The Seeker
| Volume | Date | Issue |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Easter 1950 | 1 |
Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you Free— Jesus Christ (John 8:32)
Happiness and Victory to All Lovers of the Prince of Peace
Khristpanthi Ashram Benares
Sevak Pramukh - Rajendra Chandra Das
Position: a co-operative non-partisan Fellowship of all who confess Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and God.
Objects:
- Study of the Bible, of Hinduism, of early Church
- Purposeful creative thinking
- Adventures in faith under the Holy Spirit
- Indigenous expression of Christianity
Methods:
- Worship
- Fellowship
- Service
- Literature
Membership: Open to all Christians without distinct
Activities:
- Direct and frank evangelism especially among orthodox groups such as Pilgrims and Sanyasis as well as students and educated men.
- Retreats and Conferences
- Meetings and addresses of special character
- Manual labour and service to of the needy.
Gifts will be gratefully acknowledged.
Office — Working centre - Library and Reading room at:
129, Dashashwamedh,
R.C. Das
Benares
India
Printed by B.N. Dutt, at the Eureka Printing Works Ltd, Benares.
Published by Rev. R.C. Das, 129, Dashashwamedh, Banaras
This little occasional pamphlet will stand for:
Review and criticism of important events and opinions.
Advocacy of radical and independent thinking.
Encouragement of new experiments, progressive movements, ventures of faith and indigenous efforts.
Promotion of peace and concord among all men on the basis of truth.
Freedom and toleration.
Justice for the oppressed, neglected, deprived, weak and helpless.
Brief articles and concise opinions along the above lines will be welcome and published.
Contributions will be gratefully acknowledged.
Price - Annual 3/-, Single copy -1/-
Editor - R.C. Das
Jesus said unto her,
I am the resurrection, and
the life; he that believeth in
me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall
never die. Believest thou
this?
Paul said:
O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is
thy victory?
The sting of death is
sin; and the strength of sin
is the law.
But thanks be to God,
which liveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus
Christ.GREETINGS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN THE LORD OF LIFE
Catholic Christology
BY THE REV. PIERNE FALLON S.J.
(This paper is not a complete or a learned and scholarly exposition of Catholic Christology. It was composed, rather hurriedly, during the Third Indian Theological Conference to satisfy the wish expressed by several members to know also the Catholic position in matters Christological. There exist excellent books which would give a much more complete and thorough exposition i.e., “The Christ of Catholicism” by Dom Aelred Graham Longmans, 1947 or “The Son of God” by Karl Adam, translated by Hereford, Sheed and Ward, 1934 or the symposium edited by C. Lattey: “The Incarnation”, Cambridge, 1926.) - P.F.
These notes to give very briefly:
A simple statement of the Catholic Faith about the central Fact of our religion i.e. the fact of Christ. In other words ‘What does the Catholic Church tell me of Christ?’
These will also include a short history of the vital development and progressive unfolding of that Faith which, while ever remaining the same as the faith of Peter and John and Thomas and Paul and the whole Church through the ages, expressed itself in various symbols and definitions, defended itself against. Various human attempts to distort and disfigure it, realised itself and its own inherent depth and riches through the devotion and life of the faithful and the teaching of those to whom Christ entrusted the task of teaching men all that. He Himself had told His disciples. In other words, the history foretold by Christ when He said to His disciples: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”
The history, then no longer of the Catholic Faith in Christ bat of Catholic theology about Christ i.e. the various phase and landmarks in the development of Catholic Christology; the brief survey of the great schools of thought within the Church some important works and names of those who, in the light of their Faith, attempted to unravel to some extent the Mystery of the God-Man our Saviour or to systematise all the data of their Faith and apply the light of Faith to the various problems of life, spiritual, intellectual, social, etc.
These notes will end with a word about possible further developments of Christology, especially about such developments as the Catholic Church in India may be able to bring about, under the guidance of the Spirit, when coming into contact with the ancient traditions of this land.
N.B. - I have drawn a sharp distinction between Catholic Faith and Catholic Christology as a purely theological undertaking. The Faith is a divine self-revelation, a divine gift, which I humbly accept and firmly hold on the authority of God Himself; this is no human achievement or discovery but the gracious self-disclosure of God in Christ. It is contained in the word of God either written by the authors of Holy Scripture under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ or handed down by the living Church guided by the same Spirit, and it is proposed for my behalf by the Church whether by solemn definitions or in her ordinary and universal Magisterium.
The second part i.e. Christology, in as far as it is a human effort at probing deep into the data of Faith, at coordinating these or applying them to various problems and in different contexts of culture and history, leaves room for much diversity and variety in its methods, expressions, and systematisation. There have been many types of Catholic Christology and, God helping, there will be many more: an Indian Christology will not be what a Greek or German Christology have been in the past but, as long as they hold on to the Catholic Faith, there is and there will be place for many Christologies within the Catholic Church because we shall never be able to exhaust the breadth, and length, and depth of the Love revealed in Christ.
I. Statement of the Catholic Faith in the Word Incarnate
I lived for a long time in a Bengali village, a Catholic village. The village is grouped around the church there as from every Catholic Church all over the world, daily rings the Angelus bell, reminding all around of the mystery of the Incarnation. In a simple prayer, which all repeat thrice daily, the words of Lake and the words of John are united: “The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary, and she conceived from the Holy Ghost…” … “And the Word was made flesh, and he dwelt among us.” Every morning too, in the village church, the holy sacrifice of the Mass is offered: on week days some join, on Sundays all faithful Catholics join in this offering and re-enacting of the Sacrifice Calvary, not a new sacrifice, but that one redeeming Sacrifice of the Cross made present daily in the very midst of our lives. Often throughout the day you will see simple peasants enter for a few moments of quiet and silent adoration: the Real Presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist is the life-centre of Catholic spirituality.
If Catholicism is anything, it is a life centred on the Mystery of the Incarnation, in continual union with the Mystery of Calvary, in the presence of the living Christ.
You wish to know what the Catholic Church teaches of the God-Man? Ask a little Bengali boy, not a Western theologian or a learned scholar: ‘Who is Christ? What is He to you? Where is He?’ He will answer with the whole Church: ‘He is God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who did become a man to save us all from sin and death, who lived in Nazareth, died for us on the Cross, rose from the dead. He went up to heaven, now He is in heaven with His Father, His blessed Mother and all the saints; He is also there present in the Blessed Sacrament and I can receive Him to be the food of my soul and to give me strength, day after day, to be like Him. Christ is truly God like His Father, He is truly man like you and me, not two Christs but one most wonderful Person, all love for me, for you, and for all men.’
Excuse me to be so concrete and, apparently, so childish in my formulation of the Catholic Faith but this Faith is not primarily a learned doctrine, it is a life-reality, as real to a child as it is to a theologian, and as wonderfully simple as the soul of a child.
The Catholic Faith in Christ is the faith in that unique and most wonderful Fact, the fact of the God-Man, not a theory, not an idea, but a Divine Person who became one of us, a man fully and truly alike to all of us, in order to reunite us with His Father and our Father from whom sin had estranged us. He died for us, yet He Lives in our midst, He lives in us, continuing His life, He works in us and through us, in the power of His Spirit whom we share because we are members of His Body the Church, because we are fed on His body in the sacrament of His love.
This Faith has never changed from the days of the first Pentecost to the present day. We find it in the New Testament, in the first baptismal formulas, in the first Symbols of the Faith. It was anticipated in the Prophecies of the Old Testament, revealed by God in Christ, and authenticated by God’s own authority on the day when Christ rose from the dead. It is taught to men by the Church whom Christ has established to be His witness among me, teaching them all that He had taught them and baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Since the first days of the Christian Church, many have tried to distort or disfigure this Word of God. The Church had from the very beginning of its existence, to defend and define this central mystery of our Faith against human errors. Docetes, Gnostics, Marcionites, Adoptianists, Monarchians, Aryans denied either the humanity or the divinity of the God-Man in their efforts to reduce this Mystery of Faith to their preconceived philosophical categories. Hence, the various symbols and definitions of the Church, precisely, defining, warding off errors; these formulas, these symbols, do not replace the Word of God, they are not the source or basis of our Faith but its rule and defence. They are always related to the life of the Church, they are never in idle speculative pursuit. Nicaea defined the Faith against Arius, Ephesus against Nestorius, Chalcedon against Eutyches.
By the time of Chalcedon, the Catholic Faith regarding the God-Man was clearly defined in unmistakable terms; the doctrine of the two natures in one Divine Person, consubstantial with the Father in respect of His deity, consubstantial with us in respect of His humanity …
The anxiety of the Council Fathers to be ever faithful to what had been laid down from the beginning could not be made plainer than in the statement readout, on behalf of the Papal legates, at the Council’s fourth session. The ‘rules of faith’ are referred to “as contained in the Creed of Nicaea, confirmed by the Council of Constantinople, expounded at Ephesus under Cyril, set forth in the letter of Pope Leo when he condemned the heresy of Nestorius and Eutyches. The present Synod holds this Faith and can neither add thereto, nor take therefrom.” To this the assembled bishops replied with shouts of assent: “So we all believe, so we were baptised, so we baptise.” There was no question at Chalcedon of philosophising or hellenising but of defending the integrity of the Christian Message, the indissoluble unity of the God-Man, His true humanity and His true divinity in the oneness of His Person.
You know how, on the night which followed the decision of the Ephesus Council, the whole town of Ephesus had rejoiced spontaneously bursting into hymns and prayers, because Mary’s title of ‘Mother of God’ had been vindicated as orthodox and there by the whole life and devotion of the Christian Church centred on the God-Man, true Son of the Father and true son of Mary, one Person. Those definitions were a matter of life and faith, not a matter of curious speculation. Those definitions do not force upon us any system of philosophy; on the contrary, they were meant to be a defence of the Faith against philosophy which had tried, time and again, to explain away the mystery by rationalising it in a merely human and erroneous manner. They do not particularly restrict our Faith but keep it intact against those who tried to limit or diminish it by making it fall within the categories of human reason.
Our Lord had proclaimed Himself to be the unique Mediator between God and man, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In the very Person of the God-Man the divine and the human extreme meet. The Catholic Church has always Proclaimed that “there is no release from sin except through the merit of the one Mediator our Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God in His blood being made for us justification, sanctification and redemption.” This is the very wording of the definition given in the Council of Trent.
To continue with the words of the same Council: “He therefore, our God and Lord, was to gain for man an eternal redemption by offering Himself once for all to God the Father. Since however His priesthood was not to be put an end to by His death, at the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, He left to His beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires. It was one whereby the bloody sacrifice on the cross should be represented, and its memory preserved for all time, its power being applied for the remission of daily sins”These two Catholic dogmas of Faith, our redemption once and for all merited by Christ on Golgotha and the daily application of this redemptive sacrifice to all faithful in the sacrifice offered on our altars, give you in brief the whole Catholic soteriology.
But the Cross is not the last word in the life of Christ, and the sacrifice element is not the whole Eucharistic Mystery. As the Christian is, through baptism, buried with Christ and dies to his sinful self, so also is he vivified and raised to a new and divine life through participation in the Eucharistic mystery, the Mysterium Fidei, the sacrament of Christian life. The Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son and raised Him from the dead, so does He accept our daily representation of that same sacrifice and vivify us through the Flesh and Blood of His Son.
Vivified in Him, we are members of His Body the Church. In the last Encyclical of Pope Pius XII “Mystici Corporis Christi”, we find clearly stated the Catholic doctrine of our incorporation in Christ, the summit of Catholic Christology. The Church as Christ’s mystical body is the fullness of Christ, Christ living on through the ages, gradually gathering all men into the living unity of one organic. Whole, unity of men with God in Christ, unity of men among themselves members of the same body. The Church is filled with the God-head, the human dough is gradually leavened by the divine ferment. Between pure deity and redeemed humanity stands the one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. What fills actor us is the divine-human life of Christ together with His love. The Church is the fullness of Christ in a double sense first, because Christ’s Church is like a vessel into which the fullness of Christ is poured. He fills it with Himself. Secondly, for the reason that Christ’s fullness cannot be manifested among men without a human vessel to contain it. As Christ is the Mediator of God’s fullness, so the Church is the mediator of Christ’s fullness. Just as the Church is empty without Christ, so is Christ unfulfilled in himself, and inaccessible to us without the Church. The Church is the temple of God. He dwells in it, since it is now fit to be inhabited by Him, bring the society redeemed by His Son. The mission of the Holy Spirit, living in the Church and ‘guiding, it into all truth’, sanctifying its members and making of them ‘other Christs’, is the continuation through the ages of the Incarnation of the Son.
(to be continued)
Christ the Unique and the Uniqueness of Christianity
In the Christmas (1949) issue of the “Seeker” I made a few reflexives on this topic. I tried to make the main point that the uniqueness of Christianity is not merely in the sense of being entirely “other” or different from all other religions. The unique ness as I can conceive it on the basis of my personal experience and study is related to a historical and spiritual context at universal tradition on the one hand and on the other stretches of in an ever unfolding vista to the infinite and the eternal fact surpassing what has been. So this uniqueness is also supremacy and finality. It provides the norm and standard of all human judgment vet it outgrows the temporal. While different and defying imagination it is also inclusive, comprehensive, synthetic - the Real. As this is not an abstraction we consider a few.
Features of This Uniqueness
(Posited with the background of what is true and dynamic in Hinduism).
One Holy Book - handy, simple, straightforward, unified - yet authoritative and inspired — the Bible, the Word of God - which are narrated the wonderful dealings of God with men, but children - Who reveals step by step to them his will and purpose for them - their ultimate destiny.
The life, character and personality of Jesus Christ - an all round, perfect and Divine Teacher - who is greater than his teaching which derives its power and truth from Him. God’s teaching cannot take the place of the good teacher. Hence, in and through his teaching Jesus - the Saviour God — who is the object of search - is presented.
The One Holy, Righteous yet Loving Father-God - necessarily and logically leading to the unitary Incarnation - integrated Revelation — the synthesis of Grace and Truth — in the historic Christ Jesus.
The Cross and the Resurrection - incomparable events, moral truths and spiritual facts - unheard of elsewhere before or afterwards.
The effectiveness of Christianity in personal life resulting in repentance, forgiveness, conversion, regeneration, new life, rebirth (second or new birth) on a scale down the ages among all nations and tribes and among all sorts and conditions of men — unparalleled in history. Forgiveness on the basis of the atonement - the self-giving of God on the Cross - the vicarious sacrifice and assured to the human heart by the witness of the Holy Spirit, Salvation. Here and Now in joyous and victorious life. Forgiveness ness and salvation not purchased by price of human effort but free gifts of God’s love on condition of repentance and faith begotten by the Cross.
The Kingdom of God on earth - the practical implications and fruits of Christianity (in the social, economic and political life) most important today.
In the Bible and the Church frank recognition of sin and emphasis on salvation — reconciliation of Karma and Redemption.
Fatherhood of God - and the Brotherhood of man, its corollary.
The Universality of the appeal of Christ and the Bible. Nationalists and loyalists, socialists and communists, humanitarians and social workers, philosophers and mystics, poets and artists, saints and sinners, peasants and labourers, rich and poor, high and low, victors and victims, conquerors and conquered, tyrants and oppressed, civilised and barbarous, East and West — all have found inspiration, ideal and power for higher and new life in the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ.
One God, One Book, One Incarnation, One Saviour and Guide, One Baptism, One Communion, One Church preparing and righting for Kingdom of God - the ultimate goal.
— R.C. DAS
Christianity and Other Faiths
A Quaker Statement
(An informal group met in the Spring at Woodbrooke Birmingham, with H.G. Wood as Chairman, to consider the attitude of Christians in general, and Quakers in particular, to people of other religions. We believe that the conclusions reached will be read and studied with deep interest, and as the matter will become increasingly urgent and important, we print them here.)
We believe that our approach to persons of other religions should be completely free from assumption or appearance or superiority, racial or personal; and we rejoice that many Friends in India and elsewhere have found it possible to make and maintain deep friendships in which frank discussion and real mutual understanding have been achieved.
We believe that our message, as followers of Jesus Christ is positive and unique. In Jesus there is a revelation of God which is to be found in the teaching of no other religion, however, pure and lofty. When this message has effectively touched on lives, we experience a spontaneous and joyful sense of responsibility to communicate it. In this sense evangelism is no means declaration of abstract truth. It is a proclamation of good news of life, which cannot be found elsewhere.
We thankfully acknowledge that many great truths are held by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Confucianists, and other non-Christians, and that among these are many men of outstanding beauty of character. It may often be helpful to dwell on what to hold in common. But we cannot achieve the deepest fellowship we obscure and subordinate the distinctive teaching of the Gospel Men of real sincerity of thought will not resent a positive expression of our belief, if it is made with genuine personal humility: they will rather respect the message and the messenger the more.
It has often been urged that the truest expression of every religion will be found by sifting all the best from the great religions of the world. We believe that this is a fallacy. A residual religion will not necessarily include the highest of each separate creed: rather the contrary. When man fundamentally disagree in their conception of the character of God, any attempt at synthesis is misleading.
We believe that our presentation of our message must be both explicit and implicit, displayed in both abstract and concrete form. Proclamation without consistent life, without unselfish effort, and service rendered with no willingness to declare its moving power, are alike incomplete. Either may be, at various times in the community or in individual experience, more prominent; but true faith will always produce works, and the worker should always rejoice to testify to the faith which inspires the works. There have been periods when the Society of Friends has had a clear call to special humanitarian service; at other times Friends have been a body of publishers of truth. These two testimonies cannot be separated and ought not to be placed in antithesis. In our work overseas we need. Friends who are concerned both to carry a message and to give practical service, rather than those concerned for either the one or the other; men and women who hold that God cares for all needs of man, spiritual, mental and physical, and who go forth with willingness to be used of God to minister to those needs.
In the organisation of the Society, we welcome all right ways of encouraging men of other faiths to associate with us in worship and fellowship of other kinds; but we believe that fall membership should be limited to those who share our fundamental Christian belief and practice. To open membership to others is to invite confusion which eventually will do only harm to those admitted, as well as to the Society.
— The Wayfarer Via the Guardian
(This is not merely a Quaker statement but also an accurate Christian Statement. - Editor)
Gleanings and Comments
Gandhi Dies
It is late in the day to be commenting upon an event that took place at the end of January. To say that his death came as a profound shock to the world is to state no more than the truth.
Mahatma Gandhi belongs to the ages, and his place in the annals of his native land will be established by history. That multitudes will see him as a martyr to a great cause there is no the slightest doubt, and he will be looked upon as such long after he is forgotten as a wily politician. He was a strange paradox impossible for the mind of the Occident to fathom. Despite all that Britain had done for India, and of which he was aware, he hated the rule of Britain and regarded it as a satanic system. Like all Hindus he was opposed to the taking of life in any form, but the British doctors who looked after his health did not share his views on this subject, and mercilessly killed all germs and bacteria when he was ill. But this, the mystic Gandhi, preferred to forget. Even in quarters that ought to know better Gandhi has been spoken of as a great Christian even though he did not profess the Christian faith. This is the utmost folly. He was no more a Christian than any other Hindu who worships cattle, snakes, monkeys, and all other forms of animal life. Has not Gandhi himself left it on record that he hoped to go to heaven holding on to a cow’s tail History and India may place Gandhi where it likes as saint and mystic, but it can never be said by and stretch of imagination that he was a Christian if belief in Christ makes one so.
(With due deference to the Evangelical Christian (Toronto, Canada) we have to say that the above shows a lament table lack of knowledge of what India is, and in particular what Hindu Culture stands for.
It is more important to discover the meaning of “belief in Christ” than to vehemently protest against some people calling Gandhi a Christian. Do our hearts burn about the possibility of Gandhi being accepted by Christ? Who are we to judge any man not to speak of one of such a calibre? To bracket Gandhi with those who worship cattle and snakes and monkeys not only betrays ignorance but also jealousy and fanaticism. Such a spirit is no more true evangelism than selfish and begotten communalism. - Editor)
Travancore Letter
(From Our Own Correspondent)
Hindus Demand That Christian Missionary Efforts Be Banned
It is reported that a meeting of All-Travancore Hindu Sammelanam held at Varkkala last week, passed the following resolution:
‘Considering that antagonism between religions and communal conflicts are promoted among the people of India by the work of American and European Christian missionaries and of organised Christian missions, and considering that their activities tend to destroy Indian culture and undermine the national Indian outlook, it is resolved that the Government of India be requested to bar such missionary activities.’
(The anti-foreign-missionary sentiment among Hindus in India is widespread, though mostly inarticulate. With the development of freedom in different departments of life, Hinduism is bound to receive an impetus. Early in March at the Hindu Religious Convention at Nandikkad (Travancore) there was mass reconversion of Christians to Hinduism organised by the Kerala Hindu Mission. Over a thousand Christians were received back. It should be noted carefully that this sentiment is not so much anti-Christian as anti-foreign and against organised proselytism. It is quite likely that among leaders and Churches of missions both those who are over-optimistic and those who are alarmist will be disillusioned. Realising these leaders ought to adjust their working methods and policies as well as their own personal attitudes to the changed circumstances in the Indian situation. India is no enemy of Christ who was incarnated in Palestine. - Editor)
Who Is a Layman?
The missionaries and their employees contend that a layman is a person, who is not an active preacher or a Padre. The laymen, however, entirely differ and claim that a layman is a person who is in no way connected with any enterprises of the missionaries, not even he who lives in a mission compound. Besides, they also say that a person whose parents have been or are under the dominance of missionaries or supported by cannot be called a bona fide layman.
Many of them who call themselves laymen, have actually proved themselves quislings to the Christian Community. They have inherited the spirit of hypocrisy, flattery and slave mentality from their parents working in missions. Christians of such mentality have been shewn great favours over those who in reality loved God, tried to live a righteous life and hated to speak lies.
Missionaries have an exceptional mania for flattery, hypocrisy and avidness for self praise. In my opinion they have done nothing tangible for the betterment of the Christian Community On the other hand they for their loyalty, hypocrisy and flattery have procured cheap plots of land, bungalows, high position and other bounties from the missionaries.
The attainment of independence has brought about no change in the mentality of these people. The missionaries still exercise superiority and treat the poor Christians under their scrutiny in the same way as before. They resort to a more dangerous technique of letting two rival parties fight against each other in order to show their importance over them. They remain neutral and do not even stand for the truth.
Chhapatia, Mainpuri.
SETH W. HOWWARD
(We think the missionary definition is technically correct but Mr. Howard is free to use it in a wider sense for a particular object. His remarks about missionaries and Indians under they are too sweeping. We know many missionaries personally who cannot be guilty of all those heinous sins Mr. Howard went Nor are all Indians in mission service quislings. We must not magnify the particular cases too much. We agree that there is much of domination, selfishness, and slavishness among Christian workers, let us work and pray for improvement. - Editor)
Southern American Churchmen Speak Out
The Second Southeastern Interchurch Convocation held at Atlanta on December 7-8, following the meeting of the Federal Council’s Executive Committee in that City, adopted statements on “The Church and Economic Life” which are noteworthy. These declared.
The Social task of Protestantism is to create a righteous society. The foundation of this creativity is the reconciling nature of Christian love in all the phases of our common life. Economically the Church must work toward the just and equitable distribution of God’s gifts to all God’s children. She must proclaim the ethical and spiritual basis of all phases of life …
Among the recommendations are these:
“Local churches should provide facts regarding all situations that divide economic groups in order that church people may understand and remove such divisions.”
“The Church should encourage the forming of groups for facing together the implications of Christian teaching in their work.”
“Local churches should provide opportunities for developing mutual understanding between groups.”
“Local churches need to study and exemplify their own Church social creeds.”
“Where important economic interests are unrepresented by organisations the Church has a duty to uphold the right of self-organisation.”
With acknowledgements to the “Dnyanodaya”
(No where is this more needed than in India. - Editor)
British Weekly 12 February 1948
Evangelism is not enough, the Church must be reborn by B.C. Plowright.
“We are to do the old things with greater energy of devotion; we are to do them through wireless, cinema and whatever new means modern science has put into our hands; at bottom we believe that the world can be talked into revival and to talk we are trusting. If that weapon fails, we have none left in armoury.”
“The hopes are vain, the trust illusory. Unless we realise that revival is and will be a far more costly business for the churches, we are laying up for ourselves a harvest of disillusionment in a few year’s time amounting almost to despair, and a church which has ‘spent its strength for that which is not’ will not easily be rallied to make a fresh endeavour. Frustration and inertia are but names for an evangelism, by word only, taken a little lower down stream.”
(This is what an Englishman thinks of the English Church. The situation is worse in India. There is talk and loud talk. There is attack on Indian religion, culture and life. There is open air (or upon air?) preaching in field, and streets and there is the water baptism and the church! - Editor)
Paucity of Indian Leadership in the Church in India
By Rev. E.L. Ananta Rao, Sangareddy Nizam’s Dominion.
Last week I was on a Committee where a glance round the Committee room made my heart sink within me, when I realised that the Committee was composed of 19 European Missionaries and 9 Indian men of whom only 2 were laying (Mission Agents), the rest being Indian Ministers. There were 10 Missionary-ladies he but not a single Indian woman. I admit that they were all men on and women holding responsible positions in different spheres of la work such as medical, Educational and Evangelistic, all connected with the Church, and they were all broad-minded people, transcending all consideration of any racial distinction. But my narrow mind could not escape noticing the incongruity of the picture against the entirely nationalised political background of our country.
My thoughts at once took me back to that eventful and most auspicious day, August 15th 1947, when India gained her independence after centuries of foreign domination. As often as I think of that event it evokes within me not a little admiration for the British, who with dignity and magnanimity handed over the reins of Administration of Indian Dominion to the Indians.
At the helm of affairs we have men who easily rank, if not superior, in no way inferior to the best of statesmen and administrators in any country today.
While in the political realm the country has not been lacking in men and women of supreme intellectual, moral and spiritual calibre, one turns to the Church in India only to feel sick at heart at her poverty-stricken condition for want of adequate Indian leadership. If we want a Theologian we turn to one from the West; if we want an Educational Expert we seek elsewhere for one; for an authority in Medical work we look to the West; if we want a Treasurer, while in almost every case a Treasurer in any Church in England is a layman, in the Church in our Country he is invariably a Missionary.
While we are profoundly thankful for all the benefit which the Church in India has derived and is still deriving through the indefatigable selfless and sacrificial services of brothers and sisters from abroad, while we should not like for moment to see this fellowship and co-operation in the service our Common Master cease, while we still appreciate their help the task of the evangelisation of our Country we are anxious to see the day when through their help there is produced in the Church of Christ in India a body of leaders, men and women, we can worthily take the places which are now held by their more worthy colleagues from the Occident.
There are a few reasons for this deplorable state of affair in the Church in India and I might just mention three of them.
There Is Real Dearth of Indian Leaders in the Church
The attention of the whole Christian World was focused on Madras when the Union of three different denominations was one summoned. We thank God for it with all our heart. But who we come to look at the glorious Inauguration Service what strikes one as unfortunate is that out of the nine Bishops newly consecrated only three were Indians. Only five of the fourteen Bishops what is known as the Church of South India are Indians. At the very head of affairs one sees the disparity which constitutes the paucity.
After two centuries of the rule the British while leaving the Country have left behind them Indian men and women eminently qualified to take their places in the administration of the Country. What about the Church? The Church is depleted in the matter of worthy leaders.
There Are Leaders, but Hidden
There are Christian men and women who have leaders in them, but for various reasons, some obvious and others unknown they either hide themselves under a bushel or they are deliberate covered up under a bushel. The Church-bodies are full of party polities, one party set against another, while Missionaries watched their own interests, outwardly or inwardly cast in their support with the party that disturbs them the least from their niches. It this strikes so unchristian to the laymen and laywomen in the Church, that though they possess the gift of leadership they decided to be Christian by keeping themselves out of the maelstrom of next Ecclesiastical Politics.
There are some who are deliberately kept under cover because of prejudice. A certain group or party though they recognise the worth of a person, because of certain personal prejudices, jealousy, would rather see a third party continue in help the place of responsibility than offer it to a man of their own country.
There are others with whom the monetary consideration weighs more than the consideration of rendering service to the Church as a vocation.
Need of That Gracious Gesture Which Says “They Must Increase, and We Must Decrease”
Here I speak with a good deal of trepidation and reservation. I thank the Missionaries for the good example they have set in almost every walk of life which we deem worthy to emulate. But if at this time of our country’s life I should like to see Indians assume positions of responsibility it is not because I presume that Indians are better qualified than the Missionaries, but it is for the simple reason that it is the right thing to do in the circumstances for the healthy growth of the Church in India.
Through the gracious help of the Missionaries who are prepared to take the second place, the Church in India can produce leaders from among men and women whom they have come to serve in the Name of the Master, that the Church in India may not be behind the country in being proud of indigenous leadership which will minister to the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the extension of His Kingdom, unto the glory of God the Father.
— From the Guardian.
(The Church in India has remained uncreative and imitative because it has been foreign and exotic in almost every detail; whatever talent or originality has sometimes been exhibited by converts from Hinduism has been ruthlessly suppressed by mission-church authorities. - Editor)
Christians Are Blind, Deaf and Dumb
Here in the isolated Indian state of Travancore, the Communists called a strike in the Christian college I have just visited. The communist leader had been driven underground and sought by the police. He wrote this typical letter to the striking students. ‘Capture and paralyse your institution and stop in normal functioning … Don’t let them conduct any more examinations, but make them close the University. Start the attack from all sides on every issue. No leniency towards the bogus ’religion’ of your college, or the slave power of your State. Let no rules, morals and principles of the present society deter us. Without counting the costs, leap into darkness, into the bottomless pit’. One of the striking things about this letter is that its writer has been, at least until recently, known as a Christian. He was convinced that the demand for economic justice, made first by the prophet Amos twenty-seven centuries ago, was fundamental, but that Christians were completely blind to the need for justice were making no demand for it. He observed that this was even more true of the Hindus and all other religious sects; and the even the Socialists were making no effective demand for justice but left that powerful weapon almost exclusively to the Communists. Accordingly, he joined the Communist Party and where asked in his application questionnaire why he became a Communist replied, ‘because I am a Christian’. I have seen many students tread this path and become in time bigoted atheists and violent Communists who repudiated all moral principles. Since they could not serve two masters, they had discarded the moral orders and the teaching of Christ and had wholeheartedly embraced the command of Lenin. ‘We must be ready for deceit, trickery, lawbreaking, withholding and concealing of truth?’ While the mighty weapon of the demand for economic justice is left to the Communism in the revolution that is now sweeping across Asia, I have fought the Christians of India and Ceylon, like those of Japan, Korea and China, and for the most part, like Christians of America sitting quite complacently, - blind, deaf and dumb to any need to demand for justice. I believe that the call of the hour is to put our own house in order, to demand and to give justice to all.
Despite the disturbing growth of corruption and the menace of Communism in India, on the whole I am encouraged by the achievement of the new India. I think that these achievements compare favourably with those of the liberated American Colonialism at the same stage of their history.
— DR. SHERWOD EDDY: In the Guardian
Reports, Notices Etc
What the Figures Tell
By Lincoln Watts. The World Dominion Press, Farley, Outacanrund, South India, PP. 26, Price -/8/.
This novel and most interesting booklet is copiously illustrated by significant drawings. The purpose of the pamphlet is to tell in a plain manner of fact way what the church of Christ in India is and what it should be, where its strength or weakness lies. At the same time it gives significant hints how the church can improve and go forward. Builders of the Church in this country as well as the average Christian worker should firmly grasp these fundamental principles of the self-expansion of the church.
Fellowship of Reconciliation
The fellowship of Reconciliation is composed of men and women of many races and nations who feel called in Jesus Christ to refuse participation in War and to devote themselves to a ministry of reconciliation. The members recognise the unity of the human family and believe in the efficacy of the LOVE which comes from God as a guide to truth, a solvent of antagonism and a power capable of uniting all men inspire of all their differences.
They believe that love as demonstrated in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is the only adequate basis for personal, social, economic, national and international relationships.
Consequently, they refuse to participate in war or to sanction military preparations for war refusing in all circumstances to kill, help others to kill or train themselves to kill. They strive to build up the strength of their country by methods compatible with the love of God and seek to maintain the spirit of self-giving love while engaged in the struggle to achieve these purposes. Its WORK IN INDIA.
The main task of those of us in India consists in strengthening and helping the new groups grow and attempt to draw together groups and individuals in this land, to help spread the Christian message of Peace. The basis of the work is the faith and the experience that in every country there are to be found men women who would welcome communion with others of like mind.
It is to the youth of our country that we appeal whose mind is fresh and whose enthusiasm is undamped to spend himself in pursuit of high ideals to undertake the famous task of making our country a fit place for Democracy.
THINK IT OVER,
Hero M.C. SINGH,
Akbarpur, (Kanpur)(It is good news that a branch of the Fellowship has been started in India.
Monthly Publication is “FELLOWSHIP”:
Address — 2929 Broadway, New York 25 N.Y. U.S.A.
The organisation stands for positive peacemaking and anti-war. It sponsors many publications advocating the noble cause. - Editor)
Christian Laymen’s Party (Registered) Delhi.
AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE PARTY.
To promote independence of Character and judgment amongst Christians in accordance with the Ideals and Teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ;
To introduce Social and Ecclesiastical Reforms;
To advance the Economic, Social and Rural uplift am the poor Christians;
To Protect and maintain congregational use of all Religious Immovable and Movable Trusts, Endowments and other Dedicated Buildings held by the Churches and Missions and to prevent the sale and transfer of such properties and buildings;
To work for the transfer of the control over all Public Funds, Immoveable and Moveable properties, Churches and other Dedicated properties from the Missions and the Church Bodies to a democratically elected Christian Body;
To promote Communal Harmony amongst the various Religious Communities and thus actively work for the National Co-operation, Unity and Peace of the Motherland; and
To cooperate with other Societies, Institutions and Associations having objects similar to the objects of this Society.
— Secretary; Shop No. 3 and 4 (West) Barron Road, New Delhi.
(The objects are too large and sweeping. To attain success enthusiasm should be canalised. In our view properties should be, and can be, transferred to church bodies only and not to “a democratically elected Christian Body” - which is meaningless. Good and efficient men should conduct church affairs. Steadiness and integrity are essential for success. - Editor)
The Economical Basis of the Church
Suggestions regarding the future use of Mission properties (lands and houses) made by independent Christians unconnected with mission service under the auspices of the Indian Christian Association and Christian Union, Banaras.
1. Certain Assumptions and Reflections
We hold that all properties acquired by foreign missionary societies in India for the extension of the Kingdom and the building up of the church morally belong to the church in India.
We deeply deplore the fact that so much property has been alienated by different societies in the past years without any consultation with, or even knowledge of, the Church. Such action has diminished the moral prestige of the Christian enterprise and crippled the church in various ways.
But we note with pleasure that of late certain missions have declared policies as to property favourable to the Indian Church. This is a step in the right direction which ought to have been taken long ago. But better late than never. It is in the light of this changed policy that we venture to make the suggestions in Section 2.
We strongly feel that in the present church-mission set up the real mind of the church at a whole is never reflected on any question or problem discussed in various synods or councils. The bulk of laymen, unconnected with church-mission service constitute the backbone of the church, but such is the system that their voice which is important, and ought to be decisive, is inadequately represented and often, if expressed, is utterly ignored.
It is, mainly and often, dominantly the view points of missionaries and of the various classes of mission employees who are represented far beyond their importance that triumph in all matters of policy. We humbly submit and warn that unless there is quick and radical change in the situation the process of deterioration in church life — in its economic moral and spiritual aspects will continue to its utter ruin.
We hope that the following concrete suggestions will not be brushed aside as too idealistic or utopian. We hold that lack of vision, courage, spirit of venture and faith in the entire leadership of the church has been responsible for its lack of progress. There has been too fuel of the cautious and reactionary attitude as well as selfishness and worldliness dominating the conduct and activity of leaders. Consequently, the poor and the innocent have been suffering. But we are optimistic and determined that better days must come somehow.
2. Suggestions and Plans
As there is real land-hunger among Christians our first suggestion is that plots around church or in compounds be leased out to intending Christian tenants at moderate rates. Those who have been living there already should not be the only beneficiaries. There is urgent need for new blood in the congregation. For years Church life has been in ruts and needs pulling out. In this direction the idea of a Christian Society in each local case in which management will be vested is a good one but needs expediting Non-Christians should not be allowed to settle down on any terms too near the church. This plan will ensure a minimum congregation ton who ought to be economically a contented community around the church as the centre of its life. So far comparatively poor Christians and mission agents have been allowed to live on charity or sufferance or on small monthly rentals. This has tended over many years to weaken the sense of self-respect and has led to frustration on a scale. The suggested plan is expected to remedy this.
As to other properties such as orphanages, schools, etc. when these have to be closed, other organisations, especially and preferably indigenous and Indian ones, should be definitely invited to utilise these places and buildings. The invitation should be clear and wide so that none can say they did not know or hear. Of the residual parts especially plots on the roadside may be sold, but the proceeds must be earmarked for the church’s evangelistic and other activities. We badly need Christian medical work orphanages and hostels for boys and girls, Christian Schools for girls and boys, accommodation for Y.M.C.A. activities, accommodation for regular study of Hindu culture, Ashram centres etc. We are sure, if intelligently and bravely adjusted, these properties can fulfil many of these needs and other bodies and organisations may take the advantage.
On open plots of land small cottages can be built in cooperation with some Building Company on mutually profitable terms and then rented out. The incomes ought to be considerable.
The income from rentals of certain houses in the city and other trust properties should be strictly applied to a deeper development of evangelistic work in the locality of which more below.
Preaching centres in cities should be more effectively used.
The work should be taken out of the present management (which, in inspiration, policy and leadership is theoretically church centric but practically mission centric) and be entrusted to a committee or association made up of purely laymen unconnected with mission-church service. The work has been suffering for a long time from narrowness of view, foreigners of method and approach, and general inefficiency. In a Hindu centre the sample of evangelistic realistic work we usually show is unworthy of Christianity and of Hinduism both.
(The particular references to the C.M.S. work in Banaras for which the above statement was intended have been omitted. - Editor)
Notes
The Episcopal Synod (Council of Bishops) of the Church of India, has banned the use in church worship of hymns written by non-Christian poets. This was discussed in a recent meeting of the Calcutta Diocesan Council. It is a matter of gratification that no final decision was arrived at - which proves that there must be a considerable section of Bengali Christians who take a more liberal view in the matter. Scattered throughout Hindu religious literature and especially in modern Bengali poetry there are songs, written by Hindu poets, which inculcate Christian ideas and breathe the Christian spirit and in a few churches these songs have become part of their hymnery. It shows a reaction spirit of sectarian exclusiveness and religious bigotry on the part of the Anglican authorities to try and put a break to the slow naturalisation of the church by absorbing into its life, whatever is true beautiful and good in India’s cultural and spiritual heritage. We are convinced that this exclusiveness is not Christian and will not thrive in the Indian Church.
Committee formed to safeguard mission properties. A year ago in a public meeting at the Y.M.C.A. in Calcutta presided over by Shri D. Gomes M.L.A. the subject was discussed and a Committee formed. Such organisations should be formed in all important centres. We would request all interested parties to ponder over the following points:
Such activity should not be prompted by motives of personal gain or influence.
There should be cooperation with church bodies.
Facts should be ascertained accurately before taking any action.
We must keep the matter restricted within the Christian community. Sensational publicity especially in the daily papers should be avoided. Matters should not be dragged into law courts either but sought to be settled by arbitration.
Such important matters should not be left to impulsive and experienced enthusiasts but be guided by experienced leaders who should take interest.
Such matters should not be considered only when there is a “case” on hand, but there should be a permanent association of independent minded Christians who would lay down a general policy after cool deliberation.
Any and every sale should not be opposed. Every case should be considered on its merits.
There must be steadfastness and integrity of purpose - some noble objective and practical scheme.
In all questions of property and institutions, not simply economic interests of Christians, but spiritual and evangelical ideals of the church should be central.
The eternal question of mission property. The C.M.S. Normal School (Teachers Training and Boarding) is to be closed as from July next. Teachers and guardians have been asked to make other arrangements. It is clear now that the C.M.S. offered the buildings and the site to Government who have accepted. The property will be rented out now. Whether it is to be sold is said to be not definite yet. It is a nearly a century old school and one of the best institutions in the Province. Teachers, guardians and Christian public in East U.P. are greatly agitated over this sudden action. They have petitioned the Bishop, the C.M.S. and the Government but nothing seems to avail.
The real point of the immediate grievance is that those who are vitally concerned — the local church, the Christian public and the teachers and guardians have been kept in the dark and the decision was taken in the super Committee of the Mission which never keeps contacts with the body of the church. The teachers did not receive a written notice even, they were Just told by the missionaries in charge.
It is in this way, steadily but inevitably, inspire of protests and agitations, covering the last 30 years, from Indian Christians all over the country, that valuable properties are alienated, usually without any knowledge of the church or inspire of protestations and petitions. Because, who are we-Indians? We are but products of mission mills or just serfs settled in mission estates. Ram Katora - the well known “Banaras United City Mission” — was closed suddenly on two months notice - by a mighty missionary committee sitting in London - without any consultation with their all India Committee, their own creature, and without even a reference to it. That property is rumoured to be in for sale or lease to Government; though local missionaries protest and deny the headquarters in London are mystically quiet or ask a cryptic question “will it be a disaster if Ram Katora were sold ?”
The whole subject has been tantalising for years. It would be far better for missions to declare (as one important Mission has frankly avowed) that the Indian Church or Indian Christians have nothing to do with Mission properties or institutions, that missions have every right to deal with them as they like, where and when. That would save Indians from false hopes and from deferred hopes that make the heart sick. That would save them from frustration, sudden dangers of unemployment, insecurity, from delusion and demoralisation, and they would not be prevented from making independent original efforts. One of the potent causes of the weakness and barrenness of the church here has been this indecisive position in which most Indian Christians, especially our so-called leaders, have been living. May God save us and free us from such a bondage.
While on the one hand it is loudly proclaimed by missionaries and their Indian helpers that the Church is central and while in many missions the quick process of merging or integration is going on, yet on the other, in vital matters like the questions of property the whole thing is solely viewed from the Missions standpoint. The church is very secondary. This is evident from the Joint statement issued by the C.M.S. representative in U.P. and the Bishop of Lucknow in regard to their Banaras property.
Our repeated and emphatic advice to Indian Christians has been that they should give up looking to the West which has only produced misery and slavery. With God overhead and heard within they should think of their future in terms of independence in this New India. Let them slowly and laboriously build up their own schools, churches and other institutions. But for the patronising and pampering policy of Missions in the past the Christian community would have become by now a prosperous, strong and self-respecting body of people loving and serving India and in turn trusted by other communities. It is yet not too late to begin. Let the crisis in the church’s life lead it to real freedom and victory.
“Bharatiya Sanskriti Sangam”, the Indian Cultural Academy of which Dr. Rajendra Prasad is Chairman and Dr. B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya Working Chairman, has a provisional committee, and its office at 3, Electric Lane, New Delhi. Secretary is Shri Shankarrao Deo. It is expected that branches will be opened in different parts of the country. Christians of all denominations and nationalities will do well by joining such organisations. It will do them good, and they may be able to do something for other men.
The Asoka Chakra is another new institution claiming over eighty branches over the country-which should attract the attention of all classes of people and especially Christians. It is, like the above, a non-political organisation aiming at training men and women in the right principles of citizenship of which the basis must be ‘Dharma’ - righteousness, morality and character. For particulars enquiries may be addressed to Sri Rohit Mehta, Secretary, Asoka Chakra, The Theosophical Society, Banaras.
Oxford Mission in East Bengal has been hard hit financially by the devaluation of the pound sterling and the Indian rupee because Pakistan did not devalue its rupee. As a result the Mission had given notice (December 1949) to over half of the church workers that there would be no employment for them in 1950. Two village dispensaries had to be closed and almost certainly some boarding schools. Other economies were feared.
This means the Indians and the work among them and for them, that is to say, the church must suffer. The Oxford Mission has always been fairly strong and numerous in proportion to the church it has gathered. We wonder how far the missionary personnel and their budget have been affected by this financial crisis. This is again another case in which the situation is viewed and met from the mission standpoint and the church’s future or welfare is not the primary consideration. Is not this putting the cart before the horse? If missions behave in this way how much of the fruit of their century old effort will remain?
The U.P. Christian Union bids fair to become an all-round independent and liberal Christian organisation in the province. The president is M.J. Mukerjee Esquire M.Sc., T. Dip. 17 Cantonments, Bareilly and General Secretary R. Monohar Lal Esquire B.A. has his office at Y.M.C.A. Kanpur. We wish the organisation all success.
Nasrapur Spiritual Centre in Bombay Province has come into existence a few years. The centre seems to be managed by missionaries only. It has collected Rs. 68,000/- and aims at the target figure of Rs. 1,00,000/-. 507 Donors hail from ten different countries. We fear the Christian public do not know much about it. Is it a full-fledged foreign mission with a new name or is it an institution in the nature of a fellowship group aiming at some experiments. It seems to be dominated by heavy foreign funds. Is that helpful for the cultivation of spiritual life in the Indian atmosphere and on the Indian soil? We stand subject to correction and await enlightenment.
We have previously referred to the increasing practicing of sending young Indian Christians overseas for training and further education. When they return they are given choice posts formerly occupied by missionaries or created afresh. We have in the past criticised this policy of certain missions as harmful both to the church and the missions. If mature Indians who are already rooted in Indian life and ideal go abroad for any specific training or acquiring experience in any country there would use be much objection. We give the following reasons for considering the practice wrong.
We hold that positions of leadership in the mission-church system should be occupied by Indians (or by Europeans for the matter of that) who are inbred with Indian culture and live an indigenous natural life of simplicity and creativity - men who have native talent and originality and dynamic ought to be allowed to lead in all spheres. But we see that those who are sent abroad at great expense are not persons of this description. They do not know the country-its people, literature, religion and history and usually have an aversion for everything Indian. Their minds are filled with foreign ideas, so they cannot be creative in any sphere. They simply carry on through imitation the system that missionaries have brought from their own countries. For missionaries to transfer leadership to such people is far worse. We would be more satisfied with real Europeans than these counterfeit ones.
A stronger objection is that these men are necessarily much more expensive. They return with habits of heavy living in a poor and warm country like India. The church is expected to support these expensive and so-called Indian workers — a preposterous proposition. Missions should note the dissatisfaction and criticism expressed in the columns of the Madras Guardian and in other ways. The Indian church must be allowed to evolve in own simpler economic and religious policy if it is to survive the onslaughts of destructive forces and make any contribution to the total Indian life-which, to be solid and real, must be based on fundamental moral and spiritual principles. Our church life is unhealthily and ruinously top-heavy. The constant pressure from the top is dismantling the very foundations. Let us beware in advance.
If foreign missions still think that they will build up the church in India by Europeanising or Americanising the church through the help of Indians they are very much deluded. The whole system is working on bears foreign finance. When that will be affected the church they are laboriously building up will fall like a house of cards because it has no roots on the soil. The editor of the Guardian made a few remarks in its issue of 15th September last year which should be pondered over. “The largest number of candidates are chosen for theological study abroad. Training for the ministry is seldom the purpose for very few among the returned theologians choose to be pastors. The Indian mission-church looks to the intellectual theologian to act as a liaison between Christianity and other religions. What knowledge about Indian religions do they gain in stay abroad? Scholarships to develop the study of Indian religions here are far more urgent. It is an irony that foreign scholars come to India to study and when they return to their homeland, produce learned volumes. Indian students follow them there to study Indian religions at their feet.”
Our invariable experience is that those who return from abroad hanker after, and manure for, higher salaries and positions of Headmaster or Principal, Superintendent or Bishop. The idea of striking a new line or serving the Church or the country is altogether absent. Indians should be first educated in things Indian and in India.
Banaras Work
(Brief Report of 1949 to 1950)
Though packed with encouraging activity the year has also been full of anxiety in the family. It is more than a year that Mrs. Das has been separated from us and detained in East Bengal occupying our little property lest it should be requisitioned by Pakistan Government. Our second son who has been in the Air Force since the beginning of War was suddenly taken seriously ill in September 1949 and has since been lying in a military hospital though his condition has been steadily improving. We are deeply grateful to kind friends who have helped us and prayed for us in our difficulties. Above all we are thankful to God for his wonderful full love and guidance in all circumstances.
A happy circumstance in the year is that four new missionaries who are learning Hindi and something of Hindu Culture and faith came to live in the house in October last. Their fellowship has been all to the good, and they have, within a short time, made helpful spiritual contacts with Hindus and others by their simple life, Christian conduct and sympathetic understanding. Samuel Surendra Sharma - a young Brahmin convert came to us in May last year with a disappointed mind. We have had prayer and Bible study almost daily. He has been cheerfully and helpfully active for almost a year now. A sympathetic friend in the person of Major George Singh of the Hindu University has been largely responsible for his support though he has also been earning a fair amount by teaching. A young American, named Kenneth E. Burch lived with me for ten days and learned something about Hinduism. Sadhu Jitendra Nath Hulder of Shishyashram, Barisal, leader of the Christian Ashram Sangha, spent more than a month in August and September in the Ashram. His presentation of Jesus through musical preaching called “Kathakata” was a spiritual contribution to the right approach. He also toured some cities in U.P. on behalf of our common Ashram cause. Shri S.B. Tewarson M.Sc., Principal, Parker High School, Moradabad, was able to stay with us for a while. Another Interesting old gentleman of very unassuming habits named Akshay Kumar Nandi came to live among us before Christmas and is still in Banaras. He has been in his business all his life and happens to be the father-in-law of Uday Shankar - the famous dancer. He was baptised in his younger life by Dr. Howells - late Principal of Serampore College, and lived in his family and Hindu society all this time. It has been a pleasure to be able to pray and sing and read the scriptures with him. During the year we have had other visits from both missionary and Indian friends. We had a disappointment in … The elderly Sadhu who seems to have disappeared after his decision to follow Christ.
There have been three sessions of Hindu Studies for a period of a fortnight each — one in early May 1949 in Banaras and one in Calcutta in October 1949 and again another in Banaras early this year. Altogether 26 students (14 Missionaries and 12 Indians) availed themselves of these courses. A simpler course was held in Almora in the summer. It is a matter of gratification that the Committee of the “Christian Society for the study of Hinduism” which was comparatively inactive for two years has recently been reorganised with the Rt. Rev. C.J.G. Robinson M.A. (the new Anglican Bishop of Lucknow) as President and myself as Secretary. The quarterly journal of the Society — the Pilgrim — is being able edited by Shri P. Chenchiah M.L. of Madras. I have had enquiries made by some South India missionaries as to the possibilities of steady and continuous studies at Banaras besides the temporary Institutes.
In April last year I had the privilege of conducting a Retreat Conference of Christian Ashram leaders, Sadhus and Sanyasis independent evangelists and other church leaders in the Duff Church (Presbyterian), Calcutta, for 10 days. It was a unique gathering a full report of which appeared in the “Seeker” (The Rains, 1949). A similar Retreat has been invited by the Baptist of Church, Calcutta, again this year in June. The fellowship of Christian Ashrams in North India is grateful to the N.C.C. for its kind contribution towards expenses.
Since the new year our small and humble rooms at the Dashashwamedh centre are being used for an experimental Y.M.C.A. to which some young men have already attached themselves. The encouragement given by the National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s is appreciated. We shall need, to be effective, more rooms in the future.
The last summer was spent in Almora and (partly) Sat Tal Ashrams. I had to go also for the Christian Council meetings in Sat Tal and the Committees of the Tract Society Allahabad and for a short visit to Bareilly. The spiritual meeting and Bible study and interviews at the centre have been more or less regularly held on account of my absences in outside stations. In visits to the ghats and other centres and in selling gospels the help of Shri Sharmaji has been substantial. Through the Banaras Fellowship and other cultural associations and visits to the homes of friends, the contacts have been fruitful. At one of these meetings Swami Aseemanand of the Bejoy Krishna Ashram spoke of his personal experiences, his vision of Christ and how God guided him at every step in circumstances of poverty and danger. On Easter evening at a Tea given by Major Singh twenty-five Professors of the Hindu University of whom many are Agnostics listened with reverent attention my short Easter message. The other morning I went to see a leading Congressman about some meetings to be arranged. He did not let me speak first but offered a ten rupee note for a Bible to be brought immediately I could give scores of homely instances by which it would be proved that after freedom there is a new realisation of the need of character and spiritual life and a keen appreciation of Christianity. This year we have sold many more books than previously, and I wish there were many worthy and qualified Christian evangelists among my country men especially in the cities and at least half a dozen younger men who would be keen and faithful to take the gospel through the hundreds of lanes and ghats of Banaras. Your prayers and support are solicited.
129, Dashashwamedh, Banaras
R.C. Das
31-3-1951
Circular Letter
To,
Jamna, Allahabad
9th January 1950
My dear friend,
This is an appeal which I am sending you on behalf of the work which Rev. R.C. Das is carrying on in Banaras. He is doing a most valuable piece of work along the Hindu citizens of Banaras and conducts Institutes during the year to help Indian leaders and missionaries in understanding Hinduism and making an intelligent missionary approach to our Hindu brethren.
The work of Mr. Das is affiliated to the National Missionary Society, but the Society is not able to make any contribution towards the support of his work. If this valuable work is to go on, we must provide Rs. 5000/- a year in order that Mr. Das may go forward without any anxieties. Any contributions which you may be pleased to make will be gratefully received, and the best possible use will be made of it in the service of the Kingdom. I wish to do all that is possible in order to strengthen the hands of Mr. Das. He is receiving no salary at present and is courageously going forward with his work battling against difficult odds.
Soliciting your help in the support of this work,
I am,
Yours Sincerely,
A. RALLA RAM
Executive Secretary, U.P.C.C.