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Providential Empire? The Established Church of England and the Nineteenth-Century British Empire in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2018

Stewart J. Brown
Stewart J. Brown*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
*School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX. E-mail: s.j.brown@ed.ac.uk.
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Abstract

In the early nineteenth century, many in Britain believed that their conquests in India had a providential purpose, and that imperial Britain had been called by God to Christianize India through an alliance of Church and empire. In 1813, parliament not only opened India to missionary activity, but also provided India with an established Church, which was largely supported by Indian taxation and formed part of the established Church of England. Many hoped that this union of Church and empire would communicate to India the benefits of England's diocesan and parochial structures, with a settled pastorate, parish churches and schools, and a Christian gentry. As the century progressed, the established Church was steadily enlarged, with a growing number of bishoprics, churches, schools, colleges, missionaries and clergy. But it had only limited success in gaining converts, and many Indians viewed it as a form of colonization. From the 1870s, it was increasingly clear that imperial India would not become Christian. Some began reconceptualizing the providential purpose behind the Indian empire, suggesting that the purpose might be to promote dialogue and understanding between the religions of the East and West, or, through the selfless service of missionaries, to promote moral reform movements in Hinduism and Islam.

Keywords

EmpireProvidenceEstablished ChurchIndiaAnglicanism
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 54: THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE , June 2018 , pp. 225 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2018 

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