The International Impact of the Formation of the Church of South India: Bishop Newbigin versus the Anglican Fathers

Beginning of article

The formation of the Church of South India (CSI) in 1947 was looked upon with great interest around the world, particularly as it pioneered the reunion of episcopal with nonepiscopal churches. This event in South India impacted mission-church relationships, for it demanded new structures to accommodate new relationships.1 It not only affected India but reverberated globally, and especially it challenged old assumptions within the Anglican Church.

As Christianity became globalized in the twentieth century, the heartland of Christianity shifted southward, and a growing concern arose to recover the unity of the church rather than continue the divisions inherited from old Christendom. …