Caste and Christianity

Attitudes and Policies on Caste of Anglo-Saxon Protestant Missions in India

Duncan B. Forrester

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351802079
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

This work, first published in 1980, breaks new ground as concerns caste in India. It first examines the nature of caste and its relation to Hinduism and questions in what sense it is possible to speak of Christianity as an egalitarian faith. It then considers some Hindu egalitarian movements and traces the development of ideas on caste among Christian missionaries, examining the relationship between these views and the Revolt of 1857. Close attention is given to changing attitudes on caste, both by missionaries and by Indian Christians, while the influence of nationalism on Christian attitudes to caste and other social questions is further examined. Finally, there is a review of the contemporary state of the question and of the specifically Christian contribution to modern views on caste.

Bibliography

I Archives

A. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Scottish Missionary Society:

Letter Book of the Bombay Corresponding Committee, 1829–1832. MS 8013.

Letter Book of the Secretary, 1822–35. MS 8012.

Church of Scotland India Mission:

India Mission, 1852–1855 MS 3942.

Hislop Papers - MSS 8956 & 8957.

Calcutta Letters - MS 8954.

Wilson Letters - MS 8955.

Foiio Letter Book - East India Mission Letters, Vol.l. MS 7530; Vol.2. Bombay, 1827–39, MS 7531; Vol.3. Madras, 1836–42, MS 7532.

Walker of Bowland MSS.

B. United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, London.

Box C/Ind Gen. - 2 (South India c. 1770–1800), containing among other things Janicke’s Diary, 1792–8, and Schwartz correspondence.

India, General Series, Box 1. ‘An Address to Soodra Women who in the Sight of God were guilty of Murder, on account of adhering to Caste’ (1838).

‘An article of the Christian Casteman’s Creed’, n.d.

‘Remonstrance’, n.d.

‘Rank among Europeans and Distinctions of Caste in India, contrasted’, c. 1838.

Copy of a Minute signed by John Richards, 1855, opposing the Tanjore Local Committee’s resolution on Caste.

India, General Series, Box VII.

E - MSS. Missionary Reports. Box G. Madras, 1852–8.

Madras Diocesan Committee’s report on caste controversies in Tanjore and Vepery secession of 1847.

Assorted reports from individual missionaries.

D4 - Letters Received. Madras Letters, 1850–1859.’

Includes Bishop of Madras’s report on his second Visitation.

D5 - Letters Received. Madras Letters, 1855–59.

Letters from G.U. Pope, Bishop of Madras, extracts from proceedings of Tanjore Local Committee, Madras Diocesan Committee, etc., on caste disputes.

D22 - Letters Received - Madras, 1860–67.

Letters from Caldwell on caste, and resolutions of Madras Diocesan Committee.

C. Methodist Missionary Society, London.

Madras. Box. IV. 1832–6.

Extracts from Missionary Notes, correspondence from Thomas Cryer, John Guest, and Samuel Hardey.

D. London Missionary Society, London.

Box 1 - Travancore, 1817–1831.

Correspondence from Charles Meade and J. Abbs.

Documents concerning petition to Raja for emancipation of slave castes.

E. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London.

East India Mission Committee Book, 1798–1812.

Society’s Report, Account of the Society’s Protestant Missions in the East Indies for the year 1809 (including copies of correspondence).

Correspondence concerning death of Bp. Heber, 1827.

F. Church Missionary Society, London.

Collections of bound pamphlets concerning the Mutiny period, detailed under III below.

Volume of sermons delivered during the Indian Mutiny.

Pamphlets and periodicals on mass movements, detailed below.

G. United Theological College Indian Church History Archives, Bangalore.

Documents on caste, Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission, file 20.

Typescript of P.D. Devanandan, ‘Indian Caste Customs’.

Correspondence between Max Müller and John Murdoch.

Typescript of P. Chenchiah, ‘Caste, Society, Church’, c.1952.

American Madura Mission: 30-Book of newspaper cuttings by T.S. Burnell, 1855–67.

Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland Missions, Madras: Minutes, etc., from 1837.

H. Madras Christian College Archives, Tambaram.

Madras Native Herald, Vols. II (1843), III (1844), XI-XIV, XVII-XXII (1862).

Complete run of Madras Christian College Magazine.

I. India Office Records, London.

Madras Despatches, 1847–8. E/4/969.

Complaints against John Anderson for converting caste Hindus.

Documents concerning caste disputes in the Tanjore Church.

II Periodicals

The Mission Field. 1860–1871 (MF).

C.M.S. Mass Movement Quarterly. Vol. I (1917) — Vol. XXX (1947). Vols. XXXI to XLIV are entitled Growing Church (MMQ).

Guardian (Madras), 1933–38.

The Native Herald (Madras) 1843–62.

Madras Christian College Magazine. 1862-.

The East and the West. (E & W).

The Harvest Field. (HF).

International Review of Missions. (IRM).

Religion and Society (Bangalore) (RS).

Indian Church History Review. (ICHR).

III Mission Reports and Official Papers

(a) Missionary Conferences:

Minutes of the Madras Missionary Conference and other Documents on the Subject of Caste. Madras, 1850.

Proceedings of a General Conference of Bengal Protestant Missionaries, Calcutta, Sept. 4–7, 1855. Calcutta, 1855.

Proceedings of the South Indian Missionary Conference, Ootacamund, April 19 - May 5, 1858. Madras, 1858.

The Missionary Conference: South India and Ceylon, 1879. 2 Vols. Madras & London, 1880.

Report of the South India Missionary Conference held at Madras, Jan. 2–5, 1900. Madras, 1900.

World Missionary Conference, 1910: Reports, etc. Edinburgh & New York, 1910.

(b) Church Missionary Society.

Annual Reports.

Occasional Papers on India—

3. Christian Missions and Government Education in India. London, 1858

4. Religious Neutrality in India Divisive and Impractical. London, 1858.

5. Despatches by Sir John Lawrence … on Christianity in India. London, 1858.

8. Recent Policy of the Indian Government in Respect of Christianity in India. London, 1860.

9. The Policy, as Established by Law, of the Indian Government. Opposed to the Neutral Policy in respect of Christianity. London 1860.

10. The Government of India and the Christian Movement in the 24th Punjab Native Infantry. London 1981.

The Indian Crisis: Special General Meeting of the Church Missionary Society at Exeter Hall. London, 1858.

A Memorial to the Queen from the Church Missionary Society on the Religious Policy of the Government of India. London, 1858.

Report of a Deputation of Gentlemen connected with various Missionary Societies to Lord Stanley … 7 August, 1858. London, 1858.

Venn, Henry, A Plea for ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Preface
• I Hierarchy, Equality and Religion
• II The Development of a Protestant Consensus on Caste, 1793–1850
• III The Revolt of 1857 and the Caste Question
• IV Caste and the Mass Movements
• V Caste, Converts and the Kerala Christians
• VI Indian Christians’ Attitudes to Caste in the Nineteenth Century
• VII Liberal Missionary Attitudes to Caste
• VIII Hindu Responses to the Missionary Attack on Caste
• IX Indian Christians’ Attitudes to Caste in the Twentieth Century
• X Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index