The thesis of this book is that the significance of Christ has, for a long time, been obscured in Asia. The significance of Jesus Christ, as Cardinal Newman has pointed out, lies in his being the fulfilment of the one great need of human nature and the healer of its wounds. The Asian religions are the expression of the soul of the Asian peoples. By the fact that Asians were told that in order to follow Christ they had to renounce their ancient religions root and branch, without distinguishing the wheat from the chaff, they were prevented from perceiving the significance of Christ. The people of Asia will be able to recognize the significance of Christ when they are shown that they can follow Christ without renouncing what is best in their own religion and culture. This thesis is developed by analysing the experience of three groups of people:
The first groups are Hindus who saw in Christ the key to the progress of their country, but were not personally committed to him.
The second group are Hindus who were intensely committed to Christ but left they could not join a westernized Church.
The third group are Hindus who did become Christians but maintained that culturally they remained Hindus.
Though the illustrations are all taken from India, in the second part of the book it is pointed out that in other Asian countries the Christian religion faces the same problems.