The Thomas Christians

Abstract

The Thomas Christians are the only Christians of India whose origins cannot be linked in any way to European influence. They trace their origins to Jesus’s apostle Thomas, who they believe visited India in 52 ce and established a church there. From the third century on, through trade, migration, and exchanges of ecclesiastical personnel, the lives of the Thomas Christians and Persian Christians became intertwined. Gradually, the Thomas Christians fell under the oversight of the Church of the East, whose capital was at Sasanian Ctesiphon. The ties of Thomas Christians to the Church of the East did not make them any less anchored in south Indian society. Their interactions with Persian Christians went hand in hand with their coexistence with Hindu and Muslim neighbors in the coastal region of southwest India now called Kerala—a dual participation that continues to the present day.

Famine, Caste Differences and Missionary Christianity in Colonial India: Burning Hunger

“…Some studies, focused on a connection between famines and mass conversion movements, have argued that during famine, affected people embraced Christianity not only with the expectation that they would be saved from starvation, but also as a protest against the landlords and the British Raj who failed to help the people. Further, it is argued that the difficulties of famine provided an opportunity to missionaries to demonstrate their Christian compassion for the suffering through acts of love (Arnold, 1984: 74–5; Bugge, 1994: 55, 168; Carman & Chilkuri, 2014: 73–7; Forrester, 1980: 74–5; Kawashima, 1998: 171; Kent, 2007: 367–94; Kooiman, 1989: 80–2, 1991; Mallampalli, 2023: 165–71; Manickam, 1977: 60; Taneti, 2022:70–4). However, no substantial work has focused on missionary famine relief measures, caste relations and Dalits.…”