a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

enterprise in Asia.’ 43 Once the British Raj was established in India the Christian
message began to spread to many parts of India, especially in the north, through
foreign missionaries. Many mission stations were formed along with the British
cantonment. This is how the misunderstanding that ‘Christianity is foreign’ began
to be established at the grassroots. This concept very much predominates in the
north as south India had an early Christian presence, as discussed in chapter two.
Jacob has noted that the foreign allegiance of some churches even after
independence has further strengthened such misconceptions. 44
As will be discussed later, Pentecostals, along with other Christians, see that more
than anything else, the recent resurgence of Hindutva ideology and its propagation
is likely to be a major reason for creating an intolerant religious situation in
contemporary India. In recent years the ‘foreign issue’ has been raised by Hindu
militant groups, and took a new turn when they began to make their cry in an
organized way. There are many, like Jacob, who argue that the propagation of
Hindutva ideology has served as a useful tool to promote Hindu fundamentalism
and fanaticism. 45
43
Stephen Neill, A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 (Cambridge:
University Press, 1984), 86.
44
Jacob, ‘Religious Climate in India,’ 71.
45
See for example, Jacob, ‘Religious Climate in India,’ 76-77; Daniel, ‘Challenges of the
Hindutva; S.M. Micahel, ‘Culture, Nation and Conversion Issues in Mission Today,’ in Missiology
for the Twenty-First Century: South Asian Perspectives, ed. Roger E. Hedlund and Paul Joshua
Bhakiaraj (Delhi/Chennai, India: ISPCK/MIIS, 2004), 359-68. He argues that the rise of the Sangh
Parivar is the real cause of such religious tension in India (see p. 359).
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