Digital Archiving of Kerala Christian Heritage: A Call to Action Dr. Cherian Samuel, Virginia the Mar Thoma Church, following the plea by Justice K.T. Thomas for archiving the Judgment during the June 2021 Mar Thoma Apologetics webinar on the topicix. As elaborated below, Shiju Alexx and associates had completed the Digital Archiving of the Royal Court Judgment in August 2015—albeit unknown to many, including the Mar Thoma Apologetics webinar participants—as part of a broader efforts to digitize and archive public domain documents (print book, manuscripts, palm leaves, pictures, audio, etc.) in all languages and scripts related to Kerala and Malayalam.
Introduction. The history and traditions of Kerala Christiansv has been a topic of extensive research and discussion for longvi. Unlike other early Christian communitiesvii of the Near East, Kerala Christians have progressed well over time, since the arrival of Apostle Thomas in Malabar in AD 52, to fulfill Jesus’s Great Commission to His disciples to share the good news (“Gospel”) of salvation for All through Christ (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15). This article is a call to action for the Digital Archiving—digitization and archiving for public access—of Kerala Christian historical records and documents and making them publicly accessible. Since Kerala’s climate conditions may shorten the lifespan of public domain documents, Digital Archiving should be treated as a priority for preserving the Kerala Christian heritage. This article has been inspired by the providential internet discovery of the Digital Archiving of the 1889 Royal Court Judgmentviii, which led to the formation of
Kerala Christian History. Based on tradition, the beginnings of Indian Christianity can be traced to Apostle Thomas’s arrival in Cranganore (Muziris)—a major seaport on the Malabar Coast—in AD 52. Apostle Thomas preached the Gospel and established the following seven Christian communities, before being martyred in St. Thomas Mount (Madras) in AD 72: (i) Cranganore; (ii) Chavakad; (iii) Parur; (iv) Gokamangalam; (v) Niranam; (vi) Nilakkal; and (vii) Quilon. However, presenting a coherent history of the Kerala Christian Church until the sixteenth century has been challenging, given the lack of relevant materialxi, as noted by Firth (1961). In particular, the burning of the books and documents of the Kerala Christian Church by the Roman Catholic Church—under the aegis of Portuguese colonialists who arrived in Calicut (Kerala) in May 1498—following the enactment of the June 1599 Diamper Synod decreesxii, has been the main reason for the paucity of written historical evidence of the Kerala Christian Church before the sixteenth century. Rationale for Digital Archiving. The Kerala Christian history loss resulting from the Diamper Synod decisions provides a unique motivation for Digital Archiving. More generally, digitization provides a broad range of benefitsxiii: (i) Information and content can be delivered directly to end-users, and retrieved remotely; (ii) Ability to provide access to a large number of users; (iii) Online resources can serve local, national and international needs; (iv) Creating digital surrogates reduces handling of old or fragile material, potentially extending the life of the original. However, the costs if digitization should be considered as well: (i) Required staff expertise and additional resources; (ii) Users are completely reliant on computers and stable Internet connections to view and retrieve the digital information. Depending on users’ hardware and software capabilities, access may be frustrating because of the large variety of computer models, platforms, software, and hardware globally; (iii)
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