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discussing
Matthew 3:7, "you snakes..". The Brahmin had taken the words literally - he thought the people had really turned into snakes. This made Rhenius realize that a revision of the Bible was not sufficient - a new translation was necessary. He began a new translation of the New Testament. When he showed his translation to his Hindu friends, they had said that they could understand his translation. He wrote down some principles of translation. Thous his ideas on translation were not accepted in his time, they are similar to the current ones followed by the Bible Society. On 5 November 1817, a group of Protestants, Roman Catholics and Hindus met in Madras and formed the Tamil Bible Association. Rhenius also wrote a work of Tamil grammar titled "A Grammar of the Tamil Language: With Appendix", which was published by the American Mission Press at Madras in 1859.
132:. When Charles was six years old, his father died. Charles left school when he was fourteen and went to work in his uncle’s office. After he had worked for three years another uncle called him to come and live with him. This uncle was a rich landowner. There were many missionary magazines in his uncle’s house. As he read these, Charles felt God was calling him to go overseas as a missionary. Though his uncle was unhappy about his decision, he accepted it. But his aunt tried to get him to change his mind. Charles had to struggle in prayer to overcome the temptation. As his uncle had no children, he planned to leave all his property to Charles. Rhenius went to
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451:. On the same evening at 7:30 pm Rhenius died. He was 48 years old at the time of his death. He was buried at Adaikalapuram, Palayamkottai. Rhenius's missionary work was recognized by the Tirunelveli Diocese of the Church of South India (CSI) during the diocese's bicentenary Celebrations in 1978. Rhenius tomb is currently being maintained by the Diocese. During his 15 years in Tirunelveli, Rhenius had set up as many as 371 congregations. His contemporary, the Jewish missionary Dr Wolf, who stayed with Rhenius for a week during September 1833 regarded him as the greatest missionary who had appeared since St. Paul.
362:, indicated that loyalty to the Church of England required that workers under the CMS should henceforth be ordained, if at all, only according to the Church of England rites and not according to those of the Lutherans. Rhenius and his colleague, Bernard Schmidt, replied that their newly trained workers, as catechists, pastors, and teachers, had conscientious objections to following this new instruction.
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his work. Money for his support came from all over India and from Europe. In
Palayamkottai, the supporters of Rev. Rhenius stopped going to the CMS Church and started a prayer hall (The Present Chinna Koil - "St. John Church" ) for their worship at Aadaikalapuram. Similar splits happened in all the places, where Rhenius had planted churches, including
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377:. He had attempted to bring about harmony among missionaries of different backgrounds. Instead publication of the first pamphlet provoked a drastic response. The conflict between the Anglican Diocese of Calcutta and Rhenius reached a low point after six catechists of Rhenius' choice refused to be ordained at Madras by the Anglican Bishop
144:. When he left home he did not dare to tell his family of his final plans. When his suspicious mother Catharina Dorothea Schiemann, implored him not to go overseas, Rhenius replied "Dear mother, what am I to do if the Lord should so order it?. After a year at the seminary Charles Rhenius was ordained as a
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Several catechists from
Tirunelveli appealed to him to return, and Rhenius decided to do so. There, in reduced circumstances, both in Suveshipuram (‘Town of Salvation’) where a house was established in his honour, and in Tirunelveli itself where houses were made available to him, he tried to carry on
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In 1816, the historian, the
Reverend James Hough, was the chaplain to the English garrison in the Palayamkottai fort and cantonment. He was interested in village ministry and wrote to the CMS asking for a missionary. By this time, the differences of opinion between Rhenius and the Madras Committee of
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In 1832, Rev. Rhenius wrote to the Madras
Corresponding Committee of the CMS that an urgent need for more trained and ordained catechists, pastors, and teachers had prompted him to provide special training for some of the most promising young men, seven of whom he had ordained. Until now, precedents
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in India. Among those who came forward, Rhenius and
Schnarre were selected and given orientation on mission skills for 18 months in England. In 1813, the British parliament passed a new Act. This Act allowed missionaries freedom to enter India. Both could get a berth on a ship only in February 1814.
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Rhenius' health began to fail under the tension and strain caused by the division in the churches. He wanted every one to have a copy of the Bible in the language they could understand. On 5 June 1838, he signed notes to be sent to people in
Palayamkottai. In these notes, he asked for subscriptions
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When my fellow-labourer and I were sent out to India, now twentyone years ago, no question was ever put to us on the subject of conformity to the Church of
England nor have I received a single application from the Society to conform. I never concealed my sentiments and mode of proceeding I never
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he set to work on the revision. On his travels
Rhenius had talked with many Hindus. He found that very often they could not understand the Bible translation of Fabricius. Further a conversation with a Brahmin showed what great care was needed in translating the idiomatic expressions. They were
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At about the same time, Rhenius wrote to the new Bishop of
Calcutta welcoming him to India and extending to him an invitation to visit Palaiyamkottai as soon as possible. His reports, having dwelt at length on mass conversions then taking place, stressed the need for pastors to watch over new
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of Calcutta. A letter of dismissal was delivered to Rhenius by two CMS officers, informing him that his connection with the CMS was at an end and that, since the ‘territory’ in which he had been working belonged to the CMS, he should forthwith depart from Tirunelveli. He handed over all his
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going back to Thanjavur and Tranquebar had been followed, whereby the local missionary enjoyed considerable autonomy in such matters. But the CMS Committee was now of the opinion that, although many Indians might have previously received ‘Lutheran orders’, the time for a change had arrived.
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temple as well. Through his studies, Rhenius came to believe that Hindus had once believed in one supreme god and the current polytheism was a later development. He fashioned his proselytizing method according to the belief - by appealing Hindus to go back to monotheism and the worship of
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promised to submit to the English bishops, not even to observe the Church of England forms. No such promise was even asked of me. The Committee of the Society, at that early period, did not even expect that German clergymen should conform to the Church of England.
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At the last minute his family tried to stop Rhenius going to India. His brother appealed to him by writing that their mother was weeping for him. CMS arranged a farewell meeting for him that was attended by more than 2,000 people.
329:) (1825), Idayankulam (1827), Asirvathapuram (1828), Nallur (1832) and Surandai (1833). In 1827, Rhenius created a settlement for the Christians of Puliakurichi in a village he purchased with money donated by a Prussian nobleman,
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version of the Tamil Bible and also published a Tamil grammar book. Rhenius’ split from the Anglican Church in 1830 and started his own congregation. Rhenius' work was recognized in 1980 by the Reverend Daniel Abraham, the then
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212:. He started a school in the Black Town, Madras. When the Hindus in Kanchipuram invited him to start a school, he agreed. After starting several schools in Madras, he extended his missionary work to Palmaner and
523:
Beth Walpole, Venture of Faith - A brief historical background of the Church of South India, (1993), 165 pages, Published by Church of South India at Christian Literature Society Press, Madras - 600 007.
269:, for a confessional price of just Rs. 750.00 and shifted the Preparandi School to the newly acquired campus. Operating from Palayamkottai, Rhenius covered a number of villages all over the
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After five months of language training, Rhenius was asked to come back to Madras, as CMS had decided to engage him in their own mission called Mission in Madras, instead of helping the
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Christians and the recent ordination of seven promising young men. The reply he received, indirectly, declared that his actions were invalid and reprimanded him for violating the
179:, only to learn that Dr John, under whose aegis they had planned to work as missionaries, was dead. Rhenius and Schnarre managed to stay for two weeks with the chaplain of the
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the CMS had grown greatly. Rhenius was at the point of resigning and going home. However, the CMS did not want to lose a skilled missionary and suggested that he could go to
297:. Rhenius shared the gospel to Velu Muthu who was baptisied as "Vedha Muthu". Vedha Muthu,accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and he was the first Protestant Christian in the
325:, which served as a refuge for local Christians. Following the Mudalur pattern, Rhenius started several Christian satellite villages, including Neduvilai (later known as
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Governor gave permission to work in the Black Town of Madras. They rented a house belonging to a Hindu. This facilitated to study the Hindu scriptures and he visited the
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and all the presbyters took an oath in front of the tomb of Rev Rhenius to follow the path of the resting soul, regard to evangelism.
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Robert Eric Fryhenberg, Winter 1993, "Contribution of Hinduism at the Nexus of History", Journal of Indian History, Vol. XXIII, No.:3
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to assist Hough. Rhenius arrived in Tirunelveli on 7 July 1820. The first CMS congregation in Palayamkottai (present day
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during the Tirunelveli diocese bicentenary celebration in 1980, in which, all the bishops, including Anglican bishop
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Rhenius's journey to India was eventful: he experienced a fire aboard the ship and it was almost wrecked near
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Rhenius, Carl Theophilus Ewald (1790-1838) Linguist and missionary among the Tamil population of South India
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district he came to be known as the "Apostle of Tirunelveli". He was involved in the attempt to revise the
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During the 18th century, Christian missionaries had witnessed persecution of converts coinciding with the
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that states a Knowledge (XXG) editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.
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Norman Etherington, Missions and Empire, (October 20, 2005), 352 pages, Oxford University Press, USA;
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No mention was made of a second pamphlet that Rhenius had published at the very same time, entitled
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A History of the Church of England in India : Since the Early Days of the East India Company
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Union of Christians, an Address to all Christians, especially to all Ministers of the Gospel
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Charles Rhenius was the second son of Otto Gottlieb Nikolaus Rhenius, an officer in the
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About the circumstances of his original appointment, Rhenius wrote at length:
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was looking for missionaries for Dr John’s Schools of the Danish Mission at
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Journal of Reverend C.T.E Rhenius, Published by the Church Mission Society
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Family Tree of Rev.Rhenius - Kindly use Translation from Dutch to English
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Rhenius's Grammar Book - A Grammar of the Tamil Language: With Appendix
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An Essay on the Principles of Translating the Holy Scriptures (1820)
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Jeyakumar, Dalit Consciousness and Christian Conversion, p. 91
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diocese. Rhenius's work was given official recognition by the
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personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay
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Tomb of Rev. C T E Rhenius at Adaikalapuram, Tirunelveli
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Rhenius wrote several books and translations including;
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in Madras. Then they went to Tharangambadi to learn the
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Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present
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Summary of a Body of Divinity: In the Tamil Language
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285:is one of the oasis villages in the sandy dunes of
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386:; along with his German colleagues he left for
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702:A history of Christianity in India, 1707-1858
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289:. When Rhenius visited Solaikudiyiruppu, the
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281:district and planted small congregations.
140:at the first German missionary college of
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62:Learn how and when to remove this message
551:An American press The Hindu 28 July 2008
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796:Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background
426:A Grammar of the Tamil Language (1846)
493:"Missionaries at Tirunelveli Diocese"
449:Madras Auxiliary of the Bible Society
251:Holy Trinity Cathedral, Palayamkottai
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273:district, which include the current
259:Palamcottah Preparandi Institution
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693:Christian History & Biography
657:Charles Theophilus Ewald Rhenius
643:Online Books by C. T. E. Rhenius
468:"Tirunelveli Junction Pastorate"
293:of Solaikudiyiruppu Village was
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671:A Grammar of the Tamil Language
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181:British East India Company
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191:Missionary work in Madras
575:Robert Eric Frykenberg,
331:Count Dohna of Scholodin
229:Johann Phillip Fabricius
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