The “Munich School” as a Corrective in World Christianity

From 1993 to 2013, German historian Klaus Koschorke held the chair of Early and Global History of Christianity in the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, in Munich, Germany. While in that position, Koschorke published extensively in the emerging field of World Christianity. His and his colleagues’ work has come to be known as the “Munich School” for their emphasis on “polycentric structures” in the history of World Christianity.

What scholars in this field mean by the Munich School is that Koschorke’s research attempts to de-privilege the Western world in studies of church history. Some critiques of the academic discipline of World Christianity have argued that it is essentially a more recent manifestation of mission studies, wherein virtually all cases it was the Western world sending missionaries to the rest of the world—meaning the Global South, or, chiefly, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. By calling for a polycentric outlook, however, Koschorke attempts to show that most worldwide movements in Christianity—for example, Pentecostalism—have a global story to tell, in addition to a Western version. While Westerners often point to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles or the Welch Revival in the early 1900s as the origin of the modern Pentecostal movement, there were also similar phenomena taking place in non-Western contexts. For example, a strikingly similar revival to Azusa took place in 1905—one year earlier than the Azusa Street Revival—at the Mukti mission, near Pune, in India, under the leadership of the brilliant and accomplished Pandita Ramabai. Koschorke argues that this phenomenon happens time and time again, and thus most movements in Christianity have polycentric origins, which require a much more complicated historical outlook than what is typically argued from Western perspectives.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Koschorke talks often about expanding the maps of Christian history, so that non-Western movements and institutions do not become neglected in the historiography. For example, Koschorke’s research focuses on what he calls “transregional links” in Christian history, especially “South to South” connections. In other words, Western historians typically think in terms of non-Western churches being somehow dependent upon a Western institution. But Koschorke argues that nearly just as often Christian history is formed and shaped by South-South connections that Westerners may not fully comprehend. Thus, this polycentric theory of the origins of Christian movements, as well as the emphasis on South-South connections, demands that church historians rethink the development of global Christian movements and institutions. The Munich School has excited many in the field, as it has led to historians, sociologists, and ethnographers shifting their focus to what may have been happening outside of the standard, thoroughly Western perspectives that have dominated the field until very recently. I would argue that the Munich School was on to this critical insight far earlier than the English-language world, and really the insights from Koschorke and his colleagues have only recently penetrated into the typical English and American versions of Christian history.

All of this has made for crucial, much-needed correctives in the study of World Christianity. And the two of Koschorke’s latest books here reviewed have added valuable contributions to the corpus coming out of the Munich School. The first book, Discourses of Indigenous Christian Elites in Colonial Societies in Asia and Africa around 1900, begins by explaining its goal—to explore indigenous Christian journals from around the year 1900. ¹ The focus is on local Christian elites in non-Western contexts. It is also concerned with looking at “various links and transregional (or even transcontinental) networks . . . in a comparative perspective” (7). The results are brilliant and pioneering. The de-privileging of Western, colonial missionary voices makes room for fresh understandings of what was happening on the ground in these contexts—many of which are profoundly Christian today. Koschorke calls these local players (ministers, evangelists, church leaders) “pioneers of indigenous Christianity” and introduces readers to voices that are rather unknown to Western scholars (8). It makes for arresting reading when one realizes that everything one has been taught about Christianity in, say, India, must be completely reframed and rethought because of the undeniably important role of local players who receive no attention in previous, often standard, historical accounts. This volume is actually the fourth book in a larger project called “Documents on the History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America,” produced by the Munich School.

Discourses is a documentary sourcebook, as revealed in the title, so readers will be disappointed there is no central argument per se. But those who research in the field of World Christianity will realize right away that a central point is on full display: non-Western Christianity has its own story to tell, separate and apart from Western actors. The articles that compose the book have been mined from locally produced churches and presses that appear very rarely in Western research, and the editors deserve praise for bringing these little-known documents to light.

The second volume reviewed here is a monograph by Koschorke about a little-known, locally produced Indian Christian journal called the Christian Patriot. ² Again, the historical focus is around the year 1900. The subtitle of Koschorke’s volume is actually the subtitle to the Indian journal he plumbs, the Christian Patriot: A Journal of Social and Religious Progress. Here again, Koschorke deals primarily with the upper crust of Indian society, in particular, educated, Protestant Christians based mainly around Madras/Chennai. “Lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats and other socially high ranking and financially independent persons” founded numerous initiatives and institutions during their years of activity. They made links—many of which were international, but mainly across India—to press for a greater agency and indigeneity for themselves, and for Christianity in India. Koschorke argues that the most important periodical that they produced was the Christian Patriot, between the years of 1890 and 1929. The goals of the journal’s masterminds were to uplift the nation of India. It was also established to help defend Indian Christians against charges of “denationalization,” or a lack of patriotism (271).

Contrary to many Indian publications, the Christian Patriot was a “purely indigenous venture” (271). It was never in the hands of a Western government or agency. It criticized Western paternalism and racism, yet it was equally critical of the Indian National Congress’s tendency to equate Hindu revivalism with Indian nationalism. The journal was issued weekly and was almost entirely written in English; Koschorke estimates the weekly readership to have fluctuated between 8,000 and 20,000, with its readers located mainly in India, Burma, and Ceylon. Published contributions came from correspondents all over India, but also from other nations such as Singapore, South Africa, England, the United States, and China. Importantly, the journal led to a robust connection between India and Japan—another Asian nation that “had managed to jump in such a short time into modernity and to take its place among the ‘most civilized nations in the world’” (273). Mutual visits and much correspondence between the two nations arose during this time. The editors of the Christian Patriot were also fascinated by African national churches having established their own bishoprics and asserting a much more indigenous, self-reliant approach to their relations with Great Britain.

Koschorke and the Munich School are a much-needed corrective to the dominant narratives of World Christianity in the English-speaking world. Koschorke is not just a champion of the idea of transcontinental cooperation; as a scholar, he also embodies that ideal. His connections to both Western scholars and South Asian (his expertise) scholars are impressive, and he has raised the bar of scholarly excellence for his detailed, exacting, archival scholarship by making fresh contributions to the field of global Christianity. The only reservation I have with Koschorke’s monograph (Owned and Conducted) is that it is written in German, and younger Western scholars who were never required to take German will have to wait until a translator steps forward. The Discourses volume, however, is written entirely in English and should enjoy a much larger readership immediately.