In the Heartland of Hinduism
From their origins, Christian communities in India have had to wrestle with cultural and religious diversity that boggle the minds of most Christians from Europe and North America. Today India persists in being a theater for Christian engagement with multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Being thoroughly Eastern, Indian Christians are uniquely positioned to help tear down caricatures of the interface between Hindus and Christians as a meeting of East verses West—of something indigenous or of foreign import.
The lordship of Jesus lays claim to every area of human life. In order for an authentic Christian community to take root in any context, the implications of Christ’s all-encompassing reign must be brought to bear on every aspect of culture.
Christianity is inherently an indigenous faith. This means that the gospel must be translated into language and practices that are understandable in a given culture. Becoming a Christian should not entail abandoning one’s inherited way of life. The indigenizing nature of the gospel enables Christianity to free itself from cultural imperialism and make itself at home in every culture.1 This reality of indigenization has significance for how we understand Christianity. Without denying its Hebrew or first-century Palestinian Jewish roots, Christianity should be viewed as neither an Eastern nor Western religion. More accurately, Christianity is a global religion manifesting itself in Eastern and Western cultural contexts throughout history. There are significant lessons to be learned from every place that Christianity has made itself at home.
In this issue of Evangelical Interfaith Dialogue, we examine the historical and contemporary experience of Hindu-Christian relations in India. The lead article, written by Dr. Atul Aghamkar, provides an overview of the modern history of Hindu-Christian relations in India. He identifies contemporary challenges and opportunities that Indian Christians must face in a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing country with a cultural heritage that goes back over five millennia. The global church has much to learn from how the churches in India translate the Christian faith in their diverse cultural contexts.
Endnotes
1Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000).
