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Telugu Christianity.
ANALYZING A FAITH: 1953-1980
A changed political scenario in Andhra Pradesh and embittered critics in the subcontinent and the North Atlantic region influenced the way that the history of Telugu Christians was written in this period. While there were still many reminiscences and mission histories from the retired missionaries, a significant number narrated the tales of how the native Christian communities practiced and articulated their faith. Although the native writers were fewer in number, the process of indigenization and the stories of church union dominated the pages. This phase in the history of Christianity in Andhra Pradesh begins with three pivotal historical realities. First, 1947 marked the end of the colonial era. With the birth of sovereign India in 1947, the British administrators returned to their homeland and missionaries found themselves unglued from the state patronage. They could no longer take for granted their right to live in the subcontinent. While many missionaries returned home, some remained in India, serving in mission institutions, such as schools and hospitals. Second, the year 1947 also marked the birth of the Church of South India (CSI). After a series of “union negotiations,” the churches of Anglican, Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed, and Wesleyan Methodist backgrounds amalgamated into a united Church of South India. The CSI in Andhra Pradesh was divided into the dioceses of Dornakal, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Kadapa-Chittoor, and Krishna-Godavari at its inception.37 Third, the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh in 1953 and its subsequent merger with Telangana in 1956 were the defining moments in the formation of Telugu identity. Earlier, Telugu communities in the southern and coastal regions forged an identity on a lingual basis, demanding a separate state from Tamilnadu. The struggle for a separate state was informed by and formed the Telugu identity, resulting in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Eventually, the Telugu communities of Telangana and Andhra, with their distinct histories and common language, forged a united Andhra Pradesh. As Telugu communities traced back their ethnic and cultural roots to sustain their Telugu identity, the Christian communities narrated their stories and articulated their faith more vocally. Subsequently, diocesan histories overshadowed the histories of mission societies.38 Biographies continued, but they related stories of Telugu Christian patriarchs. There were reminiscences from retired missionaries, but only a few. With the decline of missionary patrons at home, many writings from this period addressed a readership different from that of the previous era. The genre of biographies did not cease; rather, it slowed down. Compared to the number of biographies or autobiographies produced in the previous phases—eleven out of sixty-five books compiled between 1851 and 1933, and forty-three out of eighty books written between 1933 and 1952—this period produced only twenty biographical accounts out of seventy documents. Unlike the previous periods, the biographies of Western missionaries constituted a