Subaltern Historiography

Subaltern Historiography A Reader

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Subaltern Historiography

Subaltern Historiography A Reader

Editors C.I. David Joy Ebenezar Shinekumar

HMI/KUTS 2020

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Subaltern Historiography: A Reader – Jointly published by the Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (ISPCK), Post Box 1585, Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006 and Henry Martyn Institute (HMI), Hyderabad-500052 and Kerala United Theological Seminary (KUTS), Kerala-695011.

© Editors, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. The views expressed in the book are those of the author and the publisher takes no responsibility for any of the statements. Online Order: http://ispck.org.in/book.php

ISBN: 978-81-947592-7-0

Laser typeset by ISPCK, Post Box 1585, 1654, Madarsa Road, Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006 • Tel: 23866323 e-mail: [email protected] • [email protected] website: www.ispck.org.in

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Contents

Foreword Introduction Christian Mission and Postcolonialism C. I. David Joy Dalit Theology and Evangelical Freedom Don Schweitzer

... vii ... xi .. 1 ... 29

Interfaith, Subaltern Historiography and the Self-Perception of the Church Through the Centuries V. V. Thomas ... 55 Śabarimala: A Syncretic Religion and Model for Interfaith Relations Ebenezer Shinekumar

... 76

Exclusion: A Human made Sin in God’s own Cosmos John Davidson Johnson

... 94

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Postcolonial Reading of Nazareth Manifesto: Socio-Political Explosion K.B. Jayasree

... 108

Speech at Kannammoola Seminary, Thiruvananthapuram on 13.08.2019, inaugurating the 60th Anniversary commemoration of the visit of Martin Luther King Jr. M.A. Baby ... 131 Rich and Poor in Pauline Understanding Ninan Jacob

... 136

The Interfaith Understanding and Subaltern Historiography M. Stephen

... 159

The Oral Lore in Luke and in the North East I ndian Tribal Context: An Interpretation through Tribal Biblical ‘Reoralizing’ Hermeneutics Supongmayang Longkumer

... 181

Women Property Owners in the Book of Acts Sajitha Varghese

... 225

Implications of Postmodernism in Pastoral Care and Counselling Practice L.V. Bipinlal

... 263

Contributors

... 287

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Foreword

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any Earnest Christians reject any positive relationships between Christianity and other faiths. They make exclusive claims for the superiority of Christianity and the finality of Christ based on such New Testament texts as ‘there is no other name given under heaven’, and the alleged dominical words of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel that no one can come to the Father except through him. Let me state at the outset that I believe that Jesus Christ is indeed the full, perfect and final revelation of God. I will yield to no one on that point. But that does not then give me the right to ride roughshod with muddy boots on what a person of another faith considers to be her holy ground nor to denigrate and belittle what she believes is a revelation from a transcendent divine reality by whatever name it is called and however it may be conceived and described. To dismiss other faiths is not only unforgivable arrogance but is a position that flies in the face of reality. It is unreasonable and indeed unbiblical. When we assert that it is only through Christ that humans have access to God and thereby mean the incarnate Logos, we land in an untenable position. Is there any Christian who would doubt that, for example, Abraham had an encounter with God so crucial that he should be regarded as the founding father of

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three of the major monotheistic faiths? And what about Moses? We could extend the list. Clearly Christians do not in fact jettison all the religious experience of those who encountered God in the pre-Christian dispensation. Some of the most sublime Christian teaching is based on what we call the Old Testament, which we read as an indispensable part of our Bible. The New Testament would in large measure be incomprehensible if we did not assume much of what is taught in the Old Testament. If it comes only through Christ and if it is true, as we clearly have to acknowledge, then we must postulate a pre incarnate Logos/Word as the means of the access to God, the source of all goodness, love, life and truth. The Fourth Gospel in which the apparently exclusivist verse occurs of people coming to the Father only through the Son asserts right at its beginning that the Word enlightens everyone who comes into the world. St Paul claims in Romans that Gentiles can be adjudged blameworthy because they have a law written in their hearts and so like the Jew to whom has been vouchsafed a direct revelation from God, they too can be accused of having fallen short of the glory of God. God is alone the source of all goodness, truth, life and love. Whoever possesses these attributes has received them from God, otherwise we have to postulate several sources of these things and thereby administer a fatal blow to monotheism. Obviously, Christians do not have a monopoly on these qualities. Often in fact they are shown up conspicuously by people of other faiths or of none. We cannot, if we want to be taken seriously, assert that Mahatma Gandhi was not a very good man, nor that the Dalai Lama is not transparently holy and serene. Is God any less glorified that these people are not Christian? Albert Einstein

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was a brilliant scientist. Is what he propounded any less true because he was a Jew and not a Christian? It surely would be preposterous to claim that it was. I do not know of any major religion which at its best teaches that it is morally right to oppress or to exploit fellow human beings, or that injustice and war are to be preferred to their glorious counterparts, or that it is a worthy goal to pursue development of a harsh, cruel and uncaring society that should degrade the environment and be wantonly wasteful of scarce and irreplaceable natural resources. There is so much that conspires to separate and alienate us from one another. There is the growing intolerant fundamentalism and a resurgence of xenophobia and ethnic chauvinism. We are face to face with daunting problems that threaten us with catastrophe — Aids, poverty, disease, the population explosion, human rights violations and ignorance. We need to build coalitions with those who share our values. The religions of the world, whilst certainly different, do in fact share some important values. Let us celebrate our diversity in culture, faith, ethnicity, etc., so that we can show that we are indeed the rainbow people of God. Though this book is written in a clear way for the general public and for students who wish to learn about the world’s world views, it does rest on some theoretical foundations which may be of interest to historians of religion and others concerned with the analysis of human values. We use a seven-dimensional framework to analyse the religions—in terms of ethics, ritual, narrative or myth, experience, institutions or society, doctrine and art. Religions are placed in a historical context, and viewed

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in relation to their periods of formation and re-formation. I stress to the ways in which they blend with other movements such as modern nationalism. I am most grateful to Rev. Dr. David Joy, Principal KUTS, for proposing this book, and also to HMI, to collaborate and partner, who notably helped in the execution of the work. Packiam T. Samuel Director - HMI

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Introduction

Martin Luther King Jr, the herald of the liberation movement of the subalterns in the North America who inspired and continues to empower millions of subalterns in the history of the world visited Trivandrum in 1959.  A seminar was organized by the Kerala United Theological Seminary and Henry Martin Institute to remember gratefully his contributions and remind our society about the message of liberation for establishing a better world.  In this connection the Kerala United Theological Seminary celebrated the visit of Martin Luther King Jr. on 13th  August 2019. Since Martin Luther King Jr. empowered the people of the margins, it is noted that the people of the margins in our society can learn lessons from his life.

  A public lecture on that day on “Interfaith and Subaltern Historiography” had been delivered by   Rev. Dr. Packiam Samuel (Director, HIM, Hyderabad).  A workshop on subaltern historiography was conducted and prominent people in the field such as Sri. M.A. Baby, Dr. Dyron Daughrity (Pepperdine University, USA), Dr. Donald Schweitzer (St. Andrew’s College, Canada), Dr. V.V. Thomas (UTC, Bangalore) and many others presented papers.

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This edited book is a collection of essays written by Rev. Prof. Dr. C.I. David Joy (Christian Mission and Postcolonialism), Rev. Prof. Dr. Don Schweitzer (Dalit Theology and Evangelical Freedom) ,Rev. Prof. Dr. Dr. V. V. Thomas (Interfaith, Subaltern historiography and the self-perception of the church through the centuries), Rev. Ebenezer Shinekumar (Śabarimala: A Syncretic Religion and Model for Interfaith Relations),Rev. John Davidson Johnson (Exclusion: A Human made SIN in God’s own Cosmos), Dr. Jayasree (Postcolonial Reading of Nazareth Manifesto: Socio-Political Explosion), Shri. M.A. Baby (The 60th Anniversary commemoration of the visit of Martin Luther King Jr.), Rev. Ninan Jacob (Rich and Poor in Pauline Understanding), Rev. Prof. Dr. M. Stephen (The Interfaith Understanding and Subaltern Historiography), Dr. Supongmayang Longkumer (The Oral Lore in Luke and in the North East Indian Tribal Context: An Interpretation through Tribal Biblical ‘Reoralizing’ Hermeneutics), Dr. Sajitha Varghese (Women Property Owners in the Book of Acts), and Dr. Dyron B. Daughrity (Donyi-Polo:

New Challenges to  Christianity  in Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast India). These essays indeed present a clear picture of subaltern historiography applied in theology and hermeneutics.

As you already probably know, the Kerala United Theological Seminary (KUTS), established in 1943, is a premier theological and ministerial education center of the churches in Kerala State, affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College/University, West Bengal, India. It was established through a joint effort of missionary societies and churches- the London Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Basel Mission and The Church of God in South India. At present, the seminary

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is run by the six dioceses/regions (About 4000 congregations) of the Church of South India (CSI) Kerala State, with an ecumenical outlook. Through its teaching, scholarship, life and community services, the Seminary seeks to nurture the formation of a Christian identity, which is ecumenical in outlook, which remains intrinsically Indian. Its customized curriculum with its basis in Indian spirituality, resources and challenges seeks to transform classroom academics into faith in action in the real world, both within India and in the global context. This publication is an attempt from our side to actualize the vision and mission of theological education. I sincerely thank my friend Rev. Prof. Dr. Packiam T. Samuel (Director, HMI) for the support and encouragement. I also thank Mr. Sundeep Chawdhry of ISPCK for his willingness to publish the work. Rev. Ebenezar Shinekumar, co-editor of the book has painstakingly arranged the conference. I am sure this book will enable many people to creatively think in tune with subaltern hermeneutics. Rev. Dr. Prof. C.I. David Joy Principal, KUTS. Board Member SBL-ICI

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Christian Mission and Postcolonialism C. I. David Joy

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he extraordinary context of Christian mission today due to the well-structured studies in the field of post colonialism, demands a broader and deeper understanding of mission. In terms of the currently assumed borders of mission, it is noted that many models and patterns emerged during the colonial era and imposed by the colonial powers. In order to propose a possible paradise for Christian mission in a post colonial period, it is important to analyze the solo-cultural and religion political structure of the post colonial period. In the same way I should evaluate new patterns of mission in postcolonial era and propose new directions in this regard. Revisiting Postcolonial context Immediately after the end of colonial rule across the globe, there were many free nations formed under the leadership of native leaders. Shashi Tharoor in his 2017 book Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India is a systematic analysis of the colonial rule in India.1 One of the shocking revelations made by