Dr. Pothana

1. CHRISTIAN RESPONSES TO FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND NATIONAL BUILDING

2. Paul David was born in 1901 in Madras. As a young man
he was influenced by K.T. Paul who took him as his
secretary on his visit to U.S. in 1924-25.
Afterwards he stayed in U.S for seven years undergoing
theological study and earned his doctorate from Yale. It
was at Yale that he adopted the name Devanandan
signifying his self- awakening as a nationalist Indian
Christian. On his return he became faculty in UTC,
Bangalore for seventeen years.
He tried to originate a theology of Christian
participation in nation-building and of dialogue with
religious and secular faiths. He was also a proponent of
Christian participation in politics and he encouraged
the Christians to make a distinctive contribution to the
nation.
He inaugurated a new era in Christian theology
characterized with the awareness of the secular state
and contemporary Hinduism with the goal of nation
building.
P.D. Devanandan (1901-1962)

3. His theological expressions are found in
The Concept of Maya: An Essay in Historical Survey of
the Hindu Theory of the World with Special Reference to
the Vedanta (1950),
Our Task Today: Revision of Evangelistic Concern (1959),
Christian Concern in Hinduism (1961) and
A Bibliography on Hinduism for Use of Christian
Students (1961).
P.D. Devanandan (1901-1962)

4. At U.S. he was influenced by the humanistic philosophy, thus
he claimed, we as Christians ought to act as pioneers in
radically removing the more important social evils in India by
personal example.
Due to the influence of K.T. Paul he was also involved in the
freedom struggles. His nationalistic concerns were by no
means superficial since, he felt, any human efforts to achieve
national unity must reckon with the living God who is the
generating power of all true community being.
From this insight two of Devanandan’s deepest convictions
are revealed.
The first is that the fulfillment of the goals of humanism is in
every way associated with the fulfillment of God’s purpose for
human. Without the latter the former cannot be obtained.
And secondly, behind the concern to pinpoint the areas of
Christian humanistic responsibility Devanandan is stressing a
concept of religion as down to earth. If the Christian faith
stands for anything at all it stands for the redemption of the
whole humanity.
Theological Foundation on Humanism

5. Many of Devanandan’s insights into the necessity of
acknowledging the common humanity of all human
were afforded by the modern developments in
renascent Hinduism which was coming more and more
to a belief in the dignity of the human person
(svaDharma) and the importance of community
(lokasangraha).
he was aware that any attempt to eradicate social evils must
bear in mind that the root cause was human’s self-interest
and sinfulness. Thus the task of restructuring society must be,
firstly, associated with the ultimate hope of the coming of the
Kingdom of God “when all the children of men (sic) shall have
been transformed to become the children of God.”
And secondly, a view of human and their worth can only be
measured in terms of human as God’s creature and in the
light of God’s eschatological purpose for his Creation.
For him Humanity will never become New Humanity without
the New Human, who is the pattern of human’s salvation.
P.D. Devanandan (1901-1962)

6. He argued for a Christian concern in society and desired
the creationof a theology which affirms a positive
approach to other religionsand cultural contexts. He
says
One of the primary tasks of Christian evangelism in
India as elsewhere in our modern world is to make clear
to the mind of thinking people that religion is relevant
to life; that Christianity concerns this life as much as the
life everlasting; that ours is a revolutionary faith which
asks to realize here on earth abiding standards of
righteousness and justice because these are the very
nature of the Church.
For some time past, we have considered our
evangelistic task in terms of confronting other non-
Christian religions systems with the counter-claims of
Christianity as another system of religion. We have
preaching a way of life, a system of thought, instead of
the gospel of Jesus Christ which still is: God’s reign is
already here.
Transforming of the Community

7. he interpreted mission as lokasangraha. To
Devanandan, mission as lokasangraha meant the
producing of the community of human with human and
human with God, a triangular community, the true
community, in which alone a person finds himself or
herself as a person among persons in relation to the
person.
His theocentric perspective accommodated all religions
as within the common search for community around
one God, while he yet retained his Christian claim to
the uniqueness of Christ as a person who alone
mattered. He spoke of God’s redemptive activity
outside the Church with theo-centricity transcending
confessionalism. He wrote it may not be fair to say that
God in His graciousness will not regard the faith of non-
Christian seeker.
Yet, as a Christiana pologetics he goes on to say “we
press forward with the mission of testimony, which has been
delivered to us declaring to the end of the time that there is
no other name given under heaven by which human shall be
saved except the name of Jesus Christ.”
Transforming of the Community

8. For Devanandan, the goal of mission is the welfare of
the whole world for that reason dialogue with people
of other faith got its significance. In dialogue one must
recognize the common search of humanity for God yet
he approved the uniqueness of Christ. He firmly
believed that dialogue should provide Indianess to
Christian faith.
Transforming of the Community

9. For him, gospel essentially is the Good news of new
creation inJesus with personal, social and cosmic
dimensions. Hecommented
At the threshold of this century, we talked of
evangelism, in terms of a social gospel. Though we
erred in our understanding of its true nature, we have
come to admit that God’s redemptive work must
radically affect human relations in society. Perhaps we
reach the middle of this century, we are coming to
realize that the total sweep of the Good news envelops
entire creation. The ultimate end is new heaven and
new earth and new creation. How utterly impossible
can it be for any fragment of humankind to be changed
or even for humanity to be transformed, unless the
grossly material and purely animal content of world life
is also care of the Gospel we proclaim? It was so from
the beginning of the apostolic ministry
New Creation

10. The theological foundation on humanism helped him to
recognize that God’s purpose in universe is very much
associated with humanity but that does not mean that
it is only limited to humanity alone but with the entire
creation.
Thus, he was motivated by the vision of transforming
the community based on lokasangraha whereby the
mission of the Church signifies the welfare of the whole
humanity.
He recognized that as Indians our thought pattern is
affected by Hindu fabric thus the way forward is
dialogue with Hinduism based on social and human
values resulting in nation building, social service and
moral purpose of humanity. He therefore, developed a
theology of Christian participation in nation building
whereby having dialogue with religious and secular
world.
The purpose of dialogue is to evolve an Indian
theological expression of Christian faith which is open
and relevant to transform the community.
P.D. Devanandan (1901-1962): Evaluation