Lutherans in Kerala Mission Perspective Towards Subalterns and Their Socio-Religious and Secular Context

includes index and biblioraphy

1. Socio-Cultural and Historical Context of Kerala .........1 A Brief History of Southern Kerala .............1 Religious Context of Kerala .........10 The Socio-Cultural Life in Kerala .......10 Caste Classifications ...21 Untouchability ..........23 The Communal Awakening .......25 2. The Lutheran Mission to Kerala ........29 Reformation and the Lutheran Church ........30 Lutheran Mission to India ..........33 The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission ........41 The Beginning of LCM work in India .........45 It began at Krishnagiri ...........47 Lutheran Presence in Early South Travancore Protestant Mission ..........49 Conversion of Vedamanickam Maharasan ........53 Ringaltaube`s Mission at South : Helpful Factors ......53 MELIM to south Travancore ............56 Early Developments ............59 MELIM in the Malayalam Speaking Area .........60 3. Lutherans in Kerala Till 1956...........67 Mission before the First world war ..............67 Progress of the MELIM between the world wars 1914-1939............71 The Mission Expansions..............75 Expansion through church planting ......76 Statistic .........78 The Early strategy of Missions ..........80 An Analysis of Missionary methods ........99 MELIM`s Relation with LMS ............102 Travancore Mission conference and Representative Councils ....104 Formation of Trivandrum District Synod Report .............105 4. Christian Lutherans of Kerala from 1956 to 2011................109 The Formative Period .....110 Schools and Lutheran Co-Operate Management .......119 Ministerial Developments......................123 Economic Development Programs...........131 Trust Association and TDS.........133 The Crisis Years .............136 State`s Partiality .........145 Setback of Faith ..............146 Rays of Hope .........148 Peopels` Movement ...........152 5. Subaltern Solidarity: Cause .................165 The significance of Sublaternity ......165 Causes for the Subaltern Solidarity ......169 Mass Based Movements and Process of Socialization ......177 The Gospel Experience ........185 Solidarity as Mission principle .....186 MELIM`s Approach to Caste .........192 Formation of a Lutheran Subaltern Solidarity ........193 A Unique subaltern Solidarity ..........199 6. Lutherans in Kerala : An Unacknowledged Subaltern History ......203 Major protestant christian Denominations in Kerala ..........203 The Occurence of Caste Among the Kerala Churches ........207 Government Commissions identified castes in the Church ....211 Lutheran christianity as a Subaltern Quest for solidarity and Empowerment ..........213 An Ignored History .......218 Findings of Empirical Study ...........220 7. Lutheran Subalterns in Kerala : Challenges and Hopes ......227 Multi Caste Nature: A blessing .....228 Keeping Caste Identity along with the christian Faith ........231 Challenges of this Solidarity ...............233 Suggestions for the Further Growth of this Subaltern Solidarity .....244 For Further Growth as an Egalitarian Community .........249