STUDIA MISSIONALIA SVECANA CXX Anita Yadala Suneson Indian Protestants and their Religious Others Views of Religious Diversity among Christians in Bangalore To my parents Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Sal IV, Universitetshuset, Biskopsgatan 3, Uppsala, Friday, 17 May 2019 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Theology). The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Professor Chad Bauman (Butler University). Abstract Yadala Suneson, A. 2019. Indian Protestants and their Religious Others. Views of Religious Diversity among Christians in Bangalore. Studia Missionalia Svecana 120. 341 pp. Uppsala: Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-506-2751-0. This study gives an in-depth insight into ways that ordinary Christians in a multireligious context think about religious plurality. It examines how Indian Protestants reflect upon other religions and upon the situation of religious diversity. Methodologically, the study relies mainly on qualitative interviews with Pentecostal and Church of South India (CSI) lay members and pastors from Bangalore, south India. The interviews are analysed through thematic analysis. The study reveals a theological diversity among interviewees. The major differences are found among the clergy, while the views of Pentecostal and CSI lay interviewees show many similarities. The dominant theological perspective is evangelical and this forms an “evangelical lens” that colours attitudes to other religions. Additionally, a general Protestant perspective emerges that reflects a typically Protestant emphasis on Christ and the Bible, as well as a liberal Protestant perspective which focuses on social issues. Salvation, primarily understood in terms of eternal life for the individual, is central to the ideas interviewees have about the difference between Protestant Christianity and other religions. Perceptions of Hinduism reveal stereotypical views which portray it as an antithesis to Christian faith. Views of Islam are more positive, and similarities with Protestantism are perceived. Attitudes to different Christian traditions, and to Catholicism in particular, illustrate that the line between religious self and other can be drawn also between different forms of Christianity. An important finding of the study is that the use of religious images is a central issue for these Protestant Christians which affects their views of other religions and that it signals religious otherness to them. The dichotomy between religious self and other refers primarily to salvation and religious efficacy, not to everyday life. As people, Muslims and particularly Hindus are portrayed in a positive light. Interreligious friendship and unstressful everyday interaction characterise interviewees’ depictions of relations with religious others in Bangalore. The religious minority status becomes plainly evident in relation to mission. Interviewees negotiate between an ideal of active evangelism and social considerations. This study reveals that it is possible to combine theological exclusivism in theory with respect for the religious other in practice. Keywords: Hindu-Christian Studies, Christian-Muslim Studies, Protestantism, Pentecostalism, Church of South India, Christianity in India, Bangalore Anita Yadala Suneson, Department of Theology, Church and Mission studies, Box 511, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. © Anita Yadala Suneson 2019 ISSN 1404-9503 ISBN 978-91-506-2751-0 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-380068 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-380068) Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ ix Abbreviations ................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 13 Purpose and Research Questions .............................................................. 15 Methods .................................................................................................... 16 Field Studies ........................................................................................ 16 Participant Observations ...................................................................... 18 Qualitative Interviews .......................................................................... 20 Transcription and Presentation of Interviews ...................................... 25 Informal Interviews ............................................................................. 27 Written Material from the Churches .................................................... 27 Thematic Analysis ............................................................................... 27 Methodological and Epistemological Approach to Analysis ................... 29 Theoretical Conceptual Frameworks ........................................................ 31 Evangelical, General, and Liberal Protestant Perspectives .................. 33 Othering ............................................................................................... 34 The Religious Other ............................................................................. 36 Ethical Considerations .............................................................................. 38 Previous Research .................................................................................... 40 Empirical Research on Christianity in India ........................................ 40 Historical Literature and Literature about Conversion ........................ 43 Theological Literature ......................................................................... 45 Terminological Clarifications................................................................... 47 Outline ...................................................................................................... 50 2. Protestants in Bangalore ........................................................................... 52 Christians in India .................................................................................... 52 History ................................................................................................. 52 Demographic and Sociological Factors ............................................... 54 The Interreligious Situation ...................................................................... 58 Bangalore ................................................................................................. 60 The United Theological College .......................................................... 61 The Churches ............................................................................................ 62 Church of South India (CSI) City ........................................................ 62 Church of South India (CSI) Tamil ..................................................... 63 Mega Assemblies of God (AG) ........................................................... 65 The Pentecostal Mission (TPM) .......................................................... 66 The Interviewees ...................................................................................... 69 3. An Evangelical Faith ................................................................................. 72 The Unsaved Father ................................................................................. 72 A Unique Relationship with God ............................................................. 78 The One True God ............................................................................... 79 The Only Way to Salvation ...................................................................... 80 The Born-Again Experience ................................................................ 81 God’s Grace and the Human Response ............................................... 84 Alternative Views ..................................................................................... 87 Pentecostal Additions: Immersion Baptism and Sanctification ........... 88 Alternative Views of Salvation ............................................................ 89 Social Focus ......................................................................................... 91 The Centrality of Scripture ....................................................................... 92 An Enchanted Worldview ........................................................................ 94 Evangelical Christianity ........................................................................... 96 Evangelicalism According to David Bebbington ................................ 96 Pentecostal Christians as Evangelical Christians ................................. 99 CSI Christians as Evangelical Christians ............................................. 99 The Use of “Evangelical” among Interviewees ................................. 101 Bebbington’s Quadrilateral in Relation to this Study ........................ 103 An Evangelical Lens .............................................................................. 107 4. Perceptions of Hinduism ......................................................................... 109 Religious Images .................................................................................... 110 Ritualism ................................................................................................ 110 Tradition ................................................................................................