Dalit theology

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Dalit theology is a branch of Christian theology that emerged among the Dalit caste in the Indian subcontinent in the 1980s. It shares a number of themes with Latin American liberation theology, which arose two decades earlier, including a self-identity as a people undergoing Exodus. [1] Dalit theology sees hope in the "Nazareth Manifesto" of Luke 4, where Jesus speaks of preaching "good news to the poor ... freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind" and of releasing "the oppressed." [2]

Development

A major proponent of Dalit theology was Arvind P. Nirmal (1936–95), a Dalit Christian in the Church of North India. [3] Nirmal criticised Brahminic dominance of Christian theology in India, and believed that the application of liberation theology to India should reflect the struggle of Dalits, [3] who make up about 70% of the Christians in India, as claimed by Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM), and 90% of the Christians in Pakistan. [4] [5] [6] [7] Nirmal also criticised the Marxist element within South American liberation theology. [1] Nirmal drew on the concept of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 to identify Jesus himself as a Dalit – "a waiter, a dhobi , and bhangi ." [8]

Evelyn Ruth Bhajan, a deacon in the Church of Pakistan, stated that Dalit theology is vital in that it aligns the Church's mission with "strategies based on the social, political and economic implications of liberation in Christ." [9] Bhajan stated that this liberation includes that from persecution, segregation, and economic depression. [9]

Dalit theologians have seen passages in the gospels, such as Jesus' sharing a common drinking vessel with the Samaritan woman in John 4 as indicating his embracing of Dalitness. [10] The parable of the Good Samaritan is also seen as significant, providing a "life-giving message to the marginalized Dalits and a challenging message to the non-Dalits." [11]

M. E. Prabhakar expanded on the Dalitness of Jesus, stating that "the God of the Dalits ... does not create others to do servile work, but does servile work Himself." [12] He also suggested that Jesus experienced human, and especially Dalit, brokenness in his crucifixion. [12] Prabhakar has developed a Dalit creed, which reads in part:

"Our cries for liberation from harsh caste-bondage
Were heard by God, who came to us in Jesus Christ
To live with us and save all people from their sins." [13]

Vedanayagam Devasahayam (b. 1949) of the Church of South India followed Nirmal as head of Dalit theology at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, and further developed Nirmal's ideas, writing a number of books. [14] Devasahayam later became bishop of the Church of South India's Madras Diocese. [14]

Dalit theology opposes indigenization movements within Indian Christian liturgy, since these are seen as reinforcing traditional caste hierarchies. [15] However, the incorporation of some Indian religious traditions is supported. [15]

Literature

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andhra Christian Theological College</span>

Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute is an ecumenical seminary situated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. It is affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University).

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Arvind P. Nirmal, (1936–1995) was a Dalit Christian theologian and a minister of the Church of North India. He questioned the Christian conversion of the upper castes, especially the Brahmin. A major proponent of Dalit theology, Nirmal argued that Jesus himself was a Dalit and that Christian theology should therefore reflect Dalit concerns.

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G. Devasahayam was the Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served during the periods 1956–1960 and again from 1963–1964. During his second stint as President of the AELC, Devasahayam participated in the opening of the newly formed Andhra Christian Theological College then located in the same campus of the Lutheran Theological College in Rajahmundry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. Solomon Raj</span>

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Nirmal Minz was an Indian Christian theologian. He was Bishop Emeritus of the Protestant North Western Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church Society who served as bishop from 1980 through 1996.

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References

  1. 1 2 Rao, Anand (2004). Soteriologies of India and their role in the perception of disability : a comparative transdisciplinary overview with reference to Hinduism and Christianity in India. Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: LIT Verlag. p. 232. ISBN   3-8258-7205-X. OCLC   54973643. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ↑ Schouten, Jan Peter (2008). Jesus as guru : the image of Christ among Hindus and Christians in India. Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 247. ISBN   978-1-4356-9523-8. OCLC   302001445. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. 1 2 Schwarz, Hans (2005). Theology in a global context : the last two hundred years. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 529. ISBN   978-0-8028-2986-3. OCLC   61309426. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ↑ Carol Henderson Garcia and Carol E. Henderson, Culture and Customs of India, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN   0-313-30513-7, p. 40.
  5. ↑ Dalit Christians demand equality, Times of India, 14 February 2004.
  6. ↑ Phan, Peter C. (2011). Christianities in Asia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-4443-9260-9. For example, 90 to 95% of Pakistani Christians are Punjabi of the chura (dalit) group converted from Hinduism rather than from Islam or local religious systems.
  7. ↑ Sara, Singha; Ariel, Glucklich (23 April 2015). "Dalit Christians and Caste Consciousness in Pakistan". Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2020. This study explores caste discrimination in Pakistan against untouchable (Dalit) converts to Christianity. During the nineteenth century in India, many Dalits converted to Christianity to escape caste persecution. In the 1870s in Punjab, a mass movement to Protestant Christianity flourished among the Dalit Chuhra caste. The Chuhras were the largest menial caste in Punjab and engaged in degrading occupations including sweeping and sanitation work. By the 1930s, almost the entire Chuhra caste converted to Protestant Christianity. In 1947, during the partition of India, the majority of Chuhra converts in Punjab became part of the Protestant community in Pakistan. After Partition, many uneducated Chuhras were confined to menial jobs in the sanitation industry. Today, the stigma of Dalit ancestry is a distinct feature of social discrimination against Chuhra Christians in Pakistan.
  8. ↑ Anand Rao, p. 233.
  9. 1 2 Bhajan, Evelyn Ruth (2018). "Mission in the Pakistani Context" (PDF). USPG . Retrieved 5 December 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ Adrian Bird, M.M. Thomas: Theological Signposts for the Emergence of Dalit Theology, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, February, 2008, p. 53–54.
  11. ↑ M. Gnanavaram, "'Dalit Theology' and the Parable of the Good Samaritan," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Vol. 15, No. 50, 59–83 (1993).
  12. 1 2 John Parratt, An Introduction to Third World Theologies, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN   0-521-79739-X, p. 63.
  13. ↑ Rowena Robinson, Christians of India, SAGE, 2003, ISBN   0-7619-9822-5, pp. 199–200.
  14. 1 2 Hans Schwarz, p. 530.
  15. 1 2 Charles Stewart and Rosalind Shaw, Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis, Routledge, 1994, ISBN   0-415-11117-X, pp. 101–102.

Bibliography

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