Dr. Pothana

1. Christianity as Bhakti Marg: A.J. Appasamy (1891-1975)

2. The personalist stream of Hinduism provides much
importance to bhakti i.e devotion to God.
The bhakta experiences separation from God and
longs to meet God, nothing else attracts, nothings
else holds but God alone.
Here the bhakta seeks a God who can be loved and
worshiped and who remains distinct from the
worshipper, a God who can be approached with
feelings of deep love and personal devotion.
Bhakti marga helps one to experience the absolute
through devotion.
Some of the theologians mentioned in this section
make use of bhakti marga to approach their
theological patterns.

3. A.J. Appasamy (1891-1975)
Aiyadurai Jesudasan Appasamy was born on 3rd Sep. 1891 to Dewan
Bahadur A.S. Appasamy
In 1904 due to influence of R.T. Archibald he committed his life for Christ.
The same year in September due to arguments from V.S. Azariah he
dedicated for Christian ministry.
Krishnaswami Iyer convinced him regarding importance of theological
studies.

4. R T ArchibaldIt was Roddy Archibald who really pioneered the
work in India although Scripture Union (SU) branches had begun in
the 1880’s. He arrived in India in 1901 at the age of 25 and left at
the age of 70. He began working with the English – speaking
schools – but in 1904, he spent 3 months working alongside 3
Tamil evangelists, and that changed the course of his ministry. He
captured the vision for recruiting and training national SU
evangelists. By the time he left, 43 Indian evangelists had served
on the SU staff team. Many became church leaders. He started
branches of SU bible readers wherever he went – with the passion
for children reading the bible in their own language. Mission in
schools and camps were the backbone of the field ministry.

5. Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy
Ayyar – Back Bone of
Indian Constitution
was an Indian lawyer
and High Court judge of
Madras
Bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah was an Indian
evangelist and the first Indian bishop in the churches of
the Anglican Communion, serving as the first bishop of
the diocese of Dornakal

6. A.J. Appasamy (1891-1975)
Thus, after his studies from
Tirunelveli and Madras, in 1915 he
left to U.S. for theological studies,
he earned his doctorate from Oxford
and his thesis was The Mysticism of
the Fourth Gospel in its Relation to
Hindu Bhakti Literature.
On 27th Sep. 1950 he was
consecrated as the Bishop of CSI
Diocese of Coimbatore

7. A.J. Appasamy (1891-1975)
His theological articulation are part of
The Mysticism of the Fourth Gospel in its Relation to the Hindu
Bhakti Literature(1922),
An Indian Interpretation of Christianity (1924),
Christianity as Bhakti Marga: A Study of the Johannine Doctrine
of Love (1928),
The Johannine Doctrine of Life: A Study of Christian and Hindu
Thought (1934),
The Gospel and India’s Heritage (1942),
The Christian Task in Independent India (1951),
My Theological Quest (1964), and
The Theology of Hindu Bhakti (1970) etc.

8. Influences
----are the few theologians who became inspirational force to
Appasamy.
At the same time the personalistic tradition of bhakti and its
philosophical exposition by Ramanuja fascinated him.
Baron F. Von Hugel Friedrich Heiler

9. Theology
According to Appasamy, “The conviction
behind my thinking is that Christian
Church should develop Indian pattern of
Christian work based on religious pattern
of this country…. We must formulate our
own theology using tradition available in
this spiritual country.”
Christian Theology in India should be
rooted in Indian heritage.

10. Theology
He also emphasizes the importance of
experience in theology.
Theology is the outcome of experience
and not of theory.
It is one’s understanding of God as we
abide with Him in dyana and service and
confirm His will.
Dyana and obedience are the first step in
Christian thinking.
Therefore, experience is inborn part of
authentic theology.

11. Theistic Bhakti Thought
For Appasamy theology should be shaped
after Bhasya and thus he contemplated on
theistic bhakti thought to bring
commentary on John’s gospel.
Facets of bhakti :The Navaratnamalika (garland of nine gems), nine forms
of bhakti are listed: (1) śravaṇa (listening to ancient texts), (2) kīrtana
(praying), (3) smaraṇa (remembering teachings in ancient texts), (4) pāda-
sevana (service to the feet), (5) archana (worshiping), (6) namaskar or
vandana (bowing to the divine), (7) dāsya
The Devi Navaratnamalika stotram (the garland with nine gems),
composed by Sri Adi Sankaracharya in the Bhujanga-prayata (or Snake
metre) which has an undulating pattern, just like a snake's movement. It is
composed in praise of the all-enchanting beauty and gracefulness of the
Great Goddess who is the cause of this Universe.

12. Theistic Bhakti Thought
For him, the theistic bhakti was the most suitable to show the
inner spirit of Christian religion to real spirit of Indian religious
thought.
Bhakti is close to Christianity because it maintains a distinction
between God and bhakta.
Salvation through bhakti is possible to all but jyana marga is
limited to few.
For him theology can be understood and explained by those
who live close to Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit.
The vital experiences of Bhaktas are so called mystic union.
He analyses that India Christians have spend many years in the
interpretations of the Christianity that has not regarded the
supreme importance of the mystic experience in their religion.
Mysticism can be considered as the heart of all religions.
(…belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge
inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.)

13. St. John’s Gospel
Appasamy’s hypothesis was built on assumption that mysticism
will lead Christianity into becoming a living force in India
Mysticism for Appasamy means the type of religious life which emphasizes
the communion of human soul with a personal God. Then, he goes on to
prove the mystic elements in fourth gospel and brings the fact that love in
fourth gospel is taken out of emotional realm and was linked with action, in
the same manner knowledge(truth) was taken out of speculation and linked
with ethics. Hence, he believed that St. John’s gospel can play an important
part in the theological task of India

14. I and Father are One
How Christ is related to God, the transcendent reality, is an
important theological question in the history of
Christianity. The traditional western position has been that
Father and Christ are related metaphysically, sharing the
same substance.
This unity was believed to be metaphysical. Appasamy
proposed a different view on this matter. He spoke of the
unity of a moral one, rather than metaphysical. The son,
according to him, is so perfectly obedient to the Father,
and that is how he is perfectly united with the Father
By holding on to this position, he was challenging the
monistic interpretation of Trinity already in the Indian
scene. He refuted the Vedanta-based idea that God the
Father, Christ, and finally, the believers are all identical
and ultimately one. For him all these were united only
in moral relationship of love and obedience.

15. I and Father are One
It may be quite true that on the surface, this verse is like the texts
in Upanishads which set forth Advaita. But we must remember
that Jesus always thought of God as his father….This means that
the relation between God and Jesus is a personal relation between
Father and Son. Jesus also says, “The Father is greater than I.” this
shows that He regards Himself as wholly dependent upon Father;
he is not identical with God.

16. Logos and Antaryamin
Having studied the Fourth gospel, he believed strongly in the
immanence of God, the Logos in the world. He was in the world,
John 1:10, was one of the important verses that guided
Appasamy’s reflections.
According to him, God can be known only in the heart of the
world. God is present in the world and in human beings. God,
according to him, antaryamin (indweller)- one who resides in the
inner world.
The Logos, according to him, is imminent in the world right from
creation. This understanding leads him to explain his position on
incarnation. He explained it saying, even though the Logos was
present in the world, human have not seen him. And, to make
human understand and see the Logos clearly, Christ incarnated in
the world.
He emphasized that Christ came not only for the Jews,
but for all the people. Christ as Logos is present in all
and in all faiths. People of all faith have seen the light,
in manifestations dim or bright. But we have a duty to
the come to the fullest light of all and that is seen in
Christ, for in him alone the Logos fully dwells.

17. Evaluation
He was perhaps the first systematically trained Indian theologians to make
an effort to develop an indigenous theology with professional competence.
Appasamy challenged the church to be situational thus he formulated
bhakti theology.
Situational reality deals with two important factors i.e. religio-culture and
socio-economic, he dealt with the former but totally neglected the latter.
He is selective in approaches of Indian religious cultural heritage but
limited with the classical Hindu tradition.
He highlighted the personal dimension of Indian spirituality while others
were presenting God as unreachable transcendent reality in so doing he
brought God closer to the people.
He understood bhakti as the deep, unselfish love of the human to God
finding its highest bliss in union in God.