Historiography of Christianity in India

Description

This book is as much about the history of Christianity in India, as it is about the writing of Indian Christian history. A first of its kind, John Webster analyses the themes and concerns that have informed the historiography of Christianity over the past three centuries.   Moving away from mission histories and institutional Church histories, this book locates Christianity in the cultural context of the subcontinent by relating the development of historical writing on Christianity to political events, social changes, religious challenges, and intellectual trends in India. Webster’s first-hand knowledge of the social dynamics of the region and familiarity with the source materials form the basis of his socio-cultural approach to the history of the Christians in India. Wide in its scope, his study reaches back to the early days of the Europeans in India, as well as strides forward to address issues like religious conversion and the identity of Indian Christians in contemporary society.   With deft prose Webster brings into focus narratives from disparate regions like Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra, and the states of the North-east. From assessing the contribution of Christianity to the empowerment of women in Amritsar to reconstructing the history of the elusive Ditt through deconstruction of colonial accounts, to challenging popular assumptions about Dalit Christian history, he makes the case for seeing Christian history as a lens for gaining insight into Indian social history.