Two sides of the same coin

Two sides of the same coin

The so called ‘Contextualization’ is not only an ‘outsider’s’ agenda but even most of the Indian Christians who now attempting it do, if not all, to ‘impress visitors from abroad’.  So now contextualization whether an agenda of ‘outsider’ or ‘insider’ it is the other side of the same coin.  ‘WHY’? Another Indian Christian alone asks this question and not me.  Read the following extracts from Plamthodathil S. Jacob, The Expreriential Response of N. V .Tilak, CLS, Madras, 1979,

The much talked about ‘indigenous Christian ideas’ still remain as ornamental pieces of controversial fame or antique objects which are commissioned to decorate the living rooms of our religious thought for impressing visitors from abroad.  Why should this be so?  When will the life-nurturing sun of the acculturation of Indian Christianity take control of Christian thought in India?

…Indian Christian saints and poets… remain as shinning stars in the horizon of Indian Christian thought which seem to wax and want, according to the waves of Western theological trends.  The much talked about ‘indigenous Christian ideas’ still remain as ornamental pieces of controversial fame or antique objects which are commissioned to decorate the living rooms of our religious thought for impressing visitors from abroad.  Why should this be so?  When will the life-nurturing sun of the acculturation of Indian Christianity take control of Christian thought in India?

          Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya’s Sacchitananda Brahma, Sundar Singh’s Sadhu Ideal, H. A. Krishna Pillai’s Christian Bhakti, Appaswami’s Idea of Moksa, Chenchiah’s Yoga of the Spirit, Chakkarai’s Atman and Pramatman, Devanandan’s Interpretation of Maya and S. K. George’s Equal Reverence for all Religions in Gandhian spirit, are all examples of attempts of acculturation of Christina thought in India  Though  such ideas have been shunted very often to the side-lines, the fact remains that they have been the creative efforts of sincere Indian Christians who wanted to discover the relevance of Christian ideas to the Indian socio-cultural context.

          They accept Christ as He is, without the coloured glasses of imported denominational doctrines provided by Western Christian Missions in India.  The acculturation of Christianity rests on this basic foundation of perceiving the original Christ.  Another basic condition is that Christian experience should not remain as isolated event of private devotions or prescribed worship patterns of the Church. It should rather permeate into the socio-cultural aspects of the individual life as well.  One has to reconcile oneself to the idea that an Indian Christian cannot function with-(p.ix)out responding to the Indian cultural pattern which is heavily influenced by Hinduism, among various other forces.

          Tilak’s response came out of a deep personal involvement with Christ, his Mother-Guru….The socio-religious context of India formed an important part of his experiential constellation.  He was a saint and a poet and not a systematic theologian. The ideas gleaned from his poetic works on the subject, therefore, are not to be treated as a systematic treatise for Indian Christian theology….He caught the vision of Christ in His oriental character and found it meaningful to the Indian way of life.—pp. ix-x.

          Tilak did not hesitate to introduce other ideas of Indian religious heritage in relation to the idea of God.  In the invocation in Christayan, he pays obeisance to Sharada {Saraswati, the goddess of learning and wisdom}.  This should not be dismissed as mere style in Hindu tradition. He uses cultural concepts like Saraswati, the goddess of learning and letters (who occupies an important place in intellectual endeavours).

                    Next, thou, chaste Sharada, afford

                    Thy bounteous favour, and empower,

                    My mind with beauty’s gracious dower

                    To limn the portrait of my Lord {Bhhakti Niranjana, Nagarik Press, Nasik, n.d This verse has been selected from Christayan (J. C. Winslow’s translation), p. 14 (verse 77)}.—p. 15 …He mentioned in his will that he loved his country more than his parents, children, friends or even himself.  The interesting aspect of his patriotism is that he considered it as part of Christian love.  A Christian has to be a lover of his country….—p. 54