Mo, Buke & Ash

Q: One significant aspect of Alexander Henn’s critique of Jesuit rhetorics in the context of early

modern Christian missionaries in colonial Goa is to examine the synergy or cross-fertilization of

European and Eastern cultural, religious, and language values. How do Christian and Hindu

practices/values collide against or intermingle in the development of rhetorics/communication in

Goa and the surrounding areas in India during the early modern era, i.e. 16th/17th centuries?

In terms of how Christian and Hindu values intermingle, we observed that the invention of the printing press and sending letters had a significant impact on connecting communication. Although Christian missionaries struggled to learn Hindu fluently and local Indian languages, they relied on the fact that they would assimilate as other countries did. Once Christian missionaries visited Japan, they deemed Indians to be inferior. Missionaries were able to teach the Christian religion to Indian locals through genre, rituals, and ceremonies, but engaged in cultural appropriation in the process. Another few colliding factors were refusal to print Christian texts in anything but Roman script and local uprising by those who following Nobili and practiced social values without religious intent.