The Mughal emperor and the Jesuits
Akbar's court debates Christianity
The Emperor Akbar rules the most powerful empire in the world — the Mughal Empire of northern India — and he is genuinely, restlessly curious about religion. He has built a hall of worship — the Ibadat Khana — where scholars of Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Jainism meet weekly to debate theology before him.
In 1579 he invites the Jesuits to send a mission. Three Jesuits arrive at his court in 1580, bringing a Royal Polyglot Bible — a Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek — as a gift.
What follows is one of the strangest interfaith dialogues in the history of Christian mission. Akbar interrogates the Jesuits with genuine curiosity and considerable sophistication. He asks hard questions about the Trinity, about the virgin birth, about the relationship between Christianity and Islam. He has the Gospels translated into Persian.
He does not convert. He has no intention of converting — the political costs would be enormous. But he incorporates elements of Christian piety into his private devotional life, and he extends remarkable toleration to the Christian community in his territory.
The Jesuits are frustrated. They have the emperor's ear and cannot close the deal. They keep sending missions. Akbar keeps listening and not converting.
What the Mughal court encounters — the polyglot Bible, the theological argument, the Jesuit intellectual rigor — is the best the sixteenth-century church can offer. It is genuinely impressive. It is not enough.
Genuine curiosity and genuine faith are not the same thing.
“I do not find in Christianity what I hoped to find. But I am grateful to have looked.”
— Akbar, paraphrase of his response to the Jesuit mission, c. 1582 AD
“Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We want to hear you yet again concerning this.”
Akbar listened and did not believe. Some mocked at Athens and others said we will hear you again — and then apparently did not.
The proclamation of the gospel does not guarantee its reception. The most careful presentation, the most rigorous argument, the most culturally adapted approach may produce curiosity without conversion, interest without surrender.
This is not a failure of the messenger. It is the nature of the message — one that requires not only intellectual assent but the submission of the will, which no argument can compel.
Faithfulness is in the offering, not the outcome. The Jesuits kept going back to Akbar's court. They kept offering. The response was God's to give.
Offer faithfully. Release the outcome.