Abstract

According to tradition, Christianity reached India in the first century itself, through the Apostle Thomas. However, serious reflection on the Christian faith against the Hindu background began only in the nineteenth century. Since then there has been a great interest among Indian Christians to articulate the many aspects of the Christian faith with the assistance of Hindu philosophical ideas. They began to argue that Hindu philosophy must be made to do the same service to the Christian faith in India as was done by Greek philosophy in other times and places. ;In the course of time, Indian Christian thinkers made use of several Hindu concepts to interpret the Christian faith to the Hindu audience. This dissertation is an attempt to examine the use of three Hindu concepts, namely, Saccidananda, Avatara and Moksha, for their corresponding Christian doctrines, namely, the Trinity, Incarnation and salvation. In dealing with the employment of each concept, the study analyses the work of one of its chief exponents. ;The study begins with a brief account of the unfolding of Christian reflection in India . Then it presents a concise description of the larger Hindu/Indian context, which will help the reader better perceive the use of Hindu ideas . ;In analyzing the use of the Saccidananda idea, the study examines the interpretation of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, who is called the "father of Indian Christian theology" . The work of Vengal Chakkarai is scrutinized as the study looks at the use of the Avatara concept . For the use of the Moksha idea, the exposition of Aiyadurai Jesudasan Appasamy is analyzed . ;The study attempts to find out, among other things, the legitimacy of using foreign concepts, their contributions to establishing points of contact with Hindus, the faithfulness of Indian thinkers to the Bible and historic Christianity in their employment of the Hindu concepts, the advantages and disadvantages of using them and the safeguards Christians should take in making use of them