Lutheran churches in South India. Local cultures are often drawn upon to create an Indian ethos, including tribal and folk cultures and where appropriate pop cultures too. An aspect of present day worship, which draws upon popular culture, and is to be found in a variety of traditions including among Roman Catholics, relates to the use of music in worship, which is in the idiom of popular film music. Songs and elements of the mass text have been composed in styles, which depend largely if not exclusively upon the genre to be found in Bollywood and the local language film industries. This provides worship with a vibrant and celebratory style, which is both 92 Ibid., p. 69. 93 Ibid. pp. 75-6. 94 E.g. Eric Lott, Worship in an Indian Context, (Bangalore, 1987); Samson Prahbakar, (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, (Bangalore, 1998). 95 Kennerley, ‘The Use of indigenous sacred literature’, p. 147. 96 Ibid., p. 154.

160

Figure 5.3

Christian Inculturation in India

Village style eucharist at TTS: lighting lamps

contemporary and ‘Indian’. An alternative strategy is to be found among the tribal peoples of Andhra Pradesh in the CSI diocese of Dornakal. For instance among Banjara people the evangelists have encouraged the retention of traditional clothing, especially for women, as well as traditional folk dances. These elements of Banjara culture are under threat from the influences of both globalization and an homogenizing ‘Indian-ness’, which may be seen in the women abandoning their customary dress in favour of the sari. The diocesan evangelists are encouraging these tribal peoples to retain their cultural identity alongside the possibility of embracing Christian faith. This represents both a continuity with practices going back to Bishop Azariah as well as a new initiative in the practice of evangelization. Such cultural elements are also welcomed in relation to worship; i.e. traditional dances are sometimes used in relation to festivals and celebrations. Thus in this instance evangelization is clearly both maintaining and transforming cultural identity and practice.

Rites and Rituals

161

Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches In the churches of the Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions there are widespread examples of grass-roots indigenous expression in worship. I will deal with two examples of such practice as illustrative of the developments among Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians in South India. One of the issues facing writers such as myself in seeking to represent these traditions is the small amount of literature available,97 particularly literature written by practising members of the traditions. Thus Sunil Sardar whose work is cited below is exceptional in providing rationale and reflection upon the praxis of his church. As I noted in Chapter 3 the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission (CPM) has expressed its Christian commitment in a life style of celibacy among its full time workers, which echoes the practices of renunciation by holy men and women of Buddhism and Hinduism. In their worship various elements may be identified as being indigenous. Among these may be noted the custom of the congregation sitting on mats on the floor, which echoes Hindu and Buddhist custom. Local musical instruments are used to accompany indigenous melodies. Another distinctive feature of the worship among CPM is the focus on the healing ministry.98 In the practice of the Din Bandhu Ministries in Maharastra, I noted in Chapter 3 the use of indigenous terminology for Baptism, Ganga Snan, which makes connections with Hindu practice of cleansing rituals in the Ganges. Sunil Sardar explains further the connotations of this terminology. Indian culture already understands the need for cleansing. When it is explained that Jesus has prepared a way for ‘gangasnan’ or holy bath, they begin to understand in a new way that it is no longer necessary to repeat the cleansing. Belivers need only to come once, as Jesus Christ has done the cleansing for us by His work on the cross. The Lord has revealed this bridge as a way to bring people to a full knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us.99

The Din Bandhu worshipping community has also sought to adapt the other great Dominical rite of the Lord’s Supper. Another innovation was the breaking of coconuts in communion. Familiar in many Hindu rituals, the coconut can be used in India as a meaningful spiritual symbol. As the coconut is broken during communion, Jesus can be explained as a one-time sacrifice for sin for all eternity. The coconut can also be symbolic of His body being broken and His blood shed for each of us. By using the coconut instead of traditional bread and juice, Hindus understand Christ’s sacrificial act in a new way.100

97 See P. Solomon Raj, A Christian Folk Religion in India, (Frankfurt1986); and The New Wine-Skins: The Story of the indigenous Missions to Coastal Andhra Pradesh, (Delhi and Chennai, 2003). 98 G.V.P. Somaratna, Origins of the Pentecostal Mission in Sri Lanka, (Nugegoda, 1996), pp. 30, 33. 99 Sunil Sardar, Redeeming the Hindu Culture for His Glory, (unpublished Paper, 2000). 100 Ibid.

162

Christian Inculturation in India

Such practice is of course not uncontroversial, but it is a clear attempt to relate to the indigenous culture and thought forms. It is also interesting to recall that one of the practices criticized by early Western Missionaries was the use of coconut juice at communion among the St Thomas Christians. Thus the new churches of the Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions demonstrate parallel though somewhat distinct practice with the other Christian traditions in India. The evidence of such practice among the newer churches demonstrates that these congregations are working at contextualizing their faith and practice at the grass roots and are successfully producing indigenous churches, often ahead of the older churches, which remain rooted in practice formed by Western missionaries, now several generations ago. Liturgies for Dalit Liberation It is important to note from the outset of a discussion of the critique made by Dalit Liberation theology of attempts at inculturation in South India, that all those engaged in this task acknowledge that worship should be a means of seeking liberation and justice for all, and should never be or become a means of oppressing others. However those seeking liberation for the Dalit peoples of India stand in a particular perspective to the socio-religious traditions of India and voice this distinctive perspective in relation to attempts at inculturation made by Christians who may not share the experience of oppression and injustice first hand. A. Alfred Stephen has argued that from a Dalit’s perspective any worship is oppressive, if the culture from which it originates is oppressive.101 Alfred Stephen cites F.J. Balasundaram in his quest to reclaim a Dalit culture, which he sees as hidden beneath the layers of caste Hinduism, a culture marginalized by conquest and the resultant exclusion under Brahminical Hinduism, a culture totally reliant on an oral tradition. Alfred Stephen’s quest to reclaim Dalit culture is focused in an attempt to form a modern day counter-culture.102 He seeks to interpret Dalit religion as one in which local deities are seen as protectors, in the context of on-going oppression and social exclusion. In the attempt to identify the qualities of authentic worship from a Dalit perspective, Alfred Stephen sets out a number of basic criteria. Firstly he identifies the fundamental need for self-respect, and thus for liturgy which recognizes and affirms the common humanity of Dalit peoples in equality with all others. Secondly, as a wounded community, Dalit peoples have come to know God, as being on their side of the struggle. As an extension of this understanding, as peoples in the role of an enforced servanthood, they have re-appropriated the notion of ‘diakonia’, and have come to see God as ‘Servant’. This insight is again something requiring clear articulation, celebration, and indeed instantiation in the ethos and character of worship. Finally, it is necessary to understand that language itself can be an instrument of oppression from both pulpit and altar. Thus it is necessary to avoid oppressive language from high caste traditions and cultures in liturgical texts and in preaching. 101 A. Alfred Stephen, ‘Culture and Worship: A Dalit Perspective’, in Prahbakar, (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, p. 114. 102 Ibid., pp. 115-16.

Rites and Rituals

163

Various attempts have been crafted to create indigenous worship for Christians of a Dalit or low caste origin. One such attempt is to be seen in the publication Bhakthi Pancha Pushpanjali,103 authored by the staff of Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai. In this five orders are offered including Worship in a Dalit Perspective. However such attempts have tended to remain confined to educational and training institutions. In the year 2000 while I was on Sabbatical Leave in South India, I was privileged to participate in a seminar held at Kodaikanal, a hill station in Tamil Nadu. The seminar was organized by the Dalit Resource Centre, based at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary in Arasaradi, Madurai. Christian priests and pastors, Catholic and Protestant, as well as Hindu and secular Dalit activists shared in this event, in an attempt to craft liturgies which would raise awareness of the complex issues facing congregations seeking to embrace a worship style appropriate to the ongoing liberation of Dalit peoples. The outcome of this seminar was a collection of liturgies entitled: Vazhipaduvom: Dalit Liturgies.104 The core aim of this collection is to reflect ‘the life events, sufferings and happiness of Dalits who toil and sweat, who meet atrocities in everyday life’.105 Dhyanchand Carr sets out further criteria in the quest for an authentic liturgy from a Dalit perspective, in the introductory essay of the collection.106 He clearly identifies the activity of worship with the divine purposes in creating and redeeming, and in particular with God’s quest for justice for all. The expression of this is to be the core of all liturgy. For Carr redemption is the bringing in of new life and new values, which worship must both express and empower. In creating and celebrating liturgy there needs to be a clear understanding of the relationship between God’s story of redemption, and the human stories of (a) the dominant classes and (b) the oppressed. Worship should articulate this patterning of human experience by these three stories. Christian worship should be the confluence of these three stories leading to a new story of God with the new human community. That is, the two stories of humankind along with that of the story of how God is bound together in the above two stories, takes the shape of a play in the worship. This play is the reflection of truth and symbolises truth. So, because of this, this Lord’s story should bring about a change in the other two stories. This is the final aim of a Christian worship.107

Carr goes on to spell out how the effects of this transformation need to be expressed in repentance by the oppressors, and the emergence of a new social order. It is interesting to note how this radical perspective on liturgy and worship echoes so clearly the vision of Bede Griffiths in his understanding that the ultimate goal of seeking liturgical inculturation, is the emergence and formation of a new human

103 Bhakthi Pancha Pushpanjali: 5 Order of Worship, (Madras, 1992). 104 Vazhipaduvom: Dalit Liturgies, (Madurai, 2000). 105 Ibid., p. vii. 106 Dhyanchand Carr, ‘God and People in Liturgies’, in Vazhipaduvom: Dalit Liturgies, (Madurai, 2000). 107 Ibid., pp. x-xi.

164

Christian Inculturation in India

community [sangha].108 So that despite approaching the quest for an authentic Indian liturgy from apparently different perspectives, Carr and Griffiths share a common core vision of the outcome of true worship. Finally I want to draw attention to an essay by Sathiananthan Clarke, who seeks to relate the quest for a Dalit perspective on liturgy to the underlying issues of interreligious relations and dialogue.109 He describes a visit to a village [Vallarpirrai in Karunguli, Chinelput District] in a parish where he was pastor in Tamil Nadu. He discovered that the Christian villagers were actively participating in a festival celebrating the village goddess protectress, Gangamma. What response should be made to such practice? The standard response is likely to be, that Christians should be taught to distance themselves from such celebrations. However as Sabastian Kappen writes, It is generally believed that the Indian Christians are beings apart, having little in common with Hindus. Such a perception is, in fact, jealously instilled in them by the churches from early childhood. But, anthropologically, they are first Indian and only then Christian. They are children of the soil as much as any Hindu. The deeper recesses of their being reverberate with the collective unconscious of the Indian people.110

Clarke goes on to argue that Hindu and Christian Dalits living on the edge of the same village will have much in common, sharing similar life experiences and world-views. They will stand in solidarity, and it is out of this that they will go on celebrating festivals together. From this solidarity Clarke identifies a process of de-sanskritization that is set in motion in our collective Christian journey. While there was an historical period in which Indian Christians attempted to project false Brahmanical identity by copiously drawing upon classical Hindu symbols, rites and philosophical categories and theological themes, in recent years we have begun to reclaim our Dalit and non-brahmin heritage. The focus on festivals reaffirms our roots in popular and local religions in India since village festivals constitute one of the central characteristics of Dalit and Sudra religious life.111

Thus Clarke sets out his project in which Dalit roots and culture are to be reclaimed and celebrated in ways, which rely upon an open-ness to non-Christian religious traditions. He identifies three models of inter-religious relationship. He rejects the concept of Christianity over against other religions and also that of Christianity alongside other faiths. He prefers the flexibility and creativity of the concept that Christ transforms both Christianity and other faiths on an on-going basis and in common. He seeks to explore this model through an appeal to a trinitarian model of understanding God, and thus of the person and work of Christ. Thus he concludes 108 Bede Griffiths, ‘New Human Community’, (1984), reproduced in Bede Griffiths Sangha Newsletter, (December 2004). 109 Sathiananthan Clarke, ‘Celebrating Indian Religious Festivals: A Theological Defence’, in Prahbakar, (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church. 110 Sabastian Kappen, cited by Sathiananthan Clarke, ‘Celebrating Indian Religious Festivals’, p. 43. 111 Clarke, ‘Celebrating Indian Religious Festivals’, p. 44.

Rites and Rituals

165

that, ‘This understanding of Christ allows us to account for the presence of the divine in other religious traditions. It is the same spirit of Christ that has been immanently operative from the foundation of the world in all of creation directing it toward the human and the humane.’112 Here again we may identify a close parallel with the conceptuality of Bede Griffiths and Fr Amalorpavadass, in the construal of the presence of the divine in other religions and thus establishing a basis for inter-religious relations and dialogue and also inculturation. Clarke may want to see the Roman Catholic church as working with a model of Christianity alongside of other faiths and as equal with them. However it is also clear that Catholic writers and practitioners in the task of inculturation are just as committed to the view that transformation of religion and human community is the necessary outcome of the cultural encounter and dialogue achieved through inculturation. There are certainly differences of emphasis, which result in divergent outcomes in liturgical expression. However there is a core of common understanding between Catholic and Protestant writers in relation to the basis for inter-religious relations; and it is to a thorough examination of this that I shall turn in the final chapter. In this investigation I have sought to demonstrate how worship and belief relate to each other in relation to inculturation, either unintentional or intentional. The critique of the liturgical and ceremonial developments from the perspective of Dalit Liberation Theology has highlighted not only that the values of cultures need to be weighed, but also that socio-religious culture of any local community or congregation of the holy people of God needs to be taken seriously and above all understood and respected. From these core reflections fundamental criteria emerge to assist the processes and outcomes of inculturation.

112 Ibid., p. 47.

This page intentionally left blank

Chapter 6

Imperatives for a New Agenda Screenagers are uncomfortable with the traditional authority of text but at home with the visual; stimulated by multimedia but bored by words on a page; alive to the interactive but dead to the passive. Clearly, if the Church, whose history is so rich with words, is to engage this generation, she must break free from whatever captivity words, text and the age of print have imposed. In her conversations with the transitional generations, she must understand that they do not see text the way she has seen it.1

Introduction The task of inculturation as practised in South India has led me to ask questions not only about the explicit imperatives, which underlie the processes, but also about the implicit value bases of the churches and their practitioners involved in those processes. This in turn leads to questions, which concern the value base and power base of the cultures and societies drawn into the processes of inculturation. It is to these sets of questions and the critique of inculturation, which they produce, that I am seeking to respond in this final chapter. My response will be set out in an attempt to offer criteria by which to take into account the value bases and power bases of society, church and culture in the processes of inculturation. These criteria emerge directly in relation to this study focused as it is on South India. However such questions arise wherever the task of inculturation is pursued, and therefore such criteria should be transferable to other contexts and cultures. The search for criteria for inculturation will be made in relation to the values of those engaged in the task as well as the values implicit and explicit in the cultures with which they engage. I will pursue the search for criteria by addressing three questions, and then conclude with an overview of the criteria discerned. The three questions to be addressed will be: Firstly, what are the fundamental imperatives underlying the task of inculturation in the present day? Secondly, what does it mean to understand inculturation as a process of transformation? Thirdly, what values may be required to facilitate the process of inculturation as transformation? I will conclude the discussion of these questions with an analysis of the critique of inculturation, which emerges from Dalit Liberation Theology, before offering criteria for the processes of inculturation. The discussion of values and criteria for the task of inculturation in this chapter is set against the background of the relationship between inculturation and two other major tasks in which the churches participate, namely mission and inter-religious dialogue and encounter. 1 Gerard Kelly, Get a grip on the future without losing your hold on the past, (London, 1999), p. 115.

168

Christian Inculturation in India

Much of the discussion of inculturation is conducted in relation to the imperative of mission and / or evangelization. It is also the case that much of the discourse in this study has identified inter-religious relations as a crucial element in the understanding of those engaged in the task of inculturation. A question therefore emerges concerning the balance between these three: mission, inter-religious dialogue and inculturation. In other words is inculturation an aspect of evangelization? Or is it an expression of dialogue and encounter with the ‘religious other’? Or indeed is inculturation to be pursued for its own sake? In order to attempt to answer these questions I shall turn to examine the core imperatives, which underlie inculturation. What are the Imperatives Today? I shall pursue an answer to the question of imperatives by examining two main areas of Christian concern. They will be [1] mission in relation to conversion and [2] mission in relation to an understanding of the search for the divine [sadhana]. Each of these areas of concern may also be understood in relation to inter-religious dialogue as well as the task of inculturation. In posing them initially from the perspective of mission I do so in relation to the understanding of mission as missio dei (the mission of God) as set out for example in the works of David Bosch.2 Mission is to be understood primarily as the initiative and action of God, the Holy Trinity, rather than as a task initiated by the Church. Thus the sending agent in mission is God, and the Church participates in this divine sending, rather than taking on the role of ‘sending agency’. Divine mission so understood is therefore not conceived in relation to church recruitment; but is conceived in relation to the divine purposes in creating and redeeming the cosmos. My questions relating to the missio dei are set in the context of a discussion of pluralism, and the different responses Christian theologians have offered in recognition of churches finding themselves in pluralist contexts during the twentieth century. Firstly it is of note that some theologians have expressed regret at finding themselves in a pluralist context. Karl Rahner3 argued that while pluralism was unavoidable, it was not a good situation in which to be placed. Nonetheless he embraced the need to understand others, and crafted his four theses, including the famous concept of the ‘anonymous Christian’ in response to pluralism. He recognizes that those of other faiths, ‘have become part of one’s own existential situation – no longer merely theoretically but in the concrete – and we experience them therefore as something which puts the absolute claim of our own Christian faith into question.’4

2 David N Bosch, Transforming Mission paradigm shifts in theology of mission, (Maryknoll, 1991; Believing in the future: toward a missiology of Western culture, (Valley Forge, Pa. and Leominster, 1995). 3 Karl Rahner, ‘Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions’, in Theological Investigations, vol. 5, (Baltimore and London, 1966), pp. 115-34. 4 Rahner, ‘Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions’, p. 55.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

169

Lesslie Newbigin takes an even less positive view5 and argues that pluralism is a sign of approaching death. For him ‘pluralism’ is identified with an inevitable relativism, which he adamantly argues is not ‘value free’. As a perception of truth, he argues, it sits alongside all the other truth claims. Newbigin’s critique of pluralism as understood for example by John Hick6 is based upon a post-modern claim that there is no ‘outside’: i.e. relativism is not neutral or value-free. Thus he identifies that much discussion of pluralism has been conducted from within a ‘modern’ worldview. Newbigin’s ‘post-modern’ critique of pluralism is not the only alternative perspective. John Thiel7 argues that pluralist contexts lead to a recognition of the relativity of truth claims, which is rooted in an understanding that ‘pluralism is first and foremost a perspective on meaning in the face of difference’.8 The valuing of difference is a basic component of a positive concept of pluralism. A further basic component is the appreciation that the conceptuality of truth has been changing. In a pre-modern world-view, the universal validity of beliefs was assumed, in a modern view the historicity of truth claims is accepted, while in a post-modern view truth is related to context and the individual. The consequences of modern responses to pluralism are highlighted by Jürgen Moltmann,9 who rejects the notion that church and faith are invulnerable, inalterable and aggressive, as well as an appeal to relativism: Absolutism and relativism are really twins, because both view everything from a higher, non-historical watch-tower. In the open history of potentiality one can only move specifically from one relationship to other relationships in the hope that living relations will enable us to gain ‘everything’ and to combat the threat of ‘nothingness’.10

Against this background questions concerning mission need a response. Debate in and among the churches continues concerning whether or not non-Christian religions are ‘primarily…“mission fields” [or] …somehow within the salvific purposes of God’.11 This division was shaped in particular by the contribution of Hendrik Kraemer12 at the Tambaram Conference in 1938. Ariarajah writes that, ‘Kraemer succeeded in convincing the majority of the participants that the gospel was in discontinuity with world religions. At Tambaram the church-centred mission theology that sought

5 Lesslie Newbigin, ‘Religion for the Marketplace’, in Gavin D’Costa (ed.), Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: the Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, (Maryknoll, 1990), pp. 135-48. 6 E.g. John Hick, Myth of Christian Uniqueness, (London, 1988). 7 John E. Thiel, ‘Pluralism in Theological Truth’, in Why Theology? 6 Concilium, Claude Geffré and Werner Jeanrond (eds). 8 Thiel, ‘Pluralism in Theological Truth’, p. 57. 9 Jürgen Moltmann, ‘Christianity and World Religions’, in Hick and Hebblethwaite (eds), Christianity and other religions: selected readings, (London, 1980). 10 Moltmann, ‘Christianity and World Religions’, pp. 200-201. 11 S. Wesley Ariarajah, Hindus and Christians: A Century of Protestant Ecumenical Thought, (Amsterdam and Grand Rapids, 1991), p. 138. 12 Hendrick Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, (London, 1938, 1947).

170

Christian Inculturation in India

to replace the world religions regained its place in mission history.’13 In particular Kraemer dismisses the idea that there was any way forward in the exploration of mysticism in Hinduism and Christianity. In his view such a focus on mysticism was to misunderstand Christianity. Thus he challenges the method that has been pursued in a number of Christian ashrams in which the conceptuality of advaita was explored as a point of connection between the two traditions. However Ariarajah also argues that many at the Tambaram conference also perceived that Kraemer’s stance on world religions was not the only possible standpoint. Debate concerning the churches’ understanding of mission and conversion in relation to other faiths continues as is witnessed in the WCC papers for the Athens conference Come, Holy Spirit – Heal and Reconcile: Called in Christ to be reconciling and healing communities.14 In the preparatory work for the conference it is clear that a difference of understanding of mission and conversion remains. Thus the first preparatory paper states 76 (c) Christian mission involves a holistic response through evangelistic and diaconal work to reach out to people in their experience of exclusion, brokenness and meaninglessness. … 77 (a) Impelled by the love of Christ, we commit ourselves to work to ensure that all our neighbours in every place, near and far, have the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.15

In these two statements something of the continuing tension between the different views becomes evident. J.K. Bajaj and M.D. Srinivas have argued that ‘the Christian insistence on proselytising’ in the context of South India, especially in relation to inter-religious encounter, can have counter-productive consequences.16 Thus indicating the need for churches to have a broader vision of mission. Such a vision might include an appeal to a common quest for God, which would necessarily involve inter-religious dialogue, and probably necessitate the construction of a new theological taxonomy. The roots of a shared search for God, are to be found in the theological expressions of and responses to pluralism. There will be those such as Kraemer who stand out against any understanding of a shared quest, while there will be others who embrace such a possibility, whether tentatively or wholeheartedly. Thus despite his initial caution in respect of pluralism, Karl Rahner17 clearly espouses a vision of the place and role of non-Christian religions, which provides a basis for understanding mission as a shared quest for God by the whole of humanity. Rahner appeals to the universal experience of ‘Mystery’ as one basis for the shared search for God.18 He also argues that not everyone can experience and respond to the 13 Ariarajah, Hindus and Christians, p. 85. 14 E.g. Preparatory paper No 1, Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today, (WCC, 2005). 15 Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today, sections 76 (c) and 77 (a). 16 J.K. Bajaj and M.D. Srinivas, ‘Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialogue: IdolWorship, Cow-Protection and Conversion’, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 17 (2004): 9-10. 17 Rahner, ‘Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions’. 18 Rahner’s appeal to ‘Mystery’ is related by John McSweeney, in ‘Rahner in the Mirror of Poststructuralism: The Practice of Theology as the Venture of Thought’, Louvain Studies

Imperatives for a New Agenda

171

Cross and Resurrection at same time. Thus he argues that the obligation of Christian faith is perhaps at different times for different people. On this basis he can claim that until the Christian gospel enters into the history of a situation or individual, then non-Christian religions hold truth, including supernatural elements of grace. It is on the basis of this argument that grace is offered and accepted outside the church that Rahner understands that members of other religions may be understood to be ‘anonymous Christians’. Such views could be interpreted as a continuation of Christian imperialism; the subsuming of all others into the Church, whether they wish it or not. Alternatively it can be seen as a fundamental shift in emphasis, which potentially envisages all human response to the divine or ultimate as a shared quest in which each has an equal validity. Raimundo Panikkar’s19 understanding of interreligious encounter in Christ is parallel with Rahner’s conceptuality of non-Christian faiths. Another significant contribution to the understanding of the ‘shared search’ is to be found in Kenneth Cracknell’s work on the concept of the ‘nations’ in both Old and New Testaments.20 In particular he argues that ‘the nations’ is an important motif, which has considerable implications for understanding ‘mission’ particularly in a pluralist context. In his exegesis of Revelation 21.3, he expounds textual variations to support his case that the invitation of the nations into the Kingdom of God, and to the Messianic banquet is an invitation into diversity and difference rather than recruitment into a uniform homogeneity.21 Wilfred Cantwell Smith argues that these developments in the Christian theological response to pluralism amount to and indeed require a theological ‘Copernican Revolution’.22 Chester Gillis23 builds on these perceptions and argues for the need for a New Paradigm in Christian theology: ‘A Theology of Religions’, which he advocates needs to be based upon a ‘pluralist’ understanding rather than exclusivist or inclusivist view of world religions. In other words each person is ‘saved’ according to the precepts and means of their own faith tradition. As Stanley Samartha writes, ‘True universality cannot be understood as the extension of one particularity at the cost of others.’24 Gillis argues for ‘salvific parity’ between the different religions, based upon an appeal to the Christian tradition’s perception of God as universal and loving. Thus God holds open the offer of salvation to each person in the context in which they are set. Gillis recognizes that such a vision might seem to entail either a rupture with the Christian past or alternatively the emergence of a lowest common denominator religion. However in 29 (2004): 187-208 to the work of Michel Foucault on mysticism and the status quo: e.g. M. Foucault, Les mots et les choses, (Paris, 1966; English); The Order of Things, (London:, 1970); see also J. Bernauer and J. Carrette (eds.), Michel Foucault and Theology, (Aldershot, 2004). 19 Raimundo Panikkar, Unknown Christ of Hinduism, (London, 1964). 20 Kenneth Cracknell, Towards a New Relationship: Christians and People of Other Faith, (London, 1986). 21 Ibid., pp. 51-2. 22 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Towards a world theology: faith and the comparative history of religion, (London, 1980). 23 Chester Gillis, Pluralism: A new paradigm for theology, (Louvain, 1998). 24 Stanley Samartha, One Christ – Many Religions, (Maryknoll, 1991), p. 33.

172

Christian Inculturation in India

his understanding a crafting of a theology of religions is an attempt to make sense of religious pluralism from one’s own particular context and tradition, which does not entail sacrificing one’s identity or particularity. The bases for such understandings of a pluralist context necessarily require mutual understanding and respect, and it would seem that these prerequisites are usually achieved through encounter and dialogue. If mission is to be understood in relation to a shared search of God, then a shared understanding of dialogue will also be necessary. Stanley Samartha25 is clear that no single approach to dialogue is possible given the complexity and variety of cultural contexts. He sets out three theological reasons for dialogue:26 [a] God in Christ entered into relationship with people of all faiths and times; [b] the gospel is the offer of true community, which through forgiveness and reconciliation leads to the emergence of a new creation; and [c] Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would lead into all truth, a truth which is relational rather than propositional. Thus dialogue as the main expression of relationality is key to inter-religious relations and the possibility of a shared search for God. While there is a general consensus that dialogue is necessary, there is no agreement on its status. Thus Jürgen Moltmann27 argues that dialogue is not a means to an end, but is an end in itself, in which God’s vulnerability is manifest, while Chester Gillis28 is clear that dialogue is not an end in itself. For him dialogue is not just an exchange of information, it is a learning experience: an encounter in which one is open to change one’s notions and views; i.e. it is to be a truth-seeking dialogue. For this to occur one must approach dialogue from the perspective that one does not know truth in its entirety already. Panikkar echoes Gillis, arguing that dialogue is not apologetics. ‘Dialogue, however, does imply that the convictions and beliefs one brings to dialogue are subject to a new hermeneutic, which the exchange itself unlocks for the participants.’29 Thus dialogue itself is being seen as transformational, and this in turn interprets the shared quest for God as also being transformational, not simply the reiteration of received doctrines and traditions. As Israel Selvanayagam30 argues, evangelism and interfaith dialogue need not be contradictory but complementary. The ecumenical conference held in Kandy, Sri Lanka in 196731 led to significant steps being taken towards such a valuing of inter-religious dialogue. The conference statement highlighted that

25 Stanley Samartha, ‘Dialogue as a Continuing Christian Concern’, in Hick and Hebblethwaite (eds.), Christianity and other religions: selected readings, (London, 1980). 26 Ibid., p. 164. 27 Moltmann, ‘Christianity and World Religions’. 28 Gillis, Pluralism, p. 40. 29 Gillis, Pluralism, p. 44; referring to Raimundo Panikkar, The Intrareligious Dialogue, (New York, 1978), pp. 26-7. 30 Israel Selvanayagam, A Second Call: Ministry and Mission in a Multifaith Milieu, (Chennai, 2000). 31 Christians in Dialogue with Men of Other Faiths, (Geneva: 1967). Significantly this meeting included Roman Catholic as well as Protestant and Eastern Orthodox participants.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

173

Dialogue means a positive effort to attain a deeper understanding of the truth through mutual awareness of one another’s convictions and witness. It involves an expectation of something new happening ... Dialogue implies a readiness to be changed as well as to influence the other. Good dialogue develops when one partner speaks in such a way that the other feels drawn to listen, and likewise when one listens so that the other is drawn to speak.

The outcome of such understandings of dialogue would infer that Christian theological response to other religions should be formulated in dialogue with adherents of ... other religions. Instead of approaching other religions from predisposed doctrinal formulations and ideas, the discussion partners agreed to reflect theologically on religious plurality while actually being in dialogue with those of other faiths.32

Douglas Pratt33 argues that as a result of the conference held in Kandy, ecumenical debate on inter-religious dialogue is now focused on three issues. First, the idea of dialogue as a two-way communication was viewed as a principal and proper form of relationship to people of other faiths – in distinction from a narrowly one-way missionizing proclamation. Second, an effort was being made to determine a framework of thinking that would make theological sense of dialogical interaction from a Christian perspective. Third, such communication and theological reflection was to take place within the horizon of actual inter-religious encounters: ‘dialogue was seen as a justified correction of the kind of evangelism that disregards what others have to offer to Christians’.34

Bevans and Schroeder also argue that dialogue is a fundamental element of the missio dei, appealing to the concept of Prophetic Dialogue.35 Christian mission, then, is participation in the dialogical life and mission of the Trinity. But that dialogue is one that is prophetic. As the Roman Catholic bishops of Asia have expressed it, mission (in Asia, but from our perspective, in the whole world) needs to be done in a threefold dialogue: with the poor, with culture and with other religions.36

In other words interfaith dialogue and the shared quest for God are to be seen as fundamental aspects of Christian understandings of the missio dei.37

32 Cited in Jan Hendrik Pranger, Dialogue in Discussion; The World Council of Churches and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism between 1967 and 1979, (Utrecht: Interuniversitair Instituut voor Missiologie en Oecumenica, 1994), p. 63. 33 Douglas Pratt, ‘The Dance of Dialogue’, The Ecumenical Review, July (1999). 34 Pratt, ‘The Dance of Dialogue’, final quote from Pranger, ‘Dialogue in Discussion’, p. 67. 35 Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, (Maryknoll, 2004), chapter 12. 36 Ibid., p. 349. 37 See Michael Amaladoss, ‘The Trinity on Mission’, Church and Theology in Context, 40/1 (2002): 99-106.

174

Christian Inculturation in India

A New Taxonomy? Such views of inter-religious dialogue and the shared quest for God inevitably suggest the need for a new way of assembling theological categories: a new taxonomy. This would evolve from inter-religious relations and dialogue, and from the current pluralist contexts in which the churches find themselves. The use of the terminology of advaita by some Christians in India itself suggests and provides an example for such a new taxonomy. The various responses to the conceptuality of advaita to be found among Christians in India bears testimony to the complexity of inter-religious relations as well as of the task of inculturation. For some Christians, the conceptuality of advaita is either abhorrent or irrelevant. While for others it is the focus of the quest to be or become Indian Christians. And for others the choice is not so clear. As noted already Abhishikananda is among those for whom the conceptuality of advaita is central to the quest for an Indian form of Christianity. He argued that the difference between, East and West and even between Indian and Semitic thought forms, needs to be acknowledged in such a manner as to allow Indian Christians to find and form their own religious language and conceptualities in order to express the Christian faith and gospel.38 He is critical of the ways in which Hindu and Christian traditions have caricatured each other’s understanding of the divine mystery and of human beings’ union with this mystery. He argues that each needs to have a much deeper appreciation of the other’s tradition.39 Thus he argues that, ‘Advaita is not so much a challenge to Christian faith as a relentless reminder that God – and therefore also the acts of God – can never be wholly contained in our concepts.’40 Thus for Abhishiktananda the only possibility for Indian Christianity is to embrace Indian thought forms and for him this is focused in an appeal to advaita. For him this was not simply a concept, but rather a lived experience, of which he was entirely convinced. Advaita in this instance becomes the touchstone of ‘Indianness’; however as already seen this is highly problematic. Indeed it is impossible for any one concept or practice to become such a touchstone, simply because of the enormous diversity of religious ideas and practices in the complexity of ‘Indian’ culture. However there are others who still follow in the way of Abhishiktananda. One such is Brother John Martin of Shantivanam. Writing as Sahajananda, he voices a vision of the transformation of both Hinduism and Christianity through inter-religious dialogue and relations. He is highly critical of the ways in which Christianity has hedged about the message of Christ, and has sought to confine salvation within the Church. Again his argument is rooted in the conceptuality of advaita, the overcoming of division, particularly between God and creation, and in the resultant direct communion with God.41 Here in this appeal to the conceptuality

38 Abhishiktananda, Hindu-Christian Meeting Point: Within the cave of the heart, (Delhi, 1969, 1976, 1984), p. 5. 39 Ibid., pp. 94–7. 40 Ibid., p. 96. 41 Sahajananda, Human Being is Greater than Religion: A Reinterpretation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, (Thannirpalli, 2001), pp. 138–40.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

175

of advaita, is the beginning of a worked example of a new theological taxonomy for Christian faith in the Indian context. The understanding of the missio dei as evangelization rooted in inter-religious dialogue brings me to an analysis of inculturation seen as a transforming process. Christ the incarnate one, the logos made flesh, the second person of the Holy Trinity, lived in a particular human existence in a particular historical context and culture. Inculturation is an aspect of this missio dei. Its purpose is to facilitate the churches’ participation in divine mission in the world, by enabling the churches to become incarnated in a particular context and culture. Thus Michael Amaladoss argues that the outcome of the processes of inculturation is to seek the realization of God’s Kingdom on earth. However he warns that the processes are not automatic, they are not part of the ex opere operato of the sacraments. Furthermore he warns that when, as has often been the case, the Church identifies itself with the Kingdom, the good news becomes creed, ritual and organization. To counterbalance such tendencies dialogue between Gospel and culture is a necessary element in the process of a church becoming local, and inculturation implies the ongoing transformation of the church and the local culture to which it seeks to relate. In his recent work Truth and Toleration Joseph Ratzinger also argues that the encounter between the Church and other cultures is a process of transformation. The model upon which he argues for this is ‘God’s action of breaking into the human world and in response to this man’s breaking out toward God’.42 He writes that we should talk, no longer about ‘inculturation’, but about a meeting of cultures, or – if we have to use a technical term – about ‘interculturality’. For ‘inculturation’ presupposes that, as it were, a culturally naked faith is transferred into a culture that is indifferent from the religious point of view, so that two agents that were hitherto alien to each other meet and now engage in a synthesis together. But this description is first of all artificial and unreal, because there is no such thing as a culture-free faith and because – outside of modern technical civilization – there is no such thing as religion-free culture. But above all one cannot see how two organisms that are in themselves totally alien to each other should, through a transplantation that starts by mutilating them both, suddenly become a single living whole. Only if it is true that all cultures are potentially universal and have an inner capacity to be open to others can interculturality lead to new and fruitful forms.43

Thus he goes on to argue that ‘mere pluralism of religions’ needs to be transformed into a much more dynamic ‘plurality’.44 It is interesting to note that this appeal to an interculturality is echoed in the recent work, The Transformative Imagination by George Newlands, who argues that there is a need to move beyond multiculturalism and its inherent relativism to a level of ‘participation, reciprocity and dialogue’ which represents a new conceptuality of intercultural theology.45

42 J. Ratzinger, Truth and Toleration: Christian Belief and World Religions, (San Francisco, 2004), p. 199. 43 Ibid., p. 64. 44 Ibid., p. 83. 45 George Newlands, The Transformative Imagination: Rethinking Intercultural theology, (Aldershot, 2004), p. 12.

176

Christian Inculturation in India

The outcomes of the ‘incarnation’ of a church in its local culture are to be understood in terms of the cosmic dimensions of the missio dei. Thus the outcomes of inculturation are not merely new buildings, new liturgical rites, the borrowing of rituals and customs and linguistic formulae. Those aspects of inculturation are stages of a process which enable participation by the People of God in [1] the divine fellowship (koinonia) of the Holy Trinity; [2] in the divine nature (theosis); and [3] new human community. Raimondo Panikkar argues that true encounter between different religious traditions requires of each party to the encounter an asceticism, which is also a mystical life.46 From this will emerge a detachment from categories, formulas and prejudices. This is not meant as a denial of orthodoxy, but it does mean a move to orthopraxy (right practice). He argues that true encounter is ‘communion in being’. Inculturation is a form of this true encounter between different religious traditions, different cultural perspectives and practices, and as such it rests upon the recognition that each human person is made in the image and likeness of God, and by extension that each human culture is potentially a bearer of the divine. The consequences of true encounter in the processes of inculturation enable cultures and the persons inhabiting them to be transformed. Inter-religious dialogue and encounter, underpinning the processes of inculturation facilitates the emergence of new human community, which is the work of grace, as well as the work of women and men.47 Michael Amaladoss48 argues that the proper out come of inculturation of the Good News is a community of love and sharing, which facilitates the reconciling and re-uniting all things in God. As Bede Griffiths49 argues the outcome of dialogue and inculturation is a new human community (sangha) in which justice, sharing, love and peace are its marks.50 From this perspective the task and processes of inculturation are neither peripheral nor optional for the Church. The relationship of Christ, Gospel and Church to culture is core to the realization of the missio dei in the world. The realization of the divine purposes may be seen in terms of the coming of the Reign or Kingdom of God, participation in the communion of the Trinity, as well as what the Fathers of the Eastern churches call deification or theosis.51 This understanding of the destiny of the human person is by no means only an Eastern Orthodox preserve. Participation in the divine nature is a key theme in the writings not only of Maximus the Confessor,52 but also of Thomas Aquinas53 and Martin Luther.54 Thus inculturation is to be 46 See McSweeney on Rahner and the potential connections with the work of Michael Foucault. 47 Here is to be seen a double movement of divine grace and human response: an implicit appeal to understandings of ‘synergy’ which accompany the classic eastern doctrine of theosis. 48 Amaladoss, Beyond Inculturation. 49 Bede Griffiths, ‘New Human Community’. 50 Sahajananda, Human Being is Greater than Religion. 51 See 2 Peter 1.3-4. 52 E.g. Maximus the Confessor, Mystagogia, MPG 24: 704D-705A. 53 E.g. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ia. 42.5. 54 E.g. Martin Luther, Dictata super psalterium, 1513-15.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

177

understood in terms of its transforming55 effects for human cultures and for interreligious understanding and encounter, and thus for human community. So it might be argued that the shape of inculturation is Christ taking form in culture and in that process transforming it. This Christomorphic understanding of inculturation raises the question: what values are necessary in the processes of inculturation in order to facilitate these outcomes in relation to the missio dei? Michael Amaladoss56 argues that the cultural transformation, which inculturation can create is also an essential element of social transformation, and thus in building the kingdom of God. However the values, which underpin inculturation will inevitably influence the outcomes, which it produces. So consideration of values is a crucial element in the pre-understandings required for the task of inculturation, as well as for the ongoing processes. Let me illustrate my concerns with three examples. Lesslie Newbigin57 draws particular attention to the question of values inherent in the appeal to pluralism. He is critical of John Hick’s construct of pluralism based on the perceived common human need for salvation. He argues that this is rooted in what is claimed to be a value-free assessment of religions, and in parallel with postmodern thinking draws attention to the reality that nothing is value free, and that there is no view from ‘outside’. Newbigin offers his own vision of the basis for interreligious relations, which is rooted in the attention to be given to God and God’s glory. Newbigin’s critique of Hick highlights the need for church communities and individuals to have a self-awareness of their own pre-understandings, as well as of the processes, which they initiate and pursue. Hick’s construction of a pluralist understanding of inter-religious relations and Newbigin’s are both built upon complex sets of values, each of which have their own integrity. Such opposing views highlight the need for reflection and awareness in the task of inculturation. My second example relates to Moltmann’s perception that the question of the indigenization of Christian churches is a question about the place of Christian presence in terms of social structure. Here Moltmann highlights the need for awareness of where power lies in the local context in terms of social structures. He writes, ‘In societies which are divided up into castes and classes, it matters very much whether the Christian churches and theology make themselves at home in the ruling castes or classes, in the lower castes or classes, or among the casteless and classless.’58 The context of South India highlights in a very direct way the need to be aware of the connections between, culture, power and social structures, in undertaking Christian inculturation. Thus the explicit acknowledgement of the interaction between socio-cultural values, power-play in socio-political structures and the values of local churches themselves becomes crucial if the processes of inculturation are to facilitate processes of transformation.

55 Icons of the Transfiguration of Christ are often understood as exemplars of the divinisation of human nature in Eastern Orthodox Tradition. 56 Amaladoss, Beyond Inculturation, chapter 5. 57 Lesslie Newbigin, ‘Religion for the Marketplace’, pp. 135-48. 58 Moltmann, ‘Christianity and World Religions’, p. 207.

Christian Inculturation in India

178

My final example is highlighted by Israel Selvanayagam,59 who appeals to the analysis of the processes of ‘knowing’ made by Stanley Samartha in relation to Buddhist and Hindu traditions. He identifies that ‘True knowledge is not the fruit of logical investigation or the exegesis of scriptures, but a transformation of the knowing subject.’60 This Selvanayagam argues is akin to Eastern Orthodox understandings of knowledge and its outcomes. It points to an attitude towards knowledge and theories of knowing which is rooted in a value base quite distinct from the value base of Western rationalist thought since the Enlightenment. It is a value base, which once again is parallel with explorations undertaken by post-modern thinkers in the West. Thus the discussion of values becomes more nuanced still. The values of the knowing subject are themselves transformed in the activity of knowing and its outcomes. This suggests that in the processes of inculturation understood in terms of transformation that there is no mono-directional encounter between churches and cultures. Thus the task of being aware and assessing the value base of the activity of inculturation must be on-going. Transformational inculturation will always require ongoing reflection on the processes as well as their outcomes. It also requires that the process be rooted in local church communities and cultures in order for transformation to occur. In other words transformational inculturation is not something which could be initiated and directed at a distance. Dalit Critique I have already drawn attention to the critique of inculturation offered by Dalit Liberation theologians. Their critique is one, which is rooted in this issue of values, and of actual power and oppression. The quest of Dalit theology is a quest for justice, and thus by extension a quest for truth and for God. It is also a quest rooted in the experience of Dalit peoples; experience, which becomes a primary resource for theology. Michael Amaladoss argues that in the encounter between gospel and culture that the gospel needs to be interpreted, and made active in the contemporary context, so that it becomes relevant and prophetic. Such a hermeneutical process requires accurate reading of the signs of the times, and needs to start with questions which contemporary life poses. To enable such processes he identifies a need to remove the discussion of inculturation out of the hands of an elite, who have often been seen to be prejudiced against popular culture and religion. In order to secure a renewal of popular culture and religion in the task of inculturation, Amaladoss suggests that the churches need to place trust in local communities and in the sensus fidelium. It might be expected that from the perspectives of Dalit theologians that interreligious dialogue particularly with caste Hindus was something, which could only centre on a critique of caste-ism: A critique, which must necessarily involve dismantling a great deal of Hindu practice and its underlying preconceptions. This is of course to a large extent the case. However Sathianathan Clarke offers a more nuanced approach to the complex issues involved in inter-religious dialogue. 59 60 1995).

Selvanayagam, A Second Call, p. 180. Stanley Samartha, in Voices from the Margin, R.S. Sugirtharajah (ed.), (London,

Imperatives for a New Agenda

179

Thus he argues that where theology has an ‘advocacy function’ this does not entail silencing the voices of ‘others’.61 ‘Thus, in Indian-Christian Theology the caste communities’ voices are in constructive and critical dialogue with the voices of Dalit communities.’62 Furthermore he argues that if theology is really to become inclusive, it is necessary for theologians to be concerned not only with formally declared constructs and beliefs, but also with how people express their inner most feelings and thoughts. Thus dialogue ‘implies both a plurality of voices and a plurality of forms’.63 Clarke is particularly concerned to point to what he perceives as a deficiency in Western theology, which does not take imagination and inner feelings sufficiently into account in making its formulations. Clarke goes on to offer insights into the significance of the unspoken and symbolic which are profoundly important not only in terms of inter-religious dialogue and inter-caste relations, but also in terms of the task inculturation itself. In general, in India, anyone familiar with the complexity of symbolic interaction will know that along with what is said one must also be attentive to what is communicated through actions (gestures and postures) and what is communicated through deliberate non-action and silence.’64

He relates this in particular to unconventional modes of expression which he argues are to be found among subaltern communities, and argues that there needs to be a good deal of sensitivity to this on the part of those seeking to dialogue with and relate to the members of these communities. Such insights are also advocated by Jyoti Sahi who writes that it is needful, ‘to liberate the symbol from its secondary position to the word, as part of a much bigger programme of finding the sources of insight in the common people’.65 Clarke goes on to argue that for theology to become truly inclusive of the multiform nature of its sources among different communities it will need to re-calibrate how it receives, assembles and interprets sources. Thus ‘it is not simply enough for Indian-Christian theology to champion the inclusion of the subaltern communities; it must also create space for their particular mode of expressing and communicating their reflections.’66 In terms of receiving sources of theology from Dalit communities this means acknowledging that there will be no textual source, as these communities have for so long been forbidden the use of ‘sacred text’. Rather sources from Dalit communities will include music, painting, dance, weaving, song and architecture. Thus theology as we know it, i.e. theo-logia, needs also to acknowledge that there is theo-graphia

61 Sathianathan Clarke, Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India, (New Delhi, 1999), p. 22. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid. 65 Jyoti Sahi, ‘Dance in the Wilderness’, in Yeow Choo Lak (ed.), Doing Theology with Asian Resources Vol. 2, (Singapore, 1995), p. 113. 66 Clarke, Dalits and Christianity, p. 22.

Christian Inculturation in India

180

and theo-phonia;67 alongside words, what is drawn and spoken needs to be received and valued. Clarke’s insights have profound implications for the conduct of Christian Theology, inter-religious dialogue and in terms of the task of inculturation. The appeal to theo-graphia and theo-phonia must necessarily re-shape the criteria for and conduct of inter-religious dialogue and inculturation. It emerges from such an approach that Dalit theology and Dalit identity are not to be seen as a single overarching story, but rather a collection of little stories. Thus For dalits the transformation is not outside of their daily existence; rather it is there in their life world. Dalit identity, … is not ‘given’ but [a] ‘constructed one’. As far as dalits are concerned the question is why they adopt a particular discursive position in casteistic social relations and how their subjectivity is being constructed and represented. This is the task of dalit theology. The contemporary resistances of dalits and tribals are to re-define themselves as the ‘active agencies’ in a civil society, and search for a new subjectivity through self-reflexivity rather than reciprocity of ‘the other’. Dalit theology is thus to be a doing theology and a peoples’ theology.68

Such perceptions of the role and potential effect of Dalit theology finds an echo in the perception of Susan Billington Harper that caste is not to be seen as the monolithic social groupings described by the ethnographers and British legislators, but rather as a complex social hierarchy in which the social groupings are ‘fluid, changing and dynamic’.69 Furthermore these peoples’ stories may be discovered in what Jacob Theckanath calls ‘visual theology’: sacred space in Christian and in many other traditions is not the result of sacralising the secular. Instead what is attempted is to locate the sacred in the very heart of the world. People all over the world have developed and given expression in visual forms to the vision of God active in the world and history. Theology and Church architecture are inter-related. Every effort of symbolising through architectural forms has its theological foundation. Visual theology is as important, if not more, as written theology. The visual theology is thus a key to understanding the symbolic and architectural forms of the sacred space and its underlying meaning for believers.70

Criteria My response to these reflections will be set out in an attempt to offer criteria by which to take into account the value bases and power bases of society and culture in the processes of inculturation. In concluding Chapter 2 I drew attention to and examined 67 Clarke appeals to Richard R. Niebuhr, ‘The Tent of Heaven: Theographia I’, Alumnae Bulletin, Bangor Theological Seminary 52/2, (1977-78): 9-22. 68 Y.T. Vinayaraj, paper presented at a seminar at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute: (Chennai, July 2005). 69 Susan Billington Harper, ‘Ironies of Indigenization: Some Cultural Repercussions of Mission in South India’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, (January 1995): 13-20. 70 Jacob Theckanath, ‘Preface’ in Jyoti Sahi and Paul Middleton, Adisthan: Sacred Space: Indian Christian ventures, (Bangalore, 1993).

Imperatives for a New Agenda

181

the work of the Anglican Liturgical Consultation in 1989,71 and the publication of statements by the Roman Catholic Church72 and the Faith and Order Commission in 199473 on inculturation. Each of these documents offered criteria in relation to the task of the inculturation of worship, mainly in relation to specific issues, such as syncretism, and elements of worship. Of the three statements, only the Ditchingham Report specifically offers criteria under the sub-heading of ‘Cultural Criteria’, which deal with values. iii. Cultural criteria based on the components of culture. These are human values such as family, hospitality, and leadership; the people’s patterns of language, rites, and the arts; and institutions such as rites of passage and festivals. These are the things with which worship holds dialogue and hence should be closely examined.74

This is qualified as follows: a. It should, however, be acknowledged that some cultural components have been infected by sin, and hence need critique. Critique presupposes both correction and transformation of those cultural components which are integrated into Christian worship. Critique can sometimes involve a break with such cultural elements as are diametrically opposed to the gospel. Critique can also mean that Christian worship has a counter-cultural dimension.75

The Ditchingham Report does then draw attention to and set out the grounds for assessing the values of a socio-cultural context, however there are still no explicit criteria in relation to undertaking such an assessment. Despite the lack of explicit criteria in this area in the 1994 document Varietates Legitimae, the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church from the Second Vatican Council onwards has consistently drawn attention to the need to assess cultures in relation to the Gospel and the task of inculturation. In Gaudium et Spes (1965)76 Chapter II is devoted to ‘The Proper Development of Culture’. In this the pivotal role of culture is acknowledged in the development of the human race, as well as in terms of the celebration of worship.77 The document draws attention to the relationship between culture, politics and power. Culture, because it flows immediately from the spiritual and social character of man, has constant need of a just liberty in order to develop; it needs also the legitimate possibility of exercising its autonomy according to its own principles. It therefore rightly demands respect and enjoys a certain inviolability within the limits of the common good, as long, of course, as it preserves the rights of the individual and the community, whether particular or universal. …..

71 Down to Earth Worship, ACC, The York Consultation, (1989). 72 Varietates Legitimae: Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy, (1994). 73 Towards Koinonia in Worship, (Ditchingham, 1994). 74 Towards Koinonia in Worship, Section C. 75 Ibid. 76 Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, (1965). Reproduced with the permission of LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA. 77 Ibid., section 58.

182

Christian Inculturation in India As for public authority, it is not its function to determine the character of the civilization, but rather to establish the conditions and to use the means which are capable of fostering the life of culture among and even within the minorities of a nation.(10) It is necessary to do everything possible to prevent culture from being turned away from its proper end and made to serve as an instrument of political or economic power.78

The recognition of the inter-play between culture and politics is a crucial element in the construction of criteria for the task of inculturation, and for the assessment of the value base of any particular socio-cultural context. This recognition is reiterated in Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture (1999),79 and a particular emphasis is placed upon inculturation as transformation. This leads to an explicit acknowledgement of the need to be aware of and to assess cultural values: The evangelization of cultures and the inculturation of the Gospel go hand in hand, in a reciprocal relationship which presupposes constant discernment in the light of the Gospel, to facilitate the identification of values and counter-values in a given culture, so as to build on the former and vigorously combat the latter.80

In terms of the latter, the document makes specific reference as follows: The Church asserts the dignity of the human person, is struggling to cleanse society of violence, social injustice, the abuses of which street children are victims, drug trafficking, etc... In this context and affirming her preferential love for the poor and the excluded, the Church is duty-bound to promote a culture of solidarity at every level of society: government institutions, public institutions and private organizations. In striving for greater union between people, between societies and between nations, the Church will associate herself with the efforts of people of good will to build a world that is ever more worthy of the human person. In doing this, she will contribute to: ‘reducing the negative effects of globalization, such as the domination of the powerful over the weak, especially in the economic sphere, and the loss of the values of local cultures in favor of a misconstrued homogenisation’ (Ecclesia in America, 55).81

This document also draws attention to the need for awareness of socio-cultural values in relation to the task of inculturation.82 The World Council of Churches has also offered insights in relation to the political dimensions of inculturation. In preparation for the 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism held in Athens, the preparatory paper Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today83 draws attention to these dimensions. 78 Ibid., section 59. 79 Pontifical Council for Culture, Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, (1999). 80 Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, section 5. The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Consultation on ‘Evangelisation and Inculturation’, 2000, makes a similar point in relation to the need for awareness of ‘the enriching as well as dehumanising factors that are operative in the values and meaning-systems of all cultures’. 81 Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, section 21. 82 Ibid., section 26. 83 Preparatory Paper No 1, ‘Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today’, Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, Come, Holy Sprit – Heal and Reconcile (Geneva, 2005).

Imperatives for a New Agenda

183

The gospel challenges aspects of cultures which produce or perpetuate injustice, suppress human rights or hinder a sustainable relationship towards creation. There is now need to go beyond certain inculturation theologies. Cultural and ethnic identity is a gift of God, but it must not be used to reject and oppress other identities. Identity should be defined not in opposition to, in competition with or in fear of others, but rather as complementary.84

The paper also draws attention to the particular circumstances of those ‘who suffered greatly from missionary endeavours and colonial conquest’. It highlights the need to move away from any inference that people are treated as objects, such as ‘the poor’. While affirming theologies, which identified ‘God’s preferential option for the poor’, it points to the need to reclaim the religious heritage of these peoples as well as redress political and economic oppressions.85 It is noteworthy that these documents do not raise any explicit questions about the values of those themselves engaged in the processes of inculturation, or of local church communities, or of the Magisterium. Indeed in the above quotations there is on the one hand recognition that elements of culture may need transformation, while on the other assuming that socio-political institutions will be suitable partners. It is the questioning of values in relation to all aspects of inculturation that still needs to be recognized and addressed officially by the churches. The reception of the outcomes and effects of inculturation is another factor, which needs to be borne in mind when discussing values and criteria. Documents and statements promoting inculturation usually assume that the outcomes and effects will inevitably be welcome and beneficial, on the basis that this is a task which will have been initiated, planned and produced by ‘experts’ in the field who will know what is good and best in the particular context. Various commentators have drawn attention to the need to wrest the initiatives behind inculturation from the hands of any elite, and recommend that the people of local communities need to have a determining voice in these processes. Both Sathianathan Clarke and Michael Amaladoss86 agree that the process of gospel-culture encounter should not be preplanned and controlled from above, and that there is a need to trust the sensus fidelium. Here then is another set of values of which those involved in the task of inculturation need to take note, and put into practice. The Papal statement Ecclesia in Asia also draws attention to this need: It is the task of the Pastors, in virtue of their charism, to guide this dialogue with discernment. Likewise, experts in sacred and secular disciplines have important roles to play in the process of inculturation. But the process must involve the entire People of God, since the life of the Church as a whole must show forth the faith which is being proclaimed and appropriated. To ensure that this is done soundly, the Synod Fathers identified certain areas for particular attention—theological reflection, liturgy, the formation of priests and religious, catechesis and spirituality.87

84 85 86 87

Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, section 50. Ibid., section 51. Amaladoss, Beyond Inculturation. Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in Asia, (1999), section 21.

184

Christian Inculturation in India

In seeking to craft criteria for the task of inculturation a number of issues need to be borne in mind, many of which will have surfaced already during this discussion. These issues relate to treading a balanced course between the Christian Tradition and the cultural contexts in which it finds itself. Firstly, Hans Küng88 suggests it is necessary to steer a pathway between the two poles of either domination and syncretism in relating to local contexts. Secondly, Michael Amaladoss89 suggests that communion and harmony are likely to be better paradigms than ‘unity’ in terms of a pluralist context. Thirdly Amaladoss points to the need to be aware of the complexity of understanding and analysing cultures, particularly in relation to issues of how modernity and post-modernity affect traditional religion and culture of all kinds. Thus those involved in the task of inculturation need to assess the cultural identity and values of both the cultural context and the local church community, in relation to the Christian Tradition and the power-dynamics of the context. Finally Israel Selvanayagam90 offers nine ‘core distinctive insights’ by which to understand and appreciate Christian identity and values: [1] God’s choice of a weak vulnerable community in slavery [2] God’s intimate association with them in their struggle for liberation and the establishment of a society based on love, justice and peace [3] a cultic life centred on these values [4] God’s freedom to shift his locus operandi in preference for the poor [5] on-going self-criticism in a spontaneous open manner [6] an ever widening horizon of God’s chosen people [7] an ethical axis of love [8] presenting a person crucified and risen as the rallying centre for all [9] a most inclusive vision for a new world. These four sets of insights and values, drawn from European and Indian theologians, provide a rich background from which the task of inculturation needs to emerge. They elucidate the complexity and intricacy that any attempt to bring the Gospel and culture, and Christian worship traditions and culture into a dialogical encounter is bound to produce and require. They serve as a reminder that inculturation is a process which needs to be both locally rooted and yet also the responsibility of the wider church. From the discussion of criteria in this chapter and emerging from the discussion throughout this study three focal principles may be identified, which can be used to guide and facilitate the task and processes of inculturation. The three principles relate to [1] local-ness; [2] power structures and [3] interpretative frameworks. These three are rooted in an understanding of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God in terms of the

88 Hans Küng, ‘The World Religions in God’s Plan of Salvation’, in Joseph Neuner (ed.), Christian Revelation and World Religions: Hans Küng, Piet Fransen, Joseph Masson, R. Panikkar, (London, 1967). 89 Amaladoss, Beyond Inculturation. 90 Selvanayagam, A Second Call, p. 185.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

185

values of justice, love and peace. Realities embodied in the Incarnation, to which the Church is called to bear witness as sign, instrument and foretaste. [1] local-ness The task of inculturation has been encouraged by and discussed in many international councils and conferences. Discourse concerning inculturation is undoubtedly something, in which the church catholic has a particular and proper interest. It is also to be expected that international church communions will seek to guide and encourage their local church communities, desirous to maintain the catholic as well as the local manifestation of Christian Tradition. However the initiative and the direction of the task of inculturation is something, over which only those living within the particular cultures to be engaged with should have control. As the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences noted in 2000, efforts towards inculturation have remained too theoretical and failed to resonate with the people at the grass-roots level, sometimes these efforts have become one-sided (e.g. overstress on Sanksritization in India) or have ignored or discarded the traditions (Art, Music, Dance, Festivals etc.) of the marginalized (Dalit, Tribal, Women etc.) 91

The statement of the Pontifical Council for Culture Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture (1999) also affirmed the need to value ‘popular piety’.92 It identified the creative use of ‘ritual, music, song and decoration’, as primary expressions of popular culture. These affirmations coincide well with the appeal to non-verbal elements, which have already been identified as the main elements of popular religious and cultural expression. Thus inculturation of worship in the context of local cultures will usually require an appeal to the non-verbal: theo-graphia and theo-phonia alongside theo-logia. This is particularly true for the Dalit peoples of India.93 Selva J. Raj writes of practice at the Shrine of St Antony at Uvari94 among lay Hindus and Catholics, which he identifies as ‘Dialogue on the Ground’: [This] refers to the ritual encounter and exchange between Hindu and Catholic laity – often in opposition to and defiance of institutional norms and ecclesial prescriptions – that occurs at the grassroots level in the arena of popular piety and rituals…. dialogue on the ground also demonstrates that an extraordinarily productive locus for efficacious

91 Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Consultation on ‘Evangelization and Inculturation’, (Bangalore, 2000). 92 Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, section 28. 93 There are annual celebrations of Dalit art and culture hosted by the Dalit Resource Centre of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Arasaradi, Madurai. 94 Selva J. Raj, ‘Dialogue “On the Ground”: The Complicated Identities and Complex Negotiations of Catholics and Hindus in South India’, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 17 (2004): 33-44. The shrine is situated on the coast thirty miles north of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu.

186

Christian Inculturation in India dialogue is the world of rituals rather than the sophisticated world of theological concepts and categories.95

Thus it is necessary to affirm the local-ness of the endeavour to bring about the inculturation of Christian life and worship: the locus of inculturation is the local community which is on mission to make the reign of God present in its ‘locality’ through liberative and interreligious engagement for the welfare of all creation. It is at this juncture that worship both authenticates the process of inculturation and also validates the proclamation of the Good News.96

[2] assessment of power in cultures The acknowledgement and assessment of socio-cultural contexts in terms of power relations is of primary importance, in order that social injustice, oppressions and forms of slavery, old or new are not colluded with or perpetuated by the task and processes of inculturation. The reception of much inculturation to date in South India as ‘Sanskritization’ by the Dalit and Adivasi peoples, is a clear indication that inculturation is never value-free, nor exempt from the power structures explicit or implicit in a socio-cultural context. This may seem a long way from the concerns of Western Christians, where Christianity has for so long been a strong and usually primary element in their socio-cultural contexts. However it should be noted that a strong element in the effects of ‘secularization’ arises from the alienation of the agricultural lower classes and industrial proletariat from the established churches of the West.97 An alienation, which formerly found an outlet in the Free Church traditions, and currently may find expression in some House Church or Pentecostal traditions; but which is increasingly found among the un-churched. In this western instance it is usually the relationship of the church to political and social power structures, which is problematic. So the principle of assessing power structures stands. Thus the relationship between church, society, culture and the reality of power is something which all those responsible for the life and worship of the church constantly need to be aware of, and where necessary they will need to challenge the status quo, and seek its transformation. [3] interpretative framework(s) This final principle is in a sense an extension of the previous principle. Awareness of the interpretative framework of different religious and cultural traditions is an essential factor in seeking to pursue the inculturation of Christian life and worship. It is in this area that most work to date has been done. For example the concept of 95 Ibid., p. 41. 96 Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Consultation on ‘Evangelization and Inculturation’. 97 E.g. Riots in England after World War I regarding the right of the clergy to the produce from Glebe land.

Imperatives for a New Agenda

187

‘dynamic equivalence’ in inculturation requires a high level of awareness of the interpretative framework of local cultures in order for the process of replacement or substitution envisaged to be successful or authenticate. Such awareness needs to be rooted in an assessment of power structures and their attendant values. This will facilitate the development of sensitivity to the implications of the substitutions or additions made to worship and ritual. There needs also to be a critical self-awareness on the part of the practitioners of inculturation in respect of their own interpretative frameworks of as well as of the context and its peoples in which inculturation takes place. There are strong parallels to be discerned between the Dalit theologians’ endeavour and that of postmodern philosophers to disrupt the existing order, to open up new possibilities of thought through destabilizing the claims of that order. The retrieval of the ‘unsaid’ is crucial in an endeavour to challenge and destabilize the current theological paradigm in order to craft an alternative.98 Some Practical Pointers Finally there are three practical pointers, which may be identified, in order to assess the ongoing task of inculturation in each local context. These pointers relate to the processes of decision making and the outcomes of those decisions. Firstly, the question must be posed about the locus of decision making. Where does authority lie to make decisions, and to whom are the decision makers accountable? In terms of the accountability of decision making, are the outcomes of the processes of inculturation monitored? And if so how does the process of monitoring inform ongoing debate about and initiatives for inculturation? Such questions imply that the processes of inculturation and their outcomes are always provisional and contemporary. The provisional and contemporary status of the inculturation of Christian life and worship is something, to which generally speaking the churches have given lip-service, but in reality have neglected. The introduction of vernacular liturgies at the time of the Protestant Reformation in Europe may be seen as a moment when deliberate, intentional inculturation took place, and on the part of the initial reformers was undoubtedly seen as provisional and contemporary. However for example in the case of the Church of England, due mainly to political reasons, Archbishop Cranmer’s experimental rites became ossified and remain in place to this day. In the face of forces of inertia local churches will also need to remain vigilant in maintaining the provisionality of the outcomes of inculturation. Selva J. Raj makes an important plea for the local, grass-roots and popular elements of inculturation to be respected and incorporated into the churches’ endeavours. The success and efficacy of popular inculturation call for the re-imaging and reformulation of institutional adaptive initiatives, if it is to foster genuine and fruitful dialogue. Institutional inculturation would better serve the interests of interreligious dialogue if it were to shed its inherent elitism and institutional character and become truly inclusive in perspective, membership and rituals. Such initiatives could benefit by becoming a more 98

E.g. G. Deleuze and F. Guattari, What is Philosophy? (London, 1994) especially p. 63.

188

Christian Inculturation in India collaborative effort, not merely among Hindu and Catholic leadership, between Sanskritic Hinduism and official Catholicism, but also among the laity, Hindu and Catholic alike. In this regard, popular indigenisation could act both as a corrective and as a model for indigenisation that is neither arrogant nor one-sided.99

Among such popular indigenous forms the praxis of the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches should undoubtedly be included, thus making Selva J. Raj’s appeal ecumenical in all senses of that word.

99 Selva J. Raj, ‘Two Models of Indigenization in South Asian Catholicism: A Critique’, Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theology Reflection, 69 (June 2005): 429.

Afterword It is my hope that the narrative of the churches in South India has proved to be engaging and instructive as well as empowering and in some senses liberating. This book did not set out to, nor has it by default sought to offer a theory of contextualization or inculturation. It has not offered a blue-print by which to do these tasks. Nor has it presented many answers, rather it has raised questions for the churches in South India and I hope across the globe. What I have set out to discern are some basic criteria by which to interrogate a particular context, its culture and the worship, which may occur in that setting. The criteria are also offered in relation to the interrogation of worshipping communities, to the exercise of responsibility and authority in those communities and to their processes of decision-making. For the main concern of this work is to raise the issues of the values and power-play involved in the processes and task of inculturation, and to seek to interrogate the multi-layered environment of context, culture, worship and worshipping community. A further issue, which has arisen during the course of this study is the question of the ownership of rites and symbols. In any attempt at ‘borrowing’ or ‘adaptation’ of such rites and symbols surely a high level of competency needs to be employed in undertaking the incorporation of other communities’ rituals and symbols. Also such incorporation would be best done alongside ongoing dialogue with those communities. Placing context, culture and worship in an on-going dialogue with each other also inevitably raises the question of the relationship between the local and the universal and between taking culture seriously and marrying the spirit of the age. Such are the questions for all churches today as they face the effects of globalization, consumerism and secularism. Trisagion1 Holy art Thou, O God. Holy art Thou, Almighty; Holy art Thou, Immortal; + Crucified for us, have mercy on us. (Thrice) Lord, have mercy upon us, Lord, be kind and have mercy; Lord, accept our prayers and worship and have mercy on us. Glory be to Thee, O God; Glory be to Thee, O creator; Glory be to Thee, O Christ, the King who does pity sinners, Thy servants. Barekhmor.

1

The Trisagion as used by St Thomas Christians in the Syrian Tradition.

This page intentionally left blank

Liturgical Texts

Bharatiya Pooja (as celebrated at Kurisumala Ashram) UDGITA-AVAHANAM (Anaphora) Creation and Salvation History Pr: In commemoration of the economy of salvation, let us sing in praise of the everlasting mercy of God, who out of His eternal love for us revealed Himself and opened to us the path of liberation. Hymn O Fullness of Eternal Being, O Fullness of Incomparable Wisdom, O Fullness of Ineffable Beauty, To You we bow, give us Your Grace. O Fullness of Eternal Being. Silent Adoration Pr: Father-Mother God, without beginning or end, imperishable, you called the universe into existence and You preserve it through your love, that you might give it a share in your life, everlastingly. Your glory pervades the whole creation. Every atom, every sphere of life is filled with your presence. Cn: Eternal source of all, we praise your glory, we adore your awesome power. Pr: The whole universe praises your Great Glory, who in the beginning started the work of creation, when there was only a formless void shrouded in darkness. But with your Spirit hovering over the abyss, and by your powerful Word, you called the universe into existence, out of nothingness into being, and you created the light out of darkness. Cn: We praise you, silent and hidden, invisible One, the formless, who gave name and form to all creatures. We offer our thanksgiving to you who created us in your image and likeness. You gave us eternal life and, like a parent, you took us under your providence, and

Christian Inculturation in India

192

blessed us by giving us the gift of reason to grasp the truth, and the will to love what is good. True embodiment of Being, Knowledge and Bliss, you are our father and mother. You alone are our salvation. It is you who give us peace. Pr: Because humankind disobeyed you, who are goodness itself, we lost eternal life and the dharma declined, ignorance surrounded us with spiritual darkness. Nevertheless, in the indescribable tenderness of your love, you remembered us and you promised us salvation. Through the prophets and teachers of dharma, you revealed the message of salvation. Those who sought the truth with a pure mind became witnesses to the mysteries of salvation through their spiritual and moral charisms. Cn: O Light of the nations, your wisdom is inscrutable and Your universal providence wonderful. Pr: When the fullness of time came, remembering the covenants you made with our fathers Noah, with Abraham and Moses, you the invisible one became visible. You the eternal Son became a man, born of a virgin. By your example and precepts, you taught us the way to liberation and revealed the Kingdom of Heaven by signs and wonders. By your passion, death and resurrection, you redeemed us for ever. You united us as the new people of God, to be rooted in faith and love. You sent your Holy Spirit that we might realize your presence in our hearts. Cn: Lord Jesus the Christ, eternal praise to you for your inexpressible selfgift to us. May the mystery of salvation be perfected in us who live in expectation of the vision of your form in the universe. Pr: You instituted the one sacrifice and sacrament to be offered until you return, and you appointed us your ministers, to offer this sacrifice in a community. Therefore, in accordance with your teachings, in your Church assembled here, we commemorate and accomplish your saving mystery. EPICLETIC HYMN Extending the hands above the holy offerings: Pr: Giver of devotion! Essential wisdom! All Embodiment of love and Lord of beauty! Bestower of peace! Giver of salvation and all boons! Holy Spirit, come down, my Lord! Adoration to you!

Liturgical Texts

193

A moment of silent adoration INSTITUTION NARRATIVE Pr: And now we remember Jesus and what He did, Who, in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread into His holy and innocent hands, and with His eyes lifted up towards heaven, He gave thanks to You, Almighty God and He blessed It. (The following traditional Hebrew blessing may be said at the option of the celebrant: Baruch ata Adonai, Elohaynu melech ha-olom, ha-motzi lechem min ha’arets &–; Blessed be you, O Lord our God, Who brings forth bread from the earth).. He broke It, and gave It to His disciples saying: ‘All of you, take and eat of this for This is my Body which was broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ (The Host is elevated) Pr: In like manner, after He had supped, He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He blessed it. (The following traditional Hebrew blessing may be said at the option of the celebrant: Baruch ata Adonai, Elohaynu melech ha-olom, boray peri ha’gafen &–; Blessed be you, O Lord our God, Who brings forth the fruit of the vine) and He gave It to His disciples saying: ‘All of you, drink of this, for This is my Blood Of the New and Everlasting Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.’ ANUSMARANA (Anamnesis) Raising the hands and looking upwards Pr: Eternal Father-Mother, having received this example from holy tradition, we commemorate and celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Your Divine Son until His glorious return. AVAHANAM (Epiclesis)

194

Christian Inculturation in India

Priest

Deacon

(Fluttering his right hand over the bread and the left over the chalice, he prays silently) Have mercy on me, Lord! Send Your Holy Spirit upon me and upon this offering that He may descend on it and make it the life-giving body, who, by His hovering, perfects all the mysteries of the Church.

How awesome is this moment, when the Holy and Life-giving Spirit is moved to descend from the heights of heaven above, and hovers over this Eucharist here set before us, and rests on it and hallows it. We tremble with awe and wonder. With joined hands, let us bow our heads in supplication to the Lord.

Cn: May peace and good hope be with us all. Pr: Hear us, O Lord! Hear us, O Lord! Hear us, O Lord, and be gracious to all! Cn: Lord, have mercy on us. Waving his hand three times over the bread and making the sign of the cross three times, he prays: Pr: May the Holy Spirit, coming down and abiding here, make this bread the life-giving body, the very body of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Cn: Amen. Waving his right hand over the chalice and making the sign of the cross three times, he prays: Pr: And make this chalice into the blood of the New Covenant, the redeeming blood, the very blood of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Cn: Amen. Raising the hands Pr: May these Mysteries of which we partake make us partakers of Your joy, Lord, and we will offer praise and thanksgiving to You, and Your Uniquely Beloved Son and Your Holy Spirit, now and always and for ever. Cn: Amen.

Liturgical Texts

195

The Church of South India Liturgy for celebrating the Eucharist (An Alternate Version) III. RECALLING & OFFERING (SMARANA-SAMARPANA) L:

Brothers and sisters, God’s great love for us leads us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to him; for we hope to share in the perfect life – the offering of Christ.

Pr: This is the true worship we are to offer to God. Hymn (during which the collection is taken). L:

Along with our gifts let us also offer to our Heavenly Father all our deepest longings and concerns for ourselves, our neighbours, the Church and the world:

(When file following form is used, the minister may add appropriate names of particular persons or needs to the several petitions. The congregation may be asked to bring their prayer requests sufficiently early so as to include them in the intercession. Lay members of the congregation may be asked to lead the intercessions standing in the midst of the people) L:

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ has promised that you would hear us when we ask in faith: receive the prayers we offer. We pray for the peace of the world and the welfare and unity of your holy Church, Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for our Moderator……..the Moderator of the C.N I.......and for,……. Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church,……. our Bishop……… and for all the clergy. Church workers, evangelists, Order of sisters and congregational members. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for our President.......Vice-President.......our Prime Minister....... our Chief Minister…….and for all who are in positions of leadership and authority.

Christian Inculturation in India

196

Lord in your mercy. Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray that mutual trust and goodwill may prevail among people of all castes, creeds, colours and cultures that they may share with justice the resources of the earth. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer, L:

We pray for the victims of exploitation and corruption, for alcoholics and drugs addicts, the morally degraded and all those involved ill the struggle for their liberation. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for the poor and the oppressed, the prisoners and the refugees and for all who care for them. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for the aged and the infirm, for the widows and orphans, the sick, and the suffering, and for the persecuted. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for all who labour for the spread of your Gospel and that you will enlighten with your spirit all places of education, learning and healing. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray for all those who labour in fields, factory, office and mine that their work may be blessed and honoured. Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We pray For ourselves and each other, especially for…….. , Lord in your mercy.

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

And now in silence let us offer our own private petitions to God.

(Silence) Lord in your mercy.

Liturgical Texts

197

Pr: Hear our prayer. L:

We praise you. Lord God, for the communion of saints, the glorious hope of the resurrection to eternal life and for the signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth.

All: And now, O Father, we commit our struggles and sufferings into your Son’s wounded hands. Our hopes and aspirations into his praying hands. Our poor and exploited into his just hands (or caring hands) and our living and departed into his hands that hold the key of the world of death. Blessed he the Lord, for ever. Amen and Amen. Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen. L:

Let us now bring our offerings to God as signs of our self-giving praying for God’s Spirit to transform us and our gifts.

(As an offering lyric is sung, the worship leaders process to the place of offering and sharing and may, if desired process once around the altar / table. An offering of a tray of flowers with other signs of God’s goodness in creation is brought forward with the offerings of money and bread and wine for the Eucharist. During the following prayers, flowers can be sprinkled on the place of offering; the response is sung if possible) L:

Glory to God, Source of all bounty and beauty whose fullness and fragrance can transform us within and without.

Pr: Creator God, we lift our hearts to you in thanks. L:

Glory to God, who has made a covenant with all living creatures and has promised never to forsake the creation he loves.

Pr: Creator God, we lift our hearts to you in thanks. L:

Glory to God, who made ns all in his image, and entrusted earth and her life to our care.

Pr: Creator God, we lift our hearts to you in thanks. L:

O God, Redeemer of all things, with grateful thanks we offer these gifts and this bread and wine, fruits of your earth and of our labour, and signs of your redemptive purpose for our lives and for all creation. By sharing

Christian Inculturation in India

198

in this bread and wine you assure us, in Christ, of a share in your being, your bliss, your purpose. Pr: Glory to God, our Redeemer, who saves us by His grace. (The offertory bearers return) Saranam in the Triune God (The response or versicles and response to be sung) L:

Our Creator God is with us to bless us;

Pr: Saranam, Saranam, Saranam L:

The Risen Lord is with us to bless us;

Pr: Saranam, Saranam, Saranam L:

The transforming Spirit is with us to bless us.

Pr: Saranam, Saranam, Saranam Or

Sanctus All: (Sung) Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; Heaven and earth are full of your glory; Glory to you, God most high. Amen. Or Nama-Smafana or Nama-Jeba (A recital of names of God that serve to recall the dramatic acts of divine redemption. This may be in the form of seven titles or groups of titles (spata-ratna). A number of sets of such names may be prepared, each emphasizing themes to be brought out in that particular time of the Church’s year) The Redemption Prayer: L:

O God, Redeemer of fallen humanity, at the last meal that your Son, Jesus Christ, shared with his disciples before his death, He took bread in his hands of compassion, gave you praise and thanks, and broke bread. Then he said, ‘Take this bread, all of you, and eat it, for this is my body, given for you. Do this to remember me.’

Liturgical Texts

199

Pr: We celebrate through this bread the self-offering of our Saviour Christ. L:

Then after the meal he took the cup, offered praise and thanks to you, gave the cup to his disciples and said: ‘Take this, all of you, and drink from it; This is the Clip of the new covenant of my blood, shed for you and for all, that sins may be forgiven. Do this to remember me.’

Pr: We celebrate through this cup the new covenant of our Saviour Christ. The Bread Prayer: L:

As this bread is broken and this wine poured out, O Seeker and Saviour of the lost, we remember again the poor and oppressed of the earth. We recall that your body was broken that the hungry might be nourished, the oppressed set free, replenished with the bread of new hope and new life.

Pr: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come in glory. L:

As this bread was once scattered seed, O Bread of life, sown in the earth to die and rise to new life so gather all peoples together in one humanity of your coming new age. Restore the broken life of your creation; heal the disfigured body of your world; draw all creatures unto your self through the cross and in the power of your risen life.

And grant to all the faithful departed a share in your bliss, that with them we too at the end may be welcomed into your eternal kingdom through your inexhaustible grace, through the guidance of your indwelling Spirit. Pr: Sanctify as, sanctify this bread, sanctify this wine, so that together we may be the body of Christ. Or Spirit of the living God, fall afresh upon us. (chorus – sung) IV. SHARING (Samabhakha or Prasada): (As the bread is lifted up and broken, prior to the congregation’s coming forward to share together in it, the following sentences are said) L:

When we break the bread) is it not a sharing in the body of Christ ?

Pr: We who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread.

Christian Inculturation in India

200

(As the cup is lifted up) L:

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

Pr: His blood will cleanse our conscience from the deadness of our former ways and fit us for the service of the living God. Prayer for Darsana: L:

Risen Lord, be present.

Pr: Be present, even though we are unworthy for you to come to us only your peaceful presence can nourish us in faith, bind us together in love, and fill us with hope so that we might share in your service. Amen. Partaking: (As the bread and wine are distributed, the following words are said): The body of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the bread of Life. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Vine.

Mass for India

New Orders of the Mass for India NBCLC, Bangalore, 1974 The text of the footnotes is original. Eucharistic prayer (Long version) Introductory dialogue (Mangalacaranam)1 Cel.:

May your Holy Spirit, O God, enlighten our minds, and open our lips that we may sing the wonders of your love!2

Cong.:

Help us. Spirit divine, to proclaim God’s mercy!

Cel.:

Let us praise and thank the Lord, our God, whose majesty pervades the universe! 3

Cong.:

Great is his name and worthy of praise!4

Cel.:

Let us celebrate the glory of the Lord whose splendour shines in the depths of our hearts!5

Cong.:

Glory to Him in whom we have our being!6

Proclamation I. Cel.:

O Supreme Lord of the Universe, You fill7 and sustain everything around us; You turned, with the touch of your hand, chaos into order, darkness into light.8 Unknown energies You hid in the heart of matter.

1 Mangalacaranam is a prayer for God’s blessing on a religious rite. God is called upon to help us so that our action may be rightly performed. This seems to be the most appropriate way of transposing to the Indian context the introductory dialogue. 2 Inspired from Rig Veda 3. 62. 10, the Gayatri mantra. 3 Ps. 8; 1. 10; 104, 1; Isa. Up. 1; cf Agnipmana I, pp. 217-18. 4 Ps. 95,4. 5 Bhagavad Gita (B.G.), 15.15: ‘I make my dwelling in the hearts of all’. 6 Bis. Acts 17, 28; cf. B.G. 7, 12. 7 Svet. Up. 1, 15-16. 8 Gen. 1, 2; 1:4.

202

Christian Inculturation in India

From you bursts forth the splendour of the sun and the mild radiance of the moon.9 Stars and planets without number10 you set in ordered movement.11 You are the source of the fire’s heat and the wind’s might, of the water’s coolness12 and the earth’s stability.13 Deep and wonderful, the mysteries of your creation. Cong.:

We adore you, who are beyond all form!14 You give form15 to everything. Lord of all creation!16 We praise you,17 we thank you, we proclaim your glory!

II. c.:

God of all that lives, through countless ages you have peopled the seas and rivers, the mountains and plains,18 with beings innumerable. With power from you the seed buds forth in blossom, the tender shoot grows into a mighty tree, bird and beast multiply and fill the earth. You are the life of all that lives.19

Cong.:

We adore yon, O Source of Life!20 All creatures look to you. Lord of Power!21 We praise you, we thank you, we proclaim your glory!

III. c.:

God of all salvation, You formed men22 in your own image.23 You created them male and female,24 you willed their union and harmony. You entrusted the earth to their care25 and promised your blessing to all their descendants. You gave them the spirit of discernment to know you,26 the power of speech to celebrate your glory,27 the strength of

9 B.G. 7, 8; cf. B. G, 15, 12. 10 Bar 3, 34-5. 11 Eccles. 42, 21. 12 Amos 5, 8; 9, 6. 13 B.G. 7, 9; 15, 13; cf. Bar 3, 32; Jer 10, 12. 14 Katha Up. 6, 9; ‘His form is not something that can be seen’. Mait. Up. 7, 1; ‘Unformed’. B.G. 8, 9; ‘In form unthinkable’. 15 Prasna Up. 2, 12. 16 Pras. Up. 2, 7: ‘Lord of creatures’; cf. also Svet. Up. 4, 2; B.C.; 3, 10; 3, 20; 2 Mac..7, 28; Ps. 19. 17 Ps. 94. 18 Amos 4, 13. 19 B.G. 15, 13; Svet. Up. 1, 6. 20 B.G. 10, 8; ‘The source of all am 1. From Me all things proceed’; Rg. Veda 10, 121.2: ‘Giver of life (Atman)’. 21 Ps. 144, 15. 22 Eccles. 15, 14. 23 Gen. 1, 27; cf. Eccles. 17, 3. 24 Gen. 1, 27. 25 Gen. 2, 15. 26 Eccles. 16.24; B.G. 7, 10; 10, 4-5. 27 Isa. 43, 7; cf. B.G. 10, 9; II, 36.

Liturgical Texts

203

love to give themselves in joy to you.28 In this wondrous way, O God, you called them to share in your own being, your own knowledge, your own bliss.29 Cong.:

We adore you, O Lover of Men!30 In you is the source of our life. We praise you) we thank you, we proclaim your glory!

IV. c.:

Lord of all ages. Father most kind and merciful, You want all men to reach the shores of salvation.31 Even when they fail to respond to your call yon do not abandon them to themselves.32 In your unchanging fidelity33 you wish your love for them to stand forever. Your covenant with Noah show! your providence through the constant cycles of nature.34 In the tempest of Job’s affliction. You revealed the mystery of human life.35 You chose Melchisedech. A priest from among the nations, to bless Abraham your servant.36

Cong.:

We adore you, Lord of all ages! You are ever at work to shape the destinies of men. We praise you, we thank you, we proclaim your glory! V. c.: God of the nations, You are the desire and hope of all who search for you with a sincere heart.37 You are the Power almighty adored as

28 B.C. 10, 10. 29 From the Upanishadic texts down to the theological commentaries, ‘Saccidananda’ describes the Dirguna Brahman in His absolute attributes. God is by himself (sat), m himself (cit), for himself (ananda); this doctrine, primarily philosophical in character, seems strictly identical to that of Christian metaphysics; it applies to God in the infinite degree the transcendental perfections of being; esse, verum, bonum. The Hindu metaphysical formula, however, as that of the Christian metaphysics, can become a valid enunciation of the Christian Trinitarian dogma in a twofold way. First the process of appropriation of God’s transcendental perfections esse, verum, bonum (in themselves really identical) to the three divine persons respectively, is entirely legitimate and is thus found frequently in the Christian tradition. Thus, in view of their personal character in the divine life, a specific role in the order of creation and salvation is applied, by theological appropriation, to each of the divine persons respectively, creation (sat) to the Father; revelation (cit) to the Son; sanctification (ananda) to the Spirit. Moreover, understood in a Christian way, Saccidananda becomes a valid expression of the Trinitarian life itself: Sat refers then to the Father as the Person from whom the other two proceed (principium sine principio); Cit to the Son as one who proceeds from the Father per modum actus intellectionis (the fruit of God’s self-knowledge); Ananda to the Spirit as proceeding from the Father through the Son per modum actus amoris (the fruit of God’s love of Himself the divine Bliss the togetherness of Father and Son). 30 B.G. 9.18. 31 Cf. Theme of Liberation (Moksha) to Indian Scriptures. 32 Ps. 102, 8-10; 17-18. 33 Ps. 116, 2. 34 Gen 9, 12-17. 35 Job. 42, 1-3, 5. 36 Gen. 14, 18-20; cf. Heb. 7, 1-3. 37 Vatican II: Declaration on non-Christian Religions. 2.

204

Christian Inculturation in India

Presence hidden in nature.38 You reveal yourself to the seers in their quest for knowledge,39 to devout who seek you through sacrifice and detachment,40 to every man approaching you by the path of love.41 You enlighten the hearts that long for release by conquest of desire and universal kindness.42 You show mercy to those who submit to your inscrutable decrees.43 Cong.:

We adore you. Light divine! You shine bright in the hearts of those who seek you. We praise you, we thank you, we proclaim your glory!

VI. c.:

God of the covenant, in your gracious love for all men.44 You called Abraham to be the father of a great nation.45 Through Moses your servant You gathered your scattered children into a people.46 Despite their infidelity,47 you never failed to speak to them through the Prophets48 and to save them through your mighty deeds.49 You instilled into their hearts an eager hope for that awaited day of the Saviour to come,50 the day of peace and favour for all men.

Cong.:

We adore you, God of the Promise! Your erring people you pursue with love. We praise you, we thank you, we proclaim your glory!

VII. c.:

O God invisible,51 at the favourable time52 you were pleased to become visible to us.53 Your Word,54 your only-begotten Son,55 took on our

38 This very Christian idea is inserted here with reference to animistic religions. Cf. Vat II: Declaration... 2; Rg Veda 10, 90. Cf. Is 45, 15-25. 39 Reference is made to the three paths (marga) towards salvation in the Indian Scriptures. For the path of knowledge cf. Chand. Up. 4, 9, 1-2; 4; 14, 1-2. 40 Chand. Up 2, 23, 1. 41 B.G. 11, 54. 42 Reference is made here to Buddhism and Jainism; cf. Declaration…2. 43 Reference is made here to Islam; cf. Declaration...3. 44 I Tim. 2, 1-6. 45 Gen. 12, 1-3; Gen. IS, 18; Dent. 7, 7-8. 46 Ex. 3, 7-12. 47 Deut. 32, 20; Ezek. 16. 43. 48 Is. 6, 6-9; let. 1, 9. 49 Deut. 29, 3; 8. 105-106. 50 2 Sam. 7, 1-17; Isa. 9, 5; II, 1-5; Jer. 23, 5-6. 51 1 John 4, 12; Jn 6,46. In the Indian tradition, cf. Svet. Up. 1, 8. B.G. 2, 25; 8, 18.21; 9, 4. 52 Gal. 4, 4-5, Heb. 1, 1. 53 1 John 1, 1-4. 54 John 1, 1. 14; in the Indian tradition, cf. the concept of ‘sabda’. 55 John 1, 14. 18; 3, 16.

Liturgical Texts

205

human condition56 and was born of the Virgin Mary.57 As Supreme Teacher and Master,58 he imparted the words of eternal life59 to the poor and humbleof heart,60 and went about doing good.61 When his hour had come,62 of his own accord he laid down his life63 as sacrifice64 for our sins.65 Raised from the dead by you,66 Father, he became for us the source of life67 and sent the Holy Spirit68 to fill the world with joy and peace.69 First epiclesis VIII. cc.:

Now we pray you. Father send this same Spirit to fill these gifts of bread and wine with his divine power,70 and to make present among us the great mystery of our salvation.71

Cong.:

Come, O Spirit Supreme, Come, O Spirit all holy. Come, O Spirit who fill the universe. Institution narrative

56 All the connotation of Paul’s ‘morphe’ and John’s ‘sarx’ must be taken into account. Cf. Phil. 2, 7; John 1, 14. 57 Matt. 1, 18-25. 58 Mark 10, 17-22; John 13, 13-15; 18, 20. In the Indian tradition of the Guru-chela relationship: the Guru is both ‘Teacher and Master’: he does not only impart knowledge of the Vedas but guides the disciple through life. 59 John 6, 68. 60 The notion of ‘hanawim’ in the O.T. ..cf. Mt. II, 5, 5, 3 cf. in the Indian tradition the qualification of the true disciples, the various sadhanas which he needs to listen profitably to the guru. 61 Acts 10, 38; 1, 1. 62 John 13, 1; also cf. John 17, 1.5; Rom. 5, 6. 63 John 10, 15-18, the parable of the Good Shepherd. 64 Isa. 53: the servant of Yahweh, victim for the sins of the people; cf. Chand.Up.3,16, 1: Purusa of great sacrifice (yajna). 65 Rom. 8, 3; I Cor. 15, 3; Rom. 5, 6-11. 66 Rom. 6, 4; Rom. 8, II; Phil. 2, 9. 67 Heb. 5, 9; Rom. 8, 9-11; Gal. 5, 16. 68 John 14, 26; 15, 26; 16, 7. 69 Gal. 5, 22; the fruits of the Holy Spirit. N.B. At this point, it seems more appropriate to have NO acclamation by the people so that the movement be not interrupted between the recital of the outpouring of the Spirit and the invocation of the Spirit in the epiclesis. 70 See the anaphora in the Eucholoy of Serapion of Thmuis (Deiss, 1., Early Sources of the Liturgy, p. 115; cf. Agnipurana, I, pp. 217-18). 71 This formula is preferred to ‘that they may become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Not only does the Body and Blood of Christ become really and substantially present by transubstantiation, but the Paschal Mystery is sacramentally re-presented in the Church. This representation implies, but is broader than, the substantial presence of Christ’s Body and Blood.

Christian Inculturation in India

206

IX. cc.:

At the Supper which he longed to share with his disciples,72 Your Son, Jesus Christ, showed the depth of his love.73 Though Lord and Master,74 he did the humble work of a slave by washing their feel.75 During the meal76 he took bread in his sacred hands, gave you praise and thanks, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is my body which will be given up for you. Do this to celebrate the memorial of me.77

Cong.:

Amen.78

cc.:

In the same way after Supper,79 he took the cup. Again he gave you praise and thanks, gave the cup to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all men so that sins may be forgiven. Do this to celebrate the memorial of me.80

Cong.:

Amen.

Anamnesis X. cc.:

And so, Father, in gratitude we celebrate the memorial of the obedient death of Your Son,81 of his glorious resurrection from the dead, his triumphant ascension into heaven and his outpouring of the Spirit in whom the Church is born.82 While in glory he intercedes for us before

72 Luke 22, 15. 73 John 13, 1. 74 John 13, 13-14. 75 John 13, 12. 76 Matt 26, 26; Mk 14, 22. 77 The commission to celebrate the memorial is omitted in the Roman Eucharistic Prayers after the institution under the species of bread; yet it is explicitly mentioned in Luke 22, 19 and I Cor 11, 24. It is found in the Eucharistic Prayer of the Taize Community. ‘Do this in memory of Me’ is a poor translation, for it does not bring out the full meaning of the biblical term zikkaron (memorial) ‘Do this as the memorial of Me’ (used in the English translation of the Eucharistic Prayer of the Taize Community) may not sound well in English; on the other hand ‘Do this as a memorial of Me’ weakens the text where the definite article ‘ten’ is found. In order therefore to render fully the meaning of ‘touto poieite eis ten emen anamnesin’ (Luke 22, 19) (eis with the accusative case indicates the end of the action), the best translation may be: ‘Do this to celebrate the memorial of Me.’ 78 ‘Amen’ said by the congregation immediately after each of the two parts of the institution-narrative is a deep profession of faith, commonly found in the Eastern liturgies. 79 Luke 22, 20; I Cor. II, 25. 80 I Cor. II, 25. 81 Phil. 2, 8; Heb. 5, 8. 82 The mystery of Pentecost an historical event can be considered as part of the Paschal mystery: the outpouring of the Spirit which brings the Church into existence is the seal of the New Covenant established by God through Christ with His new people. It seems, therefore,

Liturgical Texts

207

your throne of mercy,83 we on earth await his return. When he comes, he will gather up the fruits of redemption, hold them together in his fullness84 and place them at your feet.85 United with Him in this mystery of salvation, we offer you His unique and holy sacrifice. Cong.:

1. We announce your death and proclaim your resurrection. Lord Jesus; gather all your people into your kingdom when you come in glory.86 2. We announce your death. Lord Jesus, and proclaim your resurrection and ascension until you come in glory.87 3. We proclaim your death. Lord Jesus, until you come in glory; Your resurrection is the hope of our salvation.88 4. We proclaim your death. Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.89

legitimate to mention it in the anamnesis as an integral part of the salvific event of which the Eucharist celebrates the memorial. Though there is little evidence for this in the liturgical tradition, the mystery of Pentecost is explicitly mentioned in the anamnesis of the Anaphora Dioscori Alexandrini (cf. Hanggi-Pahl, Prex Eucharistica, p. 199). To include the mystery of Pentecost here is not without significance in the context of the dialogue with the Oriental Churches who stress the economy of the Spirit. On the contrary it is more difficult to see how the future event of Christ’s second coming can be celebrated in memorial; hence it seems more logical not to mention it directly in the anamnesis as belonging to the event of which the memorial is made, though there is some evidence for this procedure in the liturgical tradition. Here the eschatological dimension of the Eucharistic celebration is purposely brought in indirectly: ‘while in glory he intercedes for us... (a lasting function of the Glorified Christ) we on earth await...’ 83 John 2, 1; Heb. 10, 12; 7, 25. 84 Eph. 1, 23, 2, 21; Col. 1, 19; notion of ‘pleroma’ in St. Paul. Cf. also the notion of ‘purnam’in Brhad. Up 5, I.I. 85 1 Cor. 15, 28. 86 The acclamation by the people, which in the Roman Bucharistic Prayer is found immediately after the institution-narrative, seems to find its place more naturally after the anamnesis. The anamnesis explains what the Church is doing by repeating the ritual of the Lord’s Supper; this explanation quite naturally calls for the acclamation by the People. On the contrary, if the acclamation precedes the anamnesis, it anticipates what the celebrant is about to say in the anamnesis, (cf. Kavanagh, A., Worship 1969, 12; Dupuis, J., Clergy Monthly 1969, 495, note 19). Notice how the people’s acclamation takes up the themes of the anamnesis prayer in the various formulas proposed. For the first form proposed here, cf. Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles, Hanggi-Pahl. Prex Eucharistica, p. 266. 87 Cf. the anamnesis in the Anaphora of Cyril of Alexandria, Hänggi Pahl, op. cit. p. 339. 88 Cf. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. IV, 18; 5. 89 Cf. I Cor. 11, 26.

208

Christian Inculturation in India

Intercessions and commemorations XI. c.:

Merciful Father, bring together all your people in the Holy Spirit,90 help them live in unity and fellowship91 with Paul, our Pope, N., our Bishop, the patriarchs and pastors of all the Churches.92

c.:

We pray yon. Father, crown the yearnings of this our ancient land93 with the knowledge and love of your Son. Bless the efforts of all those who labour to build our country into a nation where the poor and the hungry will have their fill, where all people will live in harmony, where justice and peace, unity and love will reign.94 Bless also all our brethren who are not present at this Eucharist.95

c.:

Grant to our departed brothers and sisters and all who longed for you a share in your bliss.96 Welcome them into your Kingdom, where97 Mary the Virgin Mother of God, the Saints of all lands and ages, St Thomas, St Francis Xavier98 and St N. unceasingly pray for us and help us share99 in the riches of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

90 This intercessory prayer means to be fully ecumenical. It prays for the unity of all the Christian Churches into one Church of Christ. See the Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II, no. 3 where the Christian communities separated from Rome are recognized as ‘Churches’. 91 Cf. Vatican II: Constitution on the Church, 4; ‘koinonia’ in Phil. 2; 1. 92 Note 95 explains why to all the patriarchs and pastors of all the Churches have been added. 93 Cf. Pope Paul VI, addresses at the Bombay Eucharistic Congress; Clergy Monthly Supplement 7, 183ff. 94 Cf. Pope John XXIII, Prayer for the Ecumenical Council. 95 Those ‘who are not present at this Eucharist’ refers primarily to the absent members of the local community, whose absence is due to sickness or to any other reason; even negligence. More broadly, the expression indicates the union of the Eucharist celebrated by a particular community with all those celebrated in the Church. 96 Cf. Vatican II: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 18. 97 The intercession of the Saints is purposely introduced indirectly so as not to obscure the uniqueness of the mediation of Christ. This ‘great discretion’ in the way of mentioning the intercession of the Saints is found in the Roman Canon (cf. Communicantes), notwithstanding the fact that the Saints occupy there a prominent place. Cf. Roguet, A., La Messe d’aujourd’ hui; pp. 180-82. 98 Special mention is made of St. Thomas the Apostle and of St. Francis Xavier, as patrons of India. 99 Cf. the theology of the communion of Saints in the Constitution on the Church, 49.

Liturgical Texts

209

Second epiclesis XII. cc.:

Loving Father, send down your Spirit, the fulness of your bliss,100 to fill with joy and peace101 all of us who share in the Body and Blood of Christ. that we may be one in Him,102 and manifest our unity103 in loving service.104 May he be the pledge of our resurrection and lead us in hope to the shore of eternal life with all the just in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Cong.:

Supreme Spirit, Spirit divine, awaken us to your loving presence.105

Doxology (The celebrant lifts the oblata; doxology and arati are synchronized)106 XIII. Cel.:

In the Oneness of the Supreme Spirit107 through Christ who unites all things in his fullness108 we and the whole creation give to you, God of

100 The concept of the Holy Spirit as Divine Bliss is especially appropriate in the Indian context. (cf. note 29). It is also in order in the epicletic motif where the Church prays that it may derive fruits of unity and life from its partaking in the sacred banquet of Christ’s Body and Blood. 101 Gal. 5, 22; Rom. 14, 17. 102 John 17, 21; I Cor. 12, 12-13. 103 Acts 2, 46. 104 John 13, 35; 13, 15; John 15. 105 This acclamation seems quite appropriate here. What we receive through the sacramental partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ is the Spirit of Christ, transforming us into the image of Christ. Charity and love are derived from the presence of the Spirit within us (cf. Rom. 5, 5 ). This applies also to the Eucharistic banquet (cf. Tillard, J.M.R.; ‘L’Eucharistie et le Saint-Esprit’. Nouvelle Revue Theologique 1968, 363ff). 106 In the Hindu puja, the pujari makes the arati while reciting the mantras. It seems appropriate therefore that the arati be made during the doxoiogy, not after. To this effect, while the consecrated gifts are lifted by the celebrant, representatives of the congregation do the arati with flowers, incense and camphor. The bell also is rung. The arati should be done in such a way that it is seen to be addressed to God, not to the sacred species; to this effect, it is suggested to make a threefold (clock-wise) circular revolution. 107 The Holy Spirit is referred to here as Supreme Spirit (paramatman). For the structure of the doxology, see Eph. 2: 18: in the Spirit through Christ we make our way to the Father. It is specific of Christian prayer that it is normally (not exclusively) addressed in the Spirit through Christ to the Father. This is especially true where liturgical prayer is concerned. Hence the basic structure of the doxology, already found in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus: through Christ the Chuch living in the Spirit gives glory to the Father. Trinity is directly intended and the mediation of Christ is stressed. This form has been preserved in the doxology proper, while the response by the congregation which follows sums up with the ‘immanent’ Trinity (Being, Knowledge, Bliss). 108 Eph. 1, 10.

Christian Inculturation in India

210

all, Father of all,109 honour and glory, thanks and praise, worship and adoration now and in every age,110 for ever and ever. Cong.:

Amen. You are the Fulness of Reality,111 One without a second,112

Being, Knowledge, Bliss!113 Om, Tat, Sat!

109 110 111 112 113

Rev. 4, 8; B.G. II, 40. Rev. 4, II; cf. B.G. II, 39-44. 1 Cor. 15, 28; cf. Brhad. Up. 5; 1. 1. Deut. 32, 39; Isa. 46, 9; cf. Chand. Up. 6; 2; 1-2. Cf. Note 7.

Bibliography World Council of Churches Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, (Geneva: WCC, 1982). Christians in Dialogue with Men of Other Faiths, (Geneva: WCC, 1967). Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies, (WCC Kingston Jamaica, 1979). Nurturing Peace, Overcoming Violence: In the way of Christ for the sake of the World, (Geneva: WCC, 2003). Preparatory Paper No 1, ‘Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today’, for the Athens Conference 2005 on World Mission and Evangelism, Come, Holy Sprit – Heal and Reconcile. Towards Koinonia in Worship, (Ditchingham: WCC, 1994). Roman Catholic Documents Documents of Vatican II http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/. Flannery Austin, (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, (Tenbury Wells, Fowler Wright, 1975). Papal Documents http://www.papalencyclicals.net/. http://www.vatican.va/offices/papal_docs_list.html. Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandii, (1975) Paul VI, sermon preached on December 4th, 1964 at St Paul’s Parish, P. De Letter, ‘Pope Paul VI in India’, in Catholic Missionary Society, 29 (1965): 183-91. John Paul II, Salvorum Apostoli, (1985). John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, (1990). John Paul II, Ecclesia in Asia, (1999). Other Roman Catholic Documents Vatican Syriac Documents: Vat. Syr. 22: Lectionary for Epistles (written in India), (1301). Catholic Bishops of India, Acta et Decreta primi Concilii plenarii Indiae, 2nd edn, (Ranchi, 1959). Roman Catholic Church, 38th International Eucharistic Congress Bombay 1964, 2 volumes (Bombay, 1966).

212

Christian Inculturation in India

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, The Roman Liturgy and Inculturation: Fourth Instruction for the Right Application of the Conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy (Nos. 37-40), (Rome and Boston, 1994). Pontifical Council for Culture, Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture, (1999). Lambeth Conference http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/archive/. Davidson, Randall T. (ed.), The Lambeth Conferences of 1867, 1878, and 1888. With the Official Reports and Resolutions, together with the Sermons preached at the Conferences, (London: SPCK, 1889). The Lambeth Conference 1968: Resolutions and Reports, (London and New York: SPCK and Seabury Press, 1968). The Report of the Lambeth Conference 1978, (London: Church Information Office, 1978). The Truth Shall Make You Free: The Lambeth Conference 1988: Reports, Resolutions and Pastoral Letters from the Bishops, (London: Church House Publishing, 1988). Liturgical Texts Bhakthi Pancha Pushpanjali: 5 Order of Worship, (Madras: Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, 1992). Bharatiya Pooja, (Vagamon: Kurisumala Ashram, no date). Buchanan, Colin O. (ed.), Further Anglican Liturgies 1968-1975, (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1975). Buchanan, Colin O. (ed.), Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958-1968, (London: OUP, 1968). Brightman F.E. and C.E. Hammond (eds), Liturgies Eastern and Western vol.1, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896). Church of South India, The Book of Common Worship, (London, New York, Madras: OUP, 1963). Griffiths, Bede, The Book of Common prayer of the Syrian Church, (Vagamon: Kurisumala Ashram, 1965). Francis Acharya (ed.), Prayer with the Harp of the Spirit: The Prayer of Asian Churches, 4 vols. (Vagamon: Kurisumala Ashram, 1996). Vazhipaduvom: Dalit Liturgies, (Madurai: Dalit Resource Centre, 2000). General Works Abhishiktananda, Hindu-Christian Meeting Point: Within the cave of the heart, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1969, 1976, 1984). Abhishiktananda, The Secret of Arunachala, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1979).

Bibliography

213

Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) Swami Parama Arubi Aanandam (Father J. Monchanin) 1895-1957: A Memorial, (Tiruchirapalli: Trichinopoly United Printers, 1959). (Abhishiktananda) Henri Le Saux, Love and Wisdom, (1942). Altizer, Thomas J.J., ‘Mission and Dialogue: 50 Years After Tambaram’, Christian Century, (April, 1988): 340. Amaladoss, Michael, A Call to Community: The Caste System and Christian Responsibility, (Anand Gujurat: Gujurat Sahitya Prakash, 1994). Amaladoss, Michael, Becoming Indian: The Process of Inculturation, (Rome: Centre for Indian and Inter-religious Studies and Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 1992). Amaladoss, Michael, Beyond Inculturation: Can the Many be One? (Delhi: Vidyajyoti Education and Welfare Society / ISPCK, 1998). Amaladoss, Michael, Life in Freedom: Liberation Theologies from Asia, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1997). Amaladoss, Michael, ‘The Trinity on Mission’, Church and Theology in Context, 40/1 (2002): 99-106. Amalorpavadass, D.S., NBCLC Campus: Milieu of God-Experience: An Artistic Synthesis of Spirituality, (Bangalore: NBCLC, 1982). Ambedkar, B.R., The Untouchables, (Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1948). Amirtham, Samuel and C.R.W. David (eds), Venturing into Life: The Story of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, (Madurai: TTS, 1990). Appasamy Pillai, Fifty Years’ Pilgrimage of a Convert, (London: CMS, 1924). Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologiae, (Ia. 33-44), vol. 7, (London; New York: Blackfriars, McGraw-Hill, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1967). Arbuckle, Gerald A., Earthing the Gospel: An Inculturation Handbook for the Pastoral Worker, (Maryknoll; Orbis, 1990). Ariarajah, S. Wesley, Hindus and Christians: A Century of Protestant Ecumenical Thought, (Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi and Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991). Augustine of Hippo, City of God, (London: Oxford University Press, 1963). Aurobindo Ghose, On Nationalism, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973). Aurobindo Ghose, The National Value of Art, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1922, 1994). Baago, Kaj, A History of the National Council of India 1914-1964, (Nagpur: The National Christian Council, 1965). Baago, Kaj, Pioneers of Indigenous Christianity, (Bangalore: The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society and Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1969). Badrinath, Chaturvedi, Finding Jesus in Dharma: Christianity in India, (Delhi: ISPCK, 2000). Bailey, Gauvin Alexander, Art on the Jesuit Missions in Asia and Latin America 1543-1773, (Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 1999). Bajaj J.K. and M.D. Srinivas, ‘Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialogue: IdolWorship, Cow-Protection and Conversion’, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 17 (2004).

214

Christian Inculturation in India

Baker, Laurie W., ‘The Theology of Bricks and Tiles’, in Samuel Amirtham and C.R.W. David (eds), Venturing into Life: The Story of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, (Madurai: TTS Publications, 1990). Barbosa, Durate, A Description Of The Coasts Of East Africa And Malabar In The Beginning Of The Sixteenth Century, translated by Stanley Henry E. J., (1918). Barrows, H.N. (ed.), The World’s Parliament of Religions: An Illustrated and Popular Story of the World’s First Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in connection with the Columbian Exposition 1893, (Chicago: 1893). Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics, vol. 1.1 (2nd edn), (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1975). Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics, vol 4.1 & 2, (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956, 1958). Barth, Karl, Epistle to the Romans six editions (1918–28). Barth, Karl, ‘W.A. Mozart 1756-1956’, Evangelischer Verlag, (1956). Barth, Karl, The Humanity of God, (Richmond VA: John Knox, 1960). Bartholomeo, Paulinus A. Sancto, Centum adagia malabarica cum textu originali et versione latina, nunc primum in lucem, Rome: apud A. Fulgonium, 1791; Amarasinha, (Rome, 1798). Bate, H.N. (ed.), Faith and Order: Proceedings of the World Conference Lausanne, August 3-21, 1927, (London: SCM, 1927). Bayart J. and J. Putz, ‘The First Plenary Council of India’, Clergy Monthly 14, (1950). Bede, The Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of England, (London: George Bell and Sons, 1907). Bergmann, Sigurd, God in Context: A Survey of Contextual Theology, (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003). Bergunder, Michael, Die Südindische Pfingstbewegung im 20 Jahrhundert, (Frankfurt: Peter Land, 1999). Bernard of Clairvaux, De Consideratione Libri Quinque, II, 1. Migne J.-P. (ed.), Patrologia Latina 182, 741-45. Bernauer J. and J. Carrette (eds), Michel Foucault and Theology, (Aldershot: Ashgate: 2004). Bevans, Stephen B., Modules of Contextual Theology, (Maryknoll, Orbis, 1992, 2002). Bevans, Stephen B. and Roger P. Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2004). Bhatia, Gautam, Laurie Baker: Life, Works and Writings, (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1994). Boff, Leonardo, Trinity and Society, (Tunbridge Wells : Burns & Oates, 1988). Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Letters and Papers from Prison, (enlarged edn) (ed. E. Bethge) (London: SCM, 1971). Bosch, David N., Transforming Mission: paradigm shifts in theology of mission, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991). Bosch, David N., Believing in the future: toward a missiology of Western culture, (Valley Forge, Pa.; Leominster Herefordshire, England: Gracewing: Trinity Press International, 1995). Brock, S.P., The Harp of the Spirit: Twelve Poems of St Ephrem, (London: Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius, 1975; 1983).

Bibliography

215

Brock, S.P., The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of St Ephrem, (Rome: Cistercian Publications, 1985). Busch, Eberhard, Karl Barth: His life from letters and autobiographical texts, (London: SCM, 1976). Buswell III, James O., ‘Contextualization: Theory, Tradition and Method’, in D.J. Hesselgrave (ed.), Theology and Mission, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978): 87-111. Butler, John F., Christian Art in India, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1986). Cameron, Nigel M. de S. (ed.), Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993). Carr, Dhyanchand, ‘God and People in Liturgies’, in Vazhipaduvom Dalit Liturgies, (Madurai: Dalit Resource Centre, 2000). Chaudhuri, N.C., Hinduism: A Religion to Live By, (London: Chatto & Windus, 1979). Chetty Kandaswamy O., Dr William Miller, (Madras, 1924). Choudhury, Anuradha Roma, ‘Hinduism’ in, Sacred Place, Jean Holm and John Bowker (eds) (London: Cassell, 1994). Chupungco, Anscar, Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis, (Collegeville: the Liturgical Press, 1992). Church of India Pakistan Burma and Ceylon, Principles of Prayer Book Revision, (London: SPCK, 1957). Clarke, Sathiananthan, ‘Celebrating Indian Religious Festivals: A Theological Defence’, in Samson Prahbakar (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, (Bangalore: United Theological College / Masihiserak, 1998). Clarke, Sathianathan, Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999). Clarke, Sundar, Let the Indian Church be Indian, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1980, 1985). Clothey, Fred, ‘Pilgrimage Centres in the Tamil Cultus of Murukan’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 40 (1972): 79-95. Coff, Sr Paschaline, ‘Abhishiktananda: An Interview with Odette BaumerDespeigne’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 51 (October 1994). Conference of the Metropolitans of India, Collection of Papers, the first six annual reports of the ‘National Church’ of Madras, (Madras, 1945). Coomaraswamy, Ananda K., Art and Swadeshi, (Madras: Ganesh & Co., 1930). Coore, Alfred, ‘Indian Church Building’, Cambridge Mission to Delhi, 12 (October 1927). Cracknell, Kenneth, Towards a New Relationship: Christians and People of Other Faith, (London: Epworth Press, 1986). Cronin, Vincent , A Pearl to India: The Life of Roberto de Nobili, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1959). Cuming, Geoffrey. J., A History of Anglican Liturgy, 2nd edn, (London: Macmillan, 1982). Dalrymple, William, ‘The rubble of the Raj’, The Guardian Review, (13th November 2004). Dalrymple, William, ‘Trapped in the ruins’, The Guardian Review, (20th March 2004).

216

Christian Inculturation in India

Danish, Ishtiyaq, ‘Contextualization: A New Missionary Approach to Muslims’, al Tawhid, 5/3 and 4. D’Costa, Gavin (ed.), Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: the Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990). Deleuze G. and F. Guattari, What is Philosophy? (London: Verson, 1994). de Lubac, Henri, Images de l’abbé Monchanin, (Paris: Aubier, 1967). de Nobili, Roberto, Adaptation, (Narratio Fundamentorum quibus Madurensis Missionis Institutum caeptum est et hucusque consisit, 1619), Translation by J. Pujo, (Palayamkottai: De Nobili Research Institute, 1971). de Nobili, Roberto, Gnanopadesa Kandam I, II, III, IV [Larger Catechism] 16551657; (Tuticorin: TLS, 1963, 1966). de Nobili, Roberto, Tusana Tikkaram [The Refutation of Calumnies] 1641 Deivanayagam M. and D. Devakala, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/ Ithaca/1412/. Douglass, H. Paul, A Decade of Objective Progress in Church Unity 1927-1936 (Report No4. for Edinburgh 1937) (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1937). Holeton, David R. (ed.), Liturgical Inculturation in the Anglican Communion, including the York Statement ‘Down to Earth Worship’, (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1990). Holm, Jean and John Bowker (eds), Sacred Place, (London: Cassell, 1994). Elias, Father Kuriakos, Chavara, 4 vols., (Mannanam: St Joseph Press, 1981-82). Elwood, Douglas J. (ed.), What Asian Christians are Thinking, (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1976). England John C. et al (eds), Asian Christian Theologies: A Research Guide to Authors, Movements, Sources, Vol. 1. Asia Region, South Asia, Austral Asia, (Maryknoll: Orbis/ISPCK/Claretian Publishers, 2002). Extross, I.E., ‘Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ’, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, The Madras Cultural Academy, (Madras, 1957). Eze, Emmanuel Chukwudi, Race and Enlightenment: A Reader, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997). Farquhar, J.N., The Crown of Hinduism, (London: OUP, 1913). Foucault, Michel, Les mots et les choses, (Paris: Gallimard, 1966); English translation, The Order of Things, (London: Tavistock Publications, 1970). Francis, G.X., ‘The Background of the Niyogi Report’, in A. Soares, et al., Truth shall Prevail, Reply to Niyogi Committee, (Bombay, 1957). Francis, T. Dayanandan, Aspects of Christian and Hindu Bhakti, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1987, 1997). Fuchs, Stephen, At the Bottom of Indian Society: The Harijan and Other Low Castes, (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981). Fuchs, Stephen, ‘Culture at the Service of Evangelisation in India’, in The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, vol.1, George Menachery (ed.), (Trichur: The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, 2000). Gairdner, W.H.T., Edinburgh 1910: An Account and Interpretation of the World Missionary Conference, (Edinburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1910).

Bibliography

217

Garrett, T. S., Worship in the Church of South India, (London: Lutterworth Press, 1958). Geddes, Michael, ‘A short history of the Church of Malabar together with The Synod of Diamper’, (London, 1694) , in George Menachery (ed.), The Nazranies, (Thrissur, 1998), pp. 30-112. Geertz, Clifford, ‘The impact of the concept of culture on the concept of man’, in J, Platt, (ed.), New Views of the Nature of Man, (Chicago: 1966). Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures, (London: Hutchinson, 1975). Geffré, Claude and Werner Jeanrond (eds), Why Theology? (London and Maryknoll: SCM & Orbis books, 1994). Gillis, Chester, Pluralism: A new paradigm for theology, (Louvain: Peeters Press and W.B. Eerdmans, 1998). Gilmartin, David and Bruce Lawrence (eds), Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia, (Gainesville, 2000). Grant, Sara, Towards an Alternative Theology: Confessions of a Non-Dualist Christian, (Bangalore: Asia Trading Corporation, 1991). Griffiths, Bede, ‘A meditation on the Mystery of the Trinity’, Monastic Studies, Christmas, (1986): 69-79. Griffiths, Bede, Marriage of East and West, (London: Fount, 1983). Griffiths, Bede, Symbolism and Cult, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (The Madras Cultural Academy, Madras, 1957). Griffiths, Bede, The new creation in Christ: Christian meditation and community, Robert Kiely and Laurence Freeman (eds), (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1992). Griffiths, Bede, The New Creation in Christ: Christian Meditation and Community, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1992). Griffiths Bede, ‘New Human Community’, Bede Griffiths Sangha Newsletter, (December 2004). Haleblian, Krikor, ‘The Problem of Contextualization’, Missiology, 11 (1983): 95111. Hargreaves, Cecil and K.G. Mathew, 25 Indian Churches, (Calcutta: Bishop College and Delhi: ISPCK, 1975). Harper, Susan Billington, In the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V.S. Azraiah and the Travails of Christianity in British India, (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Wm Eerdmans & Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000). Harper, Susan Billington, ‘Ironies of Indigenization: Some Cultural Repercussions of Mission in South India’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, (January 1995): 13-20. Havell, E.B., ‘Christian Architecture in India’ in The Madras & Tinnevelly Diocesan Magazine, 11 (1914): 49-51. Hedlund, Roger E., ‘The Witness of New Christian Movements in India’, IAMS Assembly, (Malaysia, 2004). Hick, John, Myth of Christian Uniqueness, (London; SCM, 1988). Hick John and Brian Hebblethwaite, (eds), Christianity and other religions: selected readings, (London: Collins, 1980). Hodgson, Leonard (ed.), The Second World Conference on Faith and Order held at Edinburgh, August 3-18, 1937, (London; SCM, 1938).

218

Christian Inculturation in India

Huntington, William Reed, The Church-Idea: An Essay Towards Unity, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1870 and 1899; Harrisburg: Moorhouse Publishing, 2002). International Missionary Council, The World Mission of the Church, (London and New York, Madras Conference Report, 1939). Jasper, R.C.D., The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662-1980, (London: SPCK, 1989). Jenson, Robert W., ‘Christ as Culture 1: Christ as Polity’, International Journal of Systematic Theology 5/3 (2003): 323-29. Jenson, Robert W., ‘Christ as Culture 2: Christ as Art’, International Journal of Systematic Theology, 6/1 (2004): 69-78. Jenson, Robert W., ‘Christ as Culture 3: Christ as Drama’, International Journal of Systematic Theology, 6/2 (2004): 194-207. Jesudason, S., Ashrams, Ancient and Modern: Their aims and ideals, (Vellore: Sri Ramachandra Press, 1937). Jesuadasan, S., ‘Ashram Movement and Indigenisation of Worship’, in L.C. Richard (ed.), The theology of Dr. Savarirayan Jesudason, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1989). Jones, William, The Sanscrit Language, (1786). Jones, William, On the Gods of Greece, Italy and India, (1784). Kasper, Walter, Nature and Purpose of Ecumenical Dialogue, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/ rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20030227_ecumenical-dialogue_en.html. Keay, John, India: A History, (London: HarperCollins, 2000). Kelly, Gerard, Get a grip on the future without losing your hold on the past, (London: Monarch Books, 1999). Kennerley, K. Virginia, ‘The Use of indigenous sacred literature and theological concept in Christian Eucharistic Liturgy in India’, Studia Liturgica, 19/2 (1989): 143- 61. Kraemer, Hendrik. The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, 2nd edn, (London: Edinburgh House Press, 1938, 1946). Kraft, Charles H., Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perpective, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979). Kroeber, A.L. and C. Kluckholm (eds), Culture a critical review of concepts and definitions, (Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1952). Küng, Hans, ‘The World Religions in God’s Plan of Salvation’, in Joseph Neuner (ed.), Christian Revelation and World Religions: Hans Küng, Piet Fransen, Joseph Masson, R. Panikkar, (London: Burns and Oates, 1967). LaCugna, Catherine Mowry, God for Us: the Trinity and Christian Life, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992). Langford, Paul, A Polite and Commercial People, (Oxford: OUP, 1989). Lee, J.A., ‘Cultural analysis in overseas operations’, Harvard Business Review, 44 March-April, (1966): 106-14. Lipner, Julius J., Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, (London and New York: Routledge, 1994). Lipner, Julius J., Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, (New Delhi: OUP, 1999).

Bibliography

219

Lott, Eric, Worship in an Indian Context, (Bangalore: United Theological College, 1987). Lundquist, John M., The Temple, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1993). Madras Cultural Academy, The, Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras, 1957). Mah¯ābhārata, translated and edited by J.A.B. van Buitenen, vol.2, [2.The book of the assembly hall. 3.The book of the forest], (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1975). Maitra, S.K., An Introduction to the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1941, 1965). Manickam, S., The United Theological College: A Brief History of Change and Continuity 1910-2000, (Bangalore; United Theological College, 2000). Maniyattu, Pauly, Heaven on Earth: The Theology of Liturgical Spacetime in the East Syrian Qurbana, (Rome: Mar Thoma Yogam, 1995). Manusmriti, (The Laws of Manu), G. Buhler (ed.), (New Delhi, Indigo Books, 2004). Martin, Paul C., ‘A Brief History of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission’, Hyderabad Conference on Indigenous Christian Movements in India, (October 1998). Massey, James, Roots of Dalit History, Christianity, Theology and Spirituality, (Delhi, ISPCK, 1996). Maximus the Confessor, Mystagogia, J.-P. Migne (ed.) Patrologia Graece vol. 24. McSweeney, John, ‘Rahner in the Mirror of Poststructuralism: The Practice of Theology as the Venture of Thought’, Louvain Studies, 29 (2004): 187-208. Menachery, George, ‘Christian Contribution to Art and Architecture in India’, Christian Contribution to Nation Building A Third Millennium Enquiry, Ponnumuthan, Aerath and Menachery, (eds) (Published privately, 2004). Menachery, George (ed.), The Nazranies, (Thrissur, 1998). Menachery, George (ed.), The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, vols 1 and 2, (Trichur: The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, 2000). Menachery, George (ed.), Thomapedia, (Ollur, Kerala: Thomapedia, 2000). Menachery, James, ‘Thomas Christian Architecture’, in George Menachery (ed.), The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, vol. 2 (Trichur: The St Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, 2000). Michael S.M. (ed.), Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values, (New Delhi, Vistaar Publications, 1999). Michell, George, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to its Meaning and Forms, (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1977, 1988). Miller, William, ‘The Place of Hinduism in the Story of the World’, Madras Christian College Magazine, 1st series, April (1896). Moltmann, Jürgen, ‘Christianity and World Religions’, in Hick and Hebblethwaite (eds), Christianity and other religions: selected readings, (London: Collins, 1980). Monchanin, Jules and Henri Le Saux, A Benedictine Ashram, (revised ed.) (Douglas: Times Press, 1964). Monchanin, Jules and Henri Le Saux, Ermites du Saccidananda, (2nd edn) (Tournai: Casterman, 1957).

220

Christian Inculturation in India

Monchanin, Jules, ‘In Quest of the Absolute’, in Indian Culture and the Fullness of Christ, (Madras: The Catholic Centre, 1957). Monserrate, Antony, On Salsette, Chorao, Divar and the Molucas (1579). Morinis, E. Alan, Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: A Case Study of West Bengal, (Delhi: OUP, 1984). Morrison, Charles Clayton, ‘The World Missionary Conference’, Christian Century, (July 1910). Mueller, Max, Sacred Books of the East, (London: OUP, 1900). Mueller, Max, Biographies of Words and the Home of the Aryas, (London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1888). Neuner J. and J. Dupuis, (eds), The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, (London and Sydney: Collins, 1983). Neuner, Joseph, (ed.), Christian Revelation and World Religions: Hans Küng, Piet Fransen, Joseph Masson, R. Panikkar, (London: Burns and Oates, 1967). Newbigin, Lesslie, ‘Religion for the Marketplace’, in Gavin D’Costa (ed.), Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: the Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990). Newlands, George, The Transformative Imagination: Rethinking Intercultural Theology, (Aldershot: Aschgate, 2004). Niebuhr Richard H., Christ and Culture, (New York: Harper and Row, 1951). Niebuhr, Richard R., ‘The Tent of Heaven: Theographia I’, Alumnae Bulletin, Bangor Theological Seminary 52/2, (Fall-Winter, 1977-78): 9-22. Nirmal, A.P., ‘Towards a Dalit Christian Theology’, Asia Journal of Theology, 6 (1992): 297-310. Nirmal, A.P., Towards a Common Dalit Ideology, (Madras, 1989). Olivelle, Patrick, The Asrama System: The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution, (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993). Padmanabhan, S., Sabarimala Yatra, (Nagercoil: Smt. Leele Padmanabhan, no date). Pande, Susmita, Birth of Bhakti in Indian Religions and Art, (New Delhi: Books & Books, 1982). Panikkar, Raimoundo, The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari – An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man and Contemporary Celebration, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1977, 1989, 1994). Panikkar, Raimundo, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1964, 1981). Park, Chris C., Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion, (London and New York: Routledge, 1994). Philip, P.O., ‘The Place of Ashrams in the Life of the Church in India’, The International Review of Mission, 35 (1946). Podipara, Placid, Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental in Worship, in George Menachery (ed.), Thomapedia, (Ollur, Kerala: Thomapedia, 2000). Prabhakar, M.E. (ed.), Towards a Dalit Theology, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1989). Prabhakar, Samson (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, (Bangalore: United Theological College / Masihiserak, 1998).

Bibliography

221

Pranger, Jan Hendrik, Dialogue in Discussion; The World Council of Churches and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism between 1967 and 1979, (Utrecht: Interuniversitair Instituut voor Missiologie en Oecumenica, 1994). Prashad, Vijay, The Karma of Brown Folk, (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2000). Pratt, Douglas, ‘The Dance of Dialogue’, The Ecumenical Review, July (1999). Pulikkan, Paul, Indian Church at Vatican II, (Trichur: Marymatha Publications, 2001). Puranas: e.g. Matsya puranam, translated by a taluqdar of Oudh, (New York: AMS Press, 1974). Puthanagady, Paul, ‘Liturgical Renewal in India’, in Ephemerides Liturgicae, 91 (1977). Puthanangady, Paul (ed.), Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris, (Bangalore: NBCLC, 1988). Quick, Olive Chase, ‘The Jerusalem Meeting and the Christian Message’, International Review of Mission, 17 (1928). Rahner, Karl, ‘Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions’ in Theological Investigations, vol. 5 (Baltimore, MD, Helicon Press, 1966). Raj, Selva J., ‘Dialogue “On the Ground”: The Complicated Identities and Complex Negotiations of Catholics and Hindus in South India’, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 17 (2004): 33-44. Raj, Selva J., ‘Two Models of Indigenization in South Asian Catholicism: A Critique’, Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theological Reflection, 69/June (2005): 415-30. Raj, P. Solomon, A Christian Folk Religion in India, (Frankfurt, Peter Lang Verlag, 1986). Raj, P. Solomon, The New Wine-Skins: The Story of the indigenous Missions to Costal Andhra Pradesh, (Delhi: ISPCK; Chennai: Mylapore Institute for Indigenous Studies, 2003). Rajasekaran, V.C., Reflections on Indian Christian Theology, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1993). Ralston, Helen, Christian Ashrams: A New Religious Movement in Contemporary India, (Leiwston/Queenston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1988). Ram Mohan Roy, The Precept of Jesus: the Guide to Peace and Happiness, extracted from the Books of the New Testament, ascribed to the four evangelists (with translations into Sanskrit and Bengalese), (1820). Ratzinger, Joseph, Truth and Toleration: Christian Belief and World Religions, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004). Rice, E.P., ‘The New Theology and Missionary Work’, Harvest Field, (1908): 36376. Richard, H.L., R. C. Das: Evangelical Prophet for Contextual Christianity, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1995). Richard L.C. (ed.), The theology of Dr. Savarirayan Jesudason, (Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1989). Rodger P.C. and L. Vischer, (eds) The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: the Report from Montreal 1963, (London: SCM, 1964).

222

Christian Inculturation in India

Rudra, S.K., ‘Young men of India’, National Missionary Work, 21/December (1910). Ruthnaswamy, M., ‘Christianity and Indian Nationalism’, in Soares, A., et al. (eds), Truth shall Prevail, Reply to Niyogi Committee, (Bombay, 1957). Ryle, Gilbert, ‘The Thinking of Thoughts: What ‘Le Penseur’ is doing’, University Lectures, 18 (1968) (University of Saskatchewan). Saccidananda Ashram, (Tannirpalli, Kulitalai, no date). Sahajananda, Human Being is Greater than Religion: A reinterpretation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, (Thannirpalli: Saccidananda Ashram, 2001). Sahi, Jyoti and Paul Middleton, Adisthan: Sacred Space, Indian Christian Ventures, (Bangalore: NBCLC, 1993). Sahi, Jyoti, ‘Dance in the Wilderness’, in Yeow Choo Lak (ed.), Doing Theology with Asian Resources, vol. 2, (Singapore: The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia (ATESEA), 1995). Sahi, Jyoti, Holy Ground: A New Approach to the Mission of the Church in India, (Auckland: Pace Publishing, 1998). Sahi, Jyoti, ‘Sons of the Soil: Symbolic Thought in a Geo-Political Context’, in Kerygma (Publication of an International Seminar held at St Paul University, Ottawa, August, 1980). Said, Edward V., Culture and Imperialism, (London: Vintage, 1994). Samartha, Stanley, ‘Dialogue as a Continuing Christian Concern’, in John Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite (eds), Christianity and other religions: selected readings, (London: Collins, 1980). Samartha, Stanley, One Christ – Many Religions. Towards a Revised Christology, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991). Samartha, ‘Stanley, Scripture and Scriptures’ in R.S. Sugirtharajah (ed.), Voices from the Margin: interpreting the Bible in the third world, (London: SPCK, 1991). Sangham Literature: Ten Idylls (Pattuppattu) and Eight Anthologies (Ettuttohai). http://www.tamilar.org/tamil-language.asp. Sarasvati, Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Svami, Hindu Dharma: The Universal Way of Life, (Mumbai: Bharat Vidya Bhavan, 1996). Saraswati, Dayananda Satyarthaprakash, Light of Truth, (New Delhi: Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, 2002) (Reprint). Sardar, Sunil, Redeeming the Hindu Culture for His Glory, (unpublished paper, 2000). Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar, Hindutva, (7th edn), (Mumbai: Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rahtriya Smarak, 1999). Schlegel, Friedrich von, Über Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808). Schleiermacher, Friedrich, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers, (London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1893). Schreiter, Robert J., Constructing Local Theologies, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1986). Selvanayagam, Israel, A second Call: Ministry and Mission in a Multifaith Milieu, (Chennai: Christian Literature Society, 2000). Sharma, Jyotirmaya, Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism, (New Delhi: Viking / Penguin, 2003).

Bibliography

223

Shaw, R. Daniel, ‘Contextualizing: the Power and the Glory’, International Journal of Frontier Missions, 12/3 (1995): 155-60. Shaw, R. Daniel, Transculturation: The Cultural Factor in Translation and Other Communication Tasks, (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1988). Shorter, Aylward, Toward a Theology of Inculturation, (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1988). Shrirama, O., Untouchability and Stratification in Indian Civilisation, in S.M. Michael (ed.), Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values, (New Delhi, Vistaar Publications, 1999). Shukla, Sandhya, India Abroad: Diasporic Cultures of Postwar America and England, (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003). Slater, T.E., The Higher Hinduism in Relation to Christianity, (London: Elliot Stock, 1903). Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, Towards a world theology: faith and the comparative history of religion, (London: Macmillan, 1980). Soares, A., et al. (eds), Truth shall Prevail, Reply to Niyogi Committee, (Bombay, 1957). Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Propagation of the Gospel in the East: Being an account of the Success of two Danish Missionaries lately sent to the East Indies for the conversion of the Heathens in Malabar, (London: SPG, 1709). Somaratna, G.V.P., Origins of the Pentecostal Mission in Sri Lanka, (Nugegoda: Margaya Fellowship, 1996). Spinks, Bryan D., ‘The Anaphora for India: Some Theological Objections to an attempt at inculturation’, Ephemerides Liturgicae, (1981): 529-49. Spinks, Bryan D., Western Use and Abuse of Eastern Liturgical Traditions, (Rome: Centre for Indian and Inter-religious Studies; Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 1992). Srinivasan, K.R., Temples of South India, (New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 1979). Stephen, A. Alfred, ‘Culture and Worship: A Dalit Perspective’, in Samson Prahbakar (ed.), Liturgical Renewal in the Indian Church, (Bangalore: United Theological College / Masihiserak, 1998). Streeter B.H. and A.J. Appasamy, The Sadhu: A Study in Mysticism and Practical Religion, (London, 1922). Sundkler, Bengt, Church of South India: The Movement Towards Union 1900-1947, (London: Lutterworth, 1954). Sylvester, Fr ‘The Life and Ideals of Father Francis Acharya’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 73 (2004). Tagore, Rabindranath, ‘Religion of the Forest’ in his Creative Unity, (London: Macmillan & Co., 1922). Takenaka, Masao, Christian Art in Asia, (Tokyo: Kyo Bun Kwan in association with Christian Conference of Asia, 1975). Takenaka, Masao, The Place Where God Dwells: An Introduction to Church Architecture in Asia, (Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia; Kyoto: Asian Christian Art Association; Auckland: Pace Publishing, 1995). Tanner, Kathryn, Theories of Culture: A new agenda for theology, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997).

224

Christian Inculturation in India

Taylor, Richard W., ‘Christian Ashrams as a Style of Mission in India’, International Review of Mission, July (1974): 281-92. Teasdale, Wayne, Towards a Christian Vedanta: The Encounter of Hinduism and Christianity according to Bede Griffiths, (Bangalore: Asia Trading Corp., 1987). Temple, Frederick, et al (eds), Essays and Reviews, (London: Longmans, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1861). Thannickunnel, O. Praem Theophane, ‘The Challenge of Inculturation’, in Jacob Theckanath (ed.), Liturgical Renewal – An Ongoing Challenge, (Bangalore, CCBI Commission for Liturgy, 1991). Thapar, Romila, ‘The Study of Society in Ancient India’, in Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, (London: Sangam, 1996) (reprint). Thazhath, Andrews, The Quest for Identity, (Thrissur: Thrissur Institute of Theology, 1992). Thiel, John E., ‘Pluralism in Theological Truth, in Claude Geffré and Werner Jeanrond (eds), Why Theology?, (London and Maryknoll: SCM & Orbis Books, 1994) (Concilium 1994, vol. 6). Thomas, M.M., Ideological Quest within Christian Commitment 1939-1954, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1983). Thomas, M.M., The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance, (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1970, 1991). Thompson, H.P., Worship in Other Lands: A Study of Racial Characteristics in Christian Worship, (London: SPCK, 1933). Thumma, Anthoniraj, Voices of the Victims, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999). Tombeur, James, Led by God’s Hand, (Thirumalai Ashram ,1990). Tomkins, Oliver S. (ed.), The Third World Conference on Faith and Order held at Lund, August 15th to 28th, 1952, (London: SCM, 1953). Tovey, Philip, Inculturation of Christian Worship: Exploring the Eucharist, (Aldershot / Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2004). Trapnell, Judson B., in, Abhishiktananda’s Contemplative Vision and Contemporary India, (The College Theology Society, Annual Meeting, World Religions Section, Jamaica, New York, 2002). Trapnell, Judson B., Bede Griffiths: A Life in Dialogue, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001). Trapnell, Judson B., ‘Two Models of Christian Dialogue with Hinduism’, Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theological Reflection, 60 (1996): 101-10, 183-91, 243-54. Uha-Thakurta, Tapati, The Making of a New ‘Indian’ Art: Artists, aesthetics and nationalism in Bengal, c. 1850-1920, (Cambridge: CUP, 1992). Upadhyay, Brahmabandhab, ‘Conversion of India – an appeal’, Sophia, October (1894). Upadhyay, Brahmabandhab, ‘Sac-cid-ananda’, Sophia, (1898). Väth, A., Im Kampfe mit der Zauberwelt des Hinduismus, (Berlin, 1928). Vellian, Jacob, An Historical Introduction to the Syriac Liturgy, (Kottayam: St Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, no date). Vischer, Lukas (ed.), A Documentary History of the Faith and Order Movement 1927-1963, (St Louis: Bethany Pres, 1963). Vivekananda, Complete Works, (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1951 and 1999).

Bibliography

225

Watson, J. Steven, The Reign of George III, (Oxford; OUP, 1960). Whiteman, Darrell L., ‘Anthropology and Mission: The Incarnational Connection’, International Journal of Frontier Missions, 21/2 (2004): 79-87. Wigan, Bernard (ed.), The Liturgy in English, 2nd edn., (London: OUP, 1964). Williams, Dinges, ‘US Forerunner of Present East-West Encounter’, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, 2 (1978). Williams, Basil (2nd edn C.H. Stuart), The Whig Supremacy 1714-60, (Oxford: OUP, 1939, 1962). Winslow, Jack C., J.E.G. Festing, D.R. Arthavale and E.C. Ratcliff, The Eucharist in India: A Plea for a Distinctive Liturgy for the Indian Church, (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920). Winslow, Jack C., Narayan Vaman Tilak – The Christian Poet of Marashtra, (Calcutta: Association Press, 1923). Winslow, Jack C., Christa Seva Sangha, (Westminster: SPG, 1930). Wright, D.F., World Missionary Conference, in, Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, Nigel M. de S. Cameron (ed.), (Edinburgh, 1993). Zaehner, R.C., Hindu Scriptures, (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1966).

This page intentionally left blank

Index of Names

Abhishiktananda (Henri le Saux), 78 n.77, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 174 Altizer, Thomas, J.J., 35 Amaladoss, Michael, xii, 70, 93 n.138, 93 n. 142, 94, 173 n.37, 175, 176, 177, 178, 183, 184 Amalorpavadass, D.S., 123, 128, 129, 137, 138, 139, 164 Ambedkar, 19, 110, 111 Appasamy, A.J., 47 Appasamy, Pillai, 43, 44 Aquinas, Thomas (St), 86, 86 n.111, 176 Arbuckle, Gerald A., 1, 70 Ariarajah, S. Wesley, 169, 170 Asoka, 101 Augustine of Canterbury (St), 97 Augustine of Hippo (St), 9, 11 n.35 Aurobindo, Ghose, 13, 32, 107, 108, 114 n.80, 141

Buswell, 65 n.12 Butler, John F., 115

Baago, Kaj, 42 n.96, 43, 44, 45 n.115, 46 n.118 Badrinath, Chaturvedi, 67 n.26 Bailey, Gauvin Alexander, 98 n.2, 102 n.23, 115 Bajaj J.K., 170 Baker, Laurie W., 131, 133 Barbosa, Durate, 142 Barrows, Henry, 26 n.7 Barth, Karl, 6, 7, 8, 32, 63 n.1, 94 Bartholomeo, Paulinus A. Sancto, Bede, The Venerable, 97 n.1 Benedict XVI, 8 Bergmann, Sigurd, 71 n.48 Bergunder, Michael, 90 n.123 Bernard of Clairvaux (St), 11 Bevans, Stephen B., 69, 173 Boff, Leonardo, 86 n.111 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 32 Bosch, David N., 168 Brock, S.P., 156 n.77, 157 n.84 Buchanan, Colin O., 41, 42 n.93, 48

Cyril of Jerusalem (St), 157 D’Costa, Gavin, 169 n.5 Dalrymple, William, 101 n.21, 102 n.24, 110 Danish, Ishtiyaq, 65 de Lubac, Henri, 24 n.4, 83 de Nobili, Roberto, 17,18, 67, 74, 75, 78, 79, 81, 85, 92, 140, 143 Deivanayagam M. and D. Devakala, 109 Deleuze, Giles, 187

Carr, Dhyanchand, xi, 163 Catholic Bishops of India, 50, 75, 129, 145 Chaudhuri, N.C., 100, 101 Choudhury, Anuradha Roma, 100 Chupungco, Anscar, 1 n.1, 71, 72 Clarke, Sathiananthan, 163, 164, 178, 179, 183 Clarke, Sundar, 138, 158, 159 Coff, Sr Paschaline, 84, 87 n.112, 89 n.119 Constantine, 11 Coomaraswamy, Ananda K., 114 n.80 Coore, Alfred, 74, 124 Cracknell, Kenneth, 171 Cronin, Vincent, 74 n.60 Cuming, Geoffrey. J., 24, 31 n.35

Elias, Father Kuriakos, 78 Ephrem the Syrian (St), 156 Extross, I.E., 75, 86 n.109 Eze, Emmanuel Chukwudi, 12 n.36, 20 n.51 Farquhar, J.N., 44, 73 Forrester-Paton, Ernest, xii, 74, 79, 124, 126 Foucault, Michel, 8 n.22, 85, 171 n.18, 176 n.46 Francis Xavier (St), 150, 208 Francis, T. Dayanandan, 114

228

Christian Inculturation in India

Fuchs, Stephen, 64, 111 Gandhi, Mahatma, 19, 47, 75, 77, 91, 97, 105, 107 Garrett, T. S., 158 Geertz, Clifford, 4, 5, 10 Gillis, Chester, 171, 172 Grant, Sara, 86 Griffiths, Bede, 51, 52, 67, 81, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 155, 163, 164, 176 Hargreaves, Cecil, 117, 123, 124 n.118, n.121, n. 122 Harper, Susan Billington, 29, 45 n.116, 47, 73 n.58, 125, 146 n.37, 180 Havell, E.B., 99 Hick, John, 169, 177 Holm, Jean and John Bowker, 100, 103 Huntington, William Reed, 25 Jenson, Robert W., 6 n.12, 7, 8, 9, 10 Jesudason, S., 75 n.64, 79 John Paul II, 57, 139, 148, 156, 183 n.87 Joseph John, xii, 126, 127, 128 Kant, Immanuel, 6 Kasper, Walter, 6 Keay, John, 106 n.35, 112 Kennerley, K. Virginia, 149, 152, 153, 159 Kraemer, Hendrik. 31, 32, 35, 67 n.26, 73, 169, 170 Kraft, Charles H., 65, 73 Kroeber, A.L. and C. Kluckholm, 4 n.3 Küng, Hans, 184 LaCugna, Catherine Mowry, 86 Langford, Paul, 12 Lee, J.A., 5, 6 Lipner, Julius J., 83, 113 n.74 Lott, Eric, xi, 159 Lundquist, John M., 102 n.25, 103 n.28 Luther, Martin, 86 n.111, 176 Lutyens, Edwin, 13, 102, 128 McSweeney, John, 170 n.18, 176 n.46 Maniyattu, Pauly, 101 n.19, 103 n.33, 120, 121, 144, 145 Massey, James, 92 Maximus the Confessor (St), 88, 176

Menachery, James, 119 Michell, George, 103 n.27 Moltmann, Jürgen, 169, 172, 177 Monchanin, Jules, 78 n.77, 81, 83, 84, 87 n.112, 128, 130 Monserrate, Antony, 143 Mott, John, 27, 45, 46, 73 Mozoomdar, 26, 43, 45, 73 Newbigin, Lesslie, 35, 169, 177 Newlands, George, 175 Niebuhr Richard H., 3, 7, 8, 69, 179 n.67 Nirmal, A.P., 93 Olivelle, Patrick, 77 Pande, Susmita, 113 Panikkar, Raimoundo, 67, 171, 172, 176 Paul VI, 3, 55, 56 n.169, 57, 64 n.4, 148, 156, 208 n.93 Pluetschau, Heinrich, 17 Podipara, Placid, 141 n.17, 143 Prabhakar, M.E., 93 n. 138 Prabhakar, Samson, 158 n.90, 159, 159 n.94, 162 n.101, 163 n.109 Pratt, Douglas, 173 Pulikkan, Paul, xii, 50 n.149, 56 Puthanagady, Paul, 138 Rahner, Karl, 33, 139, 168, 170, 171, 176 n.46 Ralston, Helen, 77 n.71, 81 Ram Mohan Roy, 67, 77 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, 78 Ramana Maharshi, xii, 87, 141 Ramanuja, 75, 86 Ratzinger, Joseph, 8, 9, 58, 175 Sahajananda, 89, 155 n.70, 174 Sahi, Jyoti, xi, 100, 115, 123, 134, 135, 179 Said, Edward V., 10 Samartha, Stanley, 171, 172, 178 Sarasvati, Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Svami, 113 n.74 Saraswati, Dayananda, 107 Sardar Sunil, 90, 160, 161 Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar, 107, 109 Schlegel, Friedrich von, 108 n.42 Schleiermacher, Friedrich, 6, 9, 32

Index of Names

229

Schreiter, Robert J., 69, 70, 71 Selvanayagam, Israel, xi, 172, 178, 184 Shankarachrya, 75, 108, 119 Sharma, Jyotirmaya, 107, 108 Shaw, R. Daniel, 65, 66, 69, 114 Shorter, Aylward, 1 n.1, 69 Slater, T.E., 44 Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, 139, 171 Spinks, Bryan D., 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153 Srinivas, M.D., 170 Srinivasan, K.R., 101 Stephen, A. Alfred, 162 Sundar Singh, 44, 74, 86, 115 n.81 Sundkler, Bengt, 46, 47

Thiel, John E., 169 Thomas (St) (the Apostle of India), xv, 106, 109, 111, 150, 208 Thomas, M.M., 13 n.38, 42 n.94, 43, 47, 67 Thompson H.P., 145, 146 Thumma, Anthoniraj, 91 n.131 Tillich, Paul, 3 Tombeur, James, xi, 128, 129 Tovey, Philip, 1 n.2 Trapnell, Judson B., 84 n.102, 86, 88 n.114, n.118, 89

Tagore, Abanindranath, 114 Tagore, Devendranath, 77, 78 n.76 Tagore, Rabindranath, 77, 78, 79, 84 Takenaka, Masao, 75 n.68, 98, 99 n.3, 115, 122, 123 Tanner, Kathryn, 7, 8 Taylor, Richard W., 77 n.75, 78 n.76, 79, 79 n.81 Teasdale, Wayne, 78 n.79, 86 n.107 Thapar, Romila, 112 Thazhath, Andrews, xii, 148 n.42 Theckanath, Jacob, 148 n.43, 180

Vellian, Jacob, 142 n.18, 148 n.39 Vivekananda, 26, 29, 43, 45, 73, 78, 107, 108

Uha-Thakurta, Tapati, 114 n.78 Upadhyay, Brahmabandhab, 74, 78, 79, 83, 86, 150 n.49

Whiteman, Darrell L., 64 Wigan, Bernard, 37 n.69 Williams, Rowan, 6 n.12 Winslow, Jack C., 36 n.61, 41, 74, 79 n.86, 80, 81, 84 Ziegenbalg, Bartholomeo, 17

This page intentionally left blank

Index of Subjects

aarti, 140, 141, 145, 146, 153, 154, 157 Addai and Mari (liturgy of), 20, 141, 148 Adivasi (peoples), 91 n.133, 106, 134, 135, 186 advaita (non-duality), 86, 87, 88, 108, 114, 152, 153, 157, 158, 170, 174, 175 Agni, 144, 145 Anglican Communion, 20, 25, 29, 31, 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 59, 62 Anglican Consultative Council, 58, 180 n.71 antaryamin (god the indweller), 153 anthropology, 8, 64 Apostolic Tradition (of Hippolytus), 24, 209 n.107 Armenian (church), 16, 98 Arya Samaj, 45, 107 Arya(s) / Aryan, 19, 92, 106, 108, 109, 110, 112 ashram (movement), 90, 97, 170 Asoka, 101 asrama, 74, 77, 129 Baptism, 90, 161 Baptist (tradition), 45 bema, 119 Bhagavad-Gita, 151, 153, 156, 201 n.5 bhajans, 153, 158 bhakti, 108, 113, 114, 150, 158 Bharatiya Janta Party, 18, 19 Bharatiya Pooja, 157, 191 birth, 141, 143, 147 Bombay Liturgy, 36, 74, 81, 84 Brahman, 151, 153, 203 n.29 Brahmo Samaj, 42, 43, 67, 73, 74, 77 British Raj, 13, 19, 42 Broken Men, 110, 111 Buddhism, 30, 101, 105, 108, 111, 150, 160 Byzantine Orthodox (tradition), 27, 89 caste (system), xvi, 2, 19, 33, 51, 74 n.59, 77, 82, 90, 91, 92, 93, 107, 108, 110,

111, 125, 135, 140, 143, 155, 158, 162, 178, 179, 180 Catholic Bishops of India, 50, 75, 129, 145 Ceylon Pentecostal Mission, 90, 160 Chaldean (rite), 20, 98, 116, 121, 141, 144, 148 Chandala (enslaved/broken peoples), 110 Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, 25, 46 Christa [Prema] Seva Sangha, xii, 74, 80, 81, 84 Christavashram, 81 Christo Samaj, 42, 43 Christukula ashram, 126 Church of South India, 41, 46, 48, 75, 98, 122, 124, 126, 133, 138, 145, 158, 159, 195 Colonialism, 2, 11, 12, 19, 20, 22, 25, 37, 52, 60, 81, 92, 93, 99, 114 commodification, 10, 12, 13, 16, 20, 23, 92 communalism, 105, 140 Congregationalist (tradition), 45 Congress Party, 106 consumerism, 10, 32, 189 contextual theology, 2, 64, 65, 66, 71 contextualization, 1, 9, 63, 65, 66, 70, 106, 112, 114, 121, 128, 137, 138, 140, 147, 189 cosmology, 103, 105 criteria (for inculturation), 5, 54, 68, 69, 70, 162, 163, 167, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 189 Critical Contextualization, 66, 69, 114 Crusades, 11 Dalit (peoples), 2, 19, 91, 92, 106, 107, 110, 134, 135, 141, 146, 162, 164, 178, 179, 180, 185, 186 Dalit Liberation Theology, xii, 2, 63, 70, 82, 91, 92, 93, 97, 112, 134, 158, 161, 165, 167, 178, 179, 180, 187 Dalit liturgies, xi, xvi, 161 162, 163, 164, 185

232

Christian Inculturation in India

death, 141, 147 Din Bandhu Ministries, 90, 161 Dravidian (peoples), 106, 109, 110 Dravidian (religion), 109, 112, 124, 131 East Asia Christian Conference, 76, 123 East Syrian (rite), 16, 101 n.19, 116, 119, 120, 121, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148 ecumenical dialogue, 6, 27, 39, 173 Ecumenical Movement, 25, 27, 38, 47, 158 ekadvitiya (one without a second), 152 endogamy, 111 Eucharist, 20, 36, 93, 121, 144, 145, 147, 149-160 Evangelical (churches), 1, 2, 24, 31, 64, 79, 80, 116, 122, 124, 126, 128, 131, 138, 145, 159, 164, 187 evangelisation, 54, 64, 159, 160, 168, 175, 182 Faith and Order Commission, xv, 23, 25, 27, 28, 31, 33, 37, 45, 45 n.117, 52, 54, 58, 64, 68, 72, 76, 78, 100 fellowship / koinonia, 33, 54, 81, 176 flag, (kodiyettu), 118 Flagpoles (kodimara), 117, 118, 133 font (baptismal), 126, 133 Ganga Snan, 90, 161 garbha-griha (womb – house), 103, 119, 121, 127 Garlands, 122, 140, 146 gopura(m) (gateway / tower), 117, 124, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131 Gospel Echoing Missionary Society, 90 Gurukul Lutheran Seminary, xii, 126, 162 Halle-Mission, 17 hermeneutical communities, 66, 94 Hinduism (Brahminical), 17, 18, 19, 30, 33, 44, 51, 63, 67, 74, 77, 78, 81, 87, 88, 92, 97, 100, 101, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 122, 129, 141, 145, 146, 153, 154, 155, 161, 162, 170, 174, 187 Hindutva, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112 iconography, 17, 122

idol(-atry), 17, 30, 97, 108, 122 imago dei, 92, 93 imperialism, 10, 11, 12, 16, 22, 23, 26, 28, 93, 99, 153, 171 inculturation, passim inculturation, intentional, 24, 49, 52, 98, 123, 134, 145, 147, 148, 187 inculturation, unintentional, 98, 115, 116, 118, 120, 121, 122, 140, 141, 147 Indian (Hindu) Renaissance, 42, 44, 67, 77, 78, 79, 91, 114 Indian Orthodox church, xi, 116, 118, 119 Indian Revolt (Mutiny), 42 indigenization, xv, 30, 42, 49, 52, 53, 54, 65, 68, 71, 73, 115, 125, 138, 159, 177 Indus Valley [Civilization], 100, 106, 109 inter-religious dialogue, 64, 67, 84, 85, 151, 167, 168, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 178, 179, 180 Jacobite (church), 116, 120 Jesuits (Society of Jesus), 17, 18 n.45, 20, 21, 79, 98 n.2, 102 n.23, 115 jeyabalayam (house of prayer), 124 Kurisumala (hill of the cross) ashram, xi, 52, 81, 84, 89, 129, 131, 148, 155, 156, 158, 191 Lambeth Conference, xv, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 36, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61 Latin rite, 99, 121, 138, 148, 149, 154 life-cycle, 141, 146, 147 Liturgical Movement, 47, 158 local theology, chapter 3 passim, 64, 66, 69 Lund, Faith and Order Conference (1952), 37, 38 Lutheran (church), 98, 122, 126, 131 n.138, 145, 159 Mahabharata100 n.7, Malankara (churches), 118, 119 Mandala, 102, 103 mandapam (temple hall), 126, 130 Manusmriti (laws of Manu), 77, 107, 110, 111 Mar Thoma Syrian church, 47 n. 130, 67, 145, 161

Index of Subjects marga, 150 n.50 margas, 150 bhakti, 108, 113, 114, 150, 158 jnana, 150 karma, 92, 150, 151 Marriage, 29, 30, 49, 111, 143, 146 Mass for India, xi, 149, 150, 152, 157, 158, 159, 201 Mauryan dynasty, 101 maya (illusion), 153, 158 Meenakshee Temple (Madurai), 103, 104, 128 Methodist (tradition), 45 missio dei 168, 173, 175, 176, 177 Mission, xv, 17, 20, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40, 45, 46, 53, 55, 56, 57, 60, 61, 62, 64, 72, 74, 79, 90, 91, 137, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, 186 missionaries, 3 n.1, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27, 29, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 48, 51, 64, 65 n.10, 73, 74, 79, 81, 98, 115, 125, 126, 161 Mlechas (outcastes), 109, 110 Moghul [rulers], 19, 101, 102, 107, 110 moksha, 150 n.50, 203 n.31 Montreal, Faith and Order Conference (1963), 23, 38, 52, 53, 54, 68 mosque, 101, 134 Murugam, 100 mystery, 51, 63, 87, 88, 89, 130, 131, 170, 174, 192, 203, 205 mythology, 12, 19, 103, 109, 112, 144 n.27, 151 National Biblical Catechetical Liturgical Centre, xii, 76, 123, 128, 129, 130, 137, 139, 140, 149, 150, 159, 201 New Christian Movements, 63, 89 Niyogi Committee, 50, 51 obelisk (stamba), 117, 118 oil lamps, 117, 120, 121, 133 central lamp (kuthuvilka), 158 hanging lamp (tukkuvilakku), 121 standing lamp (nilavilakku), 121, 133 stone lamp (vilakkumada), 117, 118, 119

233

Oriental Orthodox churches, 16, 116, 119 n.94, 145 outcaste(s), 2, 33, 43, 91, 93, 110, 140, 159 outcastes, 2, 19, 33, 43, 74, 91, 93, 109, 110, 134, 140, 159 pagoda, 103 paramajagadishswara (supreme lord of the universe), 152 paramatman (supreme spirit), 152, 209 n.107 Paschal Mystery, 88, 205 n.71, 206 n. 82 Pentecostal (churches), 2, 25, 89, 90, 116, 160, 161, 186, 188 perichoresis (indwelling), 86, 86 n.111, 88, 89 Persian crosses, 119, 120 pilgrim(age), 11, 12, 100, 126 Pleroma, 88, 207 n.84 prasada, 102, 200 Protestant (tradition), 20, 27, 34, 36, 64, 79, 80, 116, 122, 124, 126, 128, 131, 138, 145, 159, 164, 187 puja (pooja), 149, 154, 209 n.106 Purunam (fullness), 152 purusa (cosmic person), 102, 144, 153, 205 n.64 Ramakrishna Mission, 43, 45, 73, 78 renunciation, 77, 90, 160 ritual purity, 110, 111 road side shrines, 122 Roman Catholic church, 9, 24, 38, 39, 40, 50, 56, 58, 71, 72 n.55, 75, 76, 99, 121, 123, 124, 137, 138, 139, 145, 148, 159, 164, 173, 180, 181 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS], 19 saffronization, 19 St Thomas Christians, 16, 20, 99, 106, 116, 119, 120, 121, 123, 141, 142, 143, 147, 148, 161, 189 n.1 St Thomas Cross (Nasrani Menorah), 119, 120 Samadhi, 44, 119 n.93, 141 sanctuary (madubaha), 116, 119, 121, 122, 124, 128, 131, 133, 134 Sangham literature, 109

234

Christian Inculturation in India

sannyasi(n) – a, 18, 44, 74, 77, 78, 79, 81, 85, 87, 90, 142 sanskritization, 106, 155, 159, 164, 186 Santiniketan ashram, 77, 78 n.76, 79 sat cid ananda, (being, knowledge, bliss), 83 n.98, 152 satpurusha (the true person), 152 Satyagarha ashram, 79 Seeds of the Word, 156 sensus fidelium, 95, 178, 183 Shantivanam (forest of peace) ashram, xi, 52, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 129, 130, 153, 154, 155, 156, 174 Shiva, 87, 100, 103, 117, 120 n.103 slavery (Slave Trade), 12, 92, 110, 135, 184, 186, 206 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel / USPG, xi, xii, 3 n.1, swadeshi, 47 Swahili Mass, 37 synagogue, 98, 119 syncretism, 27, 34, 50, 65, 66, 72, 75, 159, 181, 184 Syro-Malabar (church), xii, 20, 78, 116, 138, 148 Syro-Malankara (churches), 116, 120, 124, 131, 138, 148 tali, 143 Tambaram Missionary Conference (1938), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 46, 65, 169, 170 Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, xi, xii, 131, 132,160,185 n.93 taxonomy, 170, 174, 175 theo-logia, 179, 185 theo-graphia, 179, 180, 185

theo-phonia, 179, 185 theosis (deification), 86, 86 n.111, 89, 176, 176 n.47 transformation, xvi, 8, 10, 51, 59, 91, 94, 139, 140, 154, 155, 163, 164, 167, 172, 174, 175, 177, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 186 Ugaritic texts, 151 untouchables, 107, 110, 111 Upanishads, 44, 77 n.73, 86, 108, 151, 153, 156, 157, 203 n.29 varna (system), 111, 112, 134 Vatican II documents, Ad gentes, 57,68 Gaudium et spes, 57, 68, 181 Nostra aetate, 56, 68, 139 n.8 Sacrosanctum concilium, 54, 68 Vedas, 44, 91, 92, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 144, 151, 152, 153, 156 vedic religion, 86, 92, 100, 106, 108, 111, 129, 144, 149 Vishnu, 101 wall paintings, 120 West Syrian (rite), 49, 116, 119, 148, 156, 157 World Council of Churches, xv, 34, 37, 58, 65 n.9, 137, 173 n.32, 182 World Missionary Conference (Edinburgh, 1910), 27, 28, 31, 37, 45, 72 World Parliament of Religions, 26, 27, 28, 30 n.29, 45 n.105, 45, 72 Yavanas (outsiders), 109