{ "book_metadata": { "book_name": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials", "book_author": "M. K. Kuriakose", "publisher": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge", "published_on": "2011" }, "chunks": [ { "chunk_index": 1, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 378 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00402-180366d92fb9ba137210.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Formation of the Church of South India", "chunk_data": "183. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA (1947 A.D.)\nAfter lengthy negotiations that began in the 1920s, the Church of South India was formed in 1947. It brought together churches of the Anglican, English Methodist, American Reformed (Presbyterian), British and American Congregational, and Basel (Lutheran/Reformed) traditions. The decision to unite was made by the autonomous Indian churches that had been historically related to these traditions through mission societies. The portions of the C.S.I. Constitution that are reproduced here incorporate later amendments, as found in the 1972 edition, The Constitution of the Church of South India.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1972, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947; amended through 1972" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The Church of South India was formed through the union of churches from Anglican, Methodist, Reformed, Congregational, and Basel traditions.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Christianity", "India" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 378 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00402-180366d92fb9ba137210.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Name of the Church", "chunk_data": "Chapter I\nThe Name of the Church and the Bodies which have constituted it:\n1. The name of the Church is 'The Church of South India'.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The constitution names the united church the Church of South India.", "tags": [ "Church Organization", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Bodies Constituting the Church", "chunk_data": "2. The Church of South India is the Church constituted by union in 1947 of the Madras, Madura, Malabar, Jaffna, Kannada, Telugu and Travancore Church Councils of the South India United Church; the South India Province of the Methodist Church, comprising the Madras, Trichinopoly, Hyderabad and Mysore Districts; and the dioceses of Madras, Dornakal, Tinnevelly, and Travancore and Cochin in the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon to which in 1950 was added the North Tamil Church Council of the South India United Church.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1950, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947–1950" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "Madras", "Madura", "Malabar", "Jaffna", "Kannada", "Telugu", "Travancore", "Trichinopoly", "Hyderabad", "Mysore", "Dornakal", "Tinnevelly", "Cochin", "South India" ], "event": "The constitution identifies the church councils, Methodist districts, and dioceses that united to form the Church of South India, with the North Tamil Church Council added in 1950.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Christianity", "India" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Purpose of the Union", "chunk_data": "Chapter II\n2. The Purpose and Nature of the Union. The Church of South India affirms that the purpose of the union by which it has been formed is the carrying out of God's will, as this is expressed in our Lord's prayer—That they may all be one that the world may believe that Thou didst send me'.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The Church of South India states that its union exists to carry out God's will and answer Christ's prayer for unity.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Religion", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "A More Effective Instrument", "chunk_data": "It believes that by this union the Church in South India will become a more effective instrument for God's work, and that there will be greater peace, closer fellowship and fuller life within the Church, and also renewed eagerness and power for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The church expects union to strengthen its work, fellowship, spiritual life, and proclamation of the Gospel.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Mission", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Unity in India", "chunk_data": "It hopes that it may be a true leaven of unity in the life of India, and that through it there may be a greater release of divine power for the fulfilment of God's purpose for His world.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Church of South India hopes to promote unity in India and advance God's purpose in the world.", "tags": [ "Unity", "Religion", "India" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Spiritual Unity of the Church", "chunk_data": "The Church of South India believes that the unity of His Church for which Christ prayed is a unity in Him and in the Father through the Holy Spirit, and is therefore fundamentally a reality of the spiritual realm.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ", "God the Father", "Holy Spirit" ], "places": [], "event": "The constitution defines Christian unity as spiritual unity in Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.", "tags": [ "Unity", "Trinity", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Unity in Church Life", "chunk_data": "It seeks the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace. But this unity of the Spirit must find expression in the faith and order of the Church, in its worship, in its organization and in its whole life, so that, as the Body of Christ, it may be a fit instrument for carrying out His gracious purposes in the world.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ", "Holy Spirit" ], "places": [], "event": "The constitution requires spiritual unity to be expressed through the church's faith, worship, organization, and entire life.", "tags": [ "Unity", "Church Organization", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 9, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Heritage of the Uniting Churches", "chunk_data": "Again, for the perfecting of the life of the whole body, the Church of South India needs the heritage of each of the uniting Churches, and each of those Churches will, it is hoped, not lose the continuity of its own life, but preserve that life enriched by the union with itself of the other two Churches.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The constitution seeks to preserve and enrich the heritage and continuity of each church participating in the union.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Heritage", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 10, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 379 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00403-e58cbdc5b8b5ef907496.webp" ], "chunk_title": "A Comprehensive Church", "chunk_data": "The Church of South India is thus formed by a combination of different elements each bringing its contribution to the whole, and not by the absorption of any one by any other. It is, therefore, also a comprehensive Church; and its members, firmly holding the fundamentals of the faith and order of the Church Universal, are allowed wide freedom of opinion in all other matters, and wide freedom of action in such differences of practice as are consistent with the general framework of the Church as one organized body.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The united church is defined as a comprehensive body formed by the cooperation of distinct traditions while allowing freedom of opinion and practice.", "tags": [ "Church Union", "Church Organization", "Unity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 11, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Toward Catholic Unity", "chunk_data": "The Church of South India acknowledges that, in every effort to bring together divided members of Christ's Body into one organization, the final aim must be the union in the Universal Church of all who acknowledge the name of Christ, and that the test of all local schemes of union is that they should express locally the principle of the great catholic unity of the Body of Christ.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The Church of South India identifies the ultimate goal of local church unions as the universal unity of all Christians.", "tags": [ "Unity", "Ecumenism", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 12, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Indian Expression of Universal Church", "chunk_data": "The Church of South India desires, therefore, conserving all that is of spiritual value in its Indian heritage, to express under Indian conditions and in Indian forms the spirit, the thought and the life of the Church Universal.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [], "places": [ "India", "South India" ], "event": "The church seeks to express the life of the Universal Church through Indian conditions and forms while preserving its spiritual heritage.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "India", "Church Union" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 13, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Fellowship with All Churches", "chunk_data": "The Church of South India desires to regulate all its actions by the principle that it should maintain fellowship with all those branches of the Church of Christ with which the Churches from which it has been formed have severally enjoyed such fellowship, and that it should continually seek to widen and strengthen this fellowship and to work towards the goal of the full union in one body of all parts of the Church of Christ.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The Church of South India commits itself to maintaining and expanding fellowship with all branches of Christ's Church.", "tags": [ "Fellowship", "Unity", "Ecumenism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 14, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Reforming the Constitution", "chunk_data": "It prays that it may never so use the provisions of this Constitution under which it begins its life that they will become barriers against the fuller truth and richer life to be attained in a wider fellowship, but that it may always be ready to correct and amend them as God's will becomes more clearly known through the growing together of the several parts of the now divided Church into a common mind and spirit under the guidance of the one Holy Spirit...", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Holy Spirit" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The church prays that its constitution will remain open to correction and amendment as divided Christian communities grow together.", "tags": [ "Church Organization", "Unity", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 15, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Scripture as Supreme Standard", "chunk_data": "5. The Faith of the Church. The Church of South India accepts The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as containing all things necessary to salvation and as the supreme and decisive standard of faith; and acknowledges that the Church must always be ready to correct and reform itself in accordance with the teaching of those Scriptures as the Holy Spirit shall reveal it.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Holy Spirit" ], "places": [ "South India" ], "event": "The Church of South India accepts the Old and New Testaments as the supreme standard of faith and reform.", "tags": [ "Scripture", "Religion", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 16, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Acceptance of the Creeds", "chunk_data": "It also accepts the Apostle's Creed and the Creed commonly called the Nicene, as witnessing to and safeguarding that faith; and it thankfully acknowledges that same faith to be continuously confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the experience of the Church of Christ.", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Holy Spirit", "Jesus Christ" ], "places": [], "event": "The church accepts the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed as witnesses to and safeguards of Christian faith.", "tags": [ "Creeds", "Religion", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 17, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Faith in God the Father", "chunk_data": "Thus it believes in God, the Father, the Creator of all things, by whose love we are preserved;", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "God the Father" ], "places": [], "event": "The Church of South India affirms belief in God the Father as Creator and sustainer of all things.", "tags": [ "Creed", "Religion", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 18, "chapter_name": "183. The Constitution of the Church of South India", "page_numbers": [ 380 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00404-24a2097766896621bc1d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Faith in Jesus Christ", "chunk_data": "It believes in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God and Redeemer of the world, in whom alone we are saved by grace, being justified from our sins by faith in Him;", "time": { "start_year": 1947, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1947, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1947 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Jesus Christ", "God the Father" ], "places": [], "event": "The Church of South India affirms faith in Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God and Redeemer through whom salvation comes by grace.", "tags": [ "Jesus Christ", "Salvation", "Religion" ] } } ] }