Thesis
A critical review of the work of Scottish presbyterian missions in India, 1878 - 1914, with special reference to their social, economic, educational and organisational activities
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 1966
- Thesis identifier
- T63(1966)
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This is a critical survey of Scottish Presbyterian missionary work in India between 1878 and 1914. Although several theses have been written in British Universities on missionary activities in India, this period seems to be as yet unexplored. It is hoped that this thesis would fill a partial gap in the study of Christian missions in India for the above period. Two distinctive features of this work are: firstly, it deals with only one denomination and concerns the activities of only those missionaries which came from a small population and a smaller area; secondly, it deals with some of the crucial matters such as the problems of missionary organisation and finance upon which the success or failure of the missionary enterprise largely depended. The study concerns the work of three Churches: the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church (the latter two were merged to form the United Free Church of Scotland in 1900). The period chosen has its significance; no comparative period was so “fruitful” for the missions as the period of this study. Before the period of this study, a well-established nucleus had been created by the Scottish missions and the roots of the future work had been more or less firmly laid down; what was needed henceforth was the development and consolidation rather than the basic organisation of the work. The educational enterprise of the Scottish missions was considerable. Schools, specially primary, were a common modus operandi in the mission work and these were conducted on a massive local scale; wherever a few pupils could be gathered and an Indian teacher found, a primary school was started; a number of schools were also conducted for girls and instructions were also imparted to Indian ladies in their homes (in the zenanas). The secondary schools were relatively few, but these largely aimed at the provision of secular knowledge as compared to primary schools which primarily served as evangelistic agencies. An important feature of the Missions' school system was the maintenance of a large number of boarding schools (according to a missionary report of 1900, hundred per cent girls’ and fifty per cent boys’ boarding schools belonged to missionary societies). The missions also ran several colleges and in fact their contribution towards higher education was more significant. The number of students in the Colleges managed by Scottish missions was larger than in the Colleges run by all other British missionary societies put together. It is noteworthy that in both educational commissions of 1882 and 1902, appointed by the government of India, Scottish missionary enterprise was represented. Also, the Madras Christian College founded by the Scottish missions was the foremost missionary Institution in India. The social and economic work of Scottish missions, especially for the development of mission converts, was varied. The Scottish missions’ work was concentrated among the aboriginal tribes of Santal Parganas, Pariahs of Madras Presidency and the Chuhras of Punjab. The missionary work during famines, particularly between 1898 and 1902; has been considered, and so also their efforts in healing the sick, comforting the infirm and cleansing the lepers. The medical cases treated by Scottish missionaries every year numbered thousands and the missionaries of both sexes were represented in the treatment of diseases. Both the government and the missionaries had paid special attention to the welfare of Eurasians, and the great achievement of the Scottish missions in this respect was the establishment of St. Andrews Home for the children of Eurasians in Kalimpong. The mission converts were largely drawn from the socially and economically degraded classes. A large number of the Scottish converts were the Chuhras of Punjab, but there was also a very small group drawn from educational Institutions and the higher castes. A large number of Indian agents was employed by the missionaries to help them in their work, and besides Indian agents, a small body of mission converts, British merchants and traders, Chaplains to the forces and British residents, and government officials rendered considerable help to missionary enterprise. The missionary organisation had two aspects: organisation in Scotland and in India. The nucleus of the organisational activity in the former were the parish Churches where most work was done by the minister and the “Council of Elders”. Several youth organisations, students’ associations, women’s societies and such other auxiliary bodies helped to supplement the work of organisation and finance. The headquarters at Edinburgh also offered, from time to time, several suggestions for the better organisation of missionary work and inculcated a spirit of competition for “giving” among larger congregations. In India, the organisation of missions was based on geographical divisions and the work was carried out by various bodies such as Mission Councils, Finance Committees, District Committees, Presbyteries, Panchayats (General Assembly of members) and similar others. As the Indian Church grew, consolidation of converts formed an important task of the missions which was done by organising fairs, annual festivals, conferences, assemblies and such other gatherings where the questions concerning the development and consolidation of the Church were discussed. "Self-propagation", "Self-direction" and "Self-support" were the foremost concern of the entire missionary effort in this respect. The aim was to create leaders who would propagate Christianity among their own people, and a Churoh which would rely to the minimum on foreign support.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Lythe, S. G. E.
- Jackson, Gordon, 1934-
- Resource Type
- DOI
- EThOS ID
- uk.bl.ethos.880016
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