ABSTRACT
A strong emphasis on a providential ordering of history was characteristic of the missionaries of the nineteenth century. The earliest reliable records of the arguments used by Indian Christians opposed to the missionaries' hard line on caste come from the mid-1820s. When Bishop Heber became aware that caste disputes were causing bitter disruptions in many of the South Indian churches he consulted a highly experienced and widely respected Indian clergyman, the Rev. Christian David. Krishna Mohan Banerjea, who later became known as the propounder of a theology in which Vedic religion found its fulfilment in Christianity, published a prize essay on Hindu Caste in 1851. The women were on the whole the more adamant in maintaining caste, but if Christianity is to spread 'it must not be made difficult, and subject its converts to persecution'. Such attitudes might glibly be dismissed as proud and cowardly, but the dissidents were making a valid point.
