ABSTRACT
Azariah’s unusual path to an unprecedented bishopric began with his decision actively to pursue rather than merely to promote missionary work. Azariah’s 1912 consecration as the first Indian bishop of the Anglican church was the most significant event in his personal and professional life. The growth of an Indo-Anglican ecclesiastical structure on the subcontinent, complete with chaplains, bishops, clergymen, and Gothic-styled churches, brought the Church of England continually and increasingly into conflict with the Government of India’s official policy of noninterference in Indian religious affairs. As Azariah’s criticism suggested, the extension of Anglicanism outside the British Isles during the colonial era produced complex legal and constitutional problems for the Church of England. Anglican bishops generally came to regret their church’s state connection well before the advent of popular Indian nationalism in the early twentieth century. The growth of Empire in non-Christian lands seriously challenged the statutory authority of Parliament over church law and structure.
