Need Of A Dalit Theology

by James Massey^*

Introduction

It is a well established fact that the Christians in India are divided in two main groups. First, a large percentage, more than 70% are the Dalit Christians and the remaining 30% are others, including upper caste (origin) Christians and Christians belonging to various Tribal communities. Another point is that the religious understanding of the Christian faith or the theology of the early missionaries was, and is partly responsible for the continuation of the present state of the Dalit Christians. But then the successor to the missionary theology namely the ‘Indian Christian theology’, which mainly originated from the background and experience of upper caste (origin) Christians is also not equally relevant or effective in bringing in change, or dealing with the problem of the Dalit Christians.

Therefore there is a need for another expression of theology, which will be relevant to the living situation of the vast majority of people in India, especially the Dalit Christians. During the last two decades, a few collections of essays either in the form of books or special issues of journals on the issue of Dalit Christians have appeared (either under the title theology or ideology), but these are not sufficient yet. Because these works mostly makes an analaysis of the past and present situations, except one essay of the Late Rev. A.P. Nirmal which has appeared with some revisions at least in four works under the title ‘Towards a Christian Dalit Theology.’ In this essay Nirmal has very briefly dealt with the question of God, Christology and the Holy Spirit from a Dalit perspective. A few other essays in the above collected work have also been included, which talk about the need of a Dalit Theology. Here in this brief essay, the need of a Dalit theological expression is being reaffirmed and the basic requirements of such a theological expression are discussed. This discussion is divided under the following two sub-heads:

3. Present Indian Christian Theology and the need of a Dalit theology.
4. Requirements for a Dalit theology expression.

a. Present Indian Christian Theology And The Need Of A Dalit Theology:

Daliton ko swatantrata pradan karun (to let the oppressed go free),8 said Jesus (Luke 4.18). In his first appearance in his village synagogue Jesus publicly announced his mission to the world, which included good news for dinon (poor), freedom for bandion (captives), sight for andhon (blind) and liberation for dalition (oppressed). This is what Luke has told in the New Testament. So the concern here is one of the concerns of Jesus’ whole mission which is now the mission of the Church, which includes every Christian in India and elsewhere.

The question about theology is equally closely related both to the Church and the Dalits. After all, what is theology? According to M.M. Thomas, "Living theology is the manner in which a church confesses its faith and establishes its historical existence in dialogue with its own environment." Here the phrase which needs consideration is ‘own environment.’ Now what is the environment in which the Indian Church lives? One answer to this question is that it is a multi-faith or a pluralistic environment. This is the reality to which up till now Indian Christians and others, as thinkers and converts, have tried to respond. Certain responses to this reality have given birth to a theology currently known as ‘Indian Christian theology’, which, however, is not really relevant to the living situations of the majority of the people. Because in simple terms any theology is the local expression of the experiences of the local people of their faith. As mentioned earlier, the majority of Christians come from the Dalit background. It is these people’s experiences, which is missing from the present Indian Christians theology. The reality of caste based society (or context or environment) is also ignored by the current Indian Christian theology, which makes it further irrelevant for the Dalits.

Looking at a standard text book on Indian Christian theology, one can say that the roots of the current Indian theological expression are in the experiences of mostly upper caste converts. Well known examples are: Brahmabandhab Upadhyara, from a Bengali Brahman family, Sadhu Sundar Singh from a high caste, wealthy Sikh Panjabi family, Nehemiah Gore, a Marathi Brahman, H.A. Krishna Pillai, a high caste Vaishnavite non-Brahman, Narayan Vaman Tilak, from a Brahman family, A.J. Appasamy, from a high caste Saivite family, P. Chenchiah, son of a prominent upper caste lawyer from Andhra, V. Chakkarai from the Chetty caste, a non-brahman upper caste in Tamilnadu, and so on.

Now if the above names are deleted from current the Indian Christian theology, then there will be nothing left behind. But the point which needs to be noted here is that these thinkers and their experiences and search were very different from that of an average Christian in India, because all of them came either from a high caste or their families were rich. So after they became Christians, their immediate concerns were not the same as thousands of those who became Christians, who were both poor and belonged to the lower strata of society (mostly Dalits). These high caste converts’ immediate concern was how they should relate or interpret their new faith or experiences in Indian thought forms, i.e., based on the Brahmanic religion and culture in which they had grown. Their major preoccupation was searching for an indigenous expression of Christianity, which forms an important element in Indian Christian theology. The Late Rev. Arvind P. Nirmal has stated this point very neatly in the essay mentioned above in these words:

To speak in terms of the traditional categories, Indian Christian Theology, following the Brahmanic tradition, has trodden the jnana marga, the bhakti marga, and the Karma marga. In Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya, we have a brilliant theologian who attempts a synthesis of Sankara’s Advita Vedanta and Christian Theology. In Bishop A.J. Appasamy, we had a bhakti margi theologian, who tried to synthesise Ramanuja’s Vishistha Advaita with Christian theology. In M.M. Thomas we see a theologian… who laid the foundation for a more active theological involvement in India-the Karma marga. In Chenchiah we find an attempt to sysnthesise Christian theology with Sir. Aurobindo’s ‘Integral Yoga.’

Thus the current or traditional Indian Christian theology, which is based upon the Brahmanic traditions of Hindu religions did not/does not address itself to or reflect the issues which the majority of the Christians faced either before or after they became Christians. It is because this expression of theology is based upon the religious traditions of the minority even among the Hindus, because Brahmans (priestly caste) represent 5.22 only of the total population of India. According to the Report of the Backward Classes Commission (1980), the Government of India the percentage distribution of Indian population by caste and religious groups is as follows:

From the above percentages representing different backgrounds which include religious, social and economic, it is clear that the current Indian Christian theology in a way has ignored the life experiences of more than 80% of the Indian people, which includes the Dalit Christians (who form more than 70% of the Indian Church). The majority of these Dalit Christians live in rural areas and are landless people. Their main livelihood mean is from working in the fields of others belonging to upper castes/classes. Therefore the Dalit Christians’ concern have not been to search for an Indian expression of their new faith. In fact, in this they are more indigenous than any of the urbanised Christians. What these village Dalit Christians have to serach for is their daily bread, how to overcome their life situation of oppression, poverty, suffering, injustice, illiteracy, and denial of identity. But the above Indian Christian theology has failed them, and continues to ignore these issues, which for the majority of Christians and most other Indians are questions of survival. Here the main point is not of the rejection of the current expression of Indian Christian theology or its usefulness: All that is emphasised is that there is a need to work out another expression of Indian Christian theology which would be relevant to the living situation of the vast majority of people of India, particularly the Dalits, based upon the living experiences of the Dalits themselves.

There are three main requirements for the formation of a living form of theology: life context, history and language. Indirect references have already been made in the previous section to the first requirement i.e., context, which in the case of Dalit theology has to be the Dalit context, which is a living reality in Indian society, including in the Church or among the Christians.

The second requirement is important for any theology that is the history of the people. For example, for the Indian Christian theology, there is a need of a history of the Indian Church or Christianity. Up to now the Church history written in India is basically the history of western Christian missions. Indian Church history till now has been an appendage (in the words of M.M. Thomas) to this history. The same has been true of Indian Christian theology. It is interesting to find that one of the first text books, for theological students on Indian Christians theology was written by a missionary, with the sub-title ‘A Theology for India’ it is instruction oriented. Missionary friends of the Indian Christians still have to tell them what they need to do in their own context. Indian Christians still have to write their own history from their own point of view (which has to be an independent story) and which will narrate how the Indian Church has confessed its faith and how it has established its historical existence in its own living situation. This reality has to be the basis of Indian theology.

The same is true with the Dalit theology. This has to come out from the experiences of the Dalits themselves. It has to be based on the content of many living stories of the Dalits. It also means that the history of the Christian Dalits has to be prepared first.

The third important requirement is language. A report of the Commission of the Jesuits on ‘Formation and Inculturation’ in ‘India Today’ says: "For language, it is realized that it is not merely the medium of expression of communication, it is, in fact, the vehicle of culture as a whole." Many attempts have been made in this regard in the Indian Christian theology, but mostly in English. But as the Dalits here, represent the concern of the masses, therefore, Dalit theologians have to use the language of the masses (of Dalits), in the formation of the Dalit theology. This will be the most suitable way to maintain the originality of thought. This means that to begin with there will be more than one expressions for this theology, i.e., in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Hindi, Punjabi, etc. This will be according to the definition of a living theology, references to which was made earlier that, "It is the local expression of the experiences of local people of their faith", and here it can also be added that to begin with it has to be in the ‘local language.’

From the discussion of this essay the following points becomes clear:

One, the present or traditional Indian Christian theology is the outcome of the experiences of the upper caste Christian converts, whose immediate purpose was to interpret their new faith (religious experience) in the light of their previous faith of Brahamanic Hindu tradition, which was, and is a religion of a minority even within the Hindu traditions.

Two, because of the above reasons and others, the current Indian Christian theological expression is not relevant to the needs of the majority of the people, especially the Dalits, which also includes Dalit Christians.

Three, therefore there is need of another Indian Theological expression, which has to be based upon the experience of the ordinary people particularly the Dalits themselves, and this expression ultimately will be according to the needs of the Dalits, which means it will become the basis of the struggle to regain their lost identity and basic rights.