Christian Pluralism in the United States
The Indian Immigrant Experience

A comprehensive study of the impact of recent immigrant Christians from India on American Christianity.

Raymond Brady Williams (Author)

9780521088046, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 December 2008

316 pages, 2 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

Review of the hardback: ' … Christian Pluralism is an impressive and wide-ranging book written by an experienced and visionary elder-statesman deeply concerned not just about Indian Christians but about the role that Indian Christians can play in shaping the future of American Christianity … the book should be required reading for all who seek to lead Indian churches into the future.' Souvenir for the Family Conference of the Mar Thoma Church

Recent immigrant Christians from India are changing the face of American Christianity. They are establishing churches with Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic rites. This book is a comprehensive study of these Christians, their churches and their adaptation. Professor Williams describes migration patterns since 1965, and how the role of Indian Christian nurses in creating immigration opportunities for their families affects gender relations, transition of generations, interpretations of migration, Indian Christian family values, and types of leadership. Contemporary mobility and rapid communication create new transnational religious groups, and Williams reveals some of the reverse effects on churches and institutions in India. He notes some successes and failures of mediating institutions in the United States in responding to new forms of Christianity brought by immigrants.

Introduction
1. Road to America
2. Christian stories about India
3. Becoming what you are: St Thomas Christians from Kerala
4. Becoming what you are: Catholics and Protestants from India
5. Wilderness, exile or promised land: experience and interpretations of migration
6. Going home: bridges to India
7. Adding rooms to the house
Conclusion: immigration and the many faces of Christ
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Christianity [HRC]