‘A Religion whose Author was Meek and Lowly’: The Polity of an Indian Christian Convert from Islam
The journals and letters of Abdul Masih (1776–1827) provide a lively and fascinating entry into consideration of the themes of faith and humility in South Asian Christianity. These themes were strong in the training Abdul received from evangelical chaplains of the East India Company prior to British...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
International journal of Asian christianity
Year: 2022, Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 180-194 |
| Further subjects: | B
Humility
B Evangelism B Interfaith B Conversion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The journals and letters of Abdul Masih (1776–1827) provide a lively and fascinating entry into consideration of the themes of faith and humility in South Asian Christianity. These themes were strong in the training Abdul received from evangelical chaplains of the East India Company prior to British permission for Christian mission in India. However, it is in Abdul’s reports of personal encounters with a wide variety of Muslim, Hindu, and Catholic interlocutors that the quality of meekness especially comes alive. Abdul perceived that the quality came from the teaching and example of Jesus. How was this quality to be shown in authentic faith conversation that revealed a clash of truth claims and even public calls for punishment of an ‘apostate’? When ambushed with polemic in excitable public settings? As Abdul conceived it, the ‘meekness and gentleness of Christ’ (2 Cor 10:1) dovetails nicely with a ‘boldness’ in gospel witness and a clear proclamation of the only faith that brings salvation. Remarkable, though wholly in line with his approach, was the way in which Muslim interlocutors who frequently came to dispute or reproach expressed satisfaction with Abdul by the end of the conversation. Meanwhile, Abdul humbly and faithfully ministered among Indian Christians in Agra and elsewhere as a catechist for the Church Missionary Society over a period of fourteen years. |
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| ISSN: | 2542-4246 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal of Asian christianity
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/25424246-05020003 |