Rethinking Theology In India For The 21st Century

In this comprehensive volume, the contributors review the developments and the emerging trends of the last 75 years since 1938.

Christianity has transformed many times in its 2,000-year history, from its roots in the Middle East to its presence around the world today. From the mid-twentieth century onward the presence of Christianity has increased dramatically in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and the majority of the world’s Christians are now nonwhite and non-Western. The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South traces both the historical evolution and contemporary themes in Christianity in more than 150 countries and regions. The volumes include maps, images, and a detailed timeline of key events. The phrases “Global Christianity” and “World Christianity” are inadequate to convey the complexity of the countries and regions involved—this encyclopedia, with its more than 500 entries, aims to offer rich perspectives on the varieties of Christianity where it is growing, how the spread of Christianity shapes the faith in various regions, and how the faith is changing worldwide.

Christianity has an inherent capability to assume, as its novel mode of expression, the local idioms, customs, and thought forms of a new cultural frontier that it encounters. As a result, Christianity has become multicultural and multilingual. What is the role of theology in the imagination and articulation of Christianity’s inherent multiculturalism and multi-vernacularity? Victor Ezigbo examines this question by exploring the nature and practice of contextual theology. To accomplish this task, this book engages the main genres of contextual theology, explores echoes of contextual theological thinking in some of Jesus’s sayings, and discusses insights into contextual theology that can be discerned in the discourses on theology and caste relations (Dalit theology), theology and primal cultures (African theology), and theology and poverty (Latin American liberation theology).

In The Spirit Shaped Church, Swarup Bar argues that the church is defined by its relationship with others. A relational church depends on the porousness of its borders, which means that, while a church has its distinctiveness, it ought to be open to negotiate relational engagements with the world around it. This sort of relationally distinct, permeable church is found to be possible through the leading of the Spirit and the work of Christ. Such engagement is found to be relevant in a plural, religio-cultural context and in situations of marginalization in India. The Spirit Shaped Church reflects an ongoing commitment on the part of Fortress Press to engage the needs of Christian communities around the world. The book is aimed at teachers, clergy, students, and anyone with an interest in the lived experience of Christians in India.

Based on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this book presents a social history of Sat Tal Christian Ashram (STA), an Ashram in the Kumaon foothills of northern India. This book explores how some Christian missionaries have sought to inflect Christianity with Advaita Vedantic undertones in a number of Indian contexts; it then analyses how STA draws upon, but also differs from, existing practices of inculturation. In demonstrating the distinctions of STA, this book offers new ethnographic data on the topics of Indian Christianity, Christian missiology and Hindu-Christian relations. This book also contributes to emergent discussions of multiple religious orientation, existential belonging and the negotiation that occurs as individuals and communities seek to invite or belong alongside individuals whose proclaimed faiths are different than their own. It is written in a clear and accessible style, making it suitable for undergraduate students, while also offering specialists new qualitative data and insightful theoretical reflections.

Recent years have seen the emergence of a virulent version of Hindu nationalism and fundamentalism in India under the banner of Hindutva. This xenophobic movement has obfuscated and mystified the notion of Hindu identity and reinforced its stereotypes. Its arguments range from the patently unscientific - humankind was created in India, as was the first civilisation - to historical whitewash: Hinduism has continued in one, unchanged form for 5000 years; Hinduism has always been a tolerant faith. 'Rethinking Hindu Identity' offers a corrective based on a deep and detailed reading of Indian history. Written in a riveting style, this study provides a fresh history of Hinduism - its practices, its beliefs, its differences and inconsistencies, and its own myths about itself. Along the way, the book systematically demolishes the arguments of Hindu fundamentalism and nationalism, revealing how the real history of Hinduism is much more complex.