Intertwining Christian Mission, Theology, and History: A Case Study of the Basel Mission among the Thiyyas and Badagas of Kerala, 1870–1913
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This essay is a good foray into the mission work of the Basel Mission in Kerala. However, it would be helpful if there was a strong thesis statement or argument that was made at the beginning, and then sustained throughout the essay. This would help in providing a focus to the essay, as well as in the choice and arrangement of information.
Also, data from mission records are taken at face value, which really is problematic. Certainly we learn a lot from mission records, but we cannot accept everything they say as representing the rich complexity of reality.
Author Response
Dear Professor,
Thank you for reviewing my article and suggesting the necessary changes.
- In order to maintain the focus of the essay, I have tried to rewrite the introductory section and tightened the main argument.
- The arrangement of events, especially those incidents cited in the Missionary reports under 'Narrating the Christian Conversion driven by the Basel Mission in South India', have been addressed.
- Because the mission reports are taken more or less verbatim, in order to balance it, I have changed the 'Conclusion' section and tried to present an alternative vision of mission activities and their impact on the converts in reality.
I shall be happy to receive further observations from your side.
Regards.
Reviewer 2 Report
More substantive suggestions
- Add a map to page 2 or 3 when you are discussing the geography of Malabar. That will make the text much easier to understand.
- On page 7, footnote 11, some attention to the major primary works of Philip Jakob Spener (Pia desideria(1675) and Allgemeine Gottesgelehrtheit(1680)) would strengthen this discussion.
- On page 7, footnote 14 seems to introduce the Basel Mission, which has been the focus of discussion of the article, so this introduction seems misplaced. The footnote needs to be reworked.
- On page 9 the paragraph that started on the bottom of page 8 does not flow well. I think some revision around lines 273 through 283 is needed to add a sentence at line 278: “Even some of those who embraced Christianity would continue to visit Hindu temples. When the Bible-woman Thamar asked her pupils why they attended, even though they believed going to the temple was useless, they replied, “If we ceased going to the temple you would no longer be allowed to visit us!”
- On page 11, the first full paragraph that begins on line 367 does not hold together well. The problem is that you begin with opposition, then say there are hopeful cases, but then go back to the opposition. The paragraph needs reorganization. Put all the discussion of the opposition first, then discuss the hopeful cases. The easiest way to fix this is to move the two sentences that start on line 378 (However, not all the Badagas…There were a few hopeful cases that preceded the first fruit.) I suggest that you take out those two sentences there, then create a new paragraph that would start after line 383 and add those two sentences as the start of the new paragraph. You would have
383 South West India for the year 1904, pp. 72-74).
However, not all the Badagas remained adamant. There were a few hopeful cases that preceded the first fruit. After thirteen years of….
- On page 11, Footnote 20
The first three sentences of this footnote are identical to the first three sentences of the first full paragraph on page 16 (lines 511-517). One or the other location needs to be taken out.
- I do not understand lines 392-94. What are the “ecclesiastical channels in the hills”?
- The first full paragraph on page 12 does not hold together well. It should be separated into two paragraphs, and some material should be moved or omitted. Here is one option
Line 401 Omit “Education was popularised among the Badagas.” Put it in the next paragraph at the end of the first sentence (see below).
Lines 403-04 to clarify “their,” change this line to “Badagas recognized the society and religion of Christians in the wake of the new religion’s taking roots in the Nilgiri soil.” Then end that paragraph there.
Start a new paragraph with the following sentence but also add the word “however” to stress the contrast. And also add “But” to make the contrast stronger. Thus you would have, for the new paragraph
405 The Badagas were not easily convinced by the Mission, however, even though the Mission provided education. The Mission started a school in Kaity valley for the Badaga children in 1874, for example. But the outbreak of epidemics….
- On page 14, the first full paragraph begins with the claim that CMS and LMS were already functioning in Kerala in 1800, but then later states they begin work in 1806 and 1820. It would be more direct to change Lines 443-445 to read: “Two missionary societies, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the London Missionary Society (LMS) began functioning in Kerala in the nineteenth century.”
- On page 18, lines 610-611 do not make sense.
- On page 18, line 629, it is not clear who “the specialist” is.
- On page 20, which is the conclusion, you introduce a new topic, that of language. That topic either needs previous discussion or—and I recommend the second option here—it should be omitted from the conclusion. Cut from line 725 starting with “Four languages” through line 732 “in local languages.”
salamander
Smaller editorial changes needed
Page 1
Line 9: Take out “Starting”
Line 12 should be “being the prime motive, every Mission, in order to succeed in a region, had”
Line 13: take out “imperative”
Line 14: take out “more”
Line 17 should be “emphasized practical matters more than doctrine, which was evident in the”
Line 22 should be “model. It aimed at self-sufficiency and provided a livelihood for a number of”
Line 32 should be “(including both the Greater and Lesser traditions” as shown by”
Line 35 should be “people. This resulted in the establishment of a number of Churches and the”
Page 2
Line 50 no comma after “centuries”
Line 60 add comma after “traditions” before “and”
Line 70 take out “each”
Line 73 make “details” singular “detail”
Line 74 change to “for the Christian conversion movement in the regions. All”
Line 80 change to “securing a good number of converts. But developing a sense of self-“
Line 81 add “the” after “are”
Line 85 should be “society and in showing how missionaries came as apologists to the outcastes and”
Page 3
Line 88 should be “argued the Christian missionaries were”
Line 89 there should not be any punctuation after “imperialism”
Line 106 should be “attempt to analyse how mission, theology, and history interacted”
Line 111 add “for” after “Except”
Line 119 should be “although it strengthened the peasant right, had serious distortions when”
Line 123 should be “position determined eligibility for a particular profession. Along with”
Line 126 should be “an outcaste, had to keep a distance of sixteen feet from a Thiyan, who also”
Line 129 add “distancing” after “This”
Page 4
Line 136 add comma after “District”
Lines 137-139 crops should not be capitalized
Line 140 take out the comma after adivasis
Line 147 should read “Plantation labor, especially in the estate sector, consisted of various”
Line 163 should read “Muslims and the Thiyyas who were considered to be of polluting caste;”
Footnote 4
Line 2 range should be singular
Line 3 add a comma after Ooty
Line 4 add commas after Coonoor and Ooty and Kotagiri
Line 6 put a period after Mountain).
Line 7 capitalize the initial “The”
Line 8 change “should” to “could”
Line 10 add commas after Francis and Ooty
Line 11 should read “Udhagamandalam, is the capital of the Nilgiris district. The economic activities of this district are accelerated by the”
Line 12 make “visit” plural “visits” and change the spelling to “extent”
Line 13 capitalize district
Page 5
Footnote 5
Line 2 add comma after “another”
Line 4 add comma after “area”
Page 6
Line 193 add “The” before “majority” so that you have “The majority of them were”
Line 195 take out the comma after “ago”
Line 207 “Narrativizing” is a strange word choice, try “Narrating”
Footnote 8
Line 3 add “that” after “famine”
Footnote 9
The first sentence “in serious tremor” is not a common usage; try this instead “whose prowess brought fear to Europe in the early days of the nineteenth century.”
Line 3 replace “stationed” with “gathered”
Line 4 take out “up” to read “would blow Basel to bits.”
Line 6 does not use the phrase “to win” correctly. Replace with “took an oath that, should they win against Napoleon, they would form an evangelical mission, conducting”
Page 7
Line 212 replace “is a child” with “as a child”
Line 217 replace “aspects” with “features”
Line 218 take out comma after “theologies”
Line 221 I think the name is simply the last name “Blumhardt,” not two names
Line 222 the source “Nath and K” seems incorrect, as K seems to be an initial; check that
Line 224 no capital M for missionaries
Line 226 should be “Operating in the Malabar and the Nilgris (regions known for their caste”
Line 227 should be “rigidities and exclusions to distorted levels), the Basel Mission, utilising”
Line 229 should be “allied rituals. Along with conversion, the Basel Mission”
Line 230 should be “contributed some of the most progressive features which were not present”
Line 231 should be “otherwise in India. They started the first modern industries in
Line 232 should be “Malabar, and this beginning led to efforts in spreading basic education, starting”
Line 234 should be “better philosophy of life, and they were successful in severing their previous”
Footnote 10
Line 5 add “the” before Wurttemberg
Line 11 add commas to read “blacksmiths, weavers, or people of similar trades who, being financially independent, were not easily terrified by”
Line 11 also consider replacing “terrified” with “intimidated”
Footnote 11
Line 1 replace “incepted” with “begun”
Line 2 take out “on”
Footnote 12
Line 12 should read “missionaries, Rev. Samuel Hebich, Rev. John Lehnar, and Rev. Cristoph Grener, to India. The missionaries”
Also check the reference to Nath and K again.
Footnote 13
Line 2 should replace the comma after production with a period to read “scale production. It could refer to very small cottage industry workshops. (Stenzl 2010)
Footnote 14
Line 2 change spelling from Swizz to Swiss.
Page 8
Line 237 should read “benefit the country by creating a class of Christian artisans, mechanics, and”
Line 243 needs two changes, one of punctuation, one of word choice. It should read “date, while the Protestant faith was the last to arrive. It was not until 1839”
Line 248 add the word “and” before Calicut
Line 251 add a comma after “missionaries”
Line 261 replace “evinced” with “was clear”
Line 262 change “oppositions” to “opposition” singular
Line 264 replace “leaded” with “led”
Footnote 15
Line 1 add comma after “extensively”
Page 9
Line 271 omit “about”
Line 273 should read “the year 1910, p. 31, 58-60). Nevertheless, the missionaries did not
Line 274 should read “meet with great success every time. The Thiyyans in Tellicherry who”
Line 285 add comma after “members”
Line 287 replace “receded” with “did not follow through.”
Line 288 add comma after “could be baptised”
Line 296 add comma after “very great”
Line 305 should read “author did not convince them that Christianity was not simply a choice, but”
Line 307 should read “a matter of life and death. The Thiyyans’ main concern was their social”
Line 308 should read “standing, as they asked questions like, “what shall we do in”
Line 313 should read “prospective converts whose reasons for embracing Christianity were dubious.”
Line 315 add “the” before “sinfulness”
Footnote 18
Line 3 Capitalize the word “Some”
Page 10
Line 324 add a comma after “Hindus”
Line 328 add a hyphen between “Hindu” and “dominated” to read “Hindu-dominated”
Line 340 replace “mission of” with “mission at”
Line 364 delete the comma after “of the Mission”
Page 11
Lines 367-368 Reorganize this sentence to read “After its inception on the Hills, the Basel Mission experienced a bleak period for over a decade.”
Line 376 replace the two words “up on” with the one word “upon”
Line 386 take out “of” after “reported” to read “station reported an”
Footnote 19
Line 4 should read “To begin with, the villagers received the Bible women with kindness.”
Page 12
Line 397 add a comma after “conversion”
Line 407 add a comma after 1855
Footnote 21 is missing the quotation marks for the material quoted from Mr. Lutze.
Footnote 22
Line 2 add comma after “in the period”
Line 5 consider other language for “Badaga folks.” Perhaps replace it with “some of the Badaga.”
Page 13
Line 416 “money and kind” does not make sense. Perhaps it is “money and goods in kind”? or “money and kindness”?
Line 418 replace “induced” (which often refers to the beginning of a physical birth) with “strengthened”
Line 422 add comma after “attitude”
Footnote 24
Line 1 should read “The Mission schools suffered from thin enrollment and non-attendance. But when the Badaga parents began to”
Page 14
Line 439 take out “have”
Line 440 make “framework” plural “frameworks” and change “it” to “these challenges” so the line reads
“traditional cultures and societal frameworks. However, the way these challenges took”
Line 441 should read “place differed by region as well as by the theology and ideology of the particular”
Line 450 should read “establishment of schools and colleges, printing presses, and seminaries”
Line 451 should read “for traiing of priests and church workers. They also enjoyed some”
Line 454 replace “issue” with “history” or “missional focus”
Line 455 add comma after “orientation”
Line 457 add “The” before “Basel Mission” and add comma after “The Basel Mission”
Line 459 add “challenge” after “This”
Line 462 should read “established modern tile factories and weaving factories”
Line 469 add “the” before “Basel Mission”
Line 471 should read “products. Most of these products were for export.”
Line 473 should read “might be another promising field for a workshop. In 1865 he started”
Line 479 add comma after “were set up” and add “The” before “tile”
Page 15
Line 490 omit “performed roles of”
Line 493 Add “The” before “total” and omit “number of” and make “employments” singular to read as follows
“(Bourdieu 1979). The total employment in the Weaving”
Line 499 replace “inquires” with “inquirers”
Page 16
Line 505 add a comma after “environment”
Line 508 no comma after “tappers” but add “who” to read “palm-wine tappers who”
Line 517 start new paragraph with “Dr. Gundert, a brilliant”
Line 518 omit “on the other hand” since there is no clear contrast
Line 525 change “are” to “have been”
Line 526 insert “have” before “received”
Line 529 omit “, specially,” to read “two orphanages and four hospitals for the benefit of the society.”
Line 530 Omit “It was” and start a new paragraph with “Rev. J. Josenhans, principal of the”
Line 532 omit “he”
Line 543 replace “want” with “needs” and replace “he” with “Josenhans” to make the referent clear
Line 545 add a comma after “to the Mission”
Line 557 replace “of sympathy” with “due to sympathy”
Line 558 add “The” before “merchantile”
Page 17
Line 565 add “s” to make “Christian” into “Christians”
Line 566 make “sometime” two separate words “some time”
Line 569 omit “but”
Line 578 replace “their” with “the Mission’s”
Line 581 should read “The Basel missionaries and their” (Omit “Let us now examine in specific terms”
Line 583 replace “overhaul” with “change”
Page 18
Line 605 should read “alms and thus to have a sedentary life.”
Line 607 should read “of their employees and tried to advance them also in religion.”
Line 610 should read “In these regions, there was no concept of specific”—perhaps, as it is not clear what lines 610 and 611 mean
Line 616 replace “as regards” with “regards with respect to”
Line 617 add comma after “schedule”
Line 618 replace “worker” with the plural “workers”
Line 620 needs more punctuation and an additional word. It should read
“to work, and this change shows how the concept of ‘praxis piety’ determined”
Line 624 should have additional words and additional punctuation to read “good clay, the practices of a traditional Ayurveda doctor diagnosing disease, and the”
Line 625 reverse “all” and “were”
Line 630 add “process” after “This”
Line 633 add “they” after “although”
Footnote 28
Line 3 add comma after “schools”
Line 5 change “breaks of work” to “breaks from work”
Line 7 add comma after “day of rest”
Line 9 delete comma after “monotonous” and make “interval” into the plural “intervals”
Footnote 29
Line 1 add comma after “physics”
Line 4 add “The” before “report” and change the final period into a colon
Page 19
Line 636 add “population” after indigenous
Line 639 add comma after “masses”
Line 641 change “to beggars” to “into beggars”
Line 642 should read “four hundred and thirty beggars came to Mr. Ritter’s bungalow. About”
Line 643 should read “three hundred were Roman Catholics. In the Report of”
Line 649 replace “critics” with “criticisms”
Line 651 add comma after “Mission churches”
Line 655 should read “initiative. Crucially, the mission demanded that converts remove”
Line 656 add “requirement” after “This”
Line 658 replace “They” with “Converts”
Line 666 add comma after “emancipation”
Line 670 add coma after “community”
Line 674 replace “of social” with “for social”
Page 20
Line 687 add “the” before “history”
Line 690 should read “the biblical disciplines and church history. History of Christian Missions, on”
Line 693 add “Christianity” after “championing”
Line 694 omit “of task force” to read “undertaken by missionaries. Finally, the history of”
Line 695 should read “Christianity refers” (omit the rest)
Line 704 should read “movement which started with a moral focus ended with a focus on”
Line 705 should read “social responsibility in the respective regions (Chaudhuri 2012,”
Line 708 Omit “In our discussion we found how”
Line 712 replace “for them” with “for these groups”
Line 713 omit “the” before “upper caste”
Line 715 add “provide” between “to” and “work”
Line 716 add “business” before “firms”
Line 717 replace “they got success” with “they were successful”
Line 720 add “a” before “’towel”
Footnote 30
Line 2 should read as follows:
“century. Its focus shifted from a predominantly moral movement to become a social movement as response to the impact of the Industrial”
Page 21
Line 733 add “a” before “strong”
Line 737 put a period after “missionaries.” Delete “which”
Line 738 should read “The industries evolved and developed into a full-fledged business sector over time,”
Line 739 should read “providing a livelihood for a number of people. In the caste”
Line 741 add “an opportunity” after “outcastes”
Line 743 no comma after “practice praxis”
Line 745 add “a” before “larger impact” and change “societal” to “society” to read
“Mission that it had a larger impact on both the individual and the society”
Lines 746-747 should read “which ultimately led Kerala to emerge as a ‘model state’ in India (Mohan 2015; Desai 2005).”
Author Response
Dear Professor,
I cannot thank you enough for pointing out the flaws in my writing so meticulously, and I must admit that I learnt a lot from your comments and suggestions.
- The editorial changes have been made.
- I have added maps for a clear understanding of the regions, and have tightened the Conclusion section as well.
- I have made a major revision to this article (keeping the main argument intact) and tried to address all the points that you have suggested to look into.
I shall be happy to receive further observations from your side.
Regards.
Reviewer 3 Report
Overall I found this article interesting and I learned a great deal about Christian mission, especially in Kerala.
This article needs major editing and revision, especially regarding English grammar and the structure of the article (better use of paragraphs).
The reader would benefit from a more nuanced presentation on the topic of "praxis piety".
Place in footnotes the long references to citations as "Report of the Basel..." as it distracts the reader from the flow of the presentation.
Author Response
Dear Professor,
Thank you for reviewing my article and suggesting the necessary changes.
1. I have put the long in-text Mission Report references in the footnotes.
2. Regarding the English grammar and the structure of the article, I have tried my best to address those properly.
3. The theme of 'praxis piety' has also been revised.
I shall be happy to receive further observations from your side.
Regards.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Much better!
Should "Mohammadans" be "Muslims" in this article?
Author Response
Thank you once again for reviewing my article. I have changed the term 'Mohammedans' to 'Muslims'.
Regards
