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ST. THOMAS THE APOSTI.E AND INDIA
2 5
this Thomas is uncertain; some scholars put him in the eighth
or even the ninth century while others give his date as 345 A.D.
But whatever it be we may rest ascertained that he had nothing
to do with the appellation of the Christians of St. Thomas. Garbe,
who was not very well read in the ecclesiastical traditions and
other scriptures from the Middle Ages, has not brought the
problem forward by his hypercriticism; and I can only regret
that some fourteen years ago1, when my own acquaintance with
these problems was still more superficial and my confidence in
German research-work still greater than they are to-day, I wholly
agreed with his views on the apocryphal character of all the
old traditions concerning St. Thomas.
If this be the typical position of a Protestant scholar of
otherwise very high renown that of a Protestant missionary like
Germann is quite otherwise. To him the whole story of the
Apostolate of St. Thomas in the realm of Gondopharnes as well
as in South India is absolute truth. In this Germann comes
near the point of view of Catholic scholars like Bishop
medly-cott and Father dahlmann to whom it is a matter of faith
to prove with the aid of a very great amount of learning and
ingenuity the historical value of the Acts or the South Indian
tradition, whichever seems to them the best founded one. Lately
Dr. Farquhar has tried — according to my opinion without
success — to make probable that St. Thomas at first visited the
kingdom of Gondopharnes and then betook himself to South
India — when the realm of his patron was overrun by the
Ku-shänas. Unfortunately, this fits too well to be very probable,
and what Dr. Farquhar has written is scarcely a paper of
scientific research but a beautiful and interesting romance which
is, however, too well fitted together to be very convincing.
Younger scholars who themselves belong to the Christians
of St. Thomas nowadays take a vivid interest in there questions.
Noone need wonder that they should in general be prejudiced
in favour of the tradition which makes St. Thomas the Apostle
of South India, and we are astonished to find Mr. joseph
amongst those who deny its historical value. To me it is quite
clear that he is right; but I cannot find that much of scientific
1 Cp. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft LXIX,444.
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