Sen, Keshub Chunder

Sen, Keshub Chunder one of the chief priests of the Brahma Somaj (q.v.), was born in India. The sect of which he was a leader was formed in 1830 by Rammohun Roy. In 1859 Keshub Chunder Sen gave a new impulse to the sect by his remarkable ability and enthusiasm. He effected the separation of those who were willing to abolish caste in their communion, as the Brahma Somaj of India. The more conservative remained in the Church at Calcutta, where the first building was opened for worship in 1869. Sen, in his published sermons and tracts, avows his belief in the unity of God, in immediate revelation, in the necessity of a new birth, in the immortality of the soul, and the importance and efficacy of prayer. His morality was pure, and he inculcated a reverence for the character of Jesus Christ, but repudiated the doctrines of his divinity, mediation, and atonement, as taught in the gospels. He believed that Christ was better than Mohammed or Confucius. Sen died in India, January 8, 1884.