The Christian Church has since its inception formulated various ways of relating its claims regarding the decisive and universal significance of the Christ-event to the religious traditions and experience of people of other faiths. A common theme that undergirds several of the approaches that have emerged in the history of the Christian engagement with other religions is the fulfilment concept. The fulfilment concept, with its roots in the New Testament and the early church fathers, continues to find prominence and creative theological expression in Roman Catholic circles. Protestant fulfilment theology, however, reached the peak of its development in the early years of the twentieth century, and subsequently fell into decline. This study presents a case for the revitalization of the Protestant fulfilment tradition based on a recovery and assessment of the fulfilment approaches of Indian Christian converts in the pre-independence period, focussing especially on the views of Krishna Mohan Banerjea and Sadhu Sundar Singh. Our analyses of the fulfilment approaches of Indian converts furnish us with a conceptual framework for a cumulative fulfilment proposal which complements the nineteenth century Protestant fulfilment tradition. The experience of Indian converts affords significant evidence to c9nfirm the fulfilment claim that there are elements in the Hindu tradition that can serve as a 'pedagogy' to Christ. It offers empirical verification of a trinitarian scheme of progressive, differentiated and complementary divine revelation for affirming revelational continuity between Christianity and Hinduism. It also provides components for a theologically coherent Christology upon which to base the fulfilment proposal.The fulfilment approaches of Indian converts help authenticate the plausibility of fulfilment theology, confirming its adequacy over alternative explanations, in affirming the particular truth claims of the Christian faith while ascribing genuine value to the religious traditions and experience of people of other faiths. The recovery of Protestant fulfilment theology requires attention to several pending tasks, including the development of a Christian hermeneutic of non-Christian texts, and a careful assessment of the influence of the fulfilment concept among Hindu converts and "non-baptised believers in Christ" today. This study contributes towards that recovery.

The central thesis of this study is that Newbigin‟s thought and writing can contribute to understanding the church as an integral part of Indian society, in terms of both her identity and role. Newbigin‟s writing, subsequent to his return to the West after more than three decades in India, often sought to address what he saw as the Western church‟s loss of confidence in its role and position in a post-enlightenment, post-Christendom society. This study tries to work with this material, as well as what was written during his time in India. The second chapter and the third chapter give consideration to the two central elements in Newbigin‟s understanding of the church‟s mission and identity: the eschatological renewal of the whole earth that will occur at the return of Christ and the connection of this end to Christ‟s death on the cross. As the third chapter will consider, while he locates the focus of the church‟s mission in relation to the end, the death of Christ indicates the way in which this mission will be carried out. The remainder of the third chapter will consider the implication of this for the church‟s mission in relation to the presence of poverty and marginalisation in Indian society and its movement towards a consumer economy. The fourth chapter will consider the place of the church in relation to India‟s long and rich culture, suggesting ways in which the church is to become an incultured community. The fifth chapter will address the issue of the relationship of the church to the followers of other faiths. Through interaction with some Indian theologians it will be shown how Newbigin gave attention to the church as both open to the movement of the Spirit beyond the boundaries of the church, while also emphasizing the church as central to our knowing Christ. The sixth chapter will draw out the ways in which Newbigin was consciously engaging with the post colonial context of the church, particularly in his interpretation of the relationship between the Spirit and the church. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The central thesis of this study is that Newbigin‟s thought and writing can contribute to understanding the church as an integral part of Indian society, in terms of both her identity and role. Newbigin‟s writing, subsequent to his return to the West after more than three decades in India, often sought to address what he saw as the Western church‟s loss of confidence in its role and position in a post-enlightenment, post-Christendom society. This study tries to work with this material, as well as what was written during his time in India. The second chapter and the third chapter give consideration to the two central elements in Newbigin‟s understanding of the church‟s mission and identity: the eschatological renewal of the whole earth that will occur at the return of Christ and the connection of this end to Christ‟s death on the cross. As the third chapter will consider, while he locates the focus of the church‟s mission in relation to the end, the death of Christ indicates the way in which this mission will be carried out. The remainder of the third chapter will consider the implication of this for the church‟s mission in relation to the presence of poverty and marginalisation in Indian society and its movement towards a consumer economy. The fourth chapter will consider the place of the church in relation to India‟s long and rich culture, suggesting ways in which the church is to become an incultured community. The fifth chapter will address the issue of the relationship of the church to the followers of other faiths. Through interaction with some Indian theologians it will be shown how Newbigin gave attention to the church as both open to the movement of the Spirit beyond the boundaries of the church, while also emphasizing the church as central to our knowing Christ. The sixth chapter will draw out the ways in which Newbigin was consciously engaging with the post colonial context of the church, particularly in his interpretation of the relationship between the Spirit and the church. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)