The Danish-English-Halle Mission in Tranquebar and its relationship to Catholicism and the other Christian denominations

The dissertation project of Gabriele Bellinzona examines the interconfessional relationship of the Lutheran-Pietist mission in Tranquebar and other stations to established local Christian groups (the Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and Thomas Christians) active in southern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The letters of one of the first Pietist missionaries, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1682–1719), provide some of the earliest documented evidence of mutual interactions between Protestants and other Christians as do the reports from the Tranquebar Mission published in the »Halle Reports« (Hallesche Berichte) (1710–1772), the first Protestant mission journal, and the »New Halle Reports« (Neue Hallesche Berichte) (1776–1848). The »Halle Reports« contain instructive information about churches of other denominations and traditions. Furthermore, this project will also utilize the letters and internal documents from the Catholic missionaries belonging to the various orders working in India.

The dissertation project is part of the Research Training Group »Interconfessionality in the Early Modern Period« at the University of Hamburg. It is supervised by Prof. Dr. Markus Friedrich (University of Hamburg) as first supervisor and Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck from the Francke Foundations' Research Centre as second supervisor.