The Problem of Evil as Anti-Colonial Critique: Assessing the Problem of Evil in Vijayānanda Sūri’s Debates with Christian Missionaries

This paper examines Jain responses to Christian missionary critiques in late nineteenth-century India through the writings of the Jain monk Vijayānanda Sūri. Focusing on his Hindi text Īsāīmata Samīkṣā, written as a defence of Jainism against the Gujarati missionary tract Jainamatanī Parīkṣā, I explore how theological debate became a space for negotiating questions of religious identity, authority, and colonial power. In particular, the paper analyses Ātmārāmajī’s critiques of Christian theology, especially his engagement with the problem of evil and the attributes of the Christian God. I argue that these arguments, beyond defending doctrine, helped articulate a new Jain self-understanding within an emerging pan-Indian intellectual and political context. By situating Vijayānanda Sūri’s critiques of the problem of evil in the Christian context, the paper shows how theological criticism of Christianity became intertwined with broader anti-colonial concerns and contributed to the formation of a more self-conscious Jain identity in colonial India.