Church History

Beth Tephillah is also known to many as ____________

Answer explanation

John Zachariah Kiernander (1711–1799), also known as Johann Zacharias Kiernander, was a Swedish Lutheran missionary for SPCK in Calcutta in 1758. He was the first protestant Missionary to establish a base in Bengal. He founded one of the first printing presses in Calcutta. In 1767 he build a church at his own expense and called it Beth Tephillah (Hebrew: House of Prayer), but it was known to many as Lal Girja, or the Red Church, later known as Old Mission Church.

Abdul Masih was known as __________

Answer explanation

Abdul Masih (1776–1827) was an Indian indigenous missionary, an ordained Anglican and Lutheran minister, as well as a religious author. He was born under the name, Sheikh Salih, to a devout Muslim Family in the town of Delhi. His father instructed him in both Persian and Arabic. While teaching in Lucknow, he decided to visit Cawnpore where he befriended a British East India Company chaplain named Henry Martyn, who would preach to the poor assembled before his door every Sunday afternoon to receive alms. Abdul became interested in Henry's preaching and started attending these services. It's told that Abdul Masih's first introduction to Gospel was Martyn's preaching on the Ten Commandments. In response to Martyn's preaching, at the age of thirty-eight Abdul Masih converted from Islam to Christianity. He was baptized in the Old Church, Calcutta, by David Brown and was given the name Abdul Masih, an Arabic Christian name meaning "Servant of the Messiah." He worked as a catechist for the Church Missionary Society in India. He was ordained by Lutheran Missionaries. He was the second ever ordained Indian minister under Bishop Heber of Calcutta.

About fifty Muslim adults were converted and baptized, including a few Muslims of very high stature, under his influence.

He has been described as the pioneer medical missionary of the Christian Missionary Society. He began to set up a dispensary in Agra. Because of this, he became known as the Christian doctor.

What is the National Council of Churches in India?

Answer explanation

It is the Ecumenical Forum of the Protestant and Orthodox Churches in India, established in 1914 as the National Missionary Council. In 1979 the Council transformed itself into what is known as the National Council of Churches in India. It is an Inter-confessional autonomous Council and an ecumenical expression constantly initiating, promoting and coordinating various forms of ministries of Witness and Service in the wider community and society. The NCCI is made up of 30 Member Churches, 17 Regional Christian Councils, 18 All India Organisations and 7 Related Agencies. It represents about 14 million people in India. Ever since its inception in the year 1914, the Council and its constituent members are actively engaged in the work of spiritual upliftment, nation building and social transformation. The member churches and the regional councils are the primary members of the council. The Assembly which is the supreme body meets every four years. The Executive Committee meets annually to oversee the work of the Council and also appoints the Working Committee which meets twice in a year to guide and monitor its activities.

John the Baptist of India is ___________________

The first Protestant missionaries to be sent to India by King Frederick IV of Denmark were _______________________.

Answer explanation

Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Pluetschau, German Lutherans, were the first Protestant missionaries to India, arriving at Tranquebar (TN) in 1706, where they learned Portuguese and Tamil converting the domestic servants of the Europeans and the orphans they adopted and brought up as Christians, using these languages. A Portuguese and Tamil school were also started. Ziegenbalg formed his first congregation in 1707 and produced a translation of Luther’s Short Catechism for use in catechizing the children, followed by sermons, tracts and school books. Within two years of his arrival he began to translate the New Testament and by the time of his death he had finished the New Testament and gone as far as the book of Ruth in the Old). He found time to compile a Tamil-German dictionary and to write out in German the results of his inquiries into South Indian Hinduism.

SPCK and SPG were started by the Church of Scotland

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) was formed by Church of England in 1698 for the purpose of promoting Christian knowledge both at home and in the other parts of the world by the best means that should offer. In 1701 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts (S.P.G.) was founded. It gave valuable help by raising funds and by printing and supplying books, such as Portuguese New Testaments, for use in India. The printing press that was set up at Tranquebar in 1712 AD was the gift of this society.

Who was the member of English Mission in Madras supported by SPCK?

• Benjamin Schultze

• Philipp Fabricius

• Christian Frederick Schwarz

• Abbe J. A. Dubois

Answer explanation

Benjamin Schultze was sent in 1719 as a missionary of the Danish mission of Tranquebar. He moved to Madras in 1726 and was supported by the SPCK in London, thus becoming the first member of what came to be known as the English mission. He completed Ziegenbelg's translation of the Bible into Tamil (first printed in 1728) and continued with a New Testament in Telugu.

What is the name Abbe J. A. Dubois is called by in India?

Answer explanation

When the Madura Mission was closed down, the remaining priests joined the Paris Society. Abbe J. A. Dubois (Dodda Swami) was one of the secular priests sent out by the Paris Society entrusted with the care of Kannada-speaking Roman Catholics. He was in India from 1792-1823. He was well-known for his book Hindu Manners Customs and Ceremonies.

Who suggested replacing Syriac language and all doctrine of the Malabar Church, with Latin?

• John de Albuquerque

• Francis Xavier

• Dom Alexis de Menezes

• Vincent de Lagos

Answer explanation

During the Synod of Diamper, Nestorianism was renounced as was the Patriarch of Babylon (or of the East) and insistence on the duty of obedience to the Pope instead; A fairly full explanation of the seven Roman sacraments with many detailed provisions concerning their use and manner of celebration; Arrangements were madfor administration, e.g., division of the Church into parishes, provision of ministers, feasts and fasts to be kept, etc.

In romanizing the Syrian Church, Menezes explicitly claimed the authority of Pope Clement VIII. The Synod ordered that all the Syriac religious books should be handed over to the Archbishop or his deputy on visit to the Churches or burnt. The Syriac liturgy had major rework- removal of the names of the Nestorian saints, replacing the Patriarch’s name with the Pope’s; the addition of the Roman ceremonies of elevation and genuflexion after the consecration of the Bread and the Cup; the bringing of the Nicene Creed and the Words of Institution into conformity with the Roman forms; the replacement of communion by intinction by the Roman practice of giving communion under the species of bread only to all except the celebrant; the use of the Roman words of administration and the correction of phrases really or supposedly Nestorian. Fr. Roz translated the Latin Mass into Syriac for occasional use by Syrian priests. The Roman form of the other services (ordination, Baptism, etc.) were translated into Syriac and substituted for the Syrian.

Which of the following are Syrian Church practices?

• Acknowledging the Pope as their head

• No pictures of saints or idol worship

• Their priests did not marry

• They prayed for their dead to go to heaven

Answer explanation

Syrians Christians acknowledged the Patriarch of the East as their head and prayed for the Patriarch.

Confirmation and Baptism are not differentiated while 

Unction performed on sick persons for their recovery (as in James 5:14).

Bread is placed in the Wine and the two are given together by means of a spoon.

Priests married.

They prayed for the faithful departed but not with any idea of delivering them from torment

They had no images and made very little use of pictures in their churches apart from the cross and did not perform towards them acts suggestive of worship.