Wednesday 27 March 2019

Theology of Nation Building- Introduction to Christian Theologies in India(ICTI)

Theology of Nation Building

Christian great contributions in India is in socio-political revolutions. Nation building efforts preceded by the independence struggle, is perhaps the most influential secular context (next only to religious pluralism) which has shaped the recent Indian Christian theologies. A theology of nationalism (in the sense of nation-building), of liberation and social justice are the key motifs of this context. The whole question of the secular interpretation of the Christian message, and the development of relevant Christian ideologies will occupy several years or decades of future Christian thinkers in India.

K.T Paul (1876-1931)
He grew up at a time when the Indian National Congress was actively voicing the growing demand of educated Indians for representative government. Paul was committed to political nationalism, seeing in it also a self- awakening of India which would transform the totality on India’s traditional life. He saw the mission of an Indian Indigenous Church in this context. He represented the Indian Christian community at the Round Table Conference in London in 1930 called to resolve the deadlock in British- India relations. It is he who coined the Phrases “Christian Nationalism” and “New Dharma of Citizenship”, and many consider him to be the first Christian statesperson of India. He had a positive approach to the freedom struggle of India and supported Christian involvement in Freedom Struggle. He continuously gives a supporting role in nation building.

P. Chenchiah (1886-1959) Chenchiah was sure that the strong motivating power for the reordering of society, ‘the spirit of nishkamya karma and self-forgetting love so much needed for nation-building, could come only from the ministrations of faiths at the highest level’. The Christian, more than any other, had to enter all areas of life with this spirit and redeem them for the Kingdom. He deplored the compartmentalisation of life into religious and non-religious spheres. Chenchiah outlined a programme of social service and social action by Christians in India. Among these were suggestions for the organization of mobile service groups to undertake relief work on occasions of famine, fire, pestilence and storms; co-operatives; experiments in common farming (advocated as a national policy by Nehru fifteen years later), housing schemes and co-operative banks. He encouraged that Christians should first equip themselves with knowledge, both of their faith and of the possible ways in which social problems could be tackled, before they could play a significant redemptive role in the affairs of the nation. The absence of such thinking was a great lack in the armour of the Indian Christian. Therefore he called upon his educated fellow-Christians to ‘discuss and formulate after study a Christian scheme or policy in politics and economics which they shall try to implement whatever party they may join’. And to stimulate their thinking, he along with close friends like A.N. Sudarsanam, V. Chakkarai and G.V. Job, started the Indian Christian Book Club.
Dialogue with men of other faiths was a spontaneous, almost natural, Christian self-expression for Chenchiah, at bar association premises, verandah clubs and many other places of meeting. At a time when Christians in India are taking their ‘participation’ in nation-building seriously and are concerned with ‘partnership’ with men of other faiths and ‘dialogue’ with them at depth, it is right and proper that we go back to Chenchiah and draw upon the resources of his thought. Chenchiah is significant as one who cleared the ground for a mature ‘Indian Christianity’.
Following from this Devanandan advocates praxis as well as orthodoxy as a must for the church’s witness. And he earnestly calls upon Christians to participate actively in the nation building activities and gives a firm basis for this. This means taking part with other groups or non-Christian organizations for a combined effort towards social upliftment — even if need be secular or other ideological groups. Association with non-Christian ideologies and structures does not deter him from the Christian duty of nation building.

V. Chakkarai (1880-1958)
He qualified as a lawyer but later worked with Danish Missionary Society. As early as 1906 he became part of freedom struggle and in 1920 he joined Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation campaign. He was a great champion of Gandhi’s peaceful resistance. As a Christian socialist, he also put his time and energy into the emerging trade union in Madras. It is no wonder then that he ultimately chose for a political career, holding a number of important positions: he was mayor of the city of Madras, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the state of Madras and chairman of the All India Trade Union Congress. He was sure of his socialist perspective and he participated in the political field to make his mark.

5.4. S.K. George (1900-1960)
In 1931 he joined national freedom movement and stayed in Sabarmati Ashram In 1937 he helped in organizing the Interreligious Students Fellowship, which tried to bring together students belonging to different religions for mutual understanding and cooperation. These facts indicate that he had a radical concern for the nation-building. S.K. George saw Gandhi practicing the Christian message of love based on non-violence and thus supported Gandhi’s movement. He also recognized that the goodwill of India will lead to goodwill of Indian Christian. Indian Christian will surely have more opportunities in free India rather than enslaved India under colonial rule. His nationalism focused on building of a nation on non-violence that leads to establishment of justice. He realized that truth is part of every faith at the same time all faiths have its own limitation therefore, we need to respect each other’s faith and create harmony.

M.M. Thomas(1916-1996) was another great Indian thinker and have the greatest influence for Indian Christian Theology. Along with Raymondo Panikkar and Stanley Samartha, M.M. Thomas makes up the modern trio of Indian theologians, comparable to the classical trio — Chakkarai, Chenchiah and Devanandan. His understanding of society, revolution and ideology was stabilized mainly in connection with his preparation for and contribution for the nation. His book Christian Participation in Nation Building is another key to unlock the theology of nation building. His theology is action-oriented. Like the liberation theologians of Latin America he places praxis before orthodoxy. Responsibility is the key word here. This is what the WCC calls the action-reflection method. He finds the basis for this in the New Testament: as “faith working through love”. It is for this reason that Boyd labels Thomas’ theology as “The Way of Action”.

Russell Chandran belongs to that generation of Indian Christians who stand between the colonial period and the emergence of indigenised Christianity. Four concepts of peace, justice, freedom and dignity are referred to by Chandran in almost all his sermons, articles and talks, for him, since love means concrete action — “love has to be expressed in terms of justice, mercy and peace”. And there is no justice without political change, and the people of God are always on the move changing. This means clearly that political involvement is a must for every Christian, for the Church. Chandran founded the unique organization called the Christian Union of India. The motto of this union was “to serve India in the name of Christ”. Two prominent objectives of this union includes to strengthen and promote secular democracy; to educate the Christian community in nation-building.

P.D. Devanandan (1901-1962), he was influenced by the humanistic philosophy, thus he claimed, we as Christians ought to act as pioneers in radically removing the more important social evils in India by personal example. Due to the influence of K.T. Paul he was also involved in the freedom struggles. His nationalistic concerns were by no means superficial since, he felt, any human efforts to achieve national unity must reckon with the living God who is the generating power of all true community being.

          Vishal Mangalwadi (b.1952), a young theologian emphasize to reform the society, and strongly believes that the church is the necessary agent for such a social reform. So, he propose a practical proposal as to how farmers’ economic reform movements can be established to droves out poverty in India. 

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