Democratization of Indian Christianity Hegemony, Accessibility, and Resistance

"Essays in this volume skillfully contextualize complex challenges, both internal and external, that confront India's Christian institutions' journey in democracy . With penetrating insight and sophistication, each author interrogates issues being faced in a different cultural region or on a different societal level. Readers soon become acutely aware of threats and challenges coming from within and without Indian Christianity to engage in democratic practices and processes. In short, this work makes a remarkable contribution to our understandings of Christianity in India." - Prof. Robert Eric Frykenberg, University of Wisconsin - Madison

"At a time when political democracy appears to be in grave crisis across the world this volume makes a case for democracy as a way of life that could foster what Dr Ambedkar described as 'social endosmosis'. Comprising studies of everyday Christian endeavors as these are undertaken by women and Dalit and Adivasi Christians in India, as well as thoughtful and self critical reflections on doctrine, faith and the church structures, the essays in this book point to both productive changes that have taken place in subaltern Christian communities as well as to conflicts and questions to do with hierarchy and authority which remain unresolved. Importantly, the book makes a case for rendering lived democracy a measure of the good and just Christian life. The point is made that it is not enough to bear witness to the truth of the cross and gospel but realise its meaning in and through everyday practices of equality and fraternity." - V Geetha, Independent Scholar, Chennai.

"It is to the credit of the co-editors and contributors to this impressive book that taken-for-granted and over-simplified terms are problematized, interrogated, and evaluated from a variety of perspectives, including the terms "democracy" and "Christianity", not to say anything about the understandings of religion in India. Is there anything particularly democratic in the way Indian Christianity is practiced and how do adherents of various Christian traditions negotiate this? How has the long-convoluted history of Christianity in India been shaped by various missions down the centuries, and what about indigenous agency? Has the seemingly secular nature of the Indian Constitution impacted issues that continue to bedevil Indian Christianity like pervasive patriarchy, unproblematized acceptance of hierarchy, and interfaith interactions which are lived out in the places where people live, work, and worship? What about the persistence of caste oppression within the framework of a religion that prides itself on equality? Can certain forms of worship and prayer be seen as a protest against all manner of injustice and oppression? All these questions and more are thoroughly and frankly addressed in this splendid volume that will be a touchstone in understanding Christianity in India for decades to come." - Rev. Dr. J. Jayakiran Sebastian, Dean and H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures, United Lutheran Seminary | Gettysburg + Philadelphia