The author examines various issues in relation to baptism, conversion, and mission in India today. Included are questions about the nature of evangelization, the authority of the Bible, church memembership, and the role of Western churches.
Dr. Kaj Baago, the Danish Theologian, quit teaching theology and left the church, not because of disappointment or disillusion, agnosticism or mere anthropology, but because of his understanding of Christ and his commitment to Christianity.
Liberation is emerging as Asian theology’s chief motif. As in African theology, Latin American liberation theology and theologies of the oppressed in North America, the search for an Asian theology has its origin in the recognition that Euro-American theology is totally inadequate to provide universal concepts of religious understanding.
(ENTIRE BOOK) Essays in honor Rev. Dr. K. C. Abraham on his sixtieth birthday. An eminent theologian and ecumenical leader and teacher, Abraham made significant contributions to both theological and social thinking in India and abroad. The purpose of this volume is to explore theological thinking especially in these areas: 1) Re-definition of mission, 2) Theological and ethical articulation of ecological concerns, 3) Faith response to caste and, communalism, and 4) Ethics and economics with special attention to the question of poverty and development.
Indian-Christian theology is invited to live off two fountains. One is fueled by the intercommunity dynamic of God’s ongoing activity in the world, primarily through the resistive-liberative momentum of minorities striving for life in all its related fullness. On the more confined side it is fueled by the intracommunity discernment of celebrating the experience of God as outlined by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
Indian-Christian theology is invited to live off two fountains. One is fueled by the intercommunity dynamic of God’s ongoing activity in the world, primarily through the resistive-liberative momentum of minorities striving for life in all its related fullness. On the more confined side it is fueled by the intracommunity discernment of celebrating the experience of God as outlined by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
The author examines the practice, meaning and implications of baptism, within a multi-cultural context.
Minjung means the People of God -- all people. Who is Jesus Christ among the people of Asia is very closely related to the question of who is the Minjung. The author asks how the Minjung experience God in their concrete historical context today. He reviews how Christian communities viewed Jesus Christ in Asia, that is, who they experience who God incarnate is. Western Christologies are deeply ingrained in the life of the Christian communities of Asia, but they have severe limitations.
The issue of the relation of human life and nature is not merely the question of how to deal with the natural environment but that of the total creation, which involves the justice, participation and peace in an integral unity. Theologically the term creation does not refer only to the nature, but the whole creation, human and otherwise.
The message that Jesus sought to communicate through the parables from nature was that there is a similarity between the divine work of the Kingdom and that of the process of nature. It is God who is active in both.
In order to contest received interpretations, one ought to analyze both the interpretative processes and the
context of the interpreter; in order to rid something of ideological
trappings, one has to know the theories and societies through which the
ideologies emerged.
In listening to the voices of women in the early church and to the reporting of,and interpretation of, these voices by dominant male interpreters, we can glimpse the church as a movement in flux, in which paths yet untrodden were becoming pilgrim routes.
Humankind faces a grave political crisis, as its very existence is threatened by the most powerful and destructive political entities in history: the totalitarian and imperialist powers. These global powers include the military, the giant transnational corporations and the global information and communication industries, as well as the powerful nations themselves, which have permitted these powers to grow unchecked. In this situation the Christian faith is being tested by the political victims, who cry out for relief, because this political crisis is closely associated with the Christian civilization.
In the post-Cold War situation and the post-modernization process, the breakdown of modern social philosophies and political ideologies, as well as traditional social thoughts opened the door to great confusion in social thinking among Asian peoples and to a lack of ecumenical theological direction in the Christian communities. But at the same time it has opened a new era of creative and active social thinking in ecumenical movements and social movements round the world.
For us in the Indian and Asian context, an analysis of the Christological issues and themes which so engaged the teachers of the early church in the second century, as well as the adherents of the Jesus-movement, ought not to be a mere exercise in historical curiosity or because of the allure of antiquarian excavation. All Christians in India - Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants and Pentecostals - have inherited a legacy of God-talk and Christ-imagery.
The author reports on a visit to India, in which he observed that Christianity is being contextualized in ways both unexpected and not of great interest to traditional theologians.
The question of identity is not something static and backward looking, but is a dynamic reality, where the context demands that answers be given and positions be taken regarding who Indian-Christians are. The power of the hyphen in Indian-Christian existence resides in its ability to reconstruct and reconceive. The challenge before us is to navigate the hyphen and be prepared to explore our varied histories.
This essay examines the crossing of forbidden boundaries, which is central to an adequate understanding of Radha bhakti: the transgression of moral and legal limits in the illicit relationship of Radha and Krisna. In the intimacy of the bhakti relationship the male bhakta, by experiencing himself as female partner, violates his primal sexual demarcation as a male. The author explores these elements and possible points of contact with elements in Christian tradition and experience, raising questions about religious language: reality, analogy and metaphor.
The spirit of God broods over the waters of East and West, breathing new life in both directions.
(ENTIRE BOOK) This collection of 21 papers by the great ecumenical theologian deals with the search for a new ideology in the face of the break-up of Socialism, the crisis of Secularism, and the growth of religious fundamentalism. Dr. Thomas proposes a new ideology of struggle for both social and ecological justice -- a spiritual framework for a post modern holistic humanism based on an understanding of Christ as the Suffering Servant.
The author discusses some practical applications of the concept of the Trinity to the praxis of Christian life. He does this within an Indian context, including a look at later developments and the implications for Christian communication.
To empower the powerless and the afflicted, Indian Christian theology needs to recover both (a) the distinct social locatedness and the concrete social praxis of Jesus and (b) the tangible aspects of the cosmic potency of Jesus.
The author compares Old Testament wisdom tradition with parallels in the Telugu tradition, including proverbs, sayings, maxims, epigrammes, and books of fables, and concludes with great appreciation of the Indian wisdom tradition.