Unit 6.
Their Christology is not centered on the titles of Jesus, or the
Christology in Indian Contextual Approach
One of the major tasks of theology is to interpret the person and work of Jesus
Christ and the challenge for theology is to re-interpret the meaning of Jesus to
the given context so that his significance will impact the communities.
Interpreting Christ requires a committed encounter with the context because it
is the context which becomes the locus of theological reflection. The hallmark
of today‘s context is the awareness of one‘s own identity and this awareness
definitely shapes Christology i.e. Dalit Christology, Feminist Christology,
Tribal Christology etc.
8.1 Christ the Liberator
The Latin American Liberation theology brought the issue of socioeconomic
factor as part of theological exercise. According to S. Kappen ―What we have
in India is a form of dependent capitalism characterized by the vast
concentration of the means of production (agricultural and industrial) in a few
hands. Though it has contributed to the development of the productive forces,
capitalism has created wide disparities in income and opportunity, which have
only increased since Independence. 47 percent are doomed to live below
subsistence level. Here is how an economist sums up the result of capitalist
development thus far: Nine-tenths of India‘s populations are left behind in
economic backwaters. Mass poverty is on the rise; the non-availability of the
most basic human necessities per capita such as food grains and clothing are
scarce; rural indebtedness has multiplied; unemployment and
underemployment have reached the level of 20.8 million person-years‘. To this
must be added the proliferation of slums, the marginalization of tribals and the
outcastes, the destruction of traditional handicrafts and the ecological ravages
wrought by profit-oriented production. Kappen here evaluate the Indian society
and his mark sheet presents the real face of India. It is important to hold all this
in mind today, when we speak of a Christology from the struggles of the
marginalized peoples of India. Their being marginal in society and being
oppressed is a point which brings them together in search of freedom and a
fuller life.
dogmatic definitions of his person. These are not questions of any immediate
concern to them. Their interpretation of Jesus is as someone who dwells among
them (Jn. 1:14), who shares their life, its struggles and sorrows. Therefore, in
the gospel stories of Jesus‘ dealing with the poor, those at the periphery of
society have found great echo in the hearts of the poor in India. As a result, the
socioeconomic reality of the community requires a Christology that can present
Jesus as the liberator.
Dalit Christ
A.P. Nirmal claims God of Old Testament prophets is a servant God- a God
who serves. Service of others has always been the privilege of Dalit community
in India. In order to prove the dalitness of Jesus A.P. Nirmal brings pathos from
Jesus‘ genealogy. The genealogy highlights Tamar, the daughter-in-law of
Judah, who outwitted her father-in-law by sleeping with him; Rahab the harlot
who helped the Israelite spies; Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, Son of David.
These minute details of Jesus‘ ancestry suggest his dalit conditions. Jesus used
the title ‗son of Man‘, this title got very significance and the Son of Man is
used to indicate his suffering and death. These saying speak of him
encountering rejection, mockery, and contempt, suffering and final death. He
underwent these Dalit experience as the prototype of all dalits.
According to Maria Arul Raja, God deliberately took on vulnerable human
flesh to show complete solidarity with the suffering masses as well as restoring
their lost human dignity. Jesus is viewed as the Messiah in relation with his
suffering to provide salvation to the marginalized including the Dalits.
For James Massey, God preferred to be born as a poor person and this reflects
the fact that in our context Jesus is a Dalit, the poorest of the poor. Dalit
theologians rightly connect the dalit experience and Jesus experience. Nirmal
also believes that Jesus had the Dalitness in him both to serve and suffer. He
says that Jesus is like a dhobi (washerman) or bhangi (sweeper) who strives to
eradicate the dirt from society, but still he was rejected, treated as inferior and
humiliated.
Felix Wilfred claims that the death of Jesus ―outside the gate‖ of the city of
Jerusalem is a particular moving events for Dalits. For, in traditional Indian
society, since the Dalits were treated as untouchables, they were segregated
from the main village, and they had to confine themselves to habitations in a
separate place outside the village. Here the Dalits identify their plight with the
situation of Jesus, cast out and killed outside the gates of Jerusalem. The Dalit
experience of rejection also finds connection with the life of Jesus. For M.E.
Prabhakar Christology is not to be understood in terms of power but what is
humble and frailly human… it is a call to make sacrifices on behalf of the poor.
He wants an Indian expression of Dalit Christology and urges to create
indigenous Dalit concepts or expressions. The Dalit way of expression is
actually quite contrary; they are very fuming in nature and we could find a
protest in them; be it songs, dances, musical instruments, worship or rituals. So
therefore, when we use these Dalit expressions to spell Christology, we will
certainly end up with an active, effective and result-oriented Christology.
Dalit Christology present Jesus as the Messiah of the Dalit community and
there is a visible connection between the life of Jesus and the dehumanized life
experience of Dalit community thus he provide them hope against all atrocities
and injustice.
Tribal Christ
Taking the Biblical verse from Hebrews 1 : 1 ff, ―in the past God spoke to our
ancestors…but in these days he has spoken to us through his Son Jesus
Christ”, Renthy Keitzar speaks on making Christ present in our midst as one of
us, not as a foreigner, because God has spoken to our people, too, through him.
Since God spoke to our ancestors, writes Keitzar, our cultural traditions are
important, but it is in Christ God has finally spoken and so all our heritages
must be reinterpreted in terms of God‘s final revelation in Christ Jesus. Keitzar
insists that we have to take risks to reinterpret Christ in the contexts of our
socio-cultural traditions and contemporary realities.
H. Lalpekhlua edify Christ in the context of Mizo rich traditional and cultural
background as Pasaltha (pronounce as Pasalthra) meaning great warrior. He
explains the death of Christological formulates the north-east India tribal
context and more relevant to the Mizo. Vashum proposes Jesus as the Rooster.
Every society identifies a special or sacred animal/bird that symbolizes their
identity. For the Naga‘s, Rooster is a sacred animal/ bird for sacrificial
purposes in protecting humanity. Rooster sacrifice was conducted for restoring
wellness and harmony among individuals or community.
Tribal Christology develops from the tribal ethos. Tribal exists because the
community exists, and each one lives for the community and is ready to give
his/her life for it. This sense of corporate identity is very strong among the
tribals. It is the communion of mind and heart the Good News in the Christian
sense. Also its characteristic is closeness to creation and attachment to the land.
Land is more than a means of production. Finally, their democratic orientation,
sense of equality, sense of independence, habit of open, frank discussion,
absence of inhibitions, creatively, simplicity, sincerity, truthfulness, happy and
jovial disposition, hardworking, hospitality, sociability, practicality, peace
loving, etc. all these positive qualities are a reflection of the Goodness of God
and an affirmation of Gospel values and reflects Christ in their communitarian
context.
Adivasi Christ
The adivasis live on the fringes of Indian society in areas that were generally
not integrated into the states of historic India, often dwelling in forests, jungles,
and hills. Adivasi languages and cultures differ from those of the dominant
Indian communities, and there is tremendous diversity among the adivasis
across India.
Francis Minj, is an adivasi theologian who has written on the contextualization
of Christology in the adivasi community, which he presents as ―the first
Christian theology developed explicitly from an Adivasi perspective, for
Adivasis, and written to nourish the Christian faith of the local Adivasi
church.‖ He interprets Jesus Christ as ―Paramadivasi‖ in the context of five
tribes in the state of Jharkand in central India: Munda, Oraon, Kharia, Ho, and
Santals. He explains that the word ―Paramadivasi‖ is his own creation, based
on the three Sanskrit roots: ―param‖ means ―supreme‖; ―ādi‖ means
―primordial‖; and ―vasi‖ means ―dweller.‖ ―Just as the adivasis are the original
dwellers, so too Jesus the word can be metaphorically construed as
Paramadivasi, the Supreme Primordial Dweller, the image of the invisible God,
and the firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15). As firstborn of all creation, Jesus is
―the greatest ancestor,‖ but he also revises the received notion of ancestorship:
―Through his violent death Jesus challenges Adivasi cultural taboos. His
murder would disqualify him ancestorship, but he defies the Adivasi taboo of
denying ancestorship to those who die violently.‖
Minj observes that traditionally, adivasi communities had no king or central
ruling authority, but today they yearn for liberation from the dominant forces in
society that enslave and demean them. Minj interprets Jesus Christ as the
Liberator, ―the voice of the voiceless‖ and the bringer of freedom: ―Jesus
Christ, the persecuted and the mutilated one, demonstrates his solidarity with
the suffering Adivasis, instilling hope that their daily ‗death‘ by exploitation
will turn into liberation, if they follow his praxis.‖ In traditional Sarna
mythology, the horse is a symbol of ―hostility, power, anti-life, and
disharmony‖; and Minj proposes in response that ―Jesus Christ Liberator
conquers the horse. A construal of Jesus as the highest, the noblest, and the best
horse tamer, the one who forces the horse to acknowledge his Sonship, seems
relevant.‖ The images of Jesus as High Priest (pahan) and as Healer/Exorcist
(deonra) also speak powerfully to adivasi society. In the Sarna religion, the
pahan offers sacrifices of animals or food to propitiate God, to establish
harmony, and to gain protection from evil. The pahan also offers sacrifices to
spirits. Minj see Jesus ―as the highest pahan,‖ citing the Letter to the Hebrews.
An adivasi myth tells of God dying in the disguise of a leprous boy to abolish
sins; Minj proposes that Jesus transforms this myth and presents a new vision
of salvation. While adivasis look to exorcists (deonras) to protect them from
evil spirits, these powerful figures can also do harm and thus are feared. Jesus
as the divine exorcist is ―a new kind of deonra.‖ Indian society has long
stigmatized the adivasis; Jesus‘ touching of the sick and the ―untouchables‖ in
his society (Mk 1:31, 1:41, 5:38– 41, 8:22–25, 10:3; Lk 6:19) is a very moving
image for adivasis. Minj concludes that the image of Jesus Christ as
Paramadivasi, including the four roles of Ancestor, Liberator, Priest, and
Healer, can effectively convey the gospel to the adivasi community.
A.S. Hemrom argues that Jesus was displaced Adivasi. Displaced life realities
of Adivasi. Because of developmental project in Adivasi places and
Forest, Adivasi are displaced from one place to another. From CNI writers,
Nirmal Minz argues that Jesus incarnation itself is displacement of God. God
was displaced from the cry of people especially the Adivasi. He says that in
Jesus we meet a displaced God and gone through the experience of
displacement right from his birth.
Jesus as suffering servant. From the experience of Munda Ashur Kahani (
traditional story) tribe. Munda suffer under the money lenders, by the suffering
boy who was thrown to a fire furnace but alive and liberate many Adivasi. This
suffering boy is regarded as Jesus Christ. They used their myths or community
story to interpret.
Feminist Christ
Feminist theology tries to solve the puzzle of relevance of Jesus to the context
of women. Can a male figure like Jesus can emancipate women‘s cause? There
are various answers to this Christological issue, for some the tradition itself is
affected by patriarchy thus the need is to reject idolatry of Christ but there are
many theologians who view Jesus as promoting the cause of women liberation.
R.L. Hnuni evaluates Jesus‘ concern for women, Jesus‘ attitude for women
comes across from every source, and in every form, every parable, miracle,
story, discourse and his actions. Luke is often presented as the gospel writer
who has a particular concern to present Jesus as caring for women that are not
related to other gospel writers (Lk. 7:36-50, 13:10ff). Nevertheless, all the
gospel writers give us the same picture of Jesus as one who not only showed
concern for the well-being of women but gave them their full worth and dignity
as full human beings. In spite of the indifferent orthodox Jewish‘ attitude of the
day, it is quite remarkable that Jesus is presented as showing no reluctance in
outwardly showing his concern to women. When Jesus is presented as the one
who has concern for women, it does in no way imply that he has a particular
liking for women, he loves them and shows sympathetic attitude towards them
because they are one of the oppressed and down-trodden groups of the society.
One can find Jesus acting on behalf of women to provide dignity and equality.
In today‘s world violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human
rights violation. It can be seen in every corner of the streets, in families and in
places of work. It is a grave social problem that threatens the safety, equality
and bodily integrity of every woman. It is one of the cruelest social
mechanisms to suppress women. Gender violence manifests itself in multiple
forms – selective female foeticide and infanticide, sexual abuse, incest,
molestation, sexual harassment at work and on the streets, marital rape,
domestic violence in the form of wife assault and women battering. Violence
against women is part of our society and in this context women liberation
requires rejection of all forms of violence. All these oppressive and suppressive
experiences can be emancipated in Christ through his liberating power and his
concerns for women.
UNIT 7
7.1 Trinity as Sat Chit Ananda
Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya followed the footprints of K.C. Sen and explained
the mystery of trinity in terms of Sat- Chit- Ananda. In his journal Sophia
Weekly, he presented the Trinitarian God as Sat (Being), Chit (Consciousness)
and Ananda (Bliss). K. C Sen introduced the term, Saccidananda (Sat + chit +
ananda = truth + intelligence + bliss) for the Trinity. Boyd suggests that this
term is more adequate than the Nicene Formula of one substance and three
persons, which is still in Greek philosophical categories.
Upadhyay argues only God can be truly called sat, i.e., existence by itself
which is eternal, immutable and infinite. Upadhyay has established the
ontological basis for the Second Person of the Trinity in a way consistent with
Advaitic thought. His Hymn of the Incarnation brings forth his Christological
position in trinity as Cit- Consciousness or intelligence. The third and final
radical making up the doctrine of Saccidananda is the term Ananda, translated
as bliss or joy. The term Ananda as joy or bliss sounds strange to the Western
ear until it is recognized that it seals the internal joy of the triune Godhead
apart from any external relationships, or, to use Upadhyay‘s phrase, it
celebrates ―the beatitude of triple colloquy or a meeting point.‖
7.2 Trinity as Karma Marga, Bhakti Marga and Gnana Marga
The Bhagavadgita (―Song of God‖; c. 100 CE), an extremely influential Hindu
text, presents three paths to salvation: the karma-marga (―path of ritual action‖
or ―path of duties‖), the jnana-marga (―path of knowledge‖) to gain a supra-
intellectual insight into one‘s identity with brahman and the bhakti-marga
(―path of devotion‖), love for a personal God.
Raymond Panikkar (1918-2010) is one of the most influential Indian
Christian theologians of contemporary era. In ‗The Unknown Christ of
Hinduism’ he tries to compare two religious traditions, Christianity and
Hinduism to bring harmony. In Trinity and World Religion, he once said ‗the
encounter of religions belongs to the Kairos of our time.‘
In his latter book called ‗The Trinity and the World Religions’ he arrives at a
similar conclusion from a different angle. His main concern is to work towards
―the universalisation of Christianity, towards the actualization . . . of its
catholicity‖ contributing ―to the development of all religions‘ unity‖. He then
proceeds to show how in the doctrine of the Trinity the three kinds of
spiritualities, karma marga, bhakti marga and jnana marga, are not
mutually exclusive but can be reconciled. Here he admits, the key problem is
the real meaning and content of the terms ‗nature‘ and ‗person‘ . His final
solution is ‗theandrism’. Theandrism is the classical and traditional term for
that intimate and complete unity which is realized . . . in Christ, between the
divine and the human and which is the goal towards which everything here
below tends in Christ and the Spirit. Then he developed new
terminology cosmotheandric. Through cosmotheandric he tries to abolish the
huge gap created by the dualism between Cosmos, God and human. Thus,
cosmotheandric dreams a cosmos with ecological, humanist and Godly
values. This directed pointed towards the three paths karma-marga, jnana-
marga and bhakti-marga as trinity concept.
7.3 Trinity as the Radical Community of Equals
Raimon Panikkar (1918-2010) develops a trinitarian vision of the universe
which he later applies to his encounters with world religions and cultures. He
calls this the “cosmotheandric” (cosmic-divine-human) insight. Panikkar
speaks of the ―radical Trinity‖ as the mature understanding of the Christian
insight and of most human traditions. He specifically defends his thesis
according to classical Christian teaching. Here we explore the cogency of
Panikkar‘s position including his understanding of the Trinity as a fundamental
challenge to monotheism. Panikkar extends his trinitarian vision to embrace
other traditions and cultures, including those which do not define themselves in
religious or theistic terms. Initially, he calls this the “cosmotheandric
principle” —the one but intrinsically threefold interrelationship of cosmic
matter, human consciousness and divine freedom. On Radical Trinity,
Panikkar made the following provocative statement-
The radical Trinity I am advocating will not blur the distinction between
Creator and creature—to use those names—but would as it were extend the
privilege of the divine Trinity to the whole of reality. Reality is not only
“trinitarian”; it is the true and ultimate Trinity. The Trinity is not the
privilege of the Godhead but the character of reality as a whole.
Panikkar develops his dynamic understanding of the Trinity according to his
reading of the Pauline trinitarian formula: ―God is above all, through all and in
all‖ (Eph. 4:6). He refers to this as ―the non-dual-One or One-non-duality‖ that
includes all beings without suffocating them in the ―embrace of the One‖
which qualifies Oneness and a community of Equal.
UNIT 8
Churchless Christianity
Churchless Christianity is an approach of evangelism, and it is also known as
―movements to Jesus‖ or ―insider Movements‖. Insider movements are defined
as ―popular movements to Christ that bypass both formal and explicit
expression of Christian religion.‖ So, it means that insider movement has no
link with the visible faith expression of Jesus Christ or Church. ―Insiders‖ are
new disciples of Jesus whose main ―inside‖ attitude are relationships and
communities of their social and religious culture. Insider discipleship is said to
―express itself in culturally appropriate communities of believers who will also
continue to live within as much of their culture, including the religious life of
the culture, as is biblically faithful.‖ It means that they remain attached to their
own religious or faith traditions and additionally they believe in Jesus.
LCMS missionary Herbert Hoefer published his book, Churchless
Christianity, a study of Jesus devotees in Tamil Nadu in India. The general
nature of this ―Churches Christianity‖ in the city is to relate believers in Christ
in their private prayer and meditation. Occasionally they go to Church
anonymously, but for the most past they are on their own to nurture their faith.
Thus, they easily fall away from a disciplined worship life and into a
syncretistic way of thinking. When some need or anxiety arises in their life,
they will again turn to Lord Jesus for help, strength and guidance.
There is also a christubhakta movement in North India. This group is found in
Varanasi, Gorakpur, Lucknow, Agra and Faridabad. The spirituality of
christubhakta emerges from the grassroots, from the spirituality of their own,
influenced by Hindu Bhakti movement. The new search for identity of
christubhaktas finds a response in the teachings of Jesus and in the experience
of his person, and he becomes their Ishtadevata- personal deity. This is ―faith
encountering faith‖ in the deeper subject-hood of the believers. The dialogue
the Christubhaktas enter into with the Christian experience is shaped already by
their experience of faith in Hinduism and other indigenous religious traditions.
The encounter with the Christian experience deepens their experience nurtured
through their traditional rites, practices, etc. The case of Christubhaktas is one
of faith-journey. There is no break with one‘s past religious experience to
embrace a totally new faith and message. The experience and spiritual process
the Christubhaktas undergo is a journey in which their past accompanies them
while they move ahead in their faith-quest.
Churchless Christianity tries to protect the religious and cultural aspect of one‘s
faith so that there should not be disturbance or persecution or disorder to the
cause of the gospel. At the same time there is no denial that there are many
elements in the visible body of Christ i.e. Church which can hinder a few but
that does not validate one not to be part of the Church. Christian faith is having
a strong community life and individual dimension of faith is very much part of
the social life of the person and the individual faith is being nurtured in the
community of disciples of Jesus.
Church as Diaconal Community
Diakonia is generally understood as the ―responsible service of the gospel by
deeds and by words performed by Christians in response to the needs of
people‖. There is no doubt that this form of diakonia or charitable service has
been a permanent activity throughout the history of the church, rather like
koinonia (fellowship), kerygma (witness) and didache (teaching). In the
modern ecumenical parlance, however, diakonia is also seen as used in a larger
sense. At the Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches held in New
Delhi in 1961, the term ‗social diakonia‘ was used to distinguish it from
charitable diakonia and to emphasise the church‘s action to change the
structures of the society in the direction of justice. M. M. Thomas‘ book ‗A
Diaconal Approach to Indian Ecclesiology’ compelled him to revisit on old
issues in new ways from the effects and consequences of modernization,
globalization and communalism to the Indian situation. Then he wrote this
book with a purpose to enquire about structuring the church of Christ in
modern religiously and ideologically pluralistic India and to provide a diaconal
approach to Indian ecclesiology in the midst of pluralism.
(a) Towards an Ecclesiology in context: M.M. Thomas sees that Indian
churches emphasize preaching and sacrament in its order of the fellowship, but
the diakonia of the church to the society and culture is neglected very often.
That is why he uses Diakonia. He hoped that understanding the church as
koinonia in Christ and committed to diakonia to the larger community could
make a very important contribution in the dialogue with people of other faiths.
Humanization is one of the aspects of modernization, and Christianity and
Modernity cannot be separated. The church seek to humanize the modernity
through hope in the divine gift of the Kingdom in Jesus Christ and can be
fulfilled in India only if the Indian churches actively participate and function on
the basis of diakonia.
(b) Modernization and Diakonia: The dialectics of modernization and its
impact on India and the church‘s diakonia are closely related. The church
should actively participate in the process of modernization in bringing changes
to the lives of the people especially empowering the marginalized and the poor,
humanizing the dehumanized. Diakonia focus larger human development that
will cover all kinds of people. This points to the holistic character of the
alternative paradigm of modern development as a transforming agent. An
Alternative Paradigm of Modernization must shifted from economic
development to social development along with social justice, there will be
more involvement of people in the development process, that will
automatically bring equal development under modernization.
(c) Search for a Spiritual Reinforcement of Secularism in India: After
Indian independence, secularism shifted its meaning and emphasis due to
religious fanaticism. It needs to be reinforced with an open secularism that will
open gates for religious, ideological and cultural movements for justice in the
society. If the churches in India continue to be static community that concerns
its own self-interest, it will violate the true calling of the church to be a body to
fill the entire society, across boundaries of caste, class, language and race. That
is why, the open church is emphasized with flexible structures, boundaries,
rules and rituals, which is in dialectical and dialogical relationship with
religions, ideologies and cultures towards movements for justice in the society.
(d) India as a Community of Diverse Peoples: Thomas describes India
as a community of diverse people with the notion of holism, which concerns
for building India a community of peoples with parity given to their respective
cultures. The cultures are interacting culture as they are community of diverse
brought by cultural self-identities of peoples. It is the situation where peoples
of different religions need to work together for common hope and motif of
justice in the society. An important aspect of the present situation is
reinterpretation of both traditional and the modern culture. In that situation, the
Indian church‘s diaconal role has been building the church as fellowship of
peoples with diverse cultural traditions.
(e) Faiths in Dialogue on the Spirituality of Suffering
Servanthood: This deals with the need of interfaith dialogue on a spirituality
which can keep the struggles within the framework of the ultimate goals of the
whole community of life on the earth. It also looks for the specific contribution
of the church as koinonia in Christ to this spirituality. According to Thomas,
there are three types of spirituality in India- the primal cosmic, the mystic a
cosmic and the historical messianic. The primal vision of spirituality is
characterized by the spiritual unity of human, animals, nature, spirits, gods and
high gods. This spirituality is usually represented in the practical ways of
community living. The mystic spiritual vision realizes itself in the experience
of undifferentiated unity of human self with the Universal Self. Historic
mesianism finds human self-fulfilment in participating in the ultimate purpose
at work in human history moving to an ultimate community of freedom and
love. The Church is called for an active dialogue with other faiths to build up
syncretism of spiritualities based on the Messianism of the Suffering Servant,
which is symbolized by the centrality of the Crucified Christ and the prophetic
diakonia of the church. Looking Indian pluralistic situation, if the churches
present the spirit of Christ Kingship and Lordship, the writer of the book sees
no conformity for the welfare of the society. That is the reason why he
proposes the Suffering Servanthood of Christ in dialogue with other faiths
Church as People’s Movement
Peoples Movement is important phenomenon in today world. There are many
kinds of social movements or people movements in India like peasant
movements, fisher community movements, Dalit movement, women‘s
movement, environment movements etc. According to T.K. Oommen, social
movements are mechanisms through which human attempts to move from the
periphery of a system to its center. They are conscious efforts by the people on
the periphery ―to mitigate their deprivation and secure justice‖ and emerge
―when people committed to a specified set of goals participate in protest-
oriented, purposive collective actions.‖ M.S.A. Rao describes social
movements as an organized effort on the part of a section of the population,
involving collective mobilization based on an ideology, to bring about changes
in the social system. Church as People‘s Movement can be discussed as
liberative, human dignity, solidarity and justice and environment movement
dimensions.
1.1. Liberative Movement: The Indian society is marked by grave injustice
and violence built into its structures and institutions of civil life. Economic
exploitation and social exclusion based on caste, marginalization of large
sections of people in the civil and political processes, unfair distribution of the
benefits of scientific and economic progress, unequal access to educational and
employment opportunities, forced poverty, discrimination against rural people
etc. are all different forms of conflicts, injustice and violence imbedded in our
social fabric. The movements are having concern about these issues. They play
a vital role in conscientizing the civil society in areas such as human rights,
social justice and ecology. They compel the civil society and the state to
address issues like corruption, poverty, marginalization of women and girl
children, oppression and exploitation of dalits and tribals. Church surely got a
mandate for liberative motive and thus it should participate in the issues of
people and support these social movements.
1.2. Human Dignity Movement: For the church and for people‘s movements
human dignity is a primary value. Everyone has a right to live with dignity
irrespective of their gender, race, language, region, religion, caste or
sociopolitical and economic status. The church‘s social doctrine and the social
vision of movements place the human person at the center of all economic and
social life must be at the service of human beings, especially the disprivileged.
Providing dignity and equality is one of the fundamental vision and goal of the
body of Christ and leading the de-humanized into humanity is the mission of
church consequently church and people‘s movement can be partners in this
venture.
1.3. Solidarity and Justice Movement: Solidarity with the socially
marginalized was a characteristic trait of the life and mission of Jesus, who
sought to defend the human dignity of the despised of his society that included
tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes and victims of leprosy. The contemporary
church sees solidarity as a fundamental social virtue directed to the common
good. The life of Jesus provides hope and solidarity for the discriminated
people because the biblical pictures of Jesus presented in the gospel traditions
present Jesus being in solidarity with the margins. Jesus movement was
movement providing a voice to the voiceless in Galilee and the early Christians
were from socially deprived group. Church as the herald of Jesus‘s life and
ministry should show sensitivity to the issue of solidarity with the struggling
community by supporting various social movements. Justice is the chief issue
which most people‘s movements try to address.
1.4. Environment movement: The contemporary church and many
movements stand for a non-consumeristic and sustainable lifestyle that keeps
us from unduly exploiting natural resources. There are several movements that
advocate environmentally sustainable technologies in the management of
natural resources. The church agrees with such movements that the pursuit of
development must be oriented towards creating just, humane and sustainable
societies based on harmonious and non-exploitative relationships within and
between human communities and between human beings and the ecosystem.
People‘s movement based on environmental crisis provide sense of reverence
to the nature, earth, trees, rivers, mountains, animals etc. and by doing so one
becomes aware of the oneness of life that we are part of the nature. It provides
a holistic vision of life in general and of the corporate life of the human
community. Church can easily identify itself with these concerns because these
are the attempts to find the goodness in creation (Gen. 1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31).
UNIT 10
Conversion
According to Raimond Pannikar ―…people are invited to have a conversion
towards the Cosmotheandric Reality.‖ The different religions,
incommensurable as they are on the level of lived belief and doctrine, do meet
in the depth of the Cosmotheandric Intuition- It is the house of reality and
everything is understood in cosmos. Antropos is the consciousness and
objectifying dimension. Theos is the depth dimension. It is the absolute
principle and it interacts with cosmos and anthropos.
S.J. Samartha further asserted that conversion is not from one religion to
another, but from unbelief in God to belief in God, and that mission is not the
church‘s work but God‘s own work. According to him ‗We need the
conversion of the bishops, priests and religious of India, a conversion from
being rich to being poor, a conversion from working for the poor to working
with the poor, a conversion from being for the poor to being of the poor.‘
It is commonly presented that the only task of church is to convert others even
though it is not conversion but to make disciples i.e. shishyas or bhaktas.
Church as an agent of reign of God should know the socio-economic-political
struggles of bhaktas and should partners with agencies that provide hope and
support to bhaktas. Church as an indigenous community should use the
available traditions of the land to shape its ecclesiology i.e. ashram way of
spirituality.
According to Felix Wilfred, Conversion has been one of the ways in which the
dalit selfassertion has found expression. These conversions were not for
economic benefits but were part of the dalit search for human dignity, respect
and equality and thus a new identity. But even within the church they are
discriminated and separated from the higher castes. Even the constitutional
provision of reservation for them has become an extremely sensitive political
issue in the country. The solidarity of the church with the dalits and their cause
is the challenge of the hour. There are three aspects for a proper understanding
of conversion today. They are: (a) The centrality of the kingdom of God (b)
The historical and concrete situation (c) The priority of the people or nation as
such over individuals.
Therefore, the church in India today should concern not primarily with
individual conversion rather should be directed to the presentation of the gospel
confronting the whole country and calling it to conversion from its present state
of oppression.
In today context and reality of present scenario Christian life and mission in
terms of conversion has to consider very sensitive under the anti-
conversion laws which states that the law is a state-level statutes that have
been enacted to regulate religious conversions. Our mission endeavor has to be
scrutinize and carried out very carefully but standing firmly with the
commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Baptism
It was in 1609 Robert De Nobili referred ―Christian Veda‖ in his ministry and
urged the Brahmin to read Bible and to accept Christian baptism. K.C.Sen also
introduced sacrifices, baptism and Eucharist, mystic dances and even magic in
his teaching and ministries.
M.M. Thomas argues that is the final allegiance in response to Christ, ―at a
deeper level are those who accept the divine mediation or the atonement of the
suffering Messiah. At another level there are those who accept the very person
of Jesus as the ultimate model of the Messiah to come. He sees all these as
valid responses to the Christ. This quantifying of the Pauline faith is rather
radically new. But finally he also sees man‘s response to Christ involving his
allegiance to him as the Lord and savior and joining his church in baptism.‖
Thomas emphasizes more on the ministry of the laity in the world when he
talks about the church. For him the church must have koinonia, or open
fellowship, without any barrier. For this reason he discusses baptism whether it
should be an entrance ticket into the church or privilege of the member of the
church.
Russell Chandran who belongs to that generation of Indian Christians and
stand between the colonial period and the emergence of indigenised
Christianity, repeatedly lamented that ―Baptism is sadly misunderstood as
bringing man and woman from out of the world into the exclusive community
of the church.‖ For Chandran baptism represents ―not separation from the
world but commitment for the Lord‖. The ‗corrupt communal interpretation‘ of
baptism must be replaced by ―an interpretation emphasizing commitment for
the renewal of the world.‖ The theological basis for this inclusive interpretation
which Chandran suggests is from Christ‘s baptism. It was not a baptism of
sinners, but Jesus‘ identification with sinners. This inclusiveness of all
mankind is based on the common humanity of man as man. This is the meaning
of baptism: incorporation into the New Humanity of Jesus Christ, commitment
to mission in the world, and identification with the world.
In contextualisation or indigenisation the elements to be presented in Indian
Christian theology have diverse significant. Conversion and baptism are all too
commonly seen as part of a movement of ‗denationalization.‘ Though the real
fear is the awakening and uprising of the people, opposition is expressed in
terms of religious conversion. But once we are freed from the obsession to
baptize, to ‗save`, and our concern becomes the much wider concern of God to
bring about God‘s Kingdom, the obvious relativization of baptism opens the
way to understand the Church not as an Institution of Salvation, but as a
movement of Jesus followers at the service of all God‘s people and God‘s
creation. So, important in India context is viable to ponder deeply, Is Baptism
in the Indian Context — An Event of Separation or Human Solidarity?
However, Baptism is an important elements of sacrament in Christian beliefs,
so instead of having the notion as an event of separation and must committed
with our dogmas and doctrines. Christian must committed to work for a new
just socio-economic order, for the integrity of all creation they will necessarily
cause divisions between those who accepts and rejects.
The obvious relativization of baptism opens the way to understand the Church
not as an Institution of Salvation, but as a movement of Jesus followers at the
service of all God's people and God's creation. This transformed image will
enable the Church more effectively and creatively to be in communion with
others for the cause of the Kingdom.