In his Missionary Christianity and Local Religion, Arun Jones convincingly makes the case that evangelical Christianity established by American missionaries in the nineteenth century (1836–1870) in north India had significant resemblances and continuities with the bhakti traditions of Hinduism. Despite their differences, Jones notes that we can identify similarities between the two movements in terms of their “theology, religious expression, social formation, and social location” (6).

In the first part, Jones offers a detailed description of the religious context in which American evangelicalism was established in north India. In the nineteenth century, Hinduism was a vast, diverse, and complex religion with the bhakti movements thriving in the margins of society. Islam too, though a late comer with a relatively lesser presence than Hinduism, because of the many centuries of Muslim rule, had become a widely practiced religion. Christianity, on the other hand, was comprised mainly of Roman Catholics from Goa and South India, along with Eurasians and European Christians. Jones notes that majority of north Indian Christians came from the poorer and lower classes of the Indian society. In the second chapter, Jones looks at the work of the American evangelical missionaries in north India. Based on the evangelical convictions of “biblicism, conversionism, crucicentrism, and activism” (64), along with its inclination to protest against the unchristian elements within Christianity, the missionaries, especially the Presbyterian and Methodists, with the support of the British Empire, strived to spread the Christian faith and establish churches across north India through publishing and preaching. Even though the work of the Christian missions was “severely tested—and almost destroyed” (84) by the 1857 sepoy mutiny (also known as the First War of Indian Independence), Jones observes that they were able to regain their footing in less than a decade.

The second part of the book is a close study of the work of the missionaries and the Indian Christian workers. In the chapter on missionaries, Jones begins by pointing out that the American evangelists viewed themselves as agents of change who were divinely called to uplift the “helpless” Indians (91), not unlike the aid workers today who do “developmental” work in the global south. However, notwithstanding the racial differences and condescending attitudes, Protestant evangelical missions drew people, especially from the lower strata, because of certain resemblances to bhakti religiosity that Jones identifies as follows. First, missionaries presented themselves as religious experts based on their strong sense of calling and devotion. Second, they believed that they were to purge the Indian society of social evils. Finally, the missionaries were convinced that they had the responsibility to reorder the entire Indian society, albeit based on western values such as “democracy, equality, and Anglo-American evangelical morality” (122).

In the fourth chapter, Jones turns his attention to the Indian Christian workers and leaders who had to navigate the tensive space between their Indian and Christian identities. By looking at the biographies of four male Indian ministers—Gopi Nath Nundy, Zahur-Al-Haqq, Joel Janvier, and Ishwari Dass—and female leaders, like Peggy Pybah and Susannah Haqq, Jones captures the key role played by Indian Christian leadership in the north Indian evangelical movement. Through these meticulously studied and comprehensively presented portraits, Jones concludes that these men and women served as “negotiators—translators, brokers, mediators, intermediaries—in the interface between Europe and India” (176) who, much like (and possibly, inspired by) the bhakti saints who both critiqued and respected Brahmin authority, delicately maintained the balance between asserting their independence as Indian Christians and acknowledging the authority of the foreign missionaries.

In the last part of the book, Jones focuses on the theology and the characteristic features of the evangelical Christian community established during this period. Using the Lectures on Theology, written by Ishwari Dass, a Presbyterian Church worker, as a case in point, Jones acknowledges the creative “re-formation” and “re-presentation” of the tenets of Princeton theology to make them relevant to the needs of an Indian audience. Building on the notions of the transcendent power of God and the importance of reason, which are foundational to both the reformed and the Hindu traditions, Dass reinterprets the understanding of sin, salvation, and the authority of the scripture in Princeton theology for the north Indian context. For instance, using the Hindu theory of karma, Dass insists that while divine grace is certainly imperative, “our actions have inevitable consequences for our future life and very specifically, for our salvation” (200).

In his final chapter on the evangelical Christian community, Jones notes that, along with the American missionaries and the Eurasians, the Indian Christians came from a wide range of backgrounds, including religious communities (such as Kabirpanths and the Sikhs) and Dalit (untouchable) communities (like the Chuhras and Chamars). Because of the ostracization and violence that these vulnerable Christians experienced, villages were created as safe living spaces, which, as Jones observes, were inspired by indigenous institutions such as the mohullah or basti (sectarian enclaves), the jajmani system (a functional social arrangement in rural India), and the math (a residential religious community living with a teacher). Taking into account the continuities between them (in spite of their specificities), Jones concludes that the north Indian evangelical Christian community founded by American missionaries, like the bhakti tradition, was, and continues to be, a “Thirdspace—a space where it could be socially, religiously, ideologically, and ethically different” (272).

Jones deserves our appreciation for his systematic and coherent presentation of the history of evangelical Christianity in nineteenth century north India against the background of bhakti movements. Even if occasionally the link between the two seemed to be presumed and overemphasized in the book, the author does not fail to acknowledge the difficulties in making the comparisons. I also believe that it would have been helpful if Jones had elaborated more on the present-day manifestations and expressions of the evangelical “Thirdspace” than what he has done in his conclusion. Nonetheless, there can be no doubt that Jones’s work is a groundbreaking contribution in the study of world Christianity.