Dalits And Christianity

This ethnographic study of Dalit Lutherans in South India examines how the lived religion of Dalit Christians contests the structures of caste domination in rural Andhra. It shows how the emergence of Dalit Christianity generated new religious ideas, patterns, terrains, rituals, and practices that challenge the traditional notions of caste privilege and impact the politics of the region. It highlights the transforming role of Dalit agency in the development of Christianity, which is largely unexplored in the studies of Christian missions and anthropology of Christianity in India. The book looks at the social history of Christianity, critical events of protest, platforms of community politics, caste ideology, and local politics and interlocking of caste with congregation to provide a constructive critique of the dominant paradigm of the Dalit movement, which often treats Dalits as a homogenous social group. It discusses the pragmatic changes within the politics of Dalit Christianity as viewed from the margins of Indian society and incorporated through engagement with political ideologies (from communism to the Ambedkarite movement) and religious belief systems (from Hinduism to Christianity). This volume at the intersection of religion and caste will be an essential read for students and researchers of Dalit studies, political studies, sociology, sociology of religion, religious studies, social justice and exclusion studies, and South Asian studies.

This Book Will Appeal Not Only To Students And Teachers Of Christian Theology And Religion But Will Be Welcomes By All Scholars And General Readers, Especially Those Interested In Dalit Religion And Literature, Subaltern Studies, Liberation Theology And Indian Sociology And Anthropology.

Study of Christians belonging to economically backward and socially underprivileged classes in India.

Study conducted among the Nadars and Paraiyas community people at Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, India.

In fulfilling the long-awaited need for a constructive and critical rethinking of Dalit theology this book offers and explores the synoptic healing stories as a relevant biblical paradigm for Dalit theology in order to help redress the lacuna between Dalit theology and the social practice of the Indian Church. Peniel Rajkumar's starting point is that the growing influence of Dalit theology in academic circles is incompatible with the praxis of the Indian Church which continues to be passive in its attitude towards the oppression of the Dalits both within and outside the Church. The theological reasons for this lacuna between Dalit theology and the Church's praxis, Rajkumar suggests, lie in the content of Dalit theology, especially the biblical paradigms explored, which do not offer adequate scope for engagement in praxis.

A second generation of emerging Dalit theology texts is re-shaping the way we think of Indian theology and liberation theology. This book is a vital part of that conversation. Taking post-colonial criticism to its logical end of criticism of statism, Keith Hebden looks at the way the emergence of India as a nation state shapes political and religious ideas. He takes a critical look at these Gods of the modern age and asks how Christians from marginalised communities might resist the temptation to be co-opted into the statist ideologies and competition for power. He does this by drawing on historical trends, Christian anarchist voices, and the religious experiences of indigenous Indians. Hebden's ability to bring together such different and challenging perspectives opens up radical new thinking in Dalit theology, inviting the Indian Church to resist the Hindu fundamentalists labelling of the Church as foreign by embracing and celebrating the anarchic foreignness of a Dalit Christian future.

This Book Deals With The Dalits And The Christian Missionaries From Various Denominations Who Worked In Different Areas Of Andhra. Among The Christians In Andhra Pradesh, According To One Estimate, 98% Belong To The Dalit Communities. The Status Of Dalits In India Has Been Documented In Many Well-Known Anthropological Works Highlighting The Lowliest Of Lowly Status In Indian Society With The Unique Associated Dimension Of The Practice Of Untouchability. The Introductory Chapter Deals With The Traditional Characteristic Features Of The Caste System And The Position Of Dalits Within It. Much Of The Data Related To Dalits Was Taken From My Doctoral Thesis Submitted To Andhra University In The Late Seventies. The Ethnographic Details Of The Two Dominant Dalit Castes Of Andhra, The Mala And The Madiga, And Their Origins According To Different Legends Have Been Described In The Following Chapters Together With The Influence Of Christianity On Them Tracing The History Of Different Christian Missionaries From Various Denominations Who Worked In This Area. The Failures Of The Christian Missionaries With The High Castes And The Reasons There Of Are Vividly Described. The Efforts Of The Lutheran Missionaries Ever Since The Arrival Of Fr. Heyer Has Been Elaborately Dealt With And The Long List Of Missionaries Arrived From Foreign Lands Has Been Given In The Appendix. Towards The End An Attempt Is Made To Trace The Evolution Of A Dalit Theology, Which Is Distinctly A Part Of The Asian Contextual Theology. This Book Would Be Of Interest To Anthropologists, Sociologists And Other Social Scientists Who Are Interested Particularly In The Study Of Dalit Matters And The Proselatization Activities Of Christian Missionaries. The Impact Of Christianity On The Lives Of The Dalits Could Be Gauged Through The Pages Of This Book.

“This is a powerful and exciting work. Mosse has produced a work of scholarship that is lively and readable without any loss of subtlety and sophistication. It is a ground-breaking study, of critical importance to the ways we understand religious nationalism and the anthropology of postcolonial experience.”—Susan Bayly, author of Asian Voices in a Postcolonial Age

Study, with reference to Tamil Nadu, India.

This volume documents the ethnographies of regionally distinct Dalit and tribal Christian communities, raising new arguments pertaining to the autonomy and distinct identity of these communities in adverse social set-ups. Stressing upon the plurality of identities, the essays reject the idea of determining these exclusively on the basis of religion. The book is a response to the urgent need for such studies in social science writings brought to the fore by contemporary political challenges and struggles facing these communities in various parts of India.