Episcopal Press and News

Overseas Students at Theology School

Diocesan Press Service. December 8, 1975 [75426]

Edith Whitesell

SEWANEE, Tenn. -- East meets further East this fall at Sewanee's University of the South, an Episcopal - related institution, where Harrison Anyango and P. P. Cherian enrolled as first-year students in the School of Theology.

Anyango comes from the South Nyanza district of Kenya, Cherian from the state of Kerala in South India.

The Kenyan followed his African tribal religion until, when he was eight years old, his family became Christians. In Cherian's home city of Kottayam, one in four persons is Christian, as his parents are; many follow the Moslem faith, and Hindus are by far the most numerous.

The two men share youth, a deep Christian commitment, and an intense interest in each other. Both are endowed with charm, but of different sorts; Anyango shows immediate warmth and a lively sense of humor, while Cherian seems to turn inward more, to care more about subtleties.

Harrison Anyango, ordained priest two years ago, came here to learn more theology. In Kenya he has a wife and five children, a family he declares to be "very small" by African standards. An acquaintance there has 40 wives and 85 children; the government sensibly built a school right next door to his home.

"I went to see him," Anyango says, "to find out how he could share love with so many. I found them all healthy and happy, though the father cannot always recall to which mothers the children belong. In our country one who has many children is blessed, and accorded great respect. Another who has but one wife is considered irresponsible, and given no voice in the council. "

Some of the priest's parishioners are polygamists; he says this offers the church a problem that is still being debated. Although the missionaries have taught that polygamy is wrong, young people look to their past and question this teaching. "If a man with three wives wants to come into the church, what do you do?" Anyango asks. "Tell him he must divorce two? Of course not; you welcome them all. And then you tell a single man he should marry only one wife, and he sees this as discrimination. But it is becoming harder and harder to support more than one wife, so perhaps the question will settle itself in time."

In his homeland Anyango served 12 congregations of from 35 to 200 members; he rotated Sunday preaching among them, traveling on foot. He says the revivalist movement has resurrected the Anglican Church in the Province of Kanya, which now has black bishops and a black archbishop.

Cherian's Christian roots go back several generations. Not married, he came to the United States three years ago with a view to entering seminary, first completing undergraduate studies at Bridgewater College in Virginia.

The young South Indian is much concerned about what he observes today as syncretism. "In the church we find a given liturgy," he comments. "We are taught to pray, instead of praying from ourselves. Lacking a prayer life -- an important element in any religion -- people turn to the East and to transcendental meditation. "

"I am not against this," Cherian says, "but I think we should look into our own religion instead of others. Christ said get into your closet and pray to God and He will answer you. We don't practice this, but instead look for parts of other religions. When the Canaanites took on elements of Baal worship and claimed still to worship Jahweh, the prophets told them they could not. That is what I mean by syncretism -- vacillating between different religious beliefs."

Cherian has been intrigued to count as many as 200 U.S. denominations, all in the name of Christ. "I visited churches to find out the reasons for all this difference, and I find it based not only on Biblical interpretations but also on social and economic standards. It is worse than the caste system in India, which has been abolished by law but lingers in tradition, like your race distinctions once you have had here. "

He feels called to work toward ecumenicity. "I can see this need more clearly than a Westerner because I come from a non-Christian country. They ask, 'Why don't you people get together?' My theology is a simple one: 'Jesus is Lord.'"

The two visitors are open for speaking invitations, particularly during their school's winter and spring recesses, Dec. 19 - Jan. 14, and March 18 -31. They are eager to widen their American acquaintance.

The young Indian would like to address himself to syncretism. His African colleague proposes no specific theme. "I prefer to leave the choice of subject to the listeners," he says. "I will talk about how I became a Christian, why I am here. I could tell about the church in Kenya; I could share my faith, tell about the revivalist movement. Let them ask anything they wish, and if I am ignorant of it, I will say so."