THE CHRISTIANITY in INDIA PORTAL
Showcased content related to Christianity in India
Christianity in India is the third-largest religion in that nation, following Hinduism and Islam. Abrahamic religions on the whole date back about 2500 years with the arrival of Judaism, followed by arrival of Christianity around 2000 years ago.
Christianity is believed to have come to India in two main periods, the first century missionary activity of Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, and the Western missionary activities from 1500 to 1975. Vasco da Gama, seeking pre-existing Christian nations in India, discovered a sea route to India by circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope which caused a major influence on both the histories of Asia and Europe.
The total official number of Christians in India as per Census in 2001 are 24,080,016 or 2.34% of the population. There are three main regional concentrations of Christian population, namely in Malabar Coast, on the Konkan Coast, and among tribal people in East, Central, and North-East India. The states of Kerala,Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh account for 60% of India's total Christian population.
Mangalorean Catholics ( Konkani: Kodialche Katholik) are Roman Catholics from Mangalore and the former South Canara district on the southwestern coast of India, and their descendants. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language. Portuguese shipping arrived in Mangalore in 1526, and Catholic missionary activities began around 1534, when Canara was placed under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Bishop of Goa.
Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics are descended mainly from the Goan Catholic settlers, who had migrated to South Canara from Goa, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 during the Goa Inquisition and the Portuguese-Maratha wars. Gradually they learned the languages of South Canara but retained Konkani as their mother tongue. The most disconsolate memory in the community's history was a 15-year captivity imposed by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, from 24 February 1784 to 4 May 1799 at Seringapatam. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, the community resettled in South Canara, and gradually prospered under the British. Although early assertions of being Mangalorean Catholics date from the migration period, a developed Mangalorean Catholic cultural identity emerged following the captivity.
The culture of Mangalorean Catholics is a blend of Mangalorean and Goan cultures. After migration, they adopted the local Mangalorean culture but retained many of their Goan customs and traditions. The Mangalorean Catholic diaspora is globally concentrated in Persian Gulf Arab states and the Anglosphere.
Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (born 1946) is an Indian-born, Canadian- American evangelical Christian philosopher, apologist, and evangelist. Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver. He is also president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, host of a weekly radio program, and visiting professor at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford, where he teaches apologetics and evangelism. Previously, Zacharias studied as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University and held the chair in Evangelism and Contemporary Thought at Alliance Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1984.
Zacharias was born in Madras, India and converted to Christianity following a suicide attempt at the age of 17. In May 1972 Zacharias married Margarette ("Margie") Reynolds, whom he met at his church's youth group. They have three grown children, Nathan, Naomi and Sarah. Zacharias asserts that the apologist must argue from three levels: the theoretical to line up the logic of the argument, the arts to illustrate, and "kitchen table talk" to conclude and apply.
Purge server cache
|