{ "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": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 210 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00234-0576378a6f68039fea31.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Proposal for an Indian National Church", "chunk_data": "Keshub Chunder Sen here proposes the fusion of the best elements of Hinduism and Islam, under Christian influence, into an Indian National Church which would be the indigenous form of a universal religion. From Lectures in India, pp. 155-160. Cited in William Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of Indian Tradition, pp. 621-624.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen proposes an Indian National Church formed from the best elements of Hinduism and Islam under Christian influence.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Christianity", "India" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 210 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00234-0576378a6f68039fea31.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Truth Within Hinduism and Islam", "chunk_data": "There are some among us who denounce Mahomedanism as wholly false, while others contend that Hinduism is altogether false. Such opinions are far from being correct; they only indicate the spirit of sectarian antipathy. Do you think that millions of men would to this day attach themselves so devoutly to these systems of faith unless there was something really valuable and true in them? This cannot be. There is, no doubt, in each of these creeds, much to excite ridicule, and perhaps indicate a large amount of superstition, prejudice, and even corruption. But I must emphatically say it is wrong to set down Hinduism or Mahomedanism as nothing but a mass of lies and abominations, and worthy of being trampled under foot. Prescribe and eliminate all that is false therein; there remains a residue of truth and purity which you are bound to honour.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen argues that Hinduism and Mahomedanism contain valuable truth despite their errors and corruption.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Hinduism", "Islam" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 210 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00234-0576378a6f68039fea31.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Purification of the Two Creeds", "chunk_data": "You will find certain central truths in these systems, though surrounded by errors, which constitute their vitality, and which have preserved them for centuries in spite of opposition, and in which hundreds of good men always found the bread of life. It is these which form even now the pillars of Hinduism and Mahomedanism, and challenge universal admiration and respect. It is idle to suppose that such gigantic systems of faith will be swept away by the fervor of youthful excitement, or the violent fulminations of sectarian bigotry, so long as there is real power in them.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen identifies the enduring central truths of Hinduism and Mahomedanism as the pillars of both religions.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Hinduism", "Islam" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 210, 211 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00234-0576378a6f68039fea31.webp", "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Hindu-Muslim Harmonisation", "chunk_data": "All the onslaughts which are being levelled against them in this age of free inquiry and bold criticism will tend, not to destroy them, but to purify them and develop their true principles. The signs of the times already indicate this process of purification and development; and I believe this process will gradually bring Hinduism and Mahomedanism, hitherto so hostile to each other, into closer union, till the two ultimately harmonise to form the future church of India.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen predicts that criticism will purify Hinduism and Mahomedanism and bring them into union in the future church of India.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Hinduism", "Islam" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 210, 211 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00234-0576378a6f68039fea31.webp", "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Complementary Religious Ideals", "chunk_data": "The Hindu's notion of God is sublime. In the earliest Hindu scriptures God is represented as the Infinite Spirit dwelling in His own glory, and pervading all space, full of peace and joy. On the other hand, the Mahomedans describe their God as infinite in power, governing the universe with supreme authority as the Lord of all. Hence the principal feature of the religion of the Hindu is quiet contemplation, while that of the religion of the Mahomedan is constant excitement and active service. One lives in a state of quiet communion with his God of peace; the other lives as a soldier, ever serving the Almighty Ruler, and crusading against evil. These are the primary elements of the two creeds, and if joined together, would form a beautiful picture of true theology, which will be realized in the future church of this country.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen presents Hindu contemplation and Mahomedan active service as complementary elements of future Indian theology.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Hinduism", "Islam" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 211 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp" ], "chunk_title": "A Composite Faith for India", "chunk_data": "As the two creeds undergo development, their errors and differences will disappear, and they will harmoniously coalesce in their fundamental and vital principles. The future creed of India will be a composite faith, resulting from the union of the true and divine elements of Hinduism and Mahomedanism, and showing the profound devotion of the one and the heroic enthusiasm of the other. The future sons and daughters of this vast country will thus inherit precious legacies from Hinduism and Mahomedanism, and, while enjoying the blessings of the highest and sweetest communion with the God of love, will serve Him in the battlefield of life with fidelity to truth and unyielding opposition to untruth and sin.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen describes a future Indian composite faith combining the divine elements of Hinduism and Mahomedanism.", "tags": [ "Religion", "India", "Hinduism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 211 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Christian Influence on India", "chunk_data": "As regards Christianity and its relation to the future church of India, I have no doubt in my mind that it will exercise great influence on the growth and formation of that church. The spirit of Christianity has already pervaded the whole atmosphere of the Indian society, and we breathe, think, feel, and move in a Christian atmosphere. Native society is being roused, enlightened, and reformed under the influence of Christian education. If it is true that the future of a nation is determined by all the circumstances and agencies which today influence its nascent growth, surely the future church of this country will be the result of the purer elements of the leading creeds of the day, harmonized, developed, and shaped under the influence of Christianity.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen states that Christianity is already influencing Indian society and will shape the future Indian church.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "India", "Education" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 211, 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp", "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "The Church Must Be National", "chunk_data": "But the future church of India must be thoroughly national; it must be an essentially Indian church. The future religion of the world I have described will be the common religion of all nations, but in each nation it will have an indigenous growth, and assume a distinctive and peculiar character. All mankind will unite in a universal church; at the same time, it will be adapted to the peculiar circumstances of each nation, and assume a national form. No country will borrow or mechanically imitate the religion of another country; but from the depths of the life of each nation its future church will naturally grow up. And shall not India have its own national church?", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen insists that India's future church must arise through indigenous national growth rather than imitation of foreign churches.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "India", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 9, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 211 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00235-bd4e98d8872df2e50240.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Norman McLeod's Indian Church View", "chunk_data": "Dr. Norman McLeod, in expounding last year, in this very hall, his ideas of the future church of this country, said emphatically that it would be a purely Indian church, and not a reproduction of any of the established churches of the west. Though I differ from that learned and liberal-minded gentleman in regard to the doctrine and tenets of that church as set forth by him, I fully agree with him that that church must have a strictly national growth and a national organization. Neither will Germany adopt the", "time": { "start_year": 1868, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1868-1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Norman McLeod", "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India", "Germany" ], "event": "Norman McLeod advocates a purely Indian church, and Keshub Chunder Sen agrees that it must have national growth and organization.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "India", "Church" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 10, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "India's Indigenous Religious Life", "chunk_data": "Neither will Germany adopt the religious life of China, nor will India which has religious traditions and associations, tastes and customs, peculiarly sacred and dear to her, just as every other country has, and it is idle to expect that she will forego these; nay, she cannot do so, as they are interwoven with her very life.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "Germany", "China", "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen argues that India's sacred traditions and customs are inseparable from its national religious life.", "tags": [ "Religion", "India", "Culture" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 11, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Universal Faith in Indian Form", "chunk_data": "In common with all other nations and communities, we shall embrace the theistic worship, creed, and gospel of the future church—we shall acknowledge and adore the Holy One, accept the love and service of God and man as our creed, and put our firm faith in God's almighty grace as the only means of our redemption. But we shall do all this in a strictly national and Indian style.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen describes India's participation in universal theistic worship through a distinctly Indian religious form.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Christianity", "India" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 12, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Indigenous Growth of the Church", "chunk_data": "We shall see that the future church is not thrust upon us, but that we independently and naturally grow into it; that it does not come to us as a foreign plant, but that it strikes its roots deep in the national heart of India, draws its sap from our national resources, and develops itself with all the freshness and vigour of indigenous growth.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen calls for India's future church to grow naturally from the national life rather than arrive as a foreign institution.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "India", "Church" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 13, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Unity in Diversity", "chunk_data": "One religion shall be acknowledged by all men, One God shall be worshipped throughout the length and breadth of the world; the same spirit of faith and love shall pervade all hearts; all nations shall dwell together in the Father's house—yet each shall have its own peculiar and free mode of action. There shall, in short, be unity of spirit, but diversity of forms; one body, but different limbs; one vast community, with members labouring, in different ways and according to their respective resources and peculiar tastes, to advance their common cause.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India", "England", "America" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen envisions one universal faith expressed through diverse national forms and modes of action.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Unity", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 14, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "A Universal Anthem of Faith", "chunk_data": "Thus India shall sing the glory of the Supreme Lord with Indian voice and with Indian accompaniments, and so shall England and America, and the various races and tribes and nations of the world, with their own peculiar voice and music, sing His glory; but all their different voices and peculiar modes of chanting shall commingle in one sweet and swelling chorus—one universal anthem proclaiming in solemn and stirring notes, in the world below and the heavens above, the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man'.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India", "England", "America" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen imagines the nations joining their distinct forms of worship in a universal anthem proclaiming God's fatherhood and human brotherhood.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Unity", "Worship" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 15, "chapter_name": "1869. Keshub Chunder Sen on an Indian National Church", "page_numbers": [ 212 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00236-582b23a90e3225bb7e48.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Prayer for the True Church", "chunk_data": "May the Merciful Lord hasten the advent of the true church, and establish peace and harmony among His children! And as His name has been solemnly chanted tonight in this splendid hall by an immense concourse of worshippers of various races and tribes, so may all His children assemble in His holy mansions, and blending their million voices in one grand chorus, glorify Him time without end.", "time": { "start_year": 1869, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1869, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1869 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Keshub Chunder Sen" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Keshub Chunder Sen concludes by praying for the advent of the true church and eternal harmony among people of all races and tribes.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Prayer", "Christianity" ] } } ] }