K. C. Abraham

 K. C. ABRAHAM

Rev. Dr. K. C. Abraham is a presbyter of the Church of South India and a leading Third World theologian. He was a director of the South Asia Theological Research Institute (SATHRI), Bangalore, India, and former director of the board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College. He is uniquely qualified to write about the new developments in mission, ecology, theology and their interconnectedness. As the president of the Ecumenical Association of the Third World Theologians, he has travelled throughout the Third World (Asia, Africa, and Latin America), participating with grassroots people in churches and other activist groups as they struggled to create a new future for themselves. Although he writes to and for the people of India, his message has meaning for all Christians and other justice seeking people who are committed to creating a global village that protects the rights of the poor and provides space for the affirmation of their dignity. [1]

Development of Theological thinking in India

The new paradigm of theology at this time is rightly characterised as ‘Christo Centric Universalism’, ‘Cosmic Christ’, ‘Lordship of Christ over all’ and ‘Christ, the new creation’,- all these are attempts to build a bridge between Christian faith and the religio-cultural and socio-political realities in the Indian context. In all these, a universal significance of Christ was unambiguously affirmed. But whether they have been really successful in building the bridge between people of other faiths and their experiences is a moot question.

In any case, sharp and serious challenges are raised to this paradigm from Christians as well as people of other faiths. The emergence of an organized movements of the dalits, tribals and other marginalised sectors and their determination to do theology, drawing on their experience of oppression and hardship as well as their spirituality, is a new watershed in Indian theology. It has posed a serious challenge to traditional paradigms but more significantly, it provides a new way of doing theology- a new paradigm. In method and style, it is similar to that which emerges from Third World Liberation Theologies.[2]

 Liberative Praxis

Liberative praxis is the method of doing theology. Liberation theologians make a distinction between theory and practice on the one hand, and praxis on the other. The traditional pattern of theologising as in many other disciplines has been to first enunciate a theory and then apply. The assumption hidden in this procedure is that pure and true thought about reality can occur only when it is removed from act, and practice follows theory: doing is an extension of knowing. Praxis is a critical reflexion on historical as well as contemporary experience. Theological praxis, as distinct from theory alone, should take seriously all experiences in our church and our culture, critically examine them and reinterpret them, if necessary.

Christ as Liberator

‘Christology from below’ arises from our knowledge of Jesus as the one who brings good news to the poor and whose vocation is to set at the liberty those who are oppressed. It is to see Jesus in solidarity with the crucified of this world- with those who suffer violence, those who are dehumanised, who are denied their rights. It is the affirmation that His humanity ascends to His divinity. On the basis of this Christology, we can affirm that ‘all who work for justice are God’s co- workers. It should provide a bridge and not a barrier to people of other faiths and those of no faith. We see the face of this Jesus in the broken Dalits, the exploited tribals and oppressed women. He is in solidarity with them in their struggles against structures of oppression and for justice. This Jesus alone can make sense to us, and not the Christ of the dogmas.[3]

The struggle for Ethnic Identities and Justice

The church, in the past, has been ambiguous in regard to its response to the question of identity. Christian mission has contributed enormously to the social transformation of indigenous people. But it has been insensitive to people’s struggle for cultural identity. The Church has often projected a view of uniformity that suppresses all differences.  The struggle for Dalit and tribal identity is a demand to secure the rightful space of indigenous people in the wider human discourse and relationships, and then it should be accepted as God’s purpose for them. The theological link between Christian faith and the struggle for identity should be strengthened. The struggle for identity is also a struggle for justice and participation. Commitment to peace and justice is the essence of religious faith- that is, a conviction shared by many people of in all religions, not Christianity alone.

Bibliography

 Gurukul Jyothi,Echoes for Just Peace. 2012.

Nehring, Andreas, ed. Prejudice issues in third world Theologies. Madras: Gurukul summer institute, 1996.

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[1]  Gurukul Jyothi,Echoes for Just Peace, 2012, p. 31.

[2] Andreas Nehring, ed., Prejudice issues in third world Theologies (Madras: Gurukul summer institute, 1996), 38-39.

[3]  Ibid., p. 43.