Why are native Americans “Indians?”
“Oh, because Columbus thought that America is India.”
Well . . . once he found out that he was wrong, why did they keep calling Americans “Indians”?
In any case, why did they call native Australians “Indians” up until the beginning of the 20th century? And why on earth is, Indonesia ‘Indian Asia’?
The correct answer is that back then “India” existed only in the European mind. European missionaries planted the idea of India in Raja Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833) who became the first Indian to use the word “India.”
Roy went to Serampore Baptist Mission to study English and to teach Sanskrit to missionaries such as William Carey, who had started the paper “Friend of India.”
That paper continues until today as Sunday “Statesman” in Calcutta. Every single reform that Roy championed was an echo of what Carey had already advocated.
That included the very idea of India as a modern, biblical “nation.”
You are invited to zoom with Indian scholars on Thursday May 27 at 9 pm (India Standard Time) to learn how modern India is a grand experiment envisioned and implemented by the Bible believing Christians of the early 19th century.
Please email < indiaresearch75@gmail.com > to get the zoom link.
These weekly Thursday sessions are bringing together scholars to collaboratively write a book “How The Bible Created Modern India.” It is to be published on August 15, 2022 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence.
The sessions are being recorded and transcribed. Soon they will be available for you to review and suggest corrections and improvements in various chapters.
This book project is inspired by my out-of-print book “India: The Grand Experiment.” That book was published 25 years ago to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of India’s independence in 1997. You can get a pdf of the old book by emailing < danielt90@gmail.com >.
Advocate Dr. Selvi Ganesa, who recently lost her husband to Covid 19, is helping us revise the old book. As you read the PDF please send your comments, questions, suggestions to < indiagrandexperiment@gmail.com >
The book needs careful revision because a quarter century ago it evoked contradictory reactions.
The world’s foremost Christian authority on Indian history, Prof Robert Frykenberg of the University of Wisconsin, sharply scolded me as a professor would: “Why didn’t you do this research in a university for a PhD?” He said, “Your academic guides would have compelled you to defend every assertion you make and qualify them appropriately. You would have grumbled and sweated, but at the end the academic world would have respected your work.”
The US magazine, Christianity Today, on the other hand, reviewed the book and embarrassed me by labeling me “India’s foremost Christian intellectual.”
England’s famous Eton College invited me to present the thesis of that book so that their students, Prince William and Prince Harry, may listen to an usual interpretation of Indian history.
The editor of the Financial Times verbalized the feelings of many readers, “We always felt that something like this shaped modern India, but no one ever said so.” . . . Secularists, leftists and the Hindutva brigade have no reason to celebrate the magnificent works of the Lord in Indian history. The responsibility to glorify God for His goodness rests upon His children.
Well, back in the 1990s, I could not sweat to satisfy university professors. Now, with some critical help from you, sister Selvi (with a doctorate in law) is willing to sweat so that together we may make that book an intellectual landmark — a foundation for more comprehensive works on Indian history.
We need you to sweat with us for the next 60 weeks . . . together we will create an authoritative work that celebrates the majestic works of the Lord in our history (Psalm 111:2).
These books on India are a part of a global education revolution that seeks to redeem state-corrupted education, restoring it back to the church. Every Wednesday at 9 am PDT, some of us zoom together to pray for this revolution which will make education a means of discipling nations.