This study investigates the rise of fundamentalist Christianity within an urban Indian community and its role as a cultural response to shifting class dynamics. Lionel Caplan, an anthropologist specializing in South Asian social structures, utilizes ethnographic fieldwork to analyze how religious identity intersects with socioeconomic status. He argues that the adoption of fundamentalist doctrines serves as a mechanism for those marginalized from traditional power structures to assert their identity against established liberal missionary traditions.

Scholars of South Asian studies frequently cite this work as a foundational ethnographic account of urban religious shifts. Experts highlight the text for its rigorous application of social theory to specific, localized religious phenomena.