The Study of Church History

(We present below three papers, slightly shortened, read at. a Conference
of Teachers of Church HiStory in B.D. Colleges, held at Leonard Theo-
logical College, ]abalpur, under the auspices of the Senate of Serampore
College (University) in pecember 1956.) __ -
"'
I. THE VALUE OF CHURCH HISTORY

MARVYN H. HARPER

It is usually taken for granted that a patriotic citizen should

be familiar with the history of his own country. Such knowledge
makes for better citizenship, for greater stability of government,
and for more harmonious community life. It is not taken for
granted that a member of the Church should be acquainted with
the history of the Christian movement. Yet such information
would make him not only -a more useful member -of his own
denomination but a much more vital factor in the spread of the
Kingdom of God; Members -of congregations will not becoine
familiar with the main features of the history of the Church
unless their pastors instruct them, and pastors will not have the
ability or incentive to give such instruction unless their interest
in Church History has been stimulated and guided while they
were theological students. Those who are being trafued to be-
come pastors and leaders of the Church will find the study of
Church History of value for a better understanding of the
development of Christian faith and order, as source material for
pastoral work, for guidance in conducting the affairs ·of the
Church, for the enrichment of their own devotional life- and that
of -their congregations, and for a deeper appreciation of the
significance of Jesus Christ in huinan history. A knowledge of
Chmch History· is basic for the study of most of the other
branches in- the theological curriculum.
I. The study of Church History is essential for one who
would have a better knowledge of the doctrines and creeds which
set forth the Christian faith and of the development of· the
-organization of the Church- through which the Christian move-
ment finds expression. There are two tendencies abroad in the
Church today, both of which are likely to cause trouble to the
young pastor. The first is the tendency on the part of some to
:minimize the importance of theology and doctrine in the life of
the average Christian. The -creeds are archaic, they say, and
most- of the doctrines are super:8uou5 and unrelated to everyday
39
 experience. There are. others who tend to lay excessive emphasis
on certain doctrines to the practical exclusion of all others, parti-
cularly of those which do not accord with ~eir own the~logi~al ·
point of view. As a .matter of fact, no doctrine can be giVen 1ts
rightful place until its history is known. No one has a right to
expres~ his judgement on the creeds who is unacquainted with
thejr rise and development. Similarly, the undue emphasis laid
upon certain doctrines, often leading to a departure from sound
Christian teaching, may be recognized by the student of Church
:History as some discredited · ·ancient heresy in modem garb.
Having become previously acquainted with such tendencies
through his study of Church . History the pastor . will not be
thrown off his balance by the arguments of those who belittle the
importance of do(!trines and creeds or of those who distort theo-
logy to serve their own purposes. On the conti:ary, he will be
able to interpret the beliefs .of the Church in such a way as to
win their acceptance by those who seek -the truth .
.: Similarly, familiarity with the history of the institution of the
sacraments, . the development of the ministry, the- ·growth of
organization; and the rise of denominations within the Church is
essential for one who will effectively and intelligently -guide his
O\VD congregation and participate in the councils of his Church.
The study of Church History gives the theological student firmer
foundations for the study of other subjects in the theological
syllabus. The ai>plication of the Scriptures to life, the inter-
pretation of theology in the historical setting of the Christian
movement, the contact of Christianity with non-Christian
religion in ~y lands, the interaction of Christian thought
with world philosophies, the ability to gather believers into
congregations, to teach them and lead · them in the worship of
God-these and many other aspects of theological education are
enriched through an acquaintan~ with the history of the Church.
- 2. Church History provides source material for more
.effective pastoral work. The history of the Church should be
.regarded as a veritable gold mine of sermonic material. Apt
illustrations and gripping tales to fit any tum of thought may be
had for the seeking. Sometimes an incident or a reference from
history will light up a point in a sermon much more effectively
than reference to a contemporary situation. No one will deny
the value of drawing sermon illustrations from the Old Testament,
but it is to be regretted that many ministers fail to make use of
the even richer source of sermonic materials to be found in the
record of God's dealing with men in the ages which have
followed the supreme revelation of Himself in His Son Jesus
Christ. · -
One who reads such a work as John T. McNeill's A History
.of the Cure of Souls will be impressed with the contribution
which a study of Church History can make to his parish ministry.
Considerable emphasis is being laid today upon pastoral (!OUnsel-
ling.. It. will be helpful to the studei:tt to learn how ministers of
40
past· generations have sought to meet the spiritual problems- of'
their people. St. Francis and Luther, among many others, have
much to teach about the use of spiritual resources in healin'g·
men's mental, physical and spiritual ills. . · · •· ·
3. As the student learns to live in fellowship with the sain~s
and mystics of the past ·there will come an enrichment of his
devotional life, an enrichment which he will later be able to share
with his congregation. The devotional writings of Augustine,
Luther, Tauler, the ancient prayers of the Church, the great
hymns of Christendom, provide spiritual nourishment for our
own times even as for Christians of earlier generations. It is our
privilege as teachers to induct our students into the fellowship
of the saints. · .
4. The knowledge of Church History will prove of consider-
able value to those upon whom wilLrest the responsibility of
guiding the affairs of the Church. One of the best preventives
of a repetition of past mistakes is to be forewarned, and thus
forearmed, by a_ study of the facts of history. Many of the
problems now confronting Church leaders have had their
parallels in the past. Many methods of Church government
which have proved successful in earlier periods may be found
useful for our own day. Church History may thus serve both as
a corrective and guide. The stabilizing influence of an acquaint-
ance with history is not to be overlooked. Amid the kaleido-
scopic changes of our complex civilized life, when it may seem
that the very foundations of the Christian way of life are being
undermined by the forces of evil and destruction, we may stand
firm in the compelling faith that chaos will not win the race. . We
still look for the City of God, whose foundations will never be
shaken. This sure faith is convincingly set- forth by one of the
greatest of modem Church historians, Kenneth Scott Latourette,
. in the concluding chapter of his most recent work, A History of
Christianity. . · . . , . ·
As the Church confronts our complex age her leaders may
gain guidance and encouragement from the experiences of past
leaders. What is more inspiring than the magnificent courage of
Bishop Ambrose in calling the great Emperor Theodosius · to
account ; the bold stand of Leo I against the foreign invaders in
Italy ; the thrilling life battle of Hildebrand against the foes of
the Church ; the winsome love service of Saint Francis ; the
daring ventures of Roger Bacon into realms forbidden ; .· the
challenging crusade of Luther ; the marvellously effective spiritual
renaissance wrought by Loyola ; the passion of social prophets of
recent times ? · · ·
The architects of Church Union also have much to learn
from the study of Church Histor)r.' John T. McNep!, in his
Unitive Protestantism, has rendered a most valuable se~ice in
·counteracting the generally ·accepted-criticism that Protestantism
has been divisive a:ild that the _Protestant .theology has been
-largely responsible for the .. growth of so large a number of
41
denominations. He reminds · us that .there is · a fundamental
Protestant catholicity, an ecumenical outlook. Luther, Bucher
and Melanchthon all lent their support to reunion activities.
Calvin wrote extensively on the Biblical arid theological bases of
Christian reunion. Cranmer vigorously worked for a Reformed
Consensus. Other writers on the subject of Church Union have
drawn lessons from the past history of the Church: It is clear
that the prospects for the successful consummation of Christian
reunion will be immeasurably greater if there can be a wider
study of the history of the Church, both by leaders and ordinary
members. · ·
5. And, finally~ a study of Church History will lead to a
deeper appreciation of the person and work of the Founder of
the Church. The full significance of the life and work of Jesus
Christ cannot be exhaustively revealed within the limits of the
New Testament. As we note the marvellous touch of Christ, not
only upon His immediate disciples and followers, but also upon
an Origen, an Augustine, a Francis, a Luther, a Tolstoy, a Kagawa,
we begin to sense the real meaning of His life. As Latourette
has observed, 'To be seen in its proper perspective the entire
course of mankind on the planet must be surveyed with reference
to Christ, from the incarnation in Jesus Christ, through his
teaching, deeds, life, and resurrection, and it is no accident but of
the-very stuff of history that chronology is measured as B.C.-
before Christ-and A.D., anno· Domini, the year of the Lord of
men and of history.' · ·
· At a time when the traditional religions of India are awaking
and are setting forth their claims for consideration as world
religions, reinterpreting the work and influence of the founders
and leaders of their own faiths in modern terms, often seeking
to equate them in influence and authority with Jesus Christ, it
is all the more important that we assist our students, through the
study of the pages of Church History, to arrive at an adequate
appraisal of the claims of Jesus as 'the Lord ·of men and of
History'.. '
II. THE STUDY OF CHURCH HISTORY
c. E. ABRAHAM
What is Church History ?
·In discussing Church History curricula there are certain
preliminary questions that need to be asked, as these have a bear-
ing on the subject. The lirst of these questions is ' What is
Church History ? ' In Church History wbat are· we most con-
cerned with ? Is it the history of the origin and development
of the Church as an institution, or the history of the emergence
and development of the Christian faith, its conflict with other
faiths and the vicissitudes of its career down ·the ages ? Or,
·umiting the idea of faith· still further, is it the development of the
:42
.convicticn1s and of the· point of view that one holds and· tracing·
them back tprough ·the centuries and finding confirmation· for. the
same in the New Testament? Or, yet again, taking a broader
view, may we define Church History as the history of the develop-
ment of the interaction of three forces in human history-the
Gospel, the Church and the World (this is how Bishop Stephen
Neill chose to describe Church History in a recent conference of
Church historians held in Bossey in Switzerland). As far as the
present writer is concerned he would plead for the broader rather
than the narrower conception of Church History and from this
point of view Church Histoiy may be defined as the story of the
people of God known as Christians, in their understanding of
the faith that held them together, and in their attempt to express
that faith in terms relevant to the life of the individual ·and
society, and in their efforts to uphold and propagate that faith in
the world in the face of rival faiths and no faiths. In other
words Church History is the history of the Church as understand-
ing, interpreting, expressing and propagating its faith in the
world. Church History, to put it negatively, is not the history
of Christian ideas nor the history of the culture of people· who
have become Christians, but positively, it is the story of the way
in which people all over the world have reacted and still do react
to the Christian Gospel. This reaction is a continuing process
and Church History therefore is a contin~ng history~ To change·
the metaphor, it is the story of a whole army on the march and
not the despatches of war correspondents on selected engage-
ments in the campaign launched by our Lord. If Ch'urch History
is vie-Wed in the comprehensive manner suggested above it may
be objected that it embraces the whole field of theological studies,
iricluding Christian doctrine, liturgics and Christian . ethics.
There is no intention to lay claim to all these fields to be included
in the scope of Church History, but it is well to bear in mind the
close relation that different branches of theological discipline
have one towards one another and especially to Church History.

Why study Church History?

Another question that is pertinent to our enquiry is 'Why
study Church History ? ' The reason for the study of a subject
is vitally related to its nature ; in fact the latter often determines
the former. If we look at the past history of the teaching of
Church History in India we may see certain trends in the reasons
for such study. These trends are by no means confined to schools
or teachers in India and may be illustrated from other countries
too. · · ·
·Church History has be€m ·studied and taught for dogmatic
and apologetic purposes and very often in the interests of parti-
cular denominations. The .. Church History Dep~taf:!on. to .the
43
 Orient observed that ' When practical values are sought in the
study of Church History, sometimes they are restricted largely to
apologetic ·or dogmatic interests, as though the chief purpose in
studying Christian history was to defend the validity of a parti-
cular kind of ecclesiastical organization, ritual practice or
doctrinal formula ' (Report of the Chtrrch History Deputation to
the Orient, September 1931 to March 1932, p. 74). It may be
asserted with confidence that this observation is much less true
today of schools in India than when it was written 24 years ago.
Yet it cannot be said that this attitude is fast disappearing. No
one would care. to belittle the value of the witness to truth that
different groups or denominations are bearing in the present
divided state of the Church in the world. Every bit of truth
rieeds to be · conserved and safeguarded for the Chu:rch that is
fu~ .
. A consequence, however, of this dogmatic and denomina-
tional approach has been that the study of. Church History has
tended to become patchy, parted and one-sided. To some there
is little or no Church History after the Council of Chalcedon
or at best after the first seven ecumenical councils, or between the
New Testament and the Reformation; other periods are of
interest only as exhibiting the idiosyncrasies of particular indivi-
duals and sects. By implication this may be construed as
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, who is supposed to have been
on holiday except at particular periods of one's choice.
A point of view that may be subscribed to by all of u:s is
that concentration on a particular epoch or era should not mean
blindness to the workings of the ·Holy Spirit of God in the history
of men at other times.
In contrastto this mode of approach to the study of Church
History a new attitude is being developed in recent times as a
result of two. causes..!....( a) a scientific view of history, (b) the
ecumenical outlook of the Church. As historical methods be-
come more scientific there is a likelihood of history being written
and studied more objectively, though it is doubtful, human beings
as we are, whether the shadow of subjectivity will ever be
detached from 'the works of man. Every statement of fact is an
' interpretation and an unbiased historian, as someone has said,
is a phenomenon. Again as the ectimenical movement gains
ground throughout the world the denominational view of Church
loses in respectabilitY. But it is by no means clear that the tide
has turned in favour of ecumenism as yet. · All the indications
are that a new bout of confessionalism provoked by ecumenism
is much in evidence in various parts of the world. Ecomenism
itself may becqme a phobia as bad as denominationalism, but if
historians seek to serve the vital interests of truth preserved in
these two approaches this new ecumenical attitude has every
chance of being established ·on a secure. foundation. ··
44
 How to study Church History
The value for inspiration and guidance of the study of
Church History has perhaps not received adequate attention in
India and this aspect therefore will bear stressing again. The
truth in Carlyle's dictum that the Bible of every nation is its
history needs to be brought home to the Church in India. An-
other thinker expresses the same truth even more forcibly by
saying: ' All our hopes of the future. depend on a sound under-
standing of the past.' If illumination for the problems of the
present is to be sought in the lessons of the past, history should
be studied in such a way as to yield its meaning for the present
generation. Church Histqry should outlive its reputation of
being ' a graveyard study ' concerned with the dry bones of the
·dates and events of the past, but must become a study of issues
that are of vital relevance to us at the present time. Then only
can history act as ' the best cordial for drooping spirits ' in accord-·
ance with a prescription given long ago by a celebrated
historian.
' · It is against this background that the present vvTiter would
make the suggestion that the best results are perhaps obtained
by a combination of an intensive study of the history of one ,
period or country with a survey course of the ecumenical history
that is apposite to that period or country. By intensive study is
meant not merely acquaintance with the details of developments
in the Church but also observation and study of the Church
(understood in the wider sense of the community of God's people)
in relation. to its environment on the one hand and its objectives
on the other ; or in other words, the Church, the Gospel and the
World in their relations to one another. Dr. Latourette in his
seven volumes described by the Oxford University as a seven-fold
shield against ignorance has given a notable demonstration of
this method. He asks three main questions among others with
regard to the different periods in Church History he deals with :
(i) What effect has Christianity had on its environment?
(ii) What has been the· effect of the environment on
Christianity ?
(iii) What bearing do the. processes ·by which Christianity
spread have upon the effect of Christianity on its environ-
ment, and of the environment upon Christianity, or in
other words what are the causes of success and failure
in reaching the objectives before the Church?
If, as stated above; the object of our study of the past is to ·
find illumination for the present a detailed study along the lines
indicated above is essential. Again it is best done in relation to a
country with which the student and the teacher are most familiar,
preferably one's own country. There is only one proviso to be
thought of and that is that the history of Christianity in that
country shoUld extend ovei a fairly long period, say a century,
so as to afford ·the data for the above enquiry. To. take a:rl
3 45
illustration we may list some of the problems facing the Church
in India today : · . . . .
(a) the union of churches and questions regarding
. the minisb:y and the sacraments raised in this
connection,
(b) the naturalizing of the Church in the cultural soil of
the . country,
(c) the most. effective methods of Christian propaganda,
(d) the nature of Christian literature for apologetic and
instructional purposes, ·
(e) the ministry of lay people, including that of women,
(f) how best to apply ·Christian principles in the social,
economic and political aspects of the life of the
nation?
In the. solution of these and other problems a study. of
Christian history should prove of the utmost service. It is then
with such a purpose in View that an intensive study of selected
periods or areas of Church History should be taken up in every
theological institution.
This intensive study must, however, go hand in hand with a
comprehensive survey, a panoramic view of the· particular period
or area covered so that the field of study may be seen in itS
proper perspective. While we are seeking answers to our ques-
tions it may happen that we may not be able to see the wood for
the trees, hence the need for the right kind of background to
our study. It is a truism to say that when we isolate a period or
area in history we mutilate it ; it is only as a part of the general
ongoing ~hristian movement that we can see the histo;y of a p~­
cular penod or area or of a group of churches m the nght
perspective. This does not presuppose ·that the historian
assumes an alignment of all the churches all. down the centuries
in an ecumenical movement starting from the first century, read-
ing into the past what is not to be seen there. Even when con-
flict rather than unity seems to be the keynote of inter-church
relations, as in the period of the great theological controversies or
in that of the Great Divide in Church History in the eleventh
century, it is well to see the different churches again!;t the total
background of the main currents of Church life in the period.
Perhaps a discerning observer may detect underlying bonds of
unity in the Church's life behind apparent tension and conflict.
· Thus a comprehensive survey is as important as an intensive
study of a particular period and one may be taken as comple-
mentary to the other. ·
III. THE TEACHING OF INDIAN CHURCH HISTORY
H. w; GENSJ:CHEN .
The subject of this paper should not be· viewed in isolation
but in the context of the teaching of Church His.tocy in general,
46
 or rather in the still wider context of the Christian interpretation
of history. If it is true that, as has been said by a great
historiographer, even the study of general history will necessarily
end up in theology; the teaching of church history is a theological
task of the first order, and its methods and aims cannot merely
be governed by the requirements of a degree course. It must
take into account the broader principles suggested by the first
historian of the church, St. Luke, when he, in his account of
the Day of Pentecost, referred to 'ta megaleia tou theou ', the
mighty works of God, as the substance of what we would call
church history (Acts 2: 11). · ·
The first principle implied in this definition has to do with
. the factual character of God's acting in church history. Just as
the incarnation of the Logos in Jesus Christ was an historical fact,
the history of the church moves on on the level of actual facts,
not on the level of Lessing's general truths of reason or on the
level of pious imagination and wishful thinking. The obligation
to distinguish properly between facts and conjectures, history
and legend, is based on the incarnation itself. No teaching of
Church History is worth while unless it takes the factual character
of the mighty works of God seriously.
. . The second principle involves the recognition ·that the
mighty works of God as such can be discerned by faith only.
Neither the incarnation nor the ongoing history of the church as
the Body of Christ in this world is evident, plausible or demon~.
strable apart from the internal testimonr of the Holy Spirit.
Church History is not in itself a part o God's revelation. It
shows the ongoing story of our salvation as hidden under what
Goethe deemed a blend of human error and violence, or, in the
words of Blaise Pascal, its deepest meaning is the continuing
struggle of Jesus with the powers of darkness till the end of
time. No teaching of. Church History is worth while unless it
makes room for this constant challenge to the faith of those who
teach and those who learn.

The Factual Cha1"act~r of Church History

. Applying this to the teaching of indian Church History, the
first principle alone . rev~ls · a task of tremendous magnitude.
The docetic trend of Indian thought, its tendency to disregard
hiStorical facts seems to create an ever-present smoke-screen
behind which the facts are vanishing, dissolved into ideological
or legendary mists. This is amply home out by the lack of
reliable Indian sources for the study of Indian Church History
as well as in everyday class-room practice with students to whom
a hundred, if not a thousand, years are easily as one da)'. They
will ~t~ with full assurance-to quote just two examples fro!D
exammation papers-that Thomas of Cana, who settled down m
Malabar some time between the fourth and the eighth century,
was a 'rich American·, or that Thomas Aquinas had a distinct
47
 aversion agamst Luther, and it is not easy to convince them that
such details of chronology really matter. A reliable up-to-date
Church History of India remains still to be written and is probably
the most i.nimediate need for the proper teaching of this subject,
not to speak of the long-felt wish for a series of authentic
biographies of great men and women of the Indian church, a
foretaste of which was given in Bishop Neill's Builders of the
Indian Church (now unfortUnately out of print).
Turning to the various periods of the history of Christianity
. in India, it must be stated with gratitude that the confusion
prevailing hitherto with regard to the earliest period has now
largely been overcome since the publication of Bishop Brown's
book on ' The Indian Christians of St. Thomas ' (1956) . . This .
is not the place to show in detail what remains of the
whole complex body . of St. Thomas' traditions after an analysis
from the point of view of modem impartial research, as carried
out by Bishop BroWn. Suffice it to say that there is definitely
no evidence for a mission of St. Thomas to South India. Neither
Malabar nor Mylapore has any demonstrable claim to an
apostolic mission. It may ·be possible to make out a case for
St. Thomas' coming to the Parthian India .of the north-west.
But if there was such a mission nothing is known about the
church that has grown out of it. .
It will be the urgent task of the teaching of Indian Church
History to focus all attention on what can reasonably be
established about the coming into history of the Indian church.
Nobody need be afraid of lack of material or boredom if con-
- jectures are consistently substituted by facts. There is a good
deal of excitement left in the story of early Indian Christianity.
There is also considerable scope for the expansion of our know-
ledge of the facts. . To give just one example: not a single English
work on Indian church history, including Bishop Brown's book,
has as yet taken note of Mani's visit to India in 240 or 241,
though his own description of it has been available for about
twenty years. All in all, the teaching of early Indian Church
History offers all the attraction of, and demands all the care
necessary for, cultivating a largely virgin soil, even if we have
to assume that the story.· began with the coming of Christian
traders from East Syria or Persia rath~r than with an apostolic
mission. And what is more, there is simply no substitute for
all the .lessons on the problems of ' indigenization ' of Christianity,
both in a positive and in a negative sense, than that which can be
derived from a study of the further developments of the Syrian
Church in India. In any event, the teaching of early Indian
Church History has only to gain if it will henceforth more
rigorously submit itself to the apostolic maxim that ' we cannot
do anything against the truth'.
· Bishop Brown's book will also be ofgreat valuefor the study
of the post-Portuguese period of Indian Church History. It will
help the teacher. more carefully to distingUish between light and
48
shade in the expansion of the Roman Church, specially in relation
to the Syrian Christians, as full use has been made of the sources
from both sides. It has become customary to· think, for example,
of the actions of Archbishop Menezes in terms of ecclesiastical
imperialism only. But it ought not to be forgotten that the
Jesuits made persistent efforts to eradicate many Hindu practices
current among the Syrian Christians and to stimulate in them a
sense of evangelistic responsibility which had never before been·
in evidence. .
. The Quarter Millennium Jubilee of the Tranquebar Mission
should have led to a more balanced assessment of the significance
of that great pioneering venture for all Protestant churches in
India, extending far beyond the limits of the Lutheran denomi-
nation. Professor A. Lehmann's book, It Began in Tranquebar,
can serve as a useful guide for every teacher who wants to bring
home to his students that, in the words of Bishop Stephen Neill,
on Indian soil ' a new epoch opened in the development and
expansion of the Christian society in the world', and that' these
first · attempts of the Lutherans were to point the way to the
grandiose achievements of William Carey'. Nobody will
diminish the importance of Carey and Serampore. But one may
remember that, to quote Bishop Neill again, 'Anglo-Saxons have
tended to exaggerate the part played by Carey, forgetting that
he wa~ building on the experience of the pioneers of the
eighteenth century'. ·

The Discernment of Faith

What may be said about the teaching of nineteenth and:
twentieth ceo~ Church. ~istory in India leads on to the .second
of the two prmCiples mentioned above, the task of making the
facts of history come alive on the level of the faith of the
individual and the witness of the church. This is of course
largely a matter of the personal attitude and convictions of the
teacher. Nevertheless attention may be drawn to a few selected
points which appear to be suitable for developing this specific
theological dimension of depth in the teaching of Indian Church
History. . .
In :the first place, the tension of the denominational and the
ecumenical aspect may be mentioned. Looking at the bare
historical facts only, most of nineteenth century Church History
in India appears to be the history of denominational enterprises,
and only too easily the teacher will be tempted to present it
exClusively as such, e:ven IJ1ore so if _h e is careful enough to follow
Richter's account for which there is still no substitute. .- Perhaps·
the denominational attachment of the teacher will lead · hirri to
emphasize one trend of development at the expense of the othe~:s,
or, what would be worse, he may decide lightly to pass over
this whole period and hurry to reach the safe haven of Sundk~er'~'
splendid account of the movement for church union ·iri. South
49'
 India. But neither procedure would in itself solve the theological
problem ! How to make the student aware that in, with and
under the embarrassing multitude of denomination allmissionary
enterprises and their developments God has been able to build
His One Catholic. Church in this country ? There is no room
here to suggest a solution of the problem. But the problem must
be faced, and it will certainly not do to dismiss the whole
·nineteenth century or, for thatmatter, the co-existence of separate
churches in India since the sixteenth century, as a colossal blunder
for which we·can only repent on behalf of our misguided fathers.
Incidentally, the problem will also have to be solved if the move-
ment for church union is to be dealt with in an intelligent way.
A church like the Church of South India is in itself evidence for
the fact that denominational churches are to be taken seriously if
a truly ecumenical approach is to be evolved. We are fortunate
indeed to have in Sundkler's book not only an admirably exact
factual account of the church union- movement but also an excel-
lent guide into the theological problems implied in it.
Closely related to this problem is another one which con-
stantly puts our teaching of Indian Church History to the test.
Regional Church History is always in the danger of being treated
as something narrow and provincial, with .no universal appeal,
and time and again the teacher of Indian Church History may
feel the temptation to escape into the loftier realms in which the
main streams of church history seem to flow. · However; in such
an attempt he may miss the full blessings of his task. A narrow
provincialism may certainly be a real menace. But, as has rightly
been said, the Biblical Gospels are provincial and hence universal,
and that distinguishes them from the massive and magnificent
generalities of the Dialogues of Plato. Church History, too, has
to be of immediate interest somewhere in order to be of any
interest everywhere. In · other ·words, the Universal appeal in
regional Indian Church History is there, if we are only able to
bring it out, without sacrificing all .the life and colour of the
actual events in the local and regional setting. Only thus the
teacher will be able to present Indi.an Church History as what it
r~ally is-a regional manifestation of the history of the Church
universal, rooted in Christ and related to the soil of India. On
the other hand, this may also be the only way effectively to ineet
the charge that the history of the Christian church in India
amounts to just another chapter in the wicked story of foreign
imperialism. It would be a poor defence indeed hurri~dly
to condemn all the world-wide connexions which . have
enriched . the Indian church from the earliest period to
this day, and to withdraw into the imaginary self-sufficiency
of. an Indian Christian ghetto. The past history of the church
in India offers more than one example for the almost suicidal
effects. of such a move--from Roberto de Nobili to the short-
lived·National Church of India, founded in 1885 by Dr. Pulney
Andy7-and. it may not least be the teacher of Indian Church
50
History who is today called upon to watch over the proper balance .
and co-ordination of the provincial and the· universal aspect. .
. There is still another context in which the church historian
vvill have good reasons to warn against the dangers of the ghetto.
Bishop Brown has made it unmistakably clear that there is a
distinct relationship between the traditional equation of church
and community among the majority of _the Syriari Christians and
their lack of evangelistic zeal. All this has long been known,
and there is no need to elaborate on it. But the teacher of Indian
Church History who feels the need for a theological penetration of
his subject may more than others be in a position to safeguard the
necessary golden mean between the Catholic and the Evangelical
principle, the static and the dynamic aspect, the church in being,
as it manifests itself chiefly in the worshipping community, and
the church in mov_ement for which evangelism is a matter of life
and death. Here again the solution cannot be found in an
either-or but rather in that equilibrium which alone corresponds
to the teaching of the New Testament and the need of which
has in so many instances been borne out in the course of Indian
Church History. _ . .
Finall}', it may be fitting to recall the little-known fact that
what may be one of the earliest, references to. the existence of a
church in India is a reference to martyrdom. Toward the end
of the fourth century Symeon of Mesopotamia mentions ' Indian
bar~arians' who have given t}l~ir lives for Christ's sake, a~d a
Synan catalogue of martyrs, cfating back to about the same time, ·
may be taken to confirm this. Since then persecution has been
the companion of the church in India through the centuries.
This may appear insignificant, as for example the first half of
our century alone has elsewhere taken a heavier toll of lives of
persecuted Christians than any of the previous centuries, while
the Indian church bas at the same time been able to live and
develop fu comparative peace. · But more important than the
comparing of figures is the fact that fu India, too, the blood of ·
martyrs has proved to be the seed of the church, and the world
has been an uneasy home for Christians in many ways. When-
ever the church tries to make itself too much at home fu ·this
world, it is in danger of denyfug its character as the ecclesia
pressa, the church under the cross. It is not the least theological
task of the teachfug of Indian Church History to keep alive the
testimony of those earliest martyrs, of the fourteenth century
martyTs of Tana, and of the countless others who have since then
joined this noble band of witnesses----:not fu order to cultivate a
vafu hero-worship or a morbid other-worldlinl;!ss, but to under-
lfue the true dimension of the life of the church as part of a
kingship that ultimately is not of this .world, and of Christian
existence as governed by a politeuma .that is fu heaven. This-
emphasis will not be popular. It may be misconstrued as a
symptom of a timid defeatism, at a time when the cry of the
honr is for more and closer ' identification ' of the chl.irch with
5,~
its environment. But the history of the "Indian church teaches:
clearly that no such· identification has been a blessing as long as.
it amounted to the church's conforming itself to its age, ·in the
sense of the apostolic warning . (Rom. 12 : 2), whether by com-
promising with non-Christian beliefs, by association with the-
aims of colonial authorities or by propagation of a social gospel.
Though the teacher of Church History has aptly been
described as a prophet turned backward, he knows as little as any-
body whether in the future evil days will befall Christianity in
India, It would Certainly be wrong unnecessarily to dramatize·
events and situations by which the free propagation of the Gospel
in India is unjustly restricted, though the church historian should
carefully take note of them.' Yet if there is any lesson at all to·
be learned from Indian church history, it should be this that no·
such situation should catch the church unawares, and that there
should be no other answer to it than rriore fervent prayer, more·
serious self-scrutiny and more courageous witnessing to the full
buth of the GospeL . .
*
It. is the steady and even dynamic control of almost cosmic
forces that we meet in the Johannine -interpretation of the inner·
rhythm of the life of Jesus. We have the manas, ·the buddhi,
and then the atman or puru~a in the threefold division of Indian
psychology. The Synoptic tradition describes with great vivid-
. ness the manas and buddhi of the Lord; but the Johannine view-
looks into the atmim of the Lord, dark with excess of light, tran-
scending the deepest scrutiny of the intellect. .It is only when
the soul of the bhakta and jiiani are in union with the soul of the·
Lord that these great truths are flashed into the soul.

· The miracles of Jesus are ... * not indeed evidences of what

is called His divinity; what is of far more importance, they point
to Him as the supreme norm, constituting the highest region or-
loka of God. · Some of those who participate in His nature are
also endowed with these gifts, for the upbuilding of the body of
Christ, making it free from physical and mental deformities.
•, *
· The immanence of our Lord Jesus Christ, if it has any mean-·
ing for men, is the postulation of the immanence of His atman in
human lives. That is, as Christian anubhava and srutu have-'
agreed in emphasizing, the Lord Jesus, the Galilaean, is still with
us; and His once historical personality, His life and death, have
in some unaccountable way established this immanence. Today·
we speak of Him as· the exalted Jesus, but He who ascended is
the same as He who once descended. Our contention is that the
~varohaQa of I esus and his arohru;ta are the rhythmic processes of
the one indivisible Divine act. The humiliation and exaltation,
the death and resurrection, the historical Jesus and the spiritual·
Jesus constitute the two sides of the one reality. · .
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