Contributory essays.

Contributed articles presented at the First International Seminar on "Hermeneutics of Subaltern Praxis with Special Reference to Dalits" organized by the Centre for Dalit/Subaltern Studies, New Delhi from Oct. 26-29, 2004; includes follow up seminar on the same theme in South India on March 11-13, 2005 held at Vellore.

This book is a critique of Dalit theology, leading to proposals for the future directions of a theology of social transformation in India. Dalit theology has ruled the roost for the last forty years in the Indian theological landscape. It has captivated the theological imagination in India in spite of other theological movements, like tribal theology, green theology, and so on, which are relatively recent and have had little impact. Despite the dominance of Dalit theology, in the last decade many writers have questioned its social impact and theological efficacy. This book takes advantage of the critique to make some proposals for doing a theology of social transformation in India. It explores new ways of doing Christology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology. In addition, it argues for the need of a public theology in the changing religious-political scenario in 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.

The most important emerging themes and voices engaged in Asian Christian theology today. Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology provides the latest extension of interpretive trends reflected in earlier volumes, now unavailable, such as the classic Living Theology in Asia. Arranged thematically, Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology first captures the ongoing dialogue between the dominant theologies of Asia and the continent's subalterns: women, tribals, and "untouchables" such as Indian dalits and Japanese burakumin. These essayists - including Kuribayashi Teruo, Arvind P. Nirmal, Nirmal Minz, and Chung Hyun Kyung - share the experience of those people who are treated as invisible non-entities who recover self-identity and self-validation in theological expression. The next group of essayists - among them Peter K. H. Lee, Choi Man Ja, Jyoti Sahi, Archie Lee Chi Chung, and Samuel Rayanprovide a wealth of stunning interpretive data in the uniquely Asian method of extra-textual hermeneutics. This perspective weaves Asian literary and non-literary resources into theology. Third, Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology offers examples of the narrative theology that is also a cultural outgrowth of Asia, including writings by Aloysius Pieris, Kwok Pui Lan, M. M. Thomas, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, and Stanley J. Samartha. Their highly personal stories directly integrate lived experience with theology, which, as Sugirtharajah points out, is a prerequisite for any vibrant, dynamic theology. Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology concludes with essays that document some crucial contemporary issues for Asian theology. These include Wang Hsien Chi on Taiwanese homeland theology, Noh Jung Sun on Koreanreunification, Felix Wilfred on human rights, Samuel Rayan on the environmental crisis, and Tissa Balasuriya on the responsibilities of the theologian in contexts of ethnic conflict.

In Theologising with the Sacred ‘Prostitutes’ of South India, Eve Rebecca Parker theologises with the Dalit women who from childhood have been dedicated to village goddesses and used as ‘sacred’ sex workers.

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.