British Christians, Indian Nationalists and the Raj

Studdert Kennedy’s wide ranging study explores the ‘Christian’ voice and its influence on the empire’s discourse and the shaping of the British imperial policy in India, focusing on the period between 1914 and 1935 when the Christian lexicon had begun to address the theme of the empire as ‘providential dispensation. Kennedy discusses a vast range of topics: Jesus Christ and constitutional evolution in India (the acts of 1919 and 1935); British. "Orientalism’ and theology; the role of the Christian Missionary in India; Gandhiji’s satyagraha movement; theological and political views of leading Christian voices (Lionel Curtis, A.G. Hogg, Bernard Lucas, J.N. Farquhar, Verrier Elwin, C.F. Andrews); the Quaker activists, Tory die hards and the British-Israelite movement. An extraordinary work that addresses the apparent conflict between Christian conscience and imperialism in the light of ‘elitist’ and ‘subaltern’ interpretations of South Asian history, this book is of particular value to students and specialists interested in imperial historiography.