"Written by two of the country's foremost theologians, Christianity in India traces the fascinating history of each of these communities, and describes the role of Christians in education, social services, multilingual publishing and the freedom struggle. The authors explain to non-Christians the tenets and rituals that bind the faithful, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox - prayer, the Sunday service, baptism and marriage, the role of Jesus in daily life, Christians' understanding of other faiths - and examine the controversial issues of caste within Christianity and conversions from other faiths."--BOOK JACKET.

The story of Christianity in the West has often been told, but the history of Christianity in the East is not as well known. The seed was the same: the good news of Jesus Christ for the whole world, which Christians call "the gospel." But it was sown by different sowers; it was planted in different soil; it grew with a different flavor; and it was gathered by different reapers. It is too often forgotten that the faith moved east across Asia as early as it moved west into Europe. Western church history tends to follow Paul to Philippi and to Rome and on across Europe to the conversion of Constantine and the barbarians. With some outstanding exceptions, only intermittently has the West looked beyond Constantinople as its center. It was a Christianity that has for centuries remained unashamedly Asian. A History of Christianity in Asia makes available immense amounts of research on religious pluralism of Asia and how Christianity spread long before the modern missionary movement went forth in the shelter of Western military might. Invaluable for historians of Asia and scholars of mission, it is stimulating for all readers interested in Christian history. --

This superb volume provides the first genuinely global one-volume history of the rise and development of the Christian faith. An international team of specialists takes seriously the geographical diversity of the Christian story, discussing the impact of Christianity not only in the West but also in Latin America, Africa, India, the Orient and Australasia.

Chingboi Guite Phaipi examines how biblical texts reinforced female subjugation in Northeast Indian tribal societies after tribes had accepted Christianity in the early 20th century. Phaipi shows how most tribal groups reinforced women's subordinate status by invoking newly authoritative biblical texts such as the creation stories in Genesis 1, 2 and 3. Phaipi studies the creation stories in Genesis to offer broader readings for Christian tribal communities that are communal, traditional, and struggling to retain their women and girls, particularly those who are educated. This volume recognizes and respects tradition, traditional communities, and the enduring witness of faithful lives in tribal communities at the same time as offering ways forward with respect to unworthy cultural practices and preferences that have been legitimised by the Bible. This book offers a contextually sensitive and scholarly reading of the Bible, with particular attention to the ways patriarchal norms in biblical narratives are perpetuated, rather than considered and reformed.

An investigation into the category of tribes in South Asia. It focuses on one so-called tribal community, the Garos of Bangladesh. It deals with the evolution of Garo identity/ethnicity and with the progressive making of cultural characteristics that support a sense of Garo-ness, in the context of the complex historical developments.