| This dissertation examines the effect of Christian Missions upon the Bodo people in Assam Valley in Northeast India.;Based on the worldview theories of Paul Hiebert and Charles Kraft, a holistic model of cultural analysis was developed that yielded an in-depth study of three key cultural domains---namely, the supernatural, the creation and the group. From this analysis, three emerging Bodo cultural themes are described. These include: "Bathou as the source of well-being," "the land as the source of sustenance," and "the group as one." The themes, as the study shows, are all inter-related and generate a number of cultural activities. This study also reveals that these cultural activities and their related rituals are designed to meet the basic needs of the Bodo people---spiritual, physical and social. The existence of these dynamic cultural themes help explain the reason for the persistence of the Bodo culture.;Based on the theme analysis, this study examined the work of the early Christian missions and their apparent effects upon the Bodo social structure and the individual. This study illustrates that the missionary work primarily effected changes on the surface structure without apparent inner transformation leading to stagnation and a lack of vitality in the Bodo Church.;This study concludes that central to Bodo community life and existence is the creator God (Bathou), the land and the community, and the insensitivity of the missionaries to these core worldview issues correlates to the Bodo people's general hostility and resistance to the gospel. It suggests that the gospel, to be meaningful and rooted, must address these basic cultural issues.;Transformational cultural change, as the study emphasizes, is change that comes from within. Based on the conclusions, this study develops a model of holistic contextualization of the gospel towards effecting transformational change in Bodo culture. |
