by V. Devasaha yam

The contemporary Indian context is characterized by the rise in Dalit consciousness. The centenary celebrations of the birth of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Father of the Dalit nation, at the beginning of the present decade and the publication of his works (14 volumes so far) led to renewed activity among the Dalits in the spheres of literature, culture and politics. A distinct literature called Dalit literature has emerged in several regional languages; cultural groups with the aim of retrieving and reviving Dalit culture have attracted innumerable Dalit youth and the Dalit community. There are liberation movements emerging in many parts of the country. The most significant developments are the Dalits’ sharing of power with other political parties in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, and the unification of different factions of the Republication Party in Maharashtra. There is decreasing willingness on the part of Dalits to put up with discrimination at the village level. Dalits are getting tired of being governed and are impatient to govern. Dalits have a strong urge for self determination and self realization. These have resulted in an increased violence against Dalits, yet the liberative ferment seems to be endemic and its effects are felt in the Indian church.

One of the glaring facts about the Indian church is that a vast majority of Christians - from two thirds to three fourths - is drawn from Dalit community. Christian Dalits are becoming increasingly aware of the indifference and insensitivity of the Indian church to the sufferings, struggles and aspirations of over 250 million Dalits in general and of Christian Dalits in particular. This Dalit church with upper caste leadership and upper caste theology forgot the social base of the Indian church. It has accommodated the caste system which benefits the caste people, identified with the status quo in terms of social relations among Christians characterised by division, discrimination and domination. It has grossly failed to generate a critical social consciousness. The church’s concern for maintaining institutional power, institutions serving the classes rather than the masses, has betrayed her call as a messianic movement. The church’s understanding of mission and ministry is gradually becoming reductionist, withdrawing to the purely religious sphere. Christian Dalits are becoming aware of the inadequacy as well as the gap between the church’s theology and practice.

I. Theology is Contextual

Theology is contextual. All theologies have emerged and reflected particular contexts in spite of claims to the contrary. Theology starts from an analysis and reflection of our own context and seeks to interpret the word of God in relation to this context. Christian theology is rooted in the event of incarnation and therefore, it needs to be rooted in the particular context of its emergence. Our contemporary context is one of oppression and we are discerning not only the mechanism but also the root causes of oppression. In India, the caste system, in the unique social system which is pervasive and has been primarily responsible for the oppression and dehumanization of many. In our context we could boldly affirm that no theological method is adequate if it does not recognize caste as the contextual reality and a major structure of oppression.

The concern for the rootedness of Christian theology in India has emerged strongly during the first half of the twentieth century, as the Christian corollary to the peoples’ aspirations for national freedom. It has resulted in the formulations of what is now known as Indian Christian theology. For its several merits, the serious lack was the narrow perception of Indian context primarily in terms of religio-philosophical components, to the utter neglect of the socio-economic political realities. Even this religio-phiosophical context was the context of a small number of upper caste people because those who initially articulated it were from upper caste backgrounds. Certain features of this Brahminic culture were adapted in Christian practice and was projected as Indian and forced on the Indian church, a predominantly Dalit church.

Since the 70s, Indian theologians have been influenced by Latin American liberation theology. Their formulations have recognized the importance of economic and political realities in theologizing. There was a greater dependence on Marxian insights and an adoption of class approach in the analysis of Indian society.

I contend that the category of class is an inadequate conceptual tool for analysis of Indian society because Indian society is primarily a caste based society. Eminent jurist V.R. Krishna lyer acknowledges that the caste system continues to be a fact of life in India that dominates interpersonal and intergroup relations. The categories of caste and class, though closely related, are yet distinct and in a way, worlds apart. While class is an alien, western concept, caste is uniquely Indian. While class is based on one’s achievements, caste is based on birth, the former indicative of the achieved status and the latter of the ascriptive status. While class is individually based, with flexibility and openness in terms of mobility, caste is group based and is rigid and fixed. Class is built on economic foundations while caste is based on religious foundations; class and caste are determined by market economy and karma theory respectively. While the principle of competition is the ruling principle in the class, system, the principle manifested in caste society is the principle of complementarity.

The caste system is a uniquely Indian system of social stratification found only in India and the neighbouring countries to which Hindus have migrated. It is a comprehensive system incorporating social, economic and political as well as religio-cultural dimensions of the Indian context. So far, the Gospel has not been brought to an active engagement with the Indian context perceived in terms of caste. Dalit theology is a pioneer in adopting a comprehensive view of the Indian context as well as of its theological task. The Christian Gospel has been brought into active engagement with the unique and pervasive reality of the Indian context, the caste system. In Dalit theology the principle that governs the process of inquiry, analysis and evaluation is caste. It is both shocking and surprising that there had
been no serious theological engagement with this most glaring reality, an uniquely Indian social institution, the caste system.

II. Theology is Reflection on Human Experience

Theology is reflection on human experience from the perspective of one’s faith. Human life is the focus of theology. Theology is primarily concerned, not with either religious metaphysics or ritual, nor even with the soul after death, but with the human person. If he/she lives in this world of theology, forgetting human concerns and human experiences, then that theology stands discredited as irrelevant.

Much of the earlier theological formulation from India and outside has neglected the historical life situations and experiences of people. It is also individualistic, soul-oriented, other worldly and futuristic in character, lacking in concern for the totality of human life and contemporary human experience. Theology should reflect on contemporary forms of human experiences and life, all o,f which must be related to, relativized and humanized by the concept of God.

The contemporary Indian scene is characterized by a polarization into two groups, as Dalits and non-Dalits and the growing hostility between the two. The shift in Dalit consciousness and the Dalit aspiration to equality and human dignity, results in conflict and violence since caste people perceive the Dalits’ assertion of dignity as a challenge to their privileged position sanctioned by caste system. The number of cases of atrocity against Dalits, as well as the intensity of violence, are on the increase. Sociologists tell us that the phenomenon of violence against Dalits is now assuming the form of organized violence. Traditionally theologies have claimed to reflect on universal experience. We discover that universal experience is a myth and what is experienced is in terms of historical experience. But in the name of universal experience, theologians were elevating particular historical experiences into the category of sacred and eternal experience. This way of theologizing fails to recognize the experience of other groups, marginalizes them and deprives them of their self expression, self identity and hope.

It must be strongly affirmed that if theology is to be concerned with reflecting on human life, the reflection process should have as its starting point that part of humanity where it is degraded and humiliated. Dalit theology adequately recognizes Dalit pathos as the starting point of theology as well as the criterion to judge the adequacy of any theological formulation. The attainment of authentic humanity or liberation of the last and the least is a precondition for the liberation of all, for there can be no sarvodaya (liberation of all)without antyodaya (liberation of the last).

III. Theology is to be Undertaken from the Perspective of the Oppressed

No theology is neutral and all theologies have bias, however much they might try to hide their biased perspective. The earlier Indian Christian formulations were undertaken from the elitist perspective or from an upper caste perspective. Here the elitist experience and perceptions of reality were held as normative of the human experience and of the human perception of reality. The masses were considered to have no significance as far as this reflective activity was concerned.

Dalits were not recognized as people or as subjects of theology, not even as the beneficiaries of Indian Christian theology. In the theologies that followed, Dalits were denied a name and face and were hidden under the general rubric of ‘the poor’. Dalits were denied a voice and hence were deprived of our hope.

Dalits have not been subjects of history. On the contrary we were the victims of literary tradition. The earliest literary source in India, the Rig Veda, is a text book example and proof of this reality that Dalits have been victims of literary tradition. The economist Krishnan maintains that India’s remarkable agricultural civilization and economy are built on the bones of the Dalit agricultural labour castes and cemented with their sweat and blood. Dalits produce food for the nation, sustain the economy and develop culture, yet Dalits are excluded and victimized. Dalits have been makers of history but were not historiographers. The non-Dalits who wrote history missed no opportunity to malign Dalits in the process.

Theologizing should affirm the oppressed, particularly the Dalits, as the subjects of theology and undertake the theological task from a Dalit perspective. The Latin American liberation theologian Segundo maintains that the liberative character of theology lies not in its content but in its methodology, i.e., accepting the perspective of the oppressed. Accepting the perspective of the oppressed is at the same time a rejection of the elitist perspective, because we recognize that the two perspectives, the upper caste perspective and Dalit perspective, are in conflict with each other. The upper caste perspective is silent on caste oppression, justifies the unjust caste system and longs for one upmanship, whereas the Dalit perspective questions the status quo, seeks to subvert it and to actualize a fuller and authentic human life. It is the Dalit perspective that can be authentically liberative in the cattiest context while other approaches could be either reactionary or reformative. We also conceive a new task for theology as a counter-ideology to caste ideology. In so far as the caste system has been created by and for the upper castes, particularly Brahmins to serve their vested interests, a counter-ideology should adopt the perspective of the victims of caste ideology.

We should also affirm that the perspective of the oppressed is also the biblical perspective. To discern the voice of God in the poor is consistent with the revelation of God in the Bible. Tesfai points out that faith responses to this Sign of the Time bring forth more faith, more hope, more love and a deeper Christian life among God’s people than other forms of living the faith which ignore the sign of the time.

IV. Theology is Logos about God

The term theology comes from the two Greek terms theos and logos and means either word of God or word about God. The concept of God is the object of our interest and the concern of theology. It is God who is the ultimate authority and point of reference for the theologian. The concepts related to scripture, creed, and humanity are secondary and derivative from the concept of God.

The God of the Bible is a God who is in relation to all else. Theology should strive to bring out God’s relation to all other reality. Tillich defines God as one who concerns us ultimately. God or the concept of God must be related to all aspects of Indian reality.

Indian Christian theology attempted to relate the religio-philosophical dimensions of the elites to the concept of God while the Marxian-influenced liberation theologies have made the economic and political dimension of Indian reality interface with the concept of God. However the unique Indian social system, the one that provides the atmosphere for human life and relationship in India has not been brought into encounter with the concept of God. The Indian church has not yet produced a theological reflection on this glaring social reality of caste. Dalit theology attempts to expose this conspiracy of silence by relating to and critiquing the caste system from the perspective of the Christian understanding of God.

V. Theology Is the Story of God’s Struggle and Victory Over Satan

The Bible witnesses to God’s being in the world as characterized by God’s liberating activity and struggle against the forces of oppression. By God we mean that reality which rescues us from all the enslavements into which we fall and leads us towards fuller and richer human life. Theology, then, becomes the story of God’s struggle over the oppressive forces of sin and Satan and God’s victory in obtaining for us salvation and liberation. The Christian Gospel is the joyous proclamation that in Jesus we have salvation, or liberation, or new life, free from oppressive and dehumanizing forces and structures.

Traditional theologies have been preoccupied with interpreting sin and salvation almost exclusively in individual terms and have ignored or failed to recognize sinful and demonic structures. Indian theology has failed to analyze major structures of oppression such as caste, class, patriarchy etc. Of the several forces of oppression in the Indian context, the caste system is the most cruel and dehumanizing. Dalit theology takes upon itself the task of identifying and naming the devil-caste system, and interprets Christ’s victory in terms of his power of transformation against caste system. It also seeks to arouse in the Dalits as well as the caste people the consciousness of being under caste bondage and the need to be liberated from it.

The caste system is also a particularly delighfful idolatry of most caste Christians. All idolatry is enslaving and destructive. A theology that does not identify, expose and attempt to dismantle a demonic system has lost its credibility as theology, because it contributes not to liberation but to enslavement. Such a theology can properly be termed demonology and not theology.

VI. Theology is the Explication of the Present Heilsgeschicte

Traditional theologies, due to their preoccupation with past scripture and tradition, have failed to recognize the present as mediating the reality of God. Indian Christian theology seeks to relate the Christian Gospel to India’s past heritage. Though the word of God of the past is a helpful guide in conceptualizing God, theology’s content is the present self manifestation of God and the contemporary faith response to this manifestation. Since God reveals Godself in historical actions, present historical events must be seen as mediating the reality of God.

The sign of our time is the rise in Dalit consciousness or “the irruption of the poor”. The Dalits are the historical continuation of the suffering Son of Man, the crucified one, whom the sinful caste system robs of their humanity. Dalits as the agricultural labour class produce food for the nation while they themselves go hungry. They work day in and day out to make others rich and yet they remain poor. They take on themselves exclusively the task of scavenging in order to keep others and the surroundings clean, in the process being condemned themselves as impure and polluting others. In and through Dalits, God makes Godsell present and utters God’s word for today. Dalit theology recognizes the world of the Dalits as the new sitz im Leben of theology as well as the locus of God’s revelation and liberative action This word of God that comes through Dalits helps to discover and appreciate God’s word in the Bible as a liberative word that denounces unjust structures and as a word that arouses courage and hope for liberation.

VII. Theology is Linked to the Theologian’s Social Existence

Theologies are products of human work. They are neither written by God nor read by God. They are formulated by humans in order to understand the mystery of human existence and to give it meaning and significance. As human words, theology is inseparably linked to the social existence of theologians. As Thorndyke states, “that a man thinks is a biological fact, but what he thinks is a sociological fact.” Therefore theology as God-talk says more of God-talkers than of God because of the boundness of the theologian to his/her social context.

The earlier formulations of Christian theology were predominantly contributions of caste Christians. Till very recently we were caught up in a paradoxically vicious circle which hampered the contributions of Christian Dalit theologians: The theologians were not Dalits and Dalits were not theologians. Now Dalits are recognized as subjects of theology. They were earlier denied their identity in theologizing since Dalits were categorized under the general rubric of ‘Indian’ or ‘poor’. Dalits were an anonymous lot without a name or face. Now that Dalit theology has enabled us to recover that lost identity, Dalits for once feel they are subjects of theology. Dalit theologians, through their identification and participation
with their brothers and sisters, are offering theological reflection; hence their formulations reflect the Dalit social existence and identify themselves as Dalit theology.

So far Dalits were denied a voice and a theological focus. Now that Dalits have gained a theological voice, we are able to reflect on Dalit reality - our sufferings and hopes, taking into account the social character of Dalits, such as shame, inferiority complex, experience of discrimination, self-hate, confused identity, helplessness and dependence, apathization etc., It also articulates the Dalit hope, struggles, suffering under protest, solidarity in suffering, etc. These formulations that come out of theologians’ Dalit social existence have tremendous potential to inspire Dalits for liberative struggles.

VIII. Theology is Related to the Plausibility Structures of the Church

Christian faith is primarily a communitarian faith and hence Christian faith reflection shares this communitarian dimension. Theology is the reflective task of the church, by the church and for the sake of the church, ,though individuals are involved as facilitators of theological formulations. They are involved in their capacity as servants of the church and as representatives of the church who are accountable to the church. The authenticity of theological formulations needs to be verified in the experience of the community. Similarly the value of any theological formulation is to be judged by its relevance to and usefulness to the church’s life and mission. This demands that the theology should be related to the plausibility structures of the church, and reflect the nature and concern of the church.

The Indian church is in a situation of profound and pluriform alienation. The churches are in India but not of it, local parishes present more the image of bureaucratic and juridical units rather than genuine community. They are present as sociological units without a sense of community. The urban churches are less integrated than the rural ones. The churches in general share a rich diversity of the Indian church.

It is necessary for us to recognize the roots of the Indian church, a product primarily of the movement of the Holy Spirit which brought into the church people in groups during the beginning of the twentieth century. A vast majority of those who came into the church were Dalits. With Dalits joining the church in large numbers, the church which was hitherto of mixed social origins became predominantly a Dalit church. A Dalit stamp has been permanently marked on the Indian church and it has come to stay and is strengthening even today as more and more Dalits join the church. So in the midst of the Indian church’s diversity, the most appropriate commonalty of the Indian church is its dalit-ness. Dalits constitute about two thirds to three fourths of the Indian church.

Theologians in India who are predominantly urbanites and who have very little pastoral base have failed to theologize in relation to the hopes and aspirations of Dalits. They have wisely and consciously maintained a conspiracy of silence with regard to the hypocrite reality of the Indian church which is characterized by proclaimed equality and practiced inequality due to the practice of caste discrimination, in which they themselves have
participated. Dalit theology had done yeoman service in helping the church to rediscover its authenticity of churches and theologians with regard to attitudes and practice of caste within the church, and pronounces judgment of condemnation on churches and theologians who have condoned this unchristianness of the Christian church.

IX. Theology Is the Fruit of lnculturation

Inculturation is a process of dynamic interaction between the Gospel and the culture of a people. Inculturation does not mean revival of rituals and practices dead long ago. It does not mean a superficial adoption, merely the externals of the culture. Inculturation involves incorporation of values and world views in culture and bringing them into interface with the Gospel, through which a new form of community emerges. It is a creation of a new culture that combines the positive values of a culture with the gospel values in a process of transculturation. Inculturation envisages continuity in terms of affirming the positive values of a culture and a sharp discontinuity wherever alienating and oppressive elements are found.

Inculturation presupposes the experience of cultural dislocation caused by invading powers and calls for the theologian and the faith community to free themselves of their “colonized consciousness or “colonization of mind” (George Soares Prabhu). Dalits experience a manifold cultural dislocation, first by the Aryans and later by other invading powers. Dalits need to free themselves from these colonizations in order to bring the Christian Gospel into dynamic interaction with Dalit culture. It is a difficult task due to large scale aryanization of Dalit culture from Aryan corruptions, We are particularly angry with those theologians who want to relate the Gospel to the Brahminic culture, the culture of the oppressors and an oppressive culture, and force it on an Indian church which is predominantly a Dalit church.

A lot of recent literature, mostly in the vernacular, is being brought which retrieves
substantial remnants of Dalit religion and culture. We are amazed at the similarities of the
values of Dalit culture and of the values of the Christian Gospel. The Gospel values serve as
a norm in determining the aspects of Dalit culture that are affirmed or negated.

X. Theology Is a Vehicle for Authentic Humanity

For Kaufmann, theology is human work which serves a human purpose and needs. Its adequacy will have to be judged through its capacity to fulfill the objective of human salvation or humanization. Since theology is a vehicle for the realization of authentic humanity, we should be continually engaged in examining and re-examining received ideas of God, criticize these ideas and reconstruct so that they will serve more adequately as vehicles of our full humanization.

In the Indian context where caste ideology has been the cause of the death and destruction of many, Christian theology should become a counter ideology in order to become a vehicle of humanization. Earlier Christian formulations have largely ignored caste oppression and
the demonic character of the caste system. If theology is to be true to its case it must seek to expose the ideological cover of these theologies that condone caste oppression through the process of a hermeneutic of suspicion.

Dalit theology as a counter ideology to caste ideology makes clear that the present situation under the caste system is an unacceptable one. It incorporates strongly the element and means of protest. It seeks to change or overthrow the existing caste system. It accepts a reversal approach or is involved in revaluation of values because the caste system has perverted falsehood as truth and injustice as justice. The practice of caste is held to be dharma (ethics of virtue) and rejection of this unjust social order is held to be adharma (unethical).

Dalit theology as counter caste ideology seeks to promote values and consciousness that are counter to that of caste values. Dalit theology seeks to promote values such as liberty, equality, fraternity, freedom, community, etc. It maintains the priority of justice over order and seeks to establish a community of peace, well-being and justice for all.