Christianity and India: 2000 Years of Faith
Christians have lived in India since the early centuries of this era. In South India they believe their ancestors received the Gospel from the apostle Thomas. After that, the arrival of Christianity was sporadic, helped first by merchants and priests from the West Asia and from the fifteenth century by European merchants and missionaries who settled down in India. The faith that took root was strongly influenced by local organisations and cultures; thus the Christians in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa are almost as different from each other as they are from their Hindu and Muslim counterparts, the tribal Christians of central and north-eastern India.
The course 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.