The Rethinking Forum is a small and diverse network of people who are deeply interested in the Hindu-Christian interface. It draws its name from the Rethinking Group in Indian church history. The Forum seeks to re-think Indian cultural and religious issues in continuity with the Rethinking tradition in Indian church history, which is outlined briefly in the paper below. The Rethinking Forum is seeking scholars and activists to join its dialogue on issues in Hindu-Christian history and life. For further information contact us at info@rethinkingforum.com.
In the early and middle decades of the twentieth century there was a Rethinking Movement in Indian Christianity. The most noted expression of the Rethinking Movement, which gave it its name, was the book Rethinking Christianity in India. This Rethinking book was prepared in anticipation of the Tambaram International Missionary Conference held just outside Madras in 1939. The Rethinking Group (as the contributors to that volume and some of their friends are commonly known) objected severely to numerous aspects of the agenda of church and mission leadership both internationally and especially in India.
There were many noteworthy forerunners of the Rethinking Group. Kali Charan Banurji (1847-1907) was the central figure in the Christo Samaj and is one of the most esteemed of Indian Rethinkers. In 1870 as a qualified lawyer yet only 25 years of age he started a newspaper called The Bengal Christian Herald, later changed to The Indian Christian Herald. The first issue of this paper stated that
| In having become Christians, we have not ceased to be Hindus. We are Hindu Christians, as thoroughly Hindu as Christian. We have embraced Christianity, but we have not discarded our nationality. We are as intensely national as any of our brethren of the native press can be. (Baago 1967: 67) |
Banurji's nephew, Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya (1861-1907), is another fascinating figure in the Rethinking tradition. There were also missionaries who advocated rethinking. The Rev. H. Haigh of the Wesleyan Missionary Society working in Mysore City in south India suggested at the 1893 decenniel missionary conference that a revolution was needed in Indian Christian literature, which might by God's grace lead to a revolution in Indian Christianity:
| The principle I contend for, then, is this: that the books which we publish should be carefully related to Hindu thought, expressed in its terms, done in its style, adopting where it can its positions, and leading on, still in Hindu fashion and in its terminology, from points of agreement to essential points of difference. In this way we may, perhaps, be able to furnish an effectual exhibition of legitimately "Hinduized Christianity." (Haigh 1893: 667, italics in original) |
That nothing even vaguely approximating to this has ever been accepted as the basic approach to Christian communication in India is obvious to all observers. The Rethinking Forum exists to keep this ideal alive.
The leaders of the Rethinking Group were P. Chenchiah and V. Chakkarai. The son of the latter and nephew of the former, V. C. Rajasekaran, has outlined the development of this striking association of thinkers. Rajasekaran [1993:116-117] lists only 10 men as constituting the group, but it seems certain this is a list of only the leading lights and there must have been many others associated with the ideas and ideals that were propagated.
The Rethinking Group started as the Young Liberal's Club in Bangalore, apparently in the teens of the twentieth century. They developed a habit of meeting annually in May for two weeks, and these meetings became known as the Bangalore Conference Continuation (i.e. the continuation of the conferences initiated by the Young Liberal's Club). At these annual meetings papers were read, in the words of Rajasekaran, "on various topics relating to the Christian Church and the Indian Christian community and these were discussed frankly and consensus arrived at on important issues." [1993:117]
Sadhu Sundar Singh met with members of this group on his south India tour in 1918, and following that the Christo Samaj was organised in Madras. According to Rajasekaran, there was a distinctly evangelistic motive and "many non-Christians used to attend the weekly prayer meetings held in the residence of V. Chakkarai and took part in the common worship and heard the Christian message." [1993:117]
But primarily the Rethinking Group proclaimed a prophetic message to the body of Christ in India. They started a weekly journal called The Christian Patriot that ran for ten years; the nationalistic flavour of the title gives enough indication of the contents. Later they took over the publication of The Guardian, another Christian weekly. They formed the Indian Christian Book Club which published their best known and most striking work, Rethinking Christianity in India, and also Asramas Past and Present, which is available now again in a recent reprint. The final form under which this striking group of men met was as The Verandah Club, known as such since they met on Chenchiah's verandah in Egmore, Madras. This really was a dialogue group of Christians and Hindus who discussed together and prayed together over various concerns.
These remarkable men and their message continue to be discussed wherever there is any serious discussion of indigenous Christianity in India. They remained loyal to the church and dreamed of impacting the church towards contextual faith and life. Yet today they are honored only in name (if at all) and their impact has been negligible. D. A. Thangasamy quotes a striking word picture from Chakkarai that summarises the aim of the Madras Rethinking Group: Christianity in India should become "a river filled from the rains from heaven" and not remain "a lake fed by the still and stagnating waters from the Western Churches" [Thangasamy 1966:3]
A very strong case could be made that a new Rethinking Group and Movement is the need of the hour; Christianity in India is still full of stagnant western waters and shows few signs of becoming a river fed from the rains of heaven. But in light of the failure of previous Rethinking efforts this is highly suspect. Institutional Christianity in India has shown that it is easily able to resist and outlast Rethinking efforts at reform. A new Rethinking effort aimed at changing the churches would almost surely fail as its predecessors has.
1967 The First Independence Movement Among Indian Christians in Indian Church History Review 1:1, June, 1967, pp. 65-78.
1893 Vernacular Literature. In Report of the Third Decennial Missionary Conference held at Bombay, 1892-93, vol. 2. A. Manwaring (ed.). Bombay: Education Society's Steam Press. Pp 664-674.
1993 Reflections on Indian Christian Theology. Madras: The Christian Literature Society.
1966 The Theology of Chenchiah with Selections from his Writings. Confessing the Faith in India series. Bangalore: The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society and The Literature Department of the National Council of Y.M.C.A.'s in India.