MM

was against this background that I was roused to my inquiry on Christology. It was an intellectual and
It
struggle. Out of it came my reflections on The Realisation of the Cross (1937) affirming the
spiritual
of the crucified Jesus for the movement of the kingdom of God in history, which included
centrality
work in all religions and all urges toward love and justice. (This was published in 1972 by
God's
1937 I joined the Christavasram at Alleppey where the fellowship under the leadership of Sadhu
In
had a comprehensive vision of the gospel. They were in charge of the church's missionary work
Mathai
some coastal villages; they conducted a Home for Waifs and Strays (street boys) of the town;
among
had inter-religious dialogues. It was there that I met Svi Baliga, the Brahmin who acknowledged
they
without leaving the Hindu fold, and from whom Mathai had received Kavi dress initiating him into
Christ
life of a Christian sadhu patterned after the Hindu samngasa. Spontaneously Sadhuji became my
the
He put me in charge of the worship side of the ashram life; and I produced a book of daily
Guru.
in Malayalam (published later), which emphasized Christian spirituality as the basis of the
worship
misison in the world of religions and the social life of the nation. But Sadhu Mathai felt that my
church's
was too pietistic and subjectivist and not sufficiently world-oriented. It was in search of the
spirituality
of interiority with active life that in 1938 I returned to Trivandrum, where I had my college
unity
to organize a home for street boys with the help of the Student Christian Movement (SCM)
education,
under an inter-religious foundation. I also took the initiative to tackle the beggar problem in the city
but
organized charity in cooperation with the municipal authorities. Charitable social service
through
was during the period of my social service activities in Trivandrum that the political agitation for
It
government increased in the princely state of Travancore. The Student Christian
responsible
at its annual conference supported it and formed the Kerala Youth Christian Council of
Movement
(YCCA) to promote Christian witness in national politics. I got deeply involved in it from the
Action
as its secretary. The YCCA became a dynamic movement of thought and action among the
beginning
young people of Kerala, with its base in Christavasram of Sadhu Mathai (which had now
Christian
of the YCCA's most challenging programs was the study courses to help young people to
One
liberal secularism, Gandhism, and Marxism-ideologies influencing the Indian national
understand
to evaluate them in the light of Christian. faith. R. R. Keithahn's village-oriented
movement-and
coupled with his prophetic passion and Leonard Schiff's combination of AngloCatholicism,
Gandhism,
Neo-orthodoxy, and Marxism, made a tremendous contribution to our spirits and minds.
Niebuhrian
studies raised for me the role of the politics of justice in Christian social witness and the relation
The
Christian Literature Society, Madras, as Lenten meditations).
became the expression of my personal commitment to Christ, without emphasizing verbal witness.
II
moved from Alleppey to its new house in Kottayam).
between faith and ideology in Christian social ethics.