Christians of Pakistan
Subtitle: The Passion of Bishop John Joseph
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon
Published: January 6, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780700716562
Subjects: Biography: general; Comparative religion; Islam; Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church; History; Religion - Catholicism; Religion; Pakistan; Christianity - Catholic; Religion / History; Christianity - Catholicism; Asia - General; Asia - India & South Asia
First sentence: When John Joseph was born in the Catholic village of Khushpur in the Punjab on November 15, 1932, there was no state of Pakistan.
Description: "In May 1998 John Joseph, the first indigenous Pakistani Catholic bishop shot himself in front of the courthouse where a Christian had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. This book tells the story of the Christians in Pakistan, with Bishop Joseph as its centrepiece. It is an account of outcastes who sought hope through Christianity, but who now find themselves victims of a struggle to define Islam in Pakistan." "The majority of Pakistani Christians are descendants of untouchables converted to Christianity in the late 19th century. In Pakistan a minority religion is linked with low status, perpetuating the Indian Hindu caste system even though the Muslim majority has disassociated itself from all things Hindu and Indian. The book also deals with enculteration in the Pakistani church, the rise of indigeneous clergy, conflicts between the local church and Rome, the rise of 'fundamentalist' Islam and the position of women in society and church."--Jacket.