{ "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": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 170 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00194-252117656291cfd5dbaf.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Conference and Its Resolutions", "chunk_data": "108. RESOLUTIONS OF THE SOUTH INDIA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE, OOTACAMUND (1858 A.D.)\nThe first South India regional missionary conference was held at Ootacamund from 19 April to 5 May, 1858. Among the resolutions adopted were those given here on vernacular preaching, native agency, female education, educational policy, and caste. Proceedings of the South India Missionary Conference, pp. 157-158, 169-170, 209-210, 211-212, 294-295.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "19 April–5 May 1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "South India Missionary Conference" ], "places": [ "Ootacamund", "South India" ], "event": "The first South India regional missionary conference met at Ootacamund and adopted resolutions on missionary work.", "tags": [ "Christianity", "Missionaries", "Education" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 170 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00194-252117656291cfd5dbaf.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gospel in Vernacular Languages", "chunk_data": "Resolutions on Vernacular Preaching\n1. That this Conference unanimously acknowledges the obligation resting upon the Churches and their messengers to preach the Gospel to the people of India in their own tongues, as necessarily involved in their great commission; and that no apparent want of success attending the efforts to fulfil this duty can ever remove or diminish this obligation.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Churches" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference affirmed the obligation to preach the Gospel to Indians in their own languages.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Missionaries", "Vernacular Languages" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 170 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00194-252117656291cfd5dbaf.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Methods of Gospel Preaching", "chunk_data": "2. That in seeking to discharge this great duty every practicable method of bringing the truths of the Gospel to bear upon the Native mind may be legitimately employed, and that no one specific method can be justly set up as the Preaching of the Gospel to the exclusion of every other; and hence this Conference considers that the making known of the Gospel to children and youth, whether heathens or Christians, in classes or schools, and the more public proclamation of the same Gospel to all who will listen to it, in the streets of cities, towns and villages, or in any other place whatsoever, are only different departments of one and the same great work.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Children", "Youth" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference approved diverse methods of Gospel preaching, including schools, classes, and public proclamation.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Education", "Missionaries" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 170 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00194-252117656291cfd5dbaf.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Missionary Labour and Division", "chunk_data": "3. That as there are peculiar advantages attending each of the different methods employed by Missionaries in making known the truth, which cannot be obtained by any other method, it is highly desirable that they should all be employed in combination and harmony, and that, by means of a wise division of labour, every Missionary should, as far as practicable, take up that department of the work for which he is best fitted, and which appears best adapted to the locality in which he is called to labour.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference recommended combining missionary methods and assigning labour according to aptitude and locality.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Church Administration", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 170, 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00194-252117656291cfd5dbaf.webp", "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Itinerant Missionary Labour", "chunk_data": "4. That this Conference especially considers it of the highest importance that Itinerant Labours among the Natives of India, should be systematically pursued in connexion with every Mission, and that a due proportion of the agency of each Mission should be devoted to it; the agents so employed being relieved, for the time, as far as practicable, from other Missionary labours.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Missionary Agents" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged every mission to pursue systematic itinerant work among Indians.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Evangelism", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Need for More Missionary Agents", "chunk_data": "5. That in order to further the wide diffusion of the Gospel in this heathen land by means of Vernacular Preaching and the successful cultivation of its barren fields, a large increase of agency, both foreign and native, is most urgently needed; and that the earnest prayers of the Church should be continually addressed to \"the Lord of the Harvest, to send forth labourers into harvest'.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Foreign Missionaries", "Native Missionaries" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference called for more foreign and native missionary agents to expand vernacular preaching.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Religion", "Evangelism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Results of Vernacular Preaching", "chunk_data": "6. That the general result, believed to have been produced in favour of Christianity by the preaching of the Gospel in the Vernaculars, as well as the cases of actual conversion which have come to the knowledge of the Missionaries, demand our most grateful acknowledgement to preserve in this most important department of Missionary labour.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Christian Converts" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference expressed gratitude for the perceived benefits and conversions resulting from vernacular preaching.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Conversions", "Missionaries" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Qualifications of Native Agents", "chunk_data": "Resolutions on Native Agency\n1. That while fully acknowledging the vast importance of obtaining a large increase of Agents able to proclaim to the masses of the people the unsearchable riches of Christ in their own tongue, the Conference deeply feels that the first and most anxious care should be, that such Agents be men of decided and earnest piety, characterized by self-denial and devotion, and endowed with a fair measure of intellectual ability and power of communicating knowledge.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Native Christian Agents" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference defined piety, devotion, self-denial, intellect, and communication skills as essential qualities for native agents.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Religion", "Leadership" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 9, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Training Native Teachers", "chunk_data": "2. That where men of this kind are found in the Native Churches they should receive a special training for their work, and that the nature of that training must depend upon their previous attainments, their age, and class of people among whom they are to labour; but that in every case a sound Biblical and Theological education is indispensable, and that in many cases a high degree of general culture is of the greatest importance, in order that the different classes of the people requiring instruction may each be furnished with teachers suited to their circumstances.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Native Teachers", "Native Churches" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference called for specialized training and sound Biblical and theological education for native agents.", "tags": [ "Education", "Missionaries", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 10, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 171 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00195-68eb1406d891427834a0.webp" ], "chunk_title": "English Training for Leaders", "chunk_data": "3. That while, in reference to the class of teachers required in the present state of many of the Missions in this country, a sufficient amount of human learning, in addition to Biblical training, may be imparted through the medium of the Vernaculars, yet, for the higher cultivation of those who are to labour among their more intelligent countrymen living in cities and large provincial towns, and especially those who may be ordained over churches in such places, the English language affords facilities and secures advantages of great importance not otherwise to be obtained; nor, as experience proves, is such English training necessarily with any injury to their character and labours.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Native Teachers", "Ordained Ministers" ], "places": [ "India", "Cities", "Provincial Towns" ], "event": "The Conference endorsed English training for native leaders serving educated communities and urban churches.", "tags": [ "Education", "Missionaries", "Language" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 11, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Remuneration of Native Ministers", "chunk_data": "4. That in regard to the remuneration of Native Teachers and Ministers, the Conference considers that a scale of payment suitable to one locality may not be applicable to another. It believes that in determining the salaries of their Agents, viz. (1) The probable position which such men would have occupied had they not entered upon Missionary service. (2) The general condition and social standing of the people among whom they labour.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Native Teachers", "Native Ministers" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference stated that native agents' salaries should reflect local conditions and their likely status outside missionary service.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Economics", "Church Administration" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 12, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Developing Native Agency", "chunk_data": "5. That in view of all that has been done in this direction, the Conference acknowledges the goodness of God in raising up so many, godly and able Native Agents; but believes that much yet remains to be done in order to secure an agency worthy of the work, and for this our eyes must be directed to the great Head of the Church, whose prerogative it is to raise up men after his own heart, endow them largely with self-denial and true devotion, and fill them with the knowledge of divine things, and with burning compassion for perishing souls.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Native Agents" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference acknowledged the growth of native agency while calling for further development of devoted and capable workers.", "tags": [ "Missionaries", "Religion", "Leadership" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 13, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Christian Female Education", "chunk_data": "Resolutions on Native Female Education\n1. The Conference having fully considered the subject of Native Female Education recognizes the paramount importance of educating, on sound Christian principles, the females of this land.\n2. They consider that Boarding Institutions for females have served, and do still serve, a most valuable purpose in saving souls, training agents for Mission work, and furnishing suitable wives for educated Christian men.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian Women", "Christian Women" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference affirmed the importance of Christian female education and boarding institutions.", "tags": [ "Education", "Women", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 14, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Female Day Schools", "chunk_data": "3. They believe also, that a widely extended system of Christian day-schools for females is a most important method of reaching the masses of the people, and that these should be prosecuted to the greatest practicable extent.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian Women", "Christian Missionaries" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference promoted widespread Christian day schools for females as a means of reaching the population.", "tags": [ "Education", "Women", "Missionaries" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 15, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Public Support for Female Education", "chunk_data": "4. That in view of the great difficulties encountered in this work the Conference would strongly urge the necessity of vigorous efforts to form an enlightened national sentiment among the Natives of India, in favour of female education, through the press and by lectures, and to create a Vernacular literature for the schools and for females generally.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian People", "Christian Educators" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged the creation of public support and vernacular literature for female education.", "tags": [ "Education", "Women", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 16, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 172 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00196-1dd3b4387fedf4964f49.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Missionaries' Wives and Girls' Schools", "chunk_data": "5. That this Conference deeply feels the importance of Vernacular day-schools for girls of all classes being, as far as practicable, under the personal superintendence of Missionaries' wives, or other Christian ladies interested in female education; and that Christian friends in Europe and America should be encouraged to send out and adequately sustain as many devoted and well qualified female agents as they can, to co-operate with the Missionaries' wives and others in this great work.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries' Wives", "Christian Women", "Female Agents" ], "places": [ "India", "Europe", "America" ], "event": "The Conference called for Christian women to supervise vernacular girls' schools and support female missionary agents.", "tags": [ "Education", "Women", "Missionaries" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 17, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 173 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00197-7f7ce0127a8aaac3b58d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Thank Offering Memorial", "chunk_data": "6. That they also most cordially approve of the proposal, circulated throughout the Madras Presidency, by several ladies in Madras, under the designation of 'A Thank Offering Memorial for 1857,' and earnestly pray that it may be practically followed up in the manner proposed, and signally crowned with the divine blessing. All the Missions, they fully believe, will do all in their power to aid in carrying out this truly Christian project.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Women in Madras", "Christian Missionaries" ], "places": [ "Madras", "Madras Presidency" ], "event": "The Conference approved the proposed Thank Offering Memorial for 1857 and encouraged missions to support it.", "tags": [ "Women", "Missionaries", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 18, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 173 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00197-7f7ce0127a8aaac3b58d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Government Education and Christianity", "chunk_data": "Resolutions on the Government System of Education\n1. That this Conference believes that the secular knowledge which has been imparted to many Native youths by means of the Government system of education has been a real benefit, notwithstanding the serious evil of the exclusion of the Bible; they believe that it is better that the Native mind should be disabused of the absurdities of the prevailing systems, and prepared by a true knowledge of history and science and by a healthy discipline, to receive, intellectually at least, the Divine system of Christianity.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian Youths", "Government Educators" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference recognized the benefits of secular government education while criticizing the exclusion of the Bible.", "tags": [ "Education", "Government", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 19, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 173 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00197-7f7ce0127a8aaac3b58d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Bible Teaching in Government Schools", "chunk_data": "2. That they desire to give expression to their most solemn and deliberate conviction, that it is the duty of the Christian Government of this Heathen and Mohammedan country, not only to impart to all who will receive it true knowledge on all secular subjects; but also to abstain from all teaching of Hindu and Mohammedan errors in their schools, while, in order to afford the fullest opportunity to all the pupils of learning the true nature of the Christian religion from the Bible itself, they should introduce it into all their schools in order to be read each day during the first hour of teaching, and that the attendance of the pupils during that hour should be voluntary. Moreover they consider that it should be publicly declared by the Government that all teachers in Government Schools are at full liberty to teach the Word of God to those of their pupils who may be desirous to study it, and that in the working of the schools suitable arrangements should be made for that purpose.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Government Teachers", "Indian Pupils" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged the government to introduce voluntary daily Bible reading and permit teachers to teach the Word of God.", "tags": [ "Education", "Government", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 20, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 173 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00197-7f7ce0127a8aaac3b58d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Rebellion as Divine Warning", "chunk_data": "3. That it is notorious that such has not been the course pursued by the Government in the past, except in some isolated and recent instances, it cannot but have been that its conduct has been offensive to Him who has said, 'He that is not with me is against me;' and while the Conference would not presume to interpret minutely the dispensations of Divine Providence, they cannot but call to mind the authority which says, 'The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish'; and feel that the terrible calamities which have recently fallen on this land are at once a chastisement for the past and a warning for the future.", "time": { "start_year": 1857, "start_month": 5, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1857–1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "South India Missionary Conference", "British Government" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference interpreted the recent calamities associated with the 1857 uprising as divine chastisement and warning.", "tags": [ "Rebellion of 1857", "Government", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 21, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 173, 174 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00197-7f7ce0127a8aaac3b58d.webp", "raw\\pages\\00198-9cb51daa6e9b66caead7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Vernacular Schools for the Masses", "chunk_data": "4. The Conference is further of opinion, that the Government should put forth the most determined efforts to cover the whole land with good elementary Vernacular Schools, as such are best adapted to meet the wants of the masses of the people, and raise them from their present degradation and ignorance. They believe that this is demanded not only as a matter of justice on behalf of the toiling millions who are mainly the producers of the revenue, but also that it would be the wisest policy on the part of Government, which would thus really strengthen its hold on the masses of the people, by teaching them to appreciate more truly its benevolent designs, both in this department, and in that of the development of the physical resources of the country, as well as in all other measures intended to promote their social and national advancement.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian People", "British Government" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged the government to establish elementary vernacular schools throughout India for the education and advancement of the masses.", "tags": [ "Education", "Government", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 22, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 174 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00198-9cb51daa6e9b66caead7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Selecting School Administrators", "chunk_data": "5. That in view of the vast importance of the subject of Government instruction in its bearing on the moral and social well-being of the people of India, it is in the highest degree desirable that great care should be exercised in the selection and appointment of unexceptionable persons to have the charge and oversight of these institutions.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Government School Administrators" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference called for careful selection of morally unexceptionable administrators for government schools.", "tags": [ "Education", "Government", "Administration" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 23, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 174 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00198-9cb51daa6e9b66caead7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Removing Heathen Content", "chunk_data": "6. That it is much to be wished that the Government should fully enunciate, and in all cases consistently carry out, what is believed to be now their wish and intention, that all books used in their institutions should be entirely freed from every thing favouring heathen ideas; and that, therefore, all invocations of Heathen divinities, passages inculcating Caste, Fate, or the Metempsychosis, and all impure and equivocal expressions should be carefully expunged.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British Government", "Indian Students" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged the removal of heathen religious references, caste, fate, metempsychosis, and improper expressions from government schoolbooks.", "tags": [ "Education", "Religion", "Government" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 24, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 174 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00198-9cb51daa6e9b66caead7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Government Grants-in-Aid", "chunk_data": "7. That while undoubtedly much diversity of opinion exists among various bodies of Christians as to the propriety of accepting pecuniary aid from any secular Government in the prosecution of their work, no correct estimate can be formed of the tendency and character of the effort of Government for the instruction of the masses of its subjects in India, without a reference to the question of Grants-in-Aid; and that in the provision made for the grant of pecuniary assistance to such conductors of Missionary Schools as feel at liberty to avail themselves of it, a convincing proof is afforded of the desire of the Government to assist in extending the benefits of education, by all available means, to all classes of the people.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Christian Bodies", "British Government", "Missionary School Conductors" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference discussed government grants-in-aid for missionary schools as evidence of official support for mass education.", "tags": [ "Education", "Government", "Missionaries" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 25, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 174, 175 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00198-9cb51daa6e9b66caead7.webp", "raw\\pages\\00199-98d483971e1bd004332e.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Caste as Religious Institution", "chunk_data": "Resolutions on Caste\n1. That this Conference regard Hindu caste, both in theory and practice, as not a mere civil distinction, but emphatically a religious institution; and viewed in this, its true character, it is the monster evil of India, so paramount and all-prevailing in its power and influence, so tyrannical and cruel in its laws and regulations, so stern and exacting in its demands, so terrific in its denunciations of present and future punishment for the slightest offence, and yet so changeful and accommodating in its manifestations, that it is no marvel that millions have for ages fallen prostrate before it, and that no arm of flesh can deliver them from its thraldom.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Hindus", "Missionaries" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference characterized Hindu caste as a powerful and oppressive religious institution rather than merely a civil distinction.", "tags": [ "Caste", "Religion", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 26, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 175 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00199-98d483971e1bd004332e.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Exposing the Evils of Caste", "chunk_data": "2. That it is the duty of all Missionaries to spare no pains, on all proper occasions, to expose the absurdities and falsehood, and denounce the wickedness of caste, to show its great injuriousness to all classes of its votaries, and its great obstructiveness to all efforts for the improvement of their temporal condition, as well as its soul-destroying influence.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Caste Adherents" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference instructed missionaries to expose caste's falsehood, cruelty, social harm, and spiritual danger.", "tags": [ "Caste", "Missionaries", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 27, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 175 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00199-98d483971e1bd004332e.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Renunciation of Caste", "chunk_data": "3. That it is also the duty of all Missionaries and Churches to require its unreserved and unequivocal renunciation, with all its outward manifestations, by all those who take up the profession of Christianity, and join the ranks of the Redeemer. No man should be regarded as worthy the name of Christian who refuses to renounce caste and to remove all its outward marks, or who objects to any kind of intercourse, with any other Christians, simply on the ground of its distinctions.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Missionaries", "Christian Converts", "Indian Christians" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference required converts and churches to renounce caste and remove its outward marks.", "tags": [ "Caste", "Christianity", "Conversion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 28, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 175 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00199-98d483971e1bd004332e.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Preventing the Return of Caste", "chunk_data": "4. That the greatest vigilance is indispensably necessary to prevent the return of this evil spirit after it has once been cast out, and to guard against the power of habit which it has so deeply inwrought into the very souls and hearts of men. Let a holy sagacity and an unbending firmness be constantly employed in detecting and opposing all its workings, in all the intercourse of the Christian life.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Indian Christians", "Missionaries" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference urged constant vigilance to prevent caste practices from returning among Christians.", "tags": [ "Caste", "Christianity", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 29, "chapter_name": "1858. Resolutions of the South India Missionary Conference, Ootacamund", "page_numbers": [ 175 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00199-98d483971e1bd004332e.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Opposing Caste in Government", "chunk_data": "5. That it is the duty of all Christians to unite in protesting against all recognition of caste in all the public acts of Government, whether direct or indirect, and in the whole of the Military and Civil Services. Caste should be a thing entirely unknown in its connection.", "time": { "start_year": 1858, "start_month": 4, "start_date": 19, "end_year": 1858, "end_month": 5, "end_date": 5, "time_display": "1858" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Christians", "Government Officials", "Military Personnel", "Civil Servants" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The Conference called on Christians to oppose every official recognition of caste in government, military, and civil services.", "tags": [ "Caste", "Government", "Social Reform" ] } } ] }