“Indianised” Bible Released

Posted by Harsh Nevatia Jul 18, 2008

Saint Paul’s Publications released The New Community Bible (Catholic Edition) in India on June 28, 2008. The objective was to make it easier for the Indians Christian community to understand the Bible. The cultural background of the Christians in India is very different from those in the West and therefore it was felt that this Indianisation was needed.

The Indianised Bible is illustrated and the Biblical characters are shown in traditional Indian clothing. This is one aspect of Indianisation. The other is to juxtapose relevant Hindu concepts in the commentary. This has been done only in a positive way without denigrating Hinduism, a welcome departure from the stand the Catholic Church in India usually takes. An example is the explanation of the Vedic interpretation of light when discussing the Christian concept as in the Genesis.

Several members have called this Indianisation a sacrilege against Christianity. They particularly resent Hindu concepts given in the Bible. The radical Hindus have also not taken to this very kindly. They see this as an attempt to step up the conversions of Hindus to Christianity. They state that the cultural differences cited by the editor of the Bible. Fr. Augustine Kanachikizhy, always existed. The rate of conversions among the educated classes has died down because Christianity is believed to be an alien concept incongruous with Indian culture. The Hindus claim that the Indianised Bible will break this cultural barrier and result in increased conversions.

Fortunately the Catholic leadership is firmly backing the Indianised Bible. Fr. Anthony Charanghat, spokesperson for the Archbishop of Bombay, says, “The narrow-minded will misunderstand but we shouldn’t fear explaining our religion using other (non-Christian) concepts”.

The Indianised Bible comes close on the heels of the Indianisation of the Churches.