the wilson line - term paper

8/3/2019 The Wilson Line - Term Paper

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Drawing the Line on Caste:

An Examination of the Missiological Implications of

The Wilson Line

submitted to

Dr. Harold Netland

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Deerfield, Illinois

for the partial requirements of

The Christian Encounter with World Religions

by John HubersLutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Easter, 2007


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Introduction

In October of 1995 theEvangelical Review of Theologypublished a short article1 by

Charles Hoole (who was at the time the Professor of Religions and Church History at the

Colombo Theological Seminary in Colombo, Sri Lanka) in which he lifted up the

example of the 19th century Anglican bishop to India, Daniel Wilson, and the

consequences of his uncompromising stance against caste as a counter balance to what

Hoole understood to be the unbiblical if not slightly diabolical teaching of the Church

Growth movement developed, packaged and marketed

2

by a group of evangelical

institutions associated with Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California.

The new missiology attempts to reduce mission to a manageable enterprise. Themissionary effort is thus narrowly linked to numerical growth. . . . . Such an approach

to mission is clearly not informed by biblical values and certainly denies the existence of

a Christian social ethic.3

Particularly disturbing to Hoole was what has long been considered to be the Church

Growth movements most controversial element, what the pioneering proponents chose

to describe as the homogeneous unit principle4. This principle, which asserts that men

like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers5 (to which

would be added caste by south Asian based Christian educators like Hoole), was what

made this new missiology particularly repugnant. That it also didnt necessarily

work, as Hoole would attempt to prove with the example of Bishop Wilson, meant that

it should be rejected out of hand.

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As a long time critic of Church Growth philosophy along the same lines as Hoole, I was

struck by two things in reading this article. First, Hoole describes this as a new

missiology when, in fact, the issues it raises had been widely debated and revised in

missiological circles long before the article appeared.6 Second, he chose the example of

Bishop Daniel Wilsons line against caste to make his point, as it is questionable

whether this proves what he insists it does.

The second observation underscores the purpose of this paper which is to examine the

implications of what Hoole describes as the Wilson Line

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on caste not only for the

growth of the church in south India (in the mid-nineteenth century and beyond), but for

larger missiological questions related to contextualization and inculturation. Does the

Wilson Line and its consequential aftermath prove that Church Growth philosophy is

not only heterodoxical but not all that its proponents purport it to be as a church growing

formula? Or is another even more important principle (or principles) at work here?

Whatshouldbe the focus of our inquiries into this phenomenon? These are the questions

this paper will explore.

The Actors

Our examination of the issues raised by the Wilson Line begins with a brief historical

overview of the major actors in the drama which unfolded around it, which in this case

includes Bishop Daniel Wilson, the British and German missionaries working in Tamil

Nadu state, (particularly those related to the mission work established by Bartholomaus

Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plutschau in Tranquebar in 1706 under the auspices of the

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Danish-Halle Mission8), and the Indian Christians themselves whose lives were most

impacted by the decisions made in their behalf (which we will see to be one of the major

issues thrown up by the Wilson Line the fact that it was a decision made more for

them than by them.). We begin with the actor who held the leading role in the drama

Bishop Daniel Wilson.

Bishop Daniel Wilson (1778-1858)

What we know about the life and ministry of Daniel Wilson comes

largely from a voluminous hagiographical biography written by his

nephew, Josiah Bateman, soon after his uncles death. 9 The fact that

it is a hagiography raises a cautionary note about its value as an

historical reference. Fortunately this is countered by Batemans extensive use of first

person material drawn from Wilsons correspondence and journals. Our assessment of

Wilsons life and ministry at the points where it may have impacted the Wilson Line

will rely primarily on this first person material.

A. Early Life: The Foundations of an Evangelical Faith

Daniel Wilson was born on July 2nd 1778 in London, England, to Stephen and Ann

Collett Wilson, described by Bateman as true Christians, but by Wilson as a kind of

loose church people.10 As a youth he received a classical education which placed him at

the age of 14 under the care as well as the roof of his maternal uncle, William Wilson,

whom Wilson would later describe as a strict and conscientious Churchman.11 In

terms of his own spiritual development Wilson would claim that he had no religion12 at

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this point in his life, but that his Uncles example would serve as a solid foundation for a

faith that would spring to life in his university years.

At the age of eighteen Wilson developed what some today might describe as an unhealthy

fixation on his own failings which would serve as the catalyst for a spiritual awakening

into an evangelical faith. This is how Wilson himself describes this period in his life:

As far back as I can remember my whole heart was given to sin. Even when a boy at

school, when particular circumstances recur to my mind, I am shocked at the dreadful

depravity of my nature as it then discovered itself . . . I took a false idea of the gospel,

and from this distorted view, dogmatically pronounced it out of my power to do anything;and so, hushing my conscience with having done all I could, I remained very quietly

the willing slave of sin and Satan.

13

The turning point for Wilson came in an incident which would resonate with the spiritual

biographies of many born again evangelicals an encounter with a fellow student whose

evangelical zeal was both off putting and attractive to the young man.

He was saying that God had appointed the end he had also appointed the means. I

then happened to say that I had none of those feelings towards God which he requiredand approved. Well, then, said he, pray for the feelings. I carried it off as a joke,

but the words at the first made some impression on my mind, and thinking that I would

still say, that I had done all I could, when I retired at night I began to pray for thefeelings. It was not long before the Lord in some measure answered my prayers, and I

grew very uneasy about my state.14

Wilsons diary entries and letters at this point become even more obsessively fixated on

the appalling state of his soul with a Luther-like dread of his inability to draw near to or

be comforted by God even after he had been convinced of the need to turn in faith to

Christ. Here is a sampling:

May 9, 1796:

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I look into myself, and I see a source of corruption within me which poureth out iniquitylike water. Every imagination of the thoughts of my heart is only evil continually.15

June 14, 1796:

And, indeed, the sum-total of my present situation is, that I am the most miserable, vile,

and wretched creature that ever lived.16

October 28, 1796:I am always worsted, and Satan triumphs over me to the destruction of my own peace,

and the discredit of my Christian profession in the eyes of those around me. 17

It wasnt until a year later after burning all books of a light or irreligious character 18

and pouring over Gods word and other religious books19every night all night that his

former pastor, Rev. John Eyre, led him into a truly evangelical faith, one which was

salted with grace. As he wrote in a letter to his friend Mr. Vardy on October 4th, 1797:

Yesterday and to-day have been, I think, the happiest days I ever remember. The Lord

shines so upon my soul that I cannot but love Him, and desire no longer to live to myself,

but to Him. And to you I confess it (though it ought perhaps to be a cause for shame),that I have felt great desires to go or do anything to spread the name of Jesus; and that I

have even wished, if it were the Lords will, to go as a missionary to heathen lands. 20

With this first stirring of evangelical zeal we catch a glimpse of what it was that

motivated Wilson eventually to assent to a missionary calling to India. The

transformative grace which had overwhelmed him in what was a deeply personal

individualized faith experience was something he wished others to have, the Prodigal Son

seeking other prodigals to share his experience of grace. We can also perceive in his

spiritual wrestlings a tendency to be obsessively focused on drawing hard and fast lines

between sin and salvation, good and evil, what is of God and what is of Satan, an element

of his spiritual autobiography which would color later ministry decisions. Bateman notes

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that this tendency was a notable part of his character as later ministry colleagues would

identify him as prompt, fearless, decided, active, and uncompromising. . .21.

B. Parish Ministry and Call to Missionary Service

Wilsons call togo as a missionary to heathen lands would not come for another 35 years

during which time he served as pastor of several Anglican congregations after completing

his theological studies. Here he would develop a reputation as a leading dissenting

clergyman which would today identify him as an evangelical or low church

Anglican. He was well aware of the distinction:

Where . . . is the essential difference? - In the use and application of what they (those

who were not evangelical authors note)believe. The pious and devout Churchman feelshimself a miserable lost sinner; feels his only hope to be in the meritorious Cross of the

Lord Jesus . . . . the Orthodox Churchman, as he would fain claim to be (would accept

this, as well); but in the use of what he allows, he is so tame, so little really interested, sosoon satisfied, so afraid of enthusiasm and excess, so timid and reluctant, that there is

often little more than the form of piety. . . 22

The second parish Wilson served, St. Johns Chapel in Bedford Row, put him in touch

with the Brahmin class of British society. Bateman lists among the luminaries who

attended Sir Robert Grant, governor of Bombay; Zachary Macaulay and his son, who

were leading lights in the campaign against slavery23 . . . and many others of high repute

and piety. 24 While Bateman doesnt elaborate on it there is no doubt that Wilson would

have imbibed some of the imperialistic pride and thought patterns of the high born as any

good pastor does in getting close to his congregation. At the very least there is evidence

that he was impressed with the company he was able to keep at St. Johns (an irony that

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is hard to escape given his later uncompromising stance on caste). A journal entry from

this period of time tells the story:

Mr. Stephen enclosed to me a letter from Mr. Marriot, a gentleman very high in the law,

who came to St. Johns with Mrs. Marriot on Sunday evening . . . How important is thesituation of a minister in London! He never knows whom he is addressing.25

The call to missionary service came during Wilsons ministry at his next parish in

Islington where he assumed pastoral duties in 1824.26 For some years he had been an

active supporter of the work of the Church Missionary Society, a branch of which he

established in Islington during his time there.27 He was in this way well acquainted with

their work in India, as he was well known to those who were engaged in it. This plus his

strong evangelical convictions made him a prime candidate to become the next bishop of

the diocese of Calcutta (which at the time included all of India) under the auspices of

CMS when in 1832 the previous occupant of that position became the last of four bishops

who prostrated by their overwhelming duties, or the ungenial climate, had sunk and died

within nine years28 . He wasnt the first choice. Others had received and declined the

invitation. Noting this and fearing that the appointment should fall into inferior hands29

he let it be known that he would be a willing candidate. The invitation, which he

accepted, would come from Charles Grant, as an emissary of the Crown:

My dear friend: I beg to offer for your acceptance, if you are so disposed, the succession

to the Bishopric of Calcutta. I make this proposal with the concurrence of Lord Grey

and the sanction of the King.30

With this invitation in hand and led by an unmistakable sense of divine destiny (Lord, it

is Thy glory I have desired to seek; it is the salvation of souls; it is the good of Thy

church; it is the honor of the gospel in India31) the newly consecrated Bishop Daniel

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Wilson prepared to sail to India. The key character in the drama which would soon

unfold over the Wilson Line on caste was about to take his place on the Indian stage.

The Stage is Set: The Danish-Halle Mission:

In 1706 the first Protestant missionaries to India arrived on the southern coast of Tamil

Nadu state to initiate an evangelical mission in the port city of Tranquebar. Two German

pastors/evangelists, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719) and Heinrich Pluetschau (b.

1677) were the pioneers who established the work of what would be called the Danish-

Halle Mission (with missionaries from the Leipzig Mission) under the patronage of the

Danish King Frederick IV.32 Over the next century and a half fifty four more

missionaries would arrive to minister in what was considered in its early years to be a

very successful mission, even though the initial response was chilly.33 By 1712 data

collected by the missionaries listed 117 Malabarians

and 85 Portuguese converts. A

year after the death of Ziegenbalg, in 1720, the church established by the mission in

Tranquebar had 250 members, 147 of whom were high casteshudras (who were

Velalans) and the remainder low-status pariah caste members.34 This growth

continued throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries particularly under the direction of

the most renowned missionary associated with the Leipzig mission, Christian Frederick

Schwartz (d. 1798)

35

whose disciples included thesudra convert, Satyanathan Pillai, who

Malabar (Malayalam: ) is a region of southern India, lying between the Western Ghats and the

Arabian Sea, and comprising the northern half of the state ofKerala. (from wikepedia.org -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar). Considering that many Malabarians were and are Syrian Orthodox

Christians, it is highly probable that most if not all of these were converts from Orthodoxy.

9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Ghatshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keralahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Ghatshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keralahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar


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is credited with an evangelistic effort which led to the mass conversion of whole villages

(within thesudra caste) in other parts of Tamil Nadu State.36

The fact that these early missionaries broke down the membership of the Tranquebar

congregation according to caste distinctions (147 of whom were high caste shudras (who

were Velalans) and the remainder low-status pariah caste members.) underscores the

fact that they were well aware of the essential nature of caste to south Indian identity.

Hugald Grafe notes that the caste structure was particularly rigid and deeply rooted in this

region whose inhabitants only came to identify themselves as Tamilians after the

British established primacy in the area.

Sociological identity was found by the inhabitants of Taminadu in a particular jati or

strictly endogamous caste group to which one belonged by birth for ones life.37

The essential and complex nature of this identity shaping structure is acknowledged in a

surprisingly objective report (at least with regards to caste distinctions) issued by the

Church Missionary Society in 182538, at a time when British interests and involvement in

the Leipzig Mission were becoming increasingly dominant (see below). The report

begins by identifying the standard four fold caste structure: Brahmins, Cshatriyas,

Vaisyas, Soodras 39 but then goes on to break down the category of Soodra (which at

the time was the dominant caste group found in the Tamil church) into a three fold

division of: 1. Moodelliar 2. Karcikattar 3. Vellaler40. The last grouping Vellaler

which the writer (writers?) describes as the low-caste Soodras is further broken down

into twenty different occupationally defined categories (jatis) all of which are described

without editorial comment in an apparent acknowledgement of the essential nature of the

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caste structure to the sociology of the region. This is particularly telling given the

writers strong condemnation of the religious practices of the region which he finds to be

appalling:

The general character of all classes of heathen in point of religion and morality is

deplorable. They have no idea of the true God, except that there is such a Being, andeven that is but speculative and imperfect. . . 41

A. Church and Caste in Tamil Nadu State

The storm which would break upon the south Indian church in the 1830s with the

introduction of the Wilson Line was confined largely to the churches in Tamil Nadu

state which were most closely related to the Leipzig mission. Central to this crisis would

be disagreements among missionaries as to the nature of caste. Wilson, as well as a

group of young CMS missionaries who had assumed their positions soon before his

arrival, would insist that caste was an essentially religious institution inextricably bound

up with the diabolical distortions of an idolatrous religion42. This is how Wilsons

biographer describes their position:

Had these been matters touching only on civil ranks or distinctions, no interferencewould have been needful, for Christianity admits of all social distinctions, and is not the

author of confusion in the churches. But caste is religious in its very origin. Its rules are

defined and enjoined in the Hindoo Shaster the Law the Nomos; - a supposedly divinerevelation, sanctioned by their gods themselves. 43

Others, particularly Lutheran missionaries who served with the Leipzig mission in its first

century of existence, while not necessarily disagreeing with the fact that caste arose out

of the religious teaching of the Brahminical expression of Indian spirituality44, also

recognized what the CMS report appears to acknowledge which is how deeply rooted

caste consciousness was in the social/cultural identity of Tamilians.45 Their practice

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based on this belief was not to demand that caste practices be abolished out of hand, but

to assume a more gradualist position, maintaining distinctions while continuing to stress

in their preaching and teaching ministry the radical nature of Christian unity. This is how

missionaries related to the Leipzig mission described their approach to this sensitive

subject in 1809:

From the commencement of the Mission on this coast, it has been the uniform practice ofthe missionaries to instruct the converts in the truth of Christianity; to insist upon their

living a holy life and showing that they are Christians, by loving God above all things, by

considering all men of whatever denomination as their neighbors; to entertain a hearty

good will towards them, and to do them all the good in their power: but never did theyinsist on any person who wished to embrace Christianity renouncing their caste.46

This could be described as a middle ground between the hard line that Bishop Wilson

would establish and the practices of Roman Catholic missionaries inspired by the earlier

(17th century) pioneering work of Robert de Nobli whose nearly exclusive work among

the high caste Brahmins would lead him to say:

By becoming Christian one does not renounce his caste, nobility or usages. The ideathat Christianity interfered with them has been impressed upon the people by the devil,

and is the great obstacle to Christianity.47

B. Caste Pride?

Whatever may be thought of this gradualist approach, it is clear that the churches

established by the pioneering work of the Leipzig mission took root and thrived at least in

the first hundred years of their existence in no small measure because of this attitude. In

1829, four years before Bishop Wilson would lay down the law on caste, a Hindu convert

named Vedanayaga Sastri would disparage the hard core rejectionist attitude of the newer

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British missionaries arguing that earlier missionaries like Ziegenbalg had won converts

because they had respected the customary divisions of the country . . . :

They acted prudently without causing any offence either to the higher or to the loweraccording to the sayings of the Apostle Paul, being made all things to all men in order to

gain all.48

Even more telling in terms of how many of the Indian Christians in these churches, at

least those who had come out of the dominant Sudra caste, perceived the issues related to

the rising tensions over caste is what Sastri says next:

We . . . know that everyone is the descendent of Adam, and the pride of Caste isnothing . . . Yet ancient customary social divisions match differences in styles of living.

Customarily Velalans did not eat with Paraiyans because they abhor the flesh of kine,which Paraiyans ate . . . Those divisions (he maintained) were civil distinctions. Theywere characteristic of the country, were not essentially contrary to the Christian

message, and should not be opposed if converts are sought.49

While this could be (and assumedly was) put down as a justification after the fact by one

who had a stake in maintaining caste distinctions, what he says about pride of caste is

given some credence by a recent (1989) abstract by the Roman Catholic scholar, Francis

X. Clooney, who in this piece examines late 17th, early 18th century Tamil Brahmanical

reflections on the Vedic basis for caste.50 While space does not allow for a thorough

examination of the issues he raises what needs to be stressed for our purposes is his main

thesis, which is that what 19th century missionaries interpreted as a sense of hierarchical

superiority built into the Brahmanical caste system is not borne out by Brahmin self

perceptions. Human perversity may have made it as such (as is the case with any

religious system, including Christianity where lifestyles often conflict with professed

beliefs), but what Clooney designates as Brahmanical Orthodoxy 51 does not support

the accusation of hierarchal pride.

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Noting that the caste structure, at least in its theoretical framework, was derived primarily

from the Vedic texts as authoritative sources for what was the dominant Brahmanical

religion of south India in the era just before a missionary presence made itself felt (thus

underscoring the essentiality of its religious origin no matter what sociological form it

would later take) Clooney notes that the different schools of Brahmanical thought of the

era based their understanding of caste strictly on its scriptural basis:

The world is the way it is because the Veda articulates its structure and meaning in thisfashion... the Veda illuminates rather than reflects experience. 52

Clooney makes this observation in relation to a debate which was held between various

Brahmanical schools of thought over whether or not Sudras should be allowed to

participate in the lighting of sacred fires. What he notes is that the argument against their

participation is made not on the basis of any sense of perceived spiritual or mental

inferiority (which is never even brought into the debate), but simply because the Vedas

do not allow it, an attitude which he compares to official Roman Catholic

pronouncements about the ordination of women. Here, too, the foundational argument is

not that women are inherently inferior to men, but that an orthodox interpretation of the

scriptures and tradition does not allow for this to happen.

Recent Vatican statements have insisted that women can never be ordained, ultimately

because Christ, as known through scripture and tradition, never ordained a woman . . . .Similarly the Veda simply does not allow sudras to perform sacrifice, regardless of data

about what sudras are like. In both cases, the orthodoxy argues for a necessary

exclusion rooted intrinsically in the received religion.53

What this suggests at the very least is that Bishop Wilson and the missionaries who

would persuade him to take an uncompromisingly hard line on caste did not fully

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understand the way caste functioned in Indian society, or if they did chose to ignore it, as

one of the strongest arguments they made against caste was that it perpetuated an

inequitable hierarchal ordering of society based on the desire of the high caste to oppress

the lower castes. It is telling in this respect that the voices which wereat this point raised

most strongly against caste distinctions in the church were not Indian of any caste but

British. The Indian actors who assumed prominence at this stage of the drama (who were

few) almost exclusively counseled caution and less drastic measures if not warning off

any action altogether.54 Was this because they were defending a system which

perpetuated a sin they embraced as was suggested by Wilson? Or was it because they

understood better than recently arrived British missionaries how caste functioned in their

society which was more benign than the missionaries assumed? The later seems more

likely.

The Stage is Set: British Missionaries in Danish Halle Territory

Before Daniel Wilson assumed the bishops mantle in 1832 there had been two key

developments which helped set the stage for his role in the drama which would unfold

around the Wilson Line. In 1813 the officers of the British East India Trading

Company changed their charter to make it more missionary friendly.55 Previous to this

time the charter had not allowed for any proselytizing activities in company territory as

the companys officers believed that any overt attempts to convert the natives would

jeopardize their trading mission. Pressure from more evangelically oriented British

officials56(including several who had been members of Wilsons St. Johns parish) led to

the change in the charter which opened the door for a flood of British or British

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supported missionaries in the 1820s, many of whom held much stronger anti caste

opinions than the Germans and Scandinavians who had preceded them (see following

quote).

The second development had to do with where these missionaries located. The Danish

Halle mission in Tamil Nadu state had begun as a predominantly German Lutheran

operation. This remained the case throughout its first century of existence. However, by

the time the door opened to British evangelical missionaries in 1813 continental

European ties had loosened to the point where these newer British missionaries were able

to move in and take over.

57

This was the case not only because of a lessening of support

from continental European churches, but also because even from the outset British

mission societies (particularly CMS and SPG) had staked out a financial interest in the

Tranquebar mission.58 By 1813 not only were they supplying missionaries, they were

also the principal financial backers. By the 1820s what had been predominantly Lutheran

congregations suddenly became Anglican-ized, confronting their membership with

changes which they no more appreciated than would Christians anywhere else facing the

prospect of a denominational make over:

What made the controversy of the 1820s to 1850s even more aggravating was the arrival

in South India of an especially aggressive generation of Anglican missionaries. Aftermore than a century of Lutheran missionary effort . . .ecclesiastical dominion over

Tamil congregations was abruptly turned over to the Church Missionary Society (CMS)

and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). Thus, by fiat

and without prior consultation, over twenty thousand mostly Evangelical LutheranTamils found themselves forced to read from different translations of the Bible, sing from

a strange hymnbook, and recite from an unfamiliar Book of Common Prayer.59

The Wilson Line

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Wilsons nephew and biographer gives us a picture of a bishop overwhelmed with the

duties of his office in the first months after his arrival in India.60 He also mentions a

steady stream of missionary visitors to the bishops office, many of whom would have

been among the especially aggressive Anglican missionaries referenced above.

Add to

this what we noted earlier about the individualistic nature of Wilsons uncompromising

dualistic evangelical faith, his association with colonial officialdom (Rule Britannia,

Britannia rule the world!) and firm conviction that he was a standard bearer for Gods

Truth (as opposed to the less vigilant, flaccid Orthodox Churchmen loose

Christians like his parents) and you have the recipe for the formula which would become

the Wilson Line. Its found in a letter he wrote to the Brethren, the Missionaries, in

the Diocese of Calcutta, and the flocks gathered by their labors or entrusted to their

care61 in July of 1833, just over a year after he had arrived in India, which would come

to be circulated widely throughout all the southern churches. The occasion according to

Bateman was the bishops shock over hearing that that one hundred and sixty-eight

Christians had apostatized to heathenism62during the previous year which he attributed

almost exclusively to a lax attitude exhibited by missionaries and other church leaders

towards the evils of caste in south Indian parishes. This letter (apparently

unintentionally63) would come to take on the force of a papal encyclical, expressing what

My own experience as a supervisor of missionaries in the Middle East and India leads me to

believe that the ones who would have made sure that they got the bishops ear in the early days of

his ministry would have been the most aggressive among them. Crusading missionaries are

usually the best at allowing their voices to be heard above all others.** Reprinted in full from Batemans biography as an appendix to this paper.

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would soon become the official Anglican missionary line on caste. This was the Wilson

Line.

The Letter

Several points are worth noting in this letter (see appendix for references):

Wilson claims to be making this pronouncement based on previous

correspondence and decisions of bishops, when in fact his immediate

predecessor, Bishop Heber, had suggested a more gradualist approach to the issue

(based on advice given by an Indian Christian leader and a poll he had taken of

missionaries in the south, the results of which remain under dispute.)

64

Wilson relates the act of putting off caste to that of putting off the old man in

order to put on Christ. Caste is thus identified as an evil in and of itself. This is

reinforced later when he calls on Indian Christians to come out of heathen

subdivisions . . . which arise from the darkness of an unconverted and idolatrous

state. It also suggests that Wilson thought this to be a simple act of purification

which once Indian Christians recognized it to be the abomination he knew it to be

would doff it like they would throw off an old suit.

While arguing primarily on the basis of biblical precedence, Wilson at one point

tips his colonial hand by making his case using an enlightenment paradigm for

human progress claiming that caste disallows advancement and improvement in

society.

Wilson argues against those who suggest (as many Indian Christians as well as

older missionaries did) that caste is largely a civil structure that parallels to some

extent the class divisions in Europe. His point - that people are not trapped in

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their class in Europe as they are in their caste in India might have raised a

few eyebrows in its time as indications are that the class structure was nearly as

rigid in 19th century Britain as the caste structure was in south India during the

same period of time.

In what was certainly the most controversial and explosive part of the letter,

Wilson insists that church membership be linked to the renunciation of caste

which in turn would need to be proven with caste breaking actions (such as

forcing Sudras to eat food prepared by a low caste cook)65. People could now

only become Christian by renouncing (through largely artificially contrived

externally validating actions) what many recognized to be a deeply ingrained

sociologically conditioned identity (even though a concession of sorts was made

for those who were already members of the church.)

The Drama Unfolds

Evidence suggests that Wilson was relatively clueless about the storm his letter would

unleash, which was immediate and overwhelming, particularly when the letter was read

in parishes in and around Madras66. His own highly individualistic faith experience had

ill prepared him to conceptualize how this would come across to people whose corporate

identity was a strong determinant factor in their lives. To him it was simply a matter of

gently, yet persuasively convincing free acting autonomous moral agents of something

that any rational Bible believing Christian would recognize to be an inherently

unchristian practice. His missionaries, facing large scale revolts and angry crowds, tried

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to persuade him otherwise. We hear this as an underlying subtext in what Bateman says

about the bishops response to the unfolding crisis:

The bishop was kept acquainted with everything that passed. He advised that individualsshould be dealt with, and that the intercourse should be gentle, friendly, personal, and

persuasive. He was informed, in reply, that this had been attempted, but in vain; for thatall the people were inextricably mingled together, and bound by ties of all kinds . . . To

untie such knots was impossible.67

At this point the bishop decided to visit the Tamil churches himself. And then things got

worse. What got worse was the bishops insistence on interpreting the grievances of

those who had left the churches in protest as a revolt against Christ himself, a position he

upheld even as he met with the disgruntled Soodra Christians to listen to their

grievances.68Christians who had been in positions of trusted leadership in the Church

before the bishops letter was drafted, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of

converts, if not converts themselves, were suddenly cast in the role of enemies of Christ,

they as well as several hundred of the laity who protested en masse. As he would say

about them in a letter he sent to missionaries soon after his southern tour:

they have preferred Belial to Christ

they have separated themselves from The Lord that bought them

they have resolved to mix the doctrine of the holy Jesus with the dogmas of a

heathenish superstition69

The die was cast for a conflict which continues to haunt the south Indian church today.

An Assessment

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Charles Hoole examined the issues surrounding the introduction of the Wilson Line

and saw it as a cut and dried matter: Bishop Daniel Wilson, driven by Christian

conviction to mount a moral campaign against an odious practice associated with an

idolatrous belief system, cast aside the kind of short term consequences which he

assumed Church Growth proponents would have put front and center, to draw a firm line

against caste. The short term consequences were, as Hoole notes, dire as Wilsons

letter roused a hurricane of unrest in the southern churches70 leading to the loss of a

great number of church members in the 1840s and 50s not only in the Anglican dioceses,

but in churches in all the Protestant mission fields as most followed Wilsons lead on

what they clearly saw as an egalitarian principle too fundamental to be sacrificed for the

sake of short-term advantages.71 These short term effects, however, were reversed in the

1860s when these same missions . . . began to grow at a rapid rate through mass

conversions from the depressed classes72 thus casting doubt on the legitimacy of Church

Growth principles.

In assessing Hooles thesis several things need to be noted. First, in an ironic aside what

Hoole claims to have been an exception to the homogenous unit principle actually

could be said to give it added credence. The growth of the church in the early years of

the Danish-Halle Mission came about largely through mass conversions which grew out

of the evangelical outreach of Indian converts within the Sudra caste. When these same

Sudra converts were either cast out or left the church in the wake of controversy

surrounding the Wilson Line it cleared the way for another people group in this

case people from what Hoole himself calls the depressed classes to convert en

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masse. This is a phenomenon which fits well within the purview of Church Growth

hermeneutics, which is no surprise given the fact that the godfather of the Church Growth

movement, Donald McGavern, drew his conclusions from what he observed about the

Church in India where he served for many years as a Disciples of Christ missionary.73

Great growth has almost always been caste-wise. When the Church has made its

greatest strides, individuals became Christian with their fellow tribesmen, with their

kindred and with their people.74

In general it can be said that arguments about what a certain growth spurt proves or

doesnt prove about the nature of church growth is open to diverse interpretations as it is

always difficult to postulate what might have happened ifsomething had been different

when all we have to go on is what didhappen. In this case using the same data Hoole

used to prove that the church grew in the 1860s because of the courageous stance of

Wilson and others could allow us to reach another conclusion - that it might have grown

more if he hadnt taken this stance. Low caste converts were found in the Tamil churches

even before the Wilson Line. It is certainly possible to speculate that under a strong

visionary leadership

both lower caste converts andSudras would have come into the

church en masse in the 1860s. And who can say that they might not have discovered for

themselves a way to overcome the divisions engendered by caste as the church grew.

The Holy Spirit has certainly been known to act in ways that confound all expectations in

other cultures at other times. Why not in this case?

Based on observations I have made in my years in pastoral and missionary service I would claim this to be

the real key to church growth no matter how it is measured. An impassioned, Christ centered visionary

leadership, trumps all other considerations.

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These are important considerations to have in mind when assessing Hooles thesis. But

even more important is a related question about the rootedness of the Gospel in Tamilian

soil which any good horticulturist will acknowledge to be the key to future growth.

Without strong roots healthy sustainable growth is impossible in the plant world. The

same thing can be said about the Church. Here the question could be asked whether or

not the imposition of Wilsons moral imperatives didnt stunt the rootedgrowth of the

Indian Church by making it less adaptive than it could have been to its own unique

socio/religious/cultural setting. The fact that contemporary Tamilian Christians will

admit to the continued pernicious presence of a caste consciousness among them shows

how integral caste is to Tamilian identity. Could it be that the gradualist approach

might have allowed for a more rooted Gospel because it would have given indigenous

believers - those who knew best what caste was about a greater role in determining the

shape of their community life? Paul Hiebert suggests that such might have been the case:

. . . in the end it (missionary crafted and enforced ecclesiastical and moral structures)

hindered the missionary task. The foreignness of the gospel was a barrier to evangelism,and syncretism was not prevented. Far too often the missionaries ended as policemen

enforcing what they believed to be Christian practices on the people.75

Conclusion

Bishop Wilsons principled stance on caste deserves some admiration. I would like to

believe that he did what he did out of a genuine concern for the spiritual welfare of his

people and desire to protect the sanctity of the Gospel witness. Hoole is right to praise

him and others for taking a strong stand on an issue they felt to be detrimental to the spirit

and teaching of Christ. But cross cultural, inter faith ministry, particularly when its

practitioners are guests in another country, demands more than simply taking strong

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principled stances on issues about which we feel passionate. It involves developing an

empathetic (and well researched) sensitivity to cultural structures and expressions which

may challenge deeply held values which upon further reflection may turn out to be less

related to biblical verities than our own unique cultural or even personal perspective. In

this case Paul Hieberts recommendations related to critical contextualization should

be given serious consideration, particularly what he says about taking the time and

painstaking effort to study the local culture phenomenologically76 engaging at the same

time in culturally sensitive exegetical Bible study in concert with and under the guidance

of indigenous believers who become the eyes through which the missionary attempts to

develop together with local believers - a critical conceptualization of an inculturated

Gospel witness. 77 The kind of critical response which Bishop Wilson made to what is

certainly an issue freighted with ethical and spiritual significance would then be made not

as a dictatissued by an authoritarian other, but as a response that arises out of an

indigenous hermeneutical circle where the missionary is there more as advisor, coach or

counselor (not to mention friend) than he/she-who-has-the answers.

Although the past cannot be undone, one does wonder how different things might have

been if Bishop Daniel Wilson had taken this or a similar approach to what remains a live

issue for the Church in south India today. One can only wonder.

John Hubers

Easter, 2007

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1 Charles Hoole, A Nineteenth Century Church Growth Debate: India inEvangelical Review of Theology. 19 O 1995. pp.

381-386.2 Ibid. p. 3813 Ibid.4 Ibid.5 Ibid.6 See in particular the collection of articles from various sources in Exploring Church Growth edited by the Mennonite

missiologist Wilbert R. Shenk (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eeerdmans Publishing Company, 1983) as well as Fullers own

Charles Van Engens doctoral dissertation published as The Growth of the True Church (Amsterdam: Rodopi PublishingCo., 1981) both of which represent a well developed debate on the issues raised by the Church Growth movement which its

practitioners had already begun to take on board by the time of their publication in the early 80s.7 Ibid., p. 382.8 See D. Dennis Hudson, The First Protestant Mission to India: Its Social and Religious Development in Sociology of

Religion in India, ed. by Rowena Robinson (London: Sage Publications, 2004) p. 199-230 for an excellent treatment of the

establishment of this mission and how it dealt with caste.9 Josiah Bateman, The Life of Daniel Wilson, D.D. (Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1860).10 Ibid., p. 2.11 Ibid., p. 4.12 Ibid.13 Ibid. p. 5.14 Ibid., p. 7.

15 Ibid., p. 1216 Ibid.

17 Ibid. p. 1318 Ibid., p. 1519 Ibid.20 Ibid., p. 2121 Ibid., p. 17922 Ibid., p. 16123 See George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1876). This

association with the Macaulays and another occasional visitor to St. Johns, William Wilberforce (in his later years), may be

the reason why Hoole links Wilson with the Clapham Sect which was a major force in the abolitionist movement . (see

Hoole, p. 382). However, Bateman gives no indication that Wilson was actively engaged in the activities of this group.24

Bateman, p. 14125 Ibid.26 Ibid., p. 17927 Ibid., p. 21328 Ibid., p. 21529 Ibid.30 Ibid., p. 22031 Ibid., p. 21932 Hudson, p. 199.33 Ibid.34 Ibid.35 Robert Eric Frykenberg, Christians in India: An Historical Overview of their Complex Origins in. Christians and

Missionaries in India: Cross Cultural Communication Since 1500, ed. by Robert Eric Frykenberg (Grand Rapids: WilliamB. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), p. 50.36 Ibid., p. 51-52.37 Hugald Grafe, Tamilnadu in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in The History of Christianity in India series, Vol.

IV, Part 2 (Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 1990), p. 1438 Remarks on the Province of Tinnevelly in The Missionary Herald, Vol. 21, 1825, p. 143-146. What is most interesting

here is that the Missionary Heraldwas the mouthpiece of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

which means that this report had the sanction of the most predominant American missionary society of the time, as well.39Ibid., p. 143. Spelling is theirs.40 Ibid.41 Ibid., p. 144


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42 A conclusion he drew after just over a year in the country during which time he was so overwhelmed with the pastoral

and administrative duties of his office that one wonders when he had time to give serious thought to the issues involved.

(see Bateman, p. 245).43 Bateman, p. 33844 Geoffrey A. Oddie notes that the concept of Hinduism as a separate religious identity was thrust upon Indians by

Europeans in an attempt to interpret and explain the complexities they found in Indian religious and social life (Geoffrey

A. Oddie, Constructing Hinduism: The Impact of the Protestant Missionary Movement on Hindu Self-Understanding

in Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication Since 1500 ed. by Robert Eric Frykenberg (Grand

Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003) p. 156. It is notable in this respect that the CMS report citedearlier makes a distinction between the Braminical faith and worshippers of demons (CMS Report, p. 143). No where is

the word Hindu used.45 Duncan B. Forrester, Caste and Christianity: Attitudes and Policies on Caste of Anglo-Saxon Protestant Missions in

India (London: Curzon Press, 1980), p. 34. See also Eric Sharpe, Patience with the Weak: Leipzig Lutherans and the

Caste Question in Nineteenth Century South India inReligious Traditions in South Asia: Interaction and Change ed. by

Geoffrey A. Oddie (London: Curzon Press, 1998), p. 127 and Julius Richter,A History of Missions in India , translated by

Sydney H. Moore (London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1908) p. 166 who claims that the old Danish missionaries . . .

had hesitated to grapple seriously with this deeply rooted national institution, which is most intimately bound up with all

the manners and customs of the Tamil race. . . . 46 Forrester, p. 34.47 Ibid., p. 15.48 Hudson, p. 220.

49 Ibid., p. 22150 Francis X. Clooney, Finding Ones Place in the Text: A Look at the Theological Treatment of Caste in Traditional

India inJournal of Religious Ethics, 17 Spring 1989 , p. 1-2951 Ibid., p. 452 Ibid., p. 853 Ibid.54 Hudson comments that Vedanayaga Sastri was a representative figure, noting that to Tamil Christians at this time to be

oneself fully (was) to be in and of a particular caste. There (was) no such thing as a Christian in general. (Hudson, p.221). Observations made by the author of this paper about the church in south India today would underscore that a caste

consciousness continues to exist along much the same lines as it did in the 19th century , albeit much less overt. It is

certainly part of the mental universe of rural Tamilians.55 Richter, p. 150.56 Ibid., 14957

Ibid., p. 161. Richter notes that the Danish crown lost interest early on which led to the gradual decline of continentalsupport which needed to be made up for by British support.58 Ibid.59Christians and Missionaries in India, p. 1460 Bateman speaks of a constant flood of visitors, long exhausting journeys in 16 dioceses, the administrative challenge of a

bishopric where no proper records had been kept for years and all this is an unfamiliar country. Its hard to believe that he

had much time or energy for deep reflection on the caste question beyond reflecting back what the most assertive

missionaries and chaplains would have shared with him. (p. 243)61 Ibid., p. 34462 Ibid.63 Wilson speaks only of offering his paternal opinion and advice (Ibid.)64 Richter, p. 169. Bateman claims that only a small minority of missionaries supported the gradualist position. Other

sources, most notably those upon which Richter drew (writing in 1908) suggest that the majority of those associated withthe Leipzig mission were against an aggressive stand on caste.65 An assertion which would be given added weight by a further letter written in January of 1834 in which concrete

measures to abolish caste were delineated. (see Hoole, p. 383)66 Bateman reports that when the letter was read in the church in Vepery after two or three pages had been turned, the

main body of Soodras men, women and children rose, without remark, and retired from the church (p. 350). Similar

scenes unfolded throughout the region which in some cases turned ugly as in Tanjore where Soodra congregants tried to

silence the missionary who read the letter. (p. 351)67 Ibid., p. 35568 Especially telling here is a conversation which the bishop had with a group of church leaders which Bateman records

verbatim after he had preached a sermon on this topic. What do I want altered? says the bishop. Only that which Satanand the proud heart of man would wish to retain. . . (p. 369-371)


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69 Ibid., p. 35770 Hoole, p. 38371 Ibid.72 Ibid., p. 38573 Van Engen, p. 325.74 Donald McGavern, When the Church Grows in Church Growth and Group Conversion (Lucknow, India: Lucknow

Publishing House, 1956), p. 9875 Paul Hiebert, Critical Contextualization in The International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 11, no. 3 (July,

1987) p. 106.76 Ibid. , p. 10977 Ibid.

Bibliography of Consulted Works

1. Almeida, Uesuino. Christian Response to the Reality of Caste and the Dalits. Missiological

Approaches in India: Retrospect and Prospect. Bombay: The Bombay Saint Paul Society,

1999.

2. Ballhatchet, Kenneth. Caste, Class and Catholicism in India, 1789-1914. Surrey, UK: CurzonPress, 1998.

3. Bateman, Josiah. The Life of Daniel Wilson, D.D. Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1860.

4. Bosch, Donald. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll:Orbis Books, 1992.

5. Caplan, Lionel. Class and Culture in Urban India: Fundamentalism in a ChristianCommunity. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.

6. Clooney, Francis X. Finding Ones Place in the Text: A Look at the Theological Treatment of

Caste in Traditional India. Journal of Religious Ethics. Vol 17, Spring, 1989. p. 1-29

7. Church Missionary Society Report. Remarks on the Province of Tinnevelly. Missionary

Herald, Vol. 21. 1825. p. 143-146.

8. Forrester, Duncan B. Caste and Christianity: Attitudes and Policies on Caste of Anglo-SaxonProtestant Missions in India. London: Curzon Press, 1980.

9. Frykenberg, Robert Eric. Christians in India: An Historical Overview of their ComplexOrigins. Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross Cultural Communication Since 1500.

Edited by Robert Eric Frykenberg. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003.

10. Grafe, Hugald. Tamilnadu in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The History ofChristianity in India: Volume IV, Part 2. Bangalore: Church History Association of India,

1990.

11. Hiebert, Paul. Critical Contextualization. International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

Volume 11, No. 3. July, 1987. p. 104-112.

12. Hoole, Charles. A Nineteenth Century Church Growth Debate: India. Evangelical Reviewof Theology,

19 October 1995. p. 381-386.13. Hudson, D. Dennis. The First Protestant Mission to India: Its Social and Religious

Development. Sociology of Religion in India. Edited by Rowena Robinson. London: Sage

Publications, 2004.

14. McGavern, Donald. When the Church Grows. Church Growth and Group Conversion.

Edited by J. W. Pickett, A.L. Warnshuis, G. H. Singh and D.A. McGavern. Lucknow:

Lucknow Publishing House, 1956.

15. Oddie, Geoffrey A. Constructing Hinduism: The Impact of the Protestant MissionaryMovement on Hindu Self Understanding. Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-


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Cultural Communication Since 1500. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,

2003.

16. Richter, Julius. A History of Missions in India. Translated by Sydney H. Moore. London:

Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1908.17. Schreitter, Robert. Inculturation of Faith or Identification with Culture? New Directions in

Mission and Evangelization 3. Edited by Stephen B. Bevans and James A. Scherer. Maryknoll:

Orbis Books, 1999.18. Sharpe, Eric. Patience with the Weak: Leipzig Lutherans and the Caste Question in

Nineteenth Century India. Religious Traditions in South Asia: Interaction and Change.

Edited by Geoffrey A. Oddie. Great Britain: Curzon Press, 1998.

19. Smith, Brian K. The Veda and the Authority of Class: Reduplicating Structures of Beda and

Varna in Ancient Indian Texts. Authority, Anxiety and Canon: Essays in VedicInterpretation. Edited by Laurie L. Patton. New York: State University of New York Press,

1994.20. Taber, Charles. Contextualization. Exploring Church Growth. Edited by Wilbert R. Shenk.

Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983.

21. Van Engen, Charles. The Growth of the True Church: An Analysis of the Ecclesiology of

Church Growth Theory. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1981.

22. Whiteman, Darrell L. Contextualization: The Theory, the Gap, the Challenge. NewDirections in Mission and Evangelization 3. Edited by Stephen B. Bevans and James A.Scherer. Marknoll: Orbis Books, 1999.

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