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World Christianity and “Protestant America”: Historical Narratives and the Limits of Christian Pluralism Chandra Mallampalli

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World Christianity and “Protestant America”: Historical Narratives and the Limits of Christian Pluralism Chandra Mallampalli , World Christianity and “Protestant America”: Historical Narratives and the Limits of Christian Pluralism Chandra Mallampalli merica’s identity as a Protestant nation has long been a This mythology views the Gospel as necessarily producing a A topic of extensive research. Relationships between certain type of history, one that begins in either chaos or tyranny America’s “civil religion,” exceptionalism, and global mission and leads ultimately to a stable, powerful, and prosperous have sparked reflection across many disciplines.1 Into the world democracy. of the twenty-first century, two momentous yet paradoxical If the southward expansion of Christianity levels any cri- developments are casting new light upon America’s identity and tique at all of Protestant America, it is by delinking the Gospel mission. The first is the dramatic growth of Christianity in Africa, from grand narratives that are used to explain American progress.3 Latin America, and Asia. The second is the rise of America to a Liberalism, rational debate, free enterprise, and rule of law are status of unrivaled military and economic power. Demographi- cherished ideals of both America and the former British Empire. cally, the global South has created new Christian centers. But Within these histories such ideals have come to represent a even as this trend continues, America remains the world’s politi- Judeo-Christian imprint on modernity, a biblical way of respect- cal and economic center, whose religious heritage continues to ing persons, creating wealth, and holding states accountable to a sanction its political mission.2 higher law. Today, however, Christian congregations flourish in I use this paradox as an occasion to reflect upon historical places where these institutions are at best partially formed. Does narratives, specifically, their tendency either to stifle or to le- the absence of political or economic stability in Sierra Leone, gitimate different ways of being Christian in the world. Demo- Nigeria, or Guatemala call their Christian experience into ques- graphics show overwhelmingly that it is possible to be Chris- tion? Or does Christian growth in these lands serve in some way tian without being American. But they tell us very little about to provincialize Protestant America, perhaps by making its uni- whether Africans or Asians can be Christian without reproduc- versal claims less universal or by releasing the Gospel from the ing “the American story.” Can Christianity incarnate itself in story of the modern democratic nation-state?4 ways that tell stories that depart from that of Protestant America? The following sections describe the tension between world A mythology, deeply embedded in the consciousness of Ameri- Christianity and Protestant America as a tension between can Protestantism, makes this possibility highly problematic. incarnational and covenantal historical narratives. Incarnational narratives, developed in the work of Andrew Walls and Lamin Chandra Mallampalli is Assistant Professor of History at Westmont College, Sanneh, describe how the Christian religion was freed from its Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of Christians and Public Life in attachment to European lands and came to be appropriated by Colonial South India, 1863–1937 (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004). non-European peoples on their own cultural terms.5 Such narra- 8 I NTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH, Vol. 30, No. 1 tives are centered upon the doctrine of the incarnation, of the ity, according to Walls, “is at home in African religion; it is Word becoming flesh, the translation of the Gospel into the African religion.”8 As such, it often expresses itself within a language and categories of local culture. In contrast, covenantal worldview that affirms the role of the supernatural in everyday narratives are centered upon the Old Testament doctrine of God’s life. The introduction of the Gospel into African society does not covenant with Israel. Central to early Puritan faith, this doctrine eliminate traditional belief in spiritual healing and exorcism, but formed the basis of America’s sense of chosenness, its commit- it does often present Christ as the central source of such power. ment to democracy and rule of law, and its mission to spread Translation, according to Sanneh, also instilled in West Africans these ideals abroad. While incarnational narratives validate Chris- a sense of cultural pride and provided them with the self- tian pluralism, covenantal narratives diminish this pluralism by awareness needed to challenge colonial rule.9 Indeed, as Adrian linking Christianity inseparably to the projects of democracy and the construction of an international order. Can cultural and historical factors that differentiated Afri- Debates concerning Third can or Indian Christianity from that of their colonial masters do the same now, when the United States is the superpower? An World Christianity bear a important aspect of this debate concerns the persistence of striking resemblance to ethnicity, tribe, caste, and supernaturalist belief in the lives of non-Western converts. Can these factors be part of a genuine debates concerning the Christian experience, or must they eventually give way to a nature of Third World universal mission of political liberty, of which America now stands as the chief agent and example? This article tackles this nationalism. question, first, by outlining incarnational and covenantal motifs in Christian history. Second, it brings them face to face with each other in a discussion of Christian internationalism. Third, it Hastings aptly observes, “African nationalism . has hardly critiques the attempt to understand Third World Christianity existed except where it has been ethnically based, linguistically primarily in relation to the growth of democracy. Finally, it held together and biblically watered.”10 suggests how current trends might de-center America by mak- Within colonial India, missionary translation projects have ing other voices more audible. had similar effects in catalyzing cultural pride and regional consciousness among Bengalis, Tamils, and Telugus.11 This con- Incarnation as Ethnicity, Covenant as Nation sciousness was nurtured through the thriving vernacular print cultures in each of those regions. “Translation,” however, is not A major issue debated among scholars of Africa and Asia con- strictly a linguistic enterprise but encompasses many aspects of cerns the relationship between Protestant missions, colonialism, local culture. Telugu converts to Christ in rural South India have and the emergence of indigenous Christianity. Some view non- often retained key elements of their local worldview. Many have Western Christianity as the direct result of cultural imperialism, been motivated by a quest for healing from such diseases as an aspect of metropolitan culture reproducing itself in the colony, smallpox and deliverance from evil spirits, and many retained a a purely derived identity. Others highlight indigenous factors— strong sense of caste identity long after conversion.12 Within catechists, translators, traditional institutions, belief systems, such contexts, the incarnation might therefore be seen as a and interests—that have shaped African and Asian Christian means of cultural preservation and as the antithesis of cultural expansion.6 imperialism of any kind. These debates concerning Third World Christianity bear a Christianity can also express itself in various parts of the striking resemblance to debates concerning the nature of Third world through notions of covenant. Indeed, throughout the high World nationalism. Are they products of independent, creative imperial era, notions of covenantal chosenness shaped the na- imaginations, or do they derive their basic characteristics from tionalist ideologies and politics of many European nations.13 the patterns of Western nations? South Asia scholar Partha Ideas of chosenness also prevailed within a variety of African Chatterjee argues that Third World nationalisms differentiate an and Asian contexts. Among Christians of Ethiopia, Kenya, South “inner domain” of culture and religion from an “outer domain” Korea, and Northeast India, Bible translation and literacy have of science, technology, and statecraft. While conceding the contributed to a sense of chosenness centered upon the notion of West’s superiority in the outer domain, Third World nationalists the Abrahamic covenant.14 uphold the distinctiveness and superiority of their own cultural The notion of the covenant occupied a central place in the and religious values. This inner domain of family and “religion” thinking of Puritans in North America. In America, covenantal becomes the site of a creative national project.7 thinking combined a longing for political liberty with resolve to Very similar concerns have guided the efforts of Walls and live a holy life. The Puritans interpreted the covenant to mean that Sanneh to explain the emergence of Christianity as a world the welfare of their souls and their society were linked insepara- religion. Their aim is to help us appreciate how non-Western bly. In America’s God Mark Noll describes key transitions and peoples have become Christian while preserving historical dif- episodes in the theological history of America. For instance, the ference from Europe and North America. This possibility of Puritan canopy that once nurtured comprehensive Christian “becoming Christian without becoming Western” has resulted thinking about God and society eventually disintegrated
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