Methodological Issues in Indian Christian Theologies- Introduction to Christian Theologies in India (ICTI)

Methodological Issues in Indian Christian Theologies (ICT)

1. The Nature and necessity of Indian Christian Theologies

When we do theology in India, these are the things involved: nature and necessity of Indian Christian Theology. What should be the nature of ICT? Why, how and what should be/is Indian theology?

Christian Theology deals with- (a) Search for deeper understanding (b) It raised Questions (c) It prompts an Enquiry. Christian Theology is a discipline that seeks to reflect and interpret God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, and this interpretation is based on and for the faith community. It tries to determine truth and this message of truth is conveying through symbols because adherents understanding is based on symbols available in their life situation. Theology cannot be detached from the life situation of the community even though it is reflection of God. In 4^th and 5^th Century, Augustine of Hippo said “I believed in order to understand”, for him knowledge of God comes from faith and this faith doesn’t rest in one place but restlessly moves. Theology is about believing and it is restless. In 11^th century, Anselm of Canterbury said “Faith seeking understanding” with this rooted ideology but more force expression developed in 21^st century by Daniel Migliore who says “Faith continuously seeking Understanding.” The task of Indian Christian theology is to provide clear and comprehensive understanding of Christian Theology.

Robin Wescott believes that the most profound commentary on the fourth gospel is not written yet, it will probably be written by Indians in India. He also observes that the Madras re-thinking group has to be re-considered as they did not respect theology emerging from the context. Robin Boyd in his book “An introduction to Indian Christian Theology” clearly states that ‘The Church in India seems to be dominated by Western attitudes and modes of thought. In Church architecture, Church organization, church services, church music and church publications, western forms and attitudes seems to predominant, even in it theological thought tends to wear a western aspect. Also, the teaching given in theological colleges throughout India has been, and still is, dominated by western theology; the preaching of the average Indian Minister or evangelist reflects the western theological categories in which he has been trained. All these de-nationalized Indian Christianity and its man and uproots him from the cultural heritage which is his by right. Many efforts and attempt have been made to make the Church indigenous in its life and worship, churches built in Indian architecture styles, Christian ashrams or religious communities, Indian Christian ascetic sadhus and so on. All these help to mould the pattern of Indian Christian life and have found many opportunities of expressing their Christian faith in truly Indian ways. Yet the question remains- is there a truly Indian expression of theological thought?

Some Indian theologian have tried to avoid dogmatic theology. They felt the need to develop new theology in the context of India. Indian theology draws insight from Anubhava (experience-how people experience God). Experience is important for Indian. The theology coming from outside does not help the Indian people much. And therefore, Indian theologians brings out the understanding of God from the experience of the people. Two concerns:

1) one is to remain faithful to knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ; and

2) to interpret and proclaim this experience in the way Indian people will understand.

MM Thomas. (He wrote forward for Robin Boyd)

MM Thomas says, Indian Christian theologians so far have studied and understood theology under the guidance of the western theologians. Recently we have realized that our story must be from our own story, independent story, which was not there before, we need to develop them. We need to articulate Christian message in our own context. If Indian mission is understood as part of the western mission, then we become only an appendix of the western mission.

Can theology be Independent? No. the concern here is not isolation; it should be based on Christ. The concern is the contextual relevance of the society. No theology can be independent.

Now that we are beginning to discover the Indian Christian has its own history, now we should have theology of our own.

From the first entry of Christianity in the 52 AD till the 18 century, MM Thomas says, these years’ experience of the Indian Christians was not considered. The theology began only in the 18^th century by the coming of the western missions.

Indian theology has to have its own identity. India theology must be judged in the light of the mission of church in India and need not be brought to the Western thinking for judgment. No theology can be isolated because it is not possible to isolate theology. Isolation is impossible and undesirable. No Theology is isolated but interconnected and in this connection; identification of sound theology and biblically grounded is indispensable- an acid test is requisite parameters. The criterion might not be Western ideology but should connect in some way instead of isolation. It should be tested and proved in the light of Western supremacy.  There is a living theology in India, accept and embrace it and he counter to those who said “India doesn’t produce even a heresy”.

O V Jathanna. He points out three things. Until 16^th century all the ‘Preached Christianity’ was to protect the purity of the inherited doctrines. They did not encourage the development of context related to Christian theology in India.

Preached Christianity was to jealously protect the received doctrine. They did not bother about people’s experience.

Early Christian missionaries have negative attitude towards Hinduism and Indian Culture. They even forbid in their presentation of the message thinking that they would destroy the meaning of the gospel or dilute its purity. Churches like Syrian orthodox and Roman Catholic used Syriac and Latin as official language. While doing so, they have alienated their culture and tradition/ alienated from Indian Culture.

Kristeen Kim has observed few things about ICT. Kristeen K is the wife of a Korean theologian. She observed three main things. ICT have dealt with:

1.     The position of Christian faith in the pluralistic context. 

2.     The relationship between Christian and the dominant tradition of Hinduism.

3.     Indian Christian theology with the socio-economic oppression in India. 

[Kim book, “Introduction to Third world Theology” edited by John Pirate, 2004.]

The limitation of Western Theology. (Foundation for ICT)

1. Western Theology is dogmatic and abstract in nature. While ICT is real life theology.

2. Western Theology is rational, scientific and intellectual. Interested in ideas. So, it is less interest and less practical

3. Western Theology is imperialistic. It support colonization and imposes Western ideas and philosophy.

4. Western Theology is Arm-Chair theology- Theology developed for others.

5. Western Theology is from ‘above approach’- View from above- God perspective not expressing from life situations.

6. Western Theology is Individualistic- emphasize individual instead of communitarian.

7. Western Theology is Other worldly pietistic- Emphasizing the idea of theology.

Theology needs to be Indian  and the life situation of Indian context.

Therefore, we need Indian Christian Theologies. This means changing the paradigm in ICT.

2. Methodological shifts in Indian Christian Theologies.

Thomas Kuhn, catholic theologian, talks about paradigm shift. Paradigm shift came into discussion. Concept of paradigm shift is associated on the development of Scientific knowledge. He defines paradigm shift as, the term paradigm stand for the entire constellation of belief, values, techniques and so on shared by members of independent community. The paradigm shift is the change of those beliefs, values, etc.

In 1946, Kazoh Kitamori wrote a book on, “The pain of God.” Written from the lens of Nagasaki and Hirosima bombing attacked during WWII. Kitamori attempted to reorient the Christian account of God to the cross of Jesus Christ shared by the Japanese victims. From the core beliefs and values of their suffering he began to developed his own theology based on Jurgen Moltmann idealogy.

MM Thomas prepares the ground for the emergence of Dalit theology in India. He wrote a book on “Risking Christ for Christ’s sake.”

India is a vast culture, diverse community, so the Indian scenario in Paradigm Shift is very important.

Important Methodological Issues in ICT are-

2.1 Religious Reality

According to K. Pathil, Tribal faith is the most ancient one. The Tribals constitute 8% of Indian population.11They are not part of Hindu religion but the fundamental Hindu movements are presently trying to bring the Tribals under Hinduism. Hinduism, the main religion, has plurality of thoughts within itself and likewise there are plural ways to attain liberation (jnana marga, karma marga and bhakti marga). Religious pluralism is one of the most pressing topics of contemporary societies. Exploring the role of religions in India confronts a paradox. There is a mutual relationship between faiths. It is precisely here that one needs to journey into exploring umpteen possibilities of formulating a consistent and relevant paradigm for religious pluralism which could provide practical guidelines for interaction, co-operation and dialogue among the people of different faith.

2.2. Dialogue

Faith as a symbolic system that gives meaning and value to our worldview is playing a violent role. It is dividing people based on their faith. Conflict based on faith is a curse for democracy. These reality challenges Indian Christian Theology to move towards inter and intra faith dialogue and thereby utilizing all means to establish peace and harmony between different faiths.

But then there are others factors that disturb the faith- harmony. If we analyse these conflicts, one thing is clear, faiths sometimes are twisted by forces that are non-religious, political, economic and even geo-political. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor will continue to breed ground for conflicts. Religious conflicts are not about doctrines and beliefs; they are triggered by social and economic factors. A theology of religions pursued from a life sustaining pluralistic perspective is committed to friendship and co-operation among religions without interfering in the personal religious interest of the individual. It is committed to life and its realities. It seeks friendly co-operation between religion to pool their resources to sustain life at all levels to protect and enhance life. All religion needs to work together without losing their individual identity and difference. Precisely, for this reason dialogue should emerge from the life situation of different communities.

2.3. Socio-Economic Reality

According to Somen Das, we cannot hide our poverty, 30% to 40% of our population are below the poverty line. This context requires theology to affirm the “preferential option for the least. Critical theology is open to the world and to all of human history, with the result that it will always be changing and constantly in a process of renewal. Indian liberation theology took this premise and offers a hermeneutics of praxis by recognizing the sensitivity of the social location thereby commitment to the poor becomes the foundation of theology. Theology here emerges in solidarity with the suffering masses, those who are dehumanized. Theology is committed towards the broken dalits, exploited tribals, subjugated women etc., and tries to identify in their struggles against the oppressive forces and thereby creating a new order relevant to their struggles.

2.4. Contextualization

Contextualization is the process by which the gospel tries to deeply root in the life situation of the community expressed through its socio-cultural and religious expression. According to Stephen Bevans, “in reality there is no reality as such – no ‘universal theology’ – there are only contextual theologies”. He further argues, “there is no such theology as theology; there is only contextual theology: feminist theology, black theology, liberation theology, Filipino theology, Asian American theology, African theology and so forth. Doing theology contextually is not an option, nor is it something that should interest people from the third world, missionaries who work there, or ethnic communities within dominant cultures. The contextualization of theology is an attempt to understand Christian faith in terms of particular context and it is really a theological imperative. As we have come to understand theology today, it is a process that is part of very nature of theology itself.”

Contextualization is method through which the gospel tries to be authentic in every community, place, culture, tradition, language etc.

2.5. Christology

Indian religious plurality proposes different gods and thus the Christian theology tries to answer the basic questions like Who Christ is? What is the uniqueness of Christ? How to present Christ in an acceptable manner to Indians? Jacob Parappally raises three important questions for Indian Christology-

          a. Is it the supra-personalistic understanding of the Absolute, as expressed in Advaitic tradition of Sankara, which can provide categories of thought and vision for the development of Indian Christology?

          b. Do the counter-cultural movements like Buddhism and Bhakti movements with their ethical religiosity of love, justice and humanhood accommodate Jesus of Nazareth as the one who identified himself with these values and offered his life for the same?

 c. Does the situation of social, economic and political oppression and dehumanization call for a relevant

interpretation of Jesus Christ in India?

Christological formulation should occur from the living experience of the community whereby the community can encounter Christ within their own experience and as the experience differs from community to community it invites for plurality of Christological discourses.

2.6. Ecology

Nature is created by God and it reflects God’s goodness, beauty, love and concern for the humanity. Therefore, it is appropriate to respect the nature. George Nalunnakkal says, “Against an alarming ecological scenario and the perplexing theological context in India, there is an urgent need to find an alternative theology of ecology which can assimilate and synthesize the related concerns of ecology, the poor, womenfolk, dalits and the tribals.” Eco- theology is responding to the eco-crisis and shaping theology based on care and stewardship.

Indian Christian Theology is Christian theological activity carried in India and thus connected to the religio-cultural and socio-political realities. The task of Indian Christian theology is to present theology relevant to the Indian context. It aims to communicate the self-disclosure of God in the particular context and commitment to renew the context thereby the life of God should be manifested. India context has a close affinity with nature. The majority of people depends on farming- agriculture where jal, jungle and jameen are important to the lives of Indian.

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