Church History and the Indian Museum

Today, the wife of a MCC staff member gave Seorin and I an introduction to the history of the Church and Bible translation in Kolkata, and a tour of the famous Indian Museum. The first stop on this pilgrimage through Indian Church history was the Carey Baptist Church. This aging church was founded by Reverend William Carey in 1880 and continues to serve as a place of worship for a Baptist congregation. We stood on the very pulpit Carey preached from - a tiny, black pulpit for a man that was apparently only 5 foot tall.

Although William Carey was by far not the first person to bring Christian beliefs to the people of India (Syrian Christians in the state of Kerala claim that Apostle Thomas came in 52 AD), Carey and his team were instrumental in the early work of Bible translation into languages such as Hindi, Oreya, Bengali, Marathi, and Assamese. We proceeded to visit the Bible Society of India where teams of translators carry on this commitment to providing highly subsidized Bibles to people in their mother tongue. We were told that an entire Bible translation into another language takes around 10 to 15 years to be completed.

Following a hearty lunch to give us strength for the time ahead, the three of us set off to explore the expansive rooms of the Indian Museum. The colonial-era museum housed everything from remnants of ancient Buddhist ruins to a Persian-style rendition of Madonna and Child to showcase the diversity that is India. Each new conqueror and empire - whether it be Aryan, Greek, Persian, Chinese nomads, Arabs, Mughals, French, Dutch or the British - left a distinct mark on the history and culture of modern India, leaving us with more than enough rooms to explore for the whole afternoon.

Although we had a very packed day of exploring museums, historic structures and talking to church leadership, a memorable part of the day was ducking into a coffee shop when a monsoon rain dropped on a busy market place. A fire broke out in a market stall nearby, the coffee tasted different, I was talking with new friends, but it reminded me of a rainy Seattle day.