book review: THE MALABAR MANDATE A LIFE OF VOLBRECHT NAGEL
book review:
THE MALABAR MANDATE A LIFE OF VOLBRECHT NAGEL
https://www.amazon.in/Malabar-Mandate-Prof-Varghese-Mathai/dp/8193084128
Too often, the free-church missionaries are a neglected lot in the colonial mission history. Nor do they find an adequate place in the national church histories, being labeled as dissenters. Compounding the problem is a profound lack of sense of history, among the Brethrens and Pentecostals. What we have, instead, are poorly researched materials, often written by people who are professionally ill-equipped to dig up and interpret relevant information from the depths of social memory and archived records. Somehow we have got used to mediocrity. So it is refreshing to see something different – the Malabar Mandate is an exception. This book will find its true worth when people will take a fresh look at the free-church mission history of 19th and 20th century India.
In the first place, I was drawn to the book because I liked Nagel. He left an ineffaceable impression in the Malayalee Christian psyche (‘souls’ literally) with hymns that were remarkably easy on the ear and touched deep in heart. The author reports that he lived only two decades in the Malabar coast. To have known the soul of a language within that time, he must have been a genius. Like Tagore and Gibran, there is something that strikes you when Nagal uses language to speak of man’s sacred reality. He is that rare breed who is all but extinct in our dull and tasteless way of life. Besides, a lively and flowing storyline makes this book a pleasure to read.
There is significant new material on Nagel’s Basel training and formation. The translations of portions of Nagal hymns are splendid, amply displaying the author’s grip over both the languages. Then there is a piece of information I was in the hunt for – where did John Christian Arulappan, a Plymouth Brethren (and so, should be a cessationist in theology) get his charismatic orientation? I did not know, until reading here, Anthony Groves or his mentoring of Arulappan. For this and for the joy of reading a finely crafted piece of work, I owe to Dr. Varghese Mathai. Appreciations and many thanks. This book made my day.
Samuel Eapen, Lecturer in theology, IPC Theological Seminary Kottayam, India.
THE MALABAR MANDATE A LIFE OF VOLBRECHT NAGEL
Too often, the free-church missionaries are a neglected lot in the colonial mission history. Nor do they find an adequate place in the national church histories, being labeled as dissenters. Compounding the problem is a profound lack of sense of history, among the Brethrens and Pentecostals. What we have, instead, are poorly researched materials, often written by people who are professionally ill-equipped to dig up and interpret relevant information from the depths of social memory and archived records. Somehow we have got used to mediocrity. So it is refreshing to see something different – the Malabar Mandate is an exception. This book will find its true worth when people will take a fresh look at the free-church mission history of 19th and 20th century India.
In the first place, I was drawn to the book because I liked Nagel. He left an ineffaceable impression in the Malayalee Christian psyche (‘souls’ literally) with hymns that were remarkably easy on the ear and touched deep in heart. The author reports that he lived only two decades in the Malabar coast. To have known the soul of a language within that time, he must have been a genius. Like Tagore and Gibran, there is something that strikes you when Nagal uses language to speak of man’s sacred reality. He is that rare breed who is all but extinct in our dull and tasteless way of life. Besides, a lively and flowing storyline makes this book a pleasure to read.
There is significant new material on Nagel’s Basel training and formation. The translations of portions of Nagal hymns are splendid, amply displaying the author’s grip over both the languages. Then there is a piece of information I was in the hunt for – where did John Christian Arulappan, a Plymouth Brethren (and so, should be a cessationist in theology) get his charismatic orientation? I did not know, until reading here, Anthony Groves or his mentoring of Arulappan. For this and for the joy of reading a finely crafted piece of work, I owe to Dr. Varghese Mathai. Appreciations and many thanks. This book made my day.
Samuel Eapen, Lecturer in theology, IPC Theological Seminary Kottayam, India.
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