Abstract
The concept of a local church is developed by Jose Panadan as a group of churches that are inculturated and truly reflect the cultural dynamics of a surrounding society. Such a church movement was begun in 1964 in the north of Gujarat State in India. This book lays out the theological foundation for that ministry, as well as spelling out the details of what inculturation means and how it has functioned in that particular part of Hindu society.
In his presuppositional first two chapters Panadan laments the development of the historic church in culturally monolithic directions. He looks at the proper meaning of “local church” and the prospects for culturally diverse local churches, approvingly quoting Aloysius Pieris, “The majority of the local churches in Asia are not yet local churches of Asia, but are extensions of Euro-American local churches in Asia” (56).
The third chapter brings India and Hindu issues into focus, particularly looking at being “Hindu by culture and Christian by faith” in the St. Thomas churches, then in the pioneering work of Robert de Nobili (1577–1656) and Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (1861–1907), as well as in the current Khrist bhakta movement of unbaptized disciples of Jesus in rural Varanasi.
Chapter 4 focuses on the theological foundations of the ecclesiology of the new ministry in North Gujarat. Isupanth is introduced as a contextually resonant expression of the way of Jesus, which is defined as a bhakti (devotional) path where Jesus is understood as the purna avatara (full incarnation) and sadguru (true guru). These are not particularly new ideas (Panadan provides background in earlier Indian Christian discussions), but it is novel that they were applied and have been embraced in a new church movement. Most controversial is the embracing of caste as one’s “sociological habitat” (284), while rejecting the discriminatory and hierarchical aspects of the caste system (364–69).
Chapters 5 and 6 look at the “dialectics and dilemmas” and then the “challenges and opportunities” of this new local church. Panadan suggests that “this ecclesiological vision would make more sense if we understand Isupanth basically as a movement within Hinduism” (438). Yet, he also opts against an understanding of multiple religious belonging (389). The local church has emerged from a few non-Dalit caste groups but is not thriving. Tensions within the church are acknowledged, and Panadan suggests that “lack of committed missionaries who are convinced of this particular way of being a local Church has been a major setback for the ongoing faith formation of the Church in North Gujarat” (431).
This is an important case study that needs to find a place in discussions of global Christianity, not to mention missiology, contextualization, and mission in India. Panadan does not shrink from controversy and does not hide the warts in the North Gujarat “experiment.” There is much stimulating material here related to ethnomusicology, contextual liturgies and iconography, adaptation of local festivals, and the question of how and when a new church movement develops into a “viable community.” Panadan has put the global church in his debt.