The Complexity of History of Christianity in Indonesia by Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir

During the periods of imperialism in Indonesia, Christianity had been accused by most Indonesian people as the culprit of its injustices and violence toward their land. This is what makes Christianity implanted in the minds of Indonesian people until now, especially those who are Muslims, that most of parts of its historical past were embodied with interests of people of the upper class against the lower classes. Unlike Islam which had been accepted widely among Indonesian people as “indigenous” religion in these periods, Christianity was charged as the stranger and the other. Christianity was not introduced through intermarriage which was very common in the case of Islam. The priests coming from Catholic of Portugal and Spain were celibate. They did not have any interest to get married with the indigenous women, while those who were Protestants of Dutch considered the intermarriage to lessen their status.
The picture of Christianity among Indonesian people in this sense is very problematic. Local interests were defended mostly by Islam or the Muslims in the struggle against the imperialists. This made Christianity hardly became legitimate and accepted among local people as Islam had been. Rejection of most Western Christian the Church of Sadrach’s community could be understood of denial of the upper class socially the way of indigenous people to believe and behave. From the same perspective, what created by Tunggul Wulung were in some way a kind of refusal of indigenous people from within Christianity the way of those people who were in the upper class. Indigenous people easily followed Christianity of Tunggul Wulung rather than that of Western people, especially Dutch. It was about social class rather than about religion.
It is very complex to account historical context of Christianity in Indonesia. Historical works revealing that Christianity in Indonesian context was not only related with the West and not only introduced during the periods of imperialism is very important. In her book, Lawrence M. Yoder expounded that Christianity of the Church of the East, the Nestorian, already came and existed in Indonesian archipelago along ago before the West came in. Even, she stated that “It was possessed of a remarkable missionary fervor under the influence of which it carried the gospel to Central Asia, China, India and Indonesia before Europe was fully evangelized”. (p. 140). This kind of historical account is not only important in term of historiography of Christianity in Indonesia, but moreover has a significant role to change the perspective that Christianity always relates to the West and imperialism.

Resources:
1. Lawrence M. Yoder. The Introduction and Expression of Islam and Christianity in the Cultural Context of North Central Java. Ann Arbor: University of Microfilms, 1987. Pp. 139-184.