Signficance of Contextualization among The Dalits

Significance of Contextualization among The Dalits

Introduction

Contextualization is a dynamic process of the

church’s reflection, in obedience to Christ and his mission

in the world, on the interaction of the text as a specific

human situation. It is essentially a missiological concept.

Contextual theology can be defined as a way of doing

theology in which one takes into account; the spirit and

the gospel; the tradition of the Christian people; the

culture in which one is theologizing; and social change in

that culture, whether brought about by westernization

process or the grass-roots struggle for equality, justice,

and liberation. In today’s understanding of doing theology,

contextualization is part of the very nature of theology

itself. To understand theology as contextual is to assert

something both new and traditional. The one engaged in this

process may be part of the context, or as a cross-cultural

1

communicator, represent a second context in a three-way

process.1

The Term ‘Contextualization’ was first coined by

Contextualization is not a passing trend. It is essential

to our understanding of God’s self-revelation. The

incarnation is the ultimate paradigm of the translation of

the text into context. Jesus Christ, the word of God

incarnate as a Jew, identified with a particular culture at

a limited moment of history though transcending it. He had

shown a supreme model of contextualization; each of his

command was actually a command to contextualization,

whether to love one’s neighbour or to disciple the nation.

The implication of this process is seen in the apostolic

witness and the life of the New Testament church.

Contextualized theology is the dynamic reflection carried

out by the particular church upon its own life in light of

the word of God and historic Christian truth.

1 Anna Ebun Ogunlokun, “Towards the contextualization of Theologyin the Two Thirds World with special reference to the Yoruba tribe ofNigeria”, (M.A. Thesis, Ashin University Korea, 1995), 3.

2

In our study we will consider this effect of

contextualization among the Dalits of South India in the

process of Evangelism. The Dalits were the people who were

actually neglected from all social rights including the

religious rights in India, there were many attempts made by

several missionaries to reach these people to convey the

good news. In order to accomplish this they adapted the

concept of contextual theology among these people and as a

result there had been success stories along with some

failure stories too.

How does the message of the gospel get into the hearts

of people of all of all nations, and how do churches and

church leaders maximize the power of the gospel touching

all the life? While this is ultimately the work of the Holy

Spirit, the responsibility of how to get the message across

lies upon the messenger. The issue at hand therefore is the

way in which the word, as scripture, and the word as

revealed in the truths of culture interact in determining

Christian truth for a given people and place. “Many

conservatives feared that the absolute truths of the gospel3

were in danger of being compromised in what appeared to be

a low view of revelation2. Hence contextualization

biblically based and Holy Spirit led is a requirement for

evangelical mission today, thus the purpose is to show the

Word which became flesh dwell among us.

1. The Emerging Dalit Consciousness

In contemporary India we observe two major socio-

political and cultural processes at work. They may be

classified as the militant Hindu revivalism and the

emerging Dalit consciousness. Behind the rise of Hindutva

and Dalit forces we discover both an attempt to consolidate

and integrate the upper-caste Hindu authority as well as a

culture of protest by the suppressed, oppressed and

marginalized masses of Indian society.

2 Anna Ebun Ogunlokun, 7.4

A. Who are the Dalits?

The word ‘Dalit’ in Sanskrit means ‘broken’,

‘downtrodden’ and comes from a Hebrew root word, dal

meaning broken, crushed or tear asunder. Certain Hindi

versions of the bible have translated the equivalent Hebrew

word, ‘oppressed’ as Dalit. The Dalits are socially weak,

economically needy and politically powerless, despite the

protective discrimination policies followed by the

government under provision of the constitution.3 Dalits,

who constitute almost 20% of the Indian population (200

million), were considered untouchables as a result of the

Hindu understanding of "ritual pollution and purity" Dalits

were not included in the four fold varna (religious

classification) categories.4 At the top were the Brahmins,

who considered themselves as the most ritually pure. Beyond

the pale of society, Dalit were considered extremely

polluted and were assigned occupations such as removal of

dead animals, scavenging and cleaning of the village. They

3 S.M Michael, ‘The Emerging Dalit Consciousness’, IndianMissiological Review vol.17, no 1(March 1995): 5.

4 Arvind P. Nirmal ed, A Reader in Dalit Theology, (Madras: GurukulLuthern Theological College & Research Institute, n.d.), 75.

5

were also landless agricultural labourers and tanners. They

were barred from using village water tanks and public

roads. Temple doors were closed on them.

B. The Social and Economic Conditions

The social conditions of the Dalits would refer to

their circumstances and environment regarding the capacity

and ability of the Dalits to enjoy social equality. The

Hindu social order segregated the Dalits from the rest of

the society to such an extent that they were denied even

the basic human rights that one must enjoy in order to

ensure one’s bare existence. Denials of right to drinking

water from any well and to walk on the road in broad

daylight were some of the notable examples of social

persecution of the Dalits at the hands of the upper-caste

Hindus.5 They were destined to live in the houses on the

outskirts of villages. The economic aspects of the caste

system were sanctified by the Hindu religious structures

one of the unique features of caste systems is that it5 B.L. Mungekar, “The Socio-Economic Conditions of the Dalits”

India Missiological Review, vol 17, no.1 March 1995. P14.6

assigned an occupation not to an individual, but to a group

of individuals, because the Dalits were prevented from

earning and accumulating wealth, which restricted their

needs to the bare existence. This made them to wholly

depend on the upper castes for their economic existence.

C. Dalit Christians

Hinduism is not the religion of the Dalits. To

understand the religion of the Dalits, we must understand

the religion of Mohenjo-Daro. They had and have to this day

the strong concept of a personal transcendent creator God.

However their popular religion gradually degenerated to the

worship of mean spirits and demigods. Dalits whose homeland

is India were made refugees in their own land by the

aggressive invasion of the Aryans (one of the Race in

India). Dalits who had maintained their own unique culture

and heritage were robbed by the intruders. Even up to this

day, the Dalits are the modern day slaves and holocaust

victims through the cruelest system of the caste. The term7

Dalit Christian (sometimes Christian Dalit) is used to

describe those low-caste Hindus who have converted to

Christianity from Hinduism and are still categorized as

Dalits in Hindu, Christian and Islamic societies in India

and other countries with population of Hindus. Usually in

India anybody after conversion they lose any privileges

they had in their former caste, while those in lower castes

often gain more opportunities. Since Christianity is

theoretically without castes, many Dalits choose

Christianity as their religion and got converted; this is

still a controversial issue in India. Dalits accepted the

new faith in Jesus Christ with some hope that they would

regain their lost humanity and they would be considered as

God’s children. But in reality, it is only a dream. As

Christians, they continue to suffer and live all human

misery both in the society and in the church. The Dalit

Christians  suffer the same socio educational and economic

disabilities like the Dalits of the other faith.  The

change of Religion does not change their social, economical

8

and educational status6. It is evident that the Dalit

Christians are subject to atrocities, violence and

disabilities solely because they suffer the sigma of the

Untouchability.  Most of the Dalits whether they are the

Hindus or the Christians, they often live together side by

side, while the other Caste people, the Hindus or the

Christians live separately.

The church in India is a Dalit church, because 70% of

India’s 25 million Christians are Dalits7.  Although Dalits

form the majority in all these churches, yet their place

and influence in these churches is minimal or even

insignificant. Their presence is totally covered by the

power of the upper-caste Christians who are only 30% of the

Christian population. This is all the more true in the case

of the Catholic Church where such discrimination is

strongly felt. Though Christianity is an egalitarian6 “Cast Identity Within The Church: Twice Alienation” , [article

on-line]; available from http://www.dalitchristians.com/Html/CasteChurch.htm; Internet; accessed 14 May 2009.

7 “Cast Identity Within The Church: Twice Alienation”, [article on-line]; available from http://www.dalitchristians.com/Html/CasteChurch.htm; Internet; accessed 14 May 2009

9

religion, the caste system found its way into it in India.

Dalit Christians within the church were discriminated

against and were denied powers within the ecclesiastical

structure8. Although Dalit Christians constituted

approximately 70% of the Indian Christian population they

were marginalized and ignored. The Catholic Archbishop

George Zur, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India finds that:

Though Catholics of the lower caste and tribes form 60per cent of Church membership they have no place indecision-making. Scheduled caste converts are treatedas lower caste not only by high caste Hindus but byhigh caste Christians too. In rural areas they cannotown or rent houses, however well-placed they may be.Separate places are marked out for them in the parishchurches and burial grounds. Inter-caste marriages arefrowned upon and caste tags are still appended to theChristian names of high caste people. Casteism isrampant among the clergy and the religious. ThoughDalit Christians make 65 per cent’ of the 10 millionChristians in the South, less than 4 per cent of theparishes are entrusted to Dalit priests. There are noDalits among 13 Catholic Bishops of Tamilnadu or amongthe Vicars-general and rectors of seminaries anddirectors of social assistance centres9.

8 George Oomen, “The Emerging Dalit Theology: A HistoricalAppraisal”, Indian Church History Review Vol. XXXIV, No 1 (June 2000, pp):19-37.

9 James Massey, Dalits in India: Religion as a Source of Bondage or Liberation withSpecial Reference to Christians, (New Delhi: Manohar, 1995), 82.

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At the outset it should be noted that the emergence of

Dalit Christian Theology in India is intrinsically linked

to more recent and significant developments within the

Dalit Movement in India from the 70s. A Series of attempts

and initiatives began in the early eighties to

systematically articulate the faith in the context of the

newly emerging Dalit aspiration for liberation. As theology

predominantly became a vehicle to serve the elite

interests, marginalizing the Dalits’ faith, Dalit theology

manifested itself as a counter-theology movement. Both the

European missionary movement and the traditional Indian

Christian Theology of the 20th Century were rejected as

metaphysical speculations having nothing to do directly

with the history and existence of the marginalized majority

within the Indian Church.

D. Dalit Christian Theology

The Dalits have no religion of their own to claim,

they are entirely denied to recognize themselves under any

existing religion in India, and it was first the Christian11

missionaries who tried to identify their miserable state

and took the initiation to reach them with the good news of

Jesus. In the first step they were to analyze the social

state of these Dalits and make ways to provide their

fundamental needs for basic living, to do this they adapted

the contextualizing policy by trying to identify themselves

as one among them. As some Indian theologians tried to do

this by putting themselves in the Dalit’ shoes it resulted

in “The Dalit Theology”.

Dalit theology manifested itself as a counter-theology

movement. Re-formulation and re-visioning were the

objectives rather than reconstruction and deconstruction. A

Series of attempts and initiatives began in the early

eighties to systematically articulate the faith in the

context of the newly emerging Dalit aspiration for

liberation. A.P. Nirmal, James Massey, M.E. Prabhakar, M.

Azariah, K. Wilson, V. Devasahayam and F.J. Balasundaram

are some of the prominent persons who figure in this

theological movement.10 For Dalit theologians God is10 Arvind P. Nirmal, ed, A Reader in Dalit Theology,(Madras: Gurukul

Luthern Theological College & Research Institute, n.d.), n a.12

clearly a Dalit God. God, who reveals himself, both through

the prophets and Jesus Christ, is a God of the Dalits. The

servant God, a God who identifies with the servant-hood of

Dalits, is perceived by Dalit theologians as Dalit God.

From the above we can see clearly that the Dalit

theology is an attempted contextual theology, the

theologians who pursued this way finally ended up in

claiming that God himself is a Dalit God, which means a

rejected, oppressed and out casted God. Jesus’ tilt towards

the poor and the marginalized, tax-collectors, prostitutes

and lepers, portrays Jesus as God incarnated as a Dalit.

Dalit Christian theology actually developed in the

wake of the emergence of liberation theology in South

America and black theology in the USA. All these theologies

are a counter to the colonialist, western Christian

theology, which is highly individualistic and does not take

history, especially that of the oppressed, seriously. But

what marks Dalit Christian theology out is the centrality

it gives to the question of caste and caste oppression,

which is unique to India. Caste is an important category in13

Dalit Christian theology in analysing social oppression11.

This should be seen in the light of the fact that the

leadership of the Indian Christian Church sought to

convince its own members that everyone was equal in Jesus

Christ, that we are all part of the body of Christ, despite

the existence of gross discrimination against the Dalits

inside the Church itself. What Dalit theology began to do

was to force the Church to recognise this discrimination

and oppression of the Dalit Christians.

The argument of God being preferentially intertwined

with the lives, experiences and struggles of the Dalits was

seen as the source of Dalit theology. So the message that

was put across very forcefully was that a genuinely Indian

Christian theology was not simply about celebration and

joy, but was also rooted in the sufferings of the Dalits.

Dalit theology affirms the identity of the Dalits before

God as people among whom God is working for struggling

against oppression. Today, many Dalit communities are

11 Sathianathan Clarke & Yoginder Sikand, “Dalit Theology”,[article on-line]; available fromhttp://www.countercurrents.org/sikand071007.htm ; Internet; accessed16 May 2009.

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beginning to feel empowered by claiming their Dalit-ness

and using

that as a means of protesting against iniquitous Church

structures as well as a means for expressing their

identities and their special relationship with God. On the

other hand, many Dalit Christians themselves have not

responded positively to the emergence of Dalit theology.

Dalit theology has another important role--that of

empowering Dalit communities to reclaim their positionality

in a way that could lead them to bring out their own

experiences and expresses them in their own symbolic modes

2. Evangelization among Dalits

The existence of the so-called

“untouchables” or the Dalits is a heavy and embarrassing

burden for India. In recent years America has done away

with the colour bar against persons of African origin and

South Africa has abolished apartheid. But still India

tenaciously holds on to the caste system which for the

majority of the Hindus is also an excuse to observe un-15

touchability against a large part of their fellow citizens.

A new hope dawned for the untouchables with the

arrivals of the Christian missionaries who came in the wake

of the Portuguese and, later, of the British colonizers.

Soon other countries also sent missionaries.12But initially

catholic as well as protestant missionaries ignored the low

caste and untouchables and concentrated on the higher and

dominant castes and classes in the hope that by their

conversion first the lower caste would soon follow their

lead and move in to the church. By this they were mistaken,

it took the Christian missionaries a long time to find this

out, they also made another mistake that; they preached the

Christian faith in a foreign costume. Jesus Christ is not a

monopoly of the West. He is equally for India too. There he

is to be presented not in Western robes and image, but in

terms and thought - forms intelligible to the Indian mind.

Sadhu Sunder Singh's Christocentric theology is a conscious

attempt toward this13.

12 Stephen Fuchs, “Evangelization among Dalits”, India missiologicalReview vol 17, no.1 (March 1995): 32.

13 Ibid, p36.16

At last when the Christian missionaries turned

towards the low castes and untouchables, and started

preaching to them the results of their apostolate remained

reasonable. This they were able to do by first trying to

study their culture and practice of life style, the Dalits

were the people who could accept any religion which could

set them free from the bondage of casteism and oppression,

hence the Christian missionaries presented the

Incarnational aspect of Jesus who came to set man free from

any bondage, this was readily welcomed by the Dalits and

the Gospel seemed to them as something which is relevant to

their life situation and they saw Jesus as God who came to

liberate them. This method of contextualizing the gospel

without hindering the meta-cultural essence of gospel the

missionaries were successful in evangelizing the Dalits.

A. Beginning of Christian Mission among the Dalits

Today the Christians are the third major religious

community in the order of numerical strength in India,

comprising about 2.4% of the total population. Te17

strongholds of the Christians are in the southern states of

India where we find more than 60% of the total Christian

population14.

Christian mission is to continue to live, and

communicate the saving love of God in Jesus Christ to all;

the church is to be a living sign of that divine love in

such a way as to render it the norm of life for all. This

mission, Christ’s own, is one of love because in him it

finds its source, goal, and way of proceeding. Mission work

started in North India during the 1813 when a group of

missionaries of the American Board of Foreign missions

landed in Bombay. In Ahmadabad district and many parts of

Maharashtra the Americans missionaries were the first to

start work among the Dalits in midst of naturally created

problems from the higher caste Hindus. In 1873 a missionary

of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG)15,

one of the overseas agencies of the Church of England

started his work. The Dalits that existed in that place

14 Stephen Fuchs, 38.15 Traude Pillai-Vetschera, “The Impact of Christianity on the

Mahars of Maharashtra”, India missiological Review, vol 17, no.1(March 1995):44.

18

were called as the ‘Mahars’ these were brought out from the

bondage of enslavement into the Christian faith by the

missionaries by first presenting the gospel in their

culturally relevant method, i.e. the gospel was

contextualized in the form of folk songs and drams, and

“some of the scholarly missionaries even attempted a

theological scrutiny of the local religion and made use of

the local language for articulating their gospel

message”16. The Mahars were ready to listen to a song and a

message which promised them liberation and salvation, and

the love of God to the oppressed and downtrodden was seen

by the Mahars as something which they did not find in other

high caste gods, with this approach the Dalits were sure of

having a God whom they can own and have relationship unlike

the other Hindu gods, The missionaries were successful in

this method of evangelism and were able to bring many

Dalits to Christ.

B. The Impact of Christian Mission on the Dalits16 Krickwin C. Marak and Plamthodathil S. Jacob eds, Conversion in a

Pluralistic Context: Perspectives and Perceptions, (Delhi: ISPCK, 2004), 87-91.19

The work of Christian missionaries from the sixteenth

century onwards brought a new situation for the

untouchables of India. Religious conversion became a means

to reject the hierarchical social structure of Hindu

society. By the outset of World War I approximately one

million untouchables had converted to Christianity and many

more were to follow in the 1920’, the reason for this is

that “The untouchables saw in Christianity the possibility

of human betterment, of education, of concern, help in the

crises of famine, floods and droughts and ‘friends in

court’; they could also begin to see, as time went on, the

differences that becoming a Christian made and did not make

in the lives of those who had converted.”17 In general the

Christian mission has given a positive impact on the life

of the oppressed Dalits.

What made the missionaries to reach to these Dalits

were the basic understanding of their lifestyle and

culture, as culture is related to values and visions, which

are externally manifested through the symbols and17 J. Neuner, S.J, “The Fullness of Revelation”, Vidyajyoti Journal of

Theological Reflection vol 65, (January to December 2001): 17.20

structures of society. Contextualization and dialogue in

this context would mean respecting the multi-cultural and

ideological variety of Indian traditions. The missionaries

were able to adopt this culture and context in a way that

paved way for them to take the gospel to these so called

out castes in a way that did not hamper their culture or

life style but only added value to their belief system. The

Christian missions not only did evangelism in contextual

method but also associated themselves with the Dalits in

concerning for their basic needs and social rights which

made them friendlier with the Dalits.

C. Dalit Mass Movements to Christianity

With the impact of Christianity, Dalits who accepted

their lot at the bottom of Hindu society until the late

nineteenth century perceived an increasing opportunity to

move out of the old oppressive order. So a large number of

Dalits began to embrace Christianity. Following this the

missionaries started to establish churches in cross-

cultural environment and introduced the concept of21

evangelism.

Churches planted by missionary organizations can, in

fact achieve all the features of indigenity, certainly most

exiting movements of mission in India is the way the

churches are taking up the task of evangelization.

Contextualization was seen as mission centred which means

the good news is for every person and must be communicated

with that every person in mind here the Dalits. Normally

evangelization is, by and large understood as bringing

people into the church. ‘Evangelization should no more be

considered solely as a work of conversion. Evangelization

includes not only religious and spiritual uplift of the

people but also their physical and economic development.’18

The reasons for the Dalit mass movement to

Christianity is, because of the missionaries effort to

contextualize the good news i.e. the cultural aspects of

the Dalits were respected at first and the reality of God’s

saving power and the promise of equality and love was

emphasized. Missionaries were successful among the18 Dominic George, “Religious Fundamentalism and a Secular

Spirituality”, Indian missiological Review vol. 19, no 1(March 1996): 46.22

outcastes (Dalits) because they allowed them to stay within

their cultural values which were ethically proved and the

adherence to one’s own social customs, food habits,

clothing habits etc19. This kind of approach was the needed

assurance to the lives of the Dalits.

3. The Dalit Church’s Mission – A Dalit perspective

The simple fact that 70-80% of the Christian

population in India are from the Dalit community goes to

show that the missionary movement started from the west in

the modern period and the ministry of the churches in this

country largely centred on this group. Let us see some of

the natures how these missionaries carried out their work

amongst the Dalits to present the gospel.

A. Nature of the Early Mission to the Dalits

Two broad features characterized the early mission to

the Dalits throughout India. In the first place it provided

them a new self-understanding of themselves and of the19 Krickwin C. Marak and Plamthodathil S. Jacob eds, Conversion in a

Pluralistic Context: Perspectives and Perceptions”, (Delhi: ISPCK, 2004), 96.23

society around them with a new set of faith concepts,

religious symbols and practices which contrasted with their

traditional self-image as some sort of inferior human

beings. Secondly there was an element of social empowerment

as many missionaries stood by the untouchables in resisting

their traditional oppressors and asserting their civil

rights. The response of the Dalits to this form of mission

was tremendous and overwhelming the establishment of the

churches attracted lot of people, it was part of a

modernizing social process. It provided opportunity for

English education, a more rational approach to life and

problems as members of the church, and a path to social

upward mobility.

B. The Nature of Mission to the Dalits Today

Today the church can enhance its mission to the Dalits

in co-operating with them in their struggle for liberation

from the upper class religious clutches by participating in

the Religious Empowerment struggles and try to

contextualize the gospel to help them understand the24

liberating act of God. The incarnation aspect of Christ can

open the way for contextualization. This can take us to the

centre of what God did in Christ; reverently we can speak

of the humanization of the son of God, the coming of God

into the living context of people, himself as a ‘person’.

The very mind of Christ Jesus motivates and illuminates

what we are expected to do in mission. He emptied himself,

taking the form of a servant. Evangelization of the worlds’

people is no longer a burden borne only by the west but as

we move into the next century, it will increasingly be the

new churches of the Third world that will be taking a

strong initiative.20 Regardless of what the particular

ethnic group be it the Dalits, the imperialistic missionary

style no longer fit’s today’s mission. There is much of

great value in the culture that receives the missionary,

these values actually becomes the conducts for transmission

of the good news of Jesus Christ. Contextualization focuses

on categories of truths, that can be “read” from the

culture and which correspond to the Biblical revelation.

20 Anna Ebun Ogunlokun, 11.25

4. Contextualization – The Need and the Scope

Contextualization is not something that is to be left

only in theory with definitions and explanations, we should

also make it possible to be applied in the areas of

complexity where there is hindrance to the gospel because

of the non-understanding of its metacultural aspects, hence

how this can be presented without hindering the essence of

the gospel and in what areas it can be made and its

advantages are dealt below.

A. Why Contextualization?

The very fact that we speak about contextualization

implies that our faith and life are not fully inserted into

Indian culture, or in other words, that the Christian and

religious life of Indian remain something foreign to India.

For the production of any creative work we have to be truly

rooted in our tradition. In India everything has an inborn

nature with it, whether it is culture, tradition, language,

religion or life style. Hesselgrave defines

Contextualization as: The communication of the Christian26

message in a way that is faithful to God’s revelation

especially as it is put forth in the teaching of the Holy

Scriptures, which is meaningful to respondents in their

respective cultural and existential contexts21. With this

understanding even in India among the Dalits the gospel has

to be contextualized in a way it is reachable even to the

unreachable despite the barriers. Contextualization is

necessary to present the gospel transparently and make it

convenient in such a way; it is understandable by anybody,

anywhere.

B. Areas of Contextualization

Contextualization should affect the whole of our life,

it should result from a life lived as Christians true to

our cultures. The basic attitude therefore is one of love

and respect for one’s own cultural heritage. The expression

in different areas of life will automatically follow. Let

us see some areas where Contextualization can be

effectively applied in Indian context:21 Hesselgrave, D.J & Rommen E, Contextualization: Meaning, Method and

Models, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), 143.27

1. Dress, behaviour and lifestyle of the missionary.

2. Types of development projects, which if

inappropriate, might be interpreted as motivation by the

non-Christian community.

3. Language, including the Scripture translation, used

in evangelism and worship.

4. Thought patterns and communication style as found

in the new culture (e.g. story-telling or use of indigenous

music).

5. Initial selection, sequence, and emphasis of

certain aspects of the gospel relevant to any culture.

(e.g. the different way the early apostles shared the

gospel with Jews versus the way they shared it with

Gentiles).

6. Worship posture and expression in prayer, music or

formal discourse, allowing for various forms. We need to be

careful, however, that we do not overlook the delicate

relationship between form and meaning. We should avoid

accidentally encouraging a form or practice which is

perceived by the worshiper or his unconverted contacts as28

having a meaning which is in conflict with Biblical truth.

(e.g. Certain kinds of music in Indian culture are related

to evil practices. The posture of prayer may be much more

significant for a Hindu than for a former Catholic.)

7. Discipling and training methods, keeping in mind

the past experiences and future needs of new converts.

8. Church organization and government, allowing

various forms.

C. Contextualization as Integral Evangelization

We can see contextualization today in a wider

perspective; culture means the totality of the life of a

people. Contextualization therefore can be seen in the

light of the word of God present among men expressing it in

different cultures and transforming them. Through the

incarnation the word made flesh is at work, here and now,

not only in Christianity but in other religions and

cultures as well. The kingdom is already present and not

yet. Our human effort aims at bringing this presence to

fulfilment or hastening the coming of the kingdom. The task29

of the church is to be seen as transforming the world not

only in the spiritual and religious dimensions but in all

the aspects of life, this is integral contextualization.

Thus contextualization will lead to the building up of a

just society, the kingdom of God.

D. Contextualization as a Theological Imperative

Contextual theology can be defined as a way of doing

in which one takes into account; the spirit and the gospel;

the tradition of the Christian people; the culture in which

one is theologizing; and social change in that culture,

whether brought about by western technological process or

the grass-roots struggle for equality, justice, and

liberation. In today’s understanding of doing theology,

contextualization is part of the very nature of theology

itself. To understand theology as contextual is to assert

something both new and traditional22.

22 Stephen B. Beavans, Models of Contextual Theology, (New York: Orbis

Books, 2008), 3.30

The classical theology conceived theology as a kind of

objective science of faith, whereas contextual theology

understands the nature of theology in a new way. Theology

that is contextual realizes that culture, history,

contemporary thought forms, and so forth are to be

considered, along with scripture and tradition, as valid

sources for theological expression. Classical theology

understood theology as objective, contextual theology

understands theology as unabashedly subjective. As our

cultural and historical context plays a part in the

construction of the reality in which we live, so our

context influences our understanding of God and the

expression of our faith. The enterprise of

contextualization is a departure from the traditional way

of doing theology, it is something new, but at the same

time contextualization is also very traditional. The

theology of the 16th and 17th centuries, both protestant and

catholic, was nothing if not contextual

E. Why Theology must be Contextual Today?31

There are two set of factors that point to this question.

First the External factor: Historical events, intellectual

currents, cultural shifts, and political forces, these

external factors bring to light certain internal factors

within Christian faith itself that point to the possibility

and necessity of doing theology in context.

Second the Internal factors: These are much more important

than the external, since they point to a contextual

imperative within Christianity itself

External Factors

There is a general dissatisfaction, in both the first

and the third worlds, with classical approaches to

theology. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, Christians are

becoming increasingly convinced that traditional approaches

to theology do not really make sense within their own

cultural patterns and thought forms. The other external

reason why theology today is to be contextualized is the

oppressive nature of older approaches. The growing identity

of local churches is contributing to the necessity of the

development of truly contextual theologies.32

Internal Factors

The internal factors brought to light by the forces of

history and the movements of the times, are really dynamics

within Christianity itself, and are particularly strong

arguments for a theology that takes culture and cultural

change seriously as it attempts to understand Christian

faith.

The first of these internal factors is the

incarnational nature of Christianity. That is, if the

message of God becoming man is to continue to touch people

through our agency, we have to continue the incarnation

process through us, God must become Asian or African, black

or brown, poor or sophisticated etc., If Christianity is

to be faithful to its deepest roots and most basic insight,

must continue God’s incarnation in Jesus by becoming

contextual.

The second internal factor is the sacramental nature

of reality. Encounter with God in Jesus continue to take

place in our world through concrete things. Even the

ordinary things of life are so transparent of God’s33

presence; one can speak of culture and events in history of

contexts as truly sacramental and so revelatory. The

sacramental nature of a particular context is not something

radically new. The whole movement of the Bible is one of

interpreting the ordinary, the secular, in terms of

religious symbolism. This is the continuing task of

theology; to reveal God’s presence in a truly sacramental

world.

Theology today must be contextual theology. Pluralism

in theology, as well as on every level of Christian life,

must not only be tolerated; it must be positively

encouraged and cultivated. Evangelization must speak to

every aspect of human life, it must be aimed at

illuminating and transforming men and women as they are.

Contextualization is not something on the fringes of the

theological enterprise. It is at the very centre of what it

means to do theology in today’s world. Hence

contextualization in other words, is a theological

imperative23.

23 Stephen B. Beavans, 15.34

F. Advantages of Contextualization

Contextualization can be considered as the mode for

the mission enterprise today and for the future. Contextual

principles begin the moment when the first message is

preached and continues through the planting, nurturing and

witness of the church.

Contextualization guards against the Imperialism of

Theology: The churches planted by missionary organizations

can, in fact achieve all the features of indigenity and

still never have the ownership of the members’ own

convictions, it is the spirit of missions today that all

Christians be able to process, reflect upon and organize

Biblical truth so that the book and truth become their own.

Contextualization cultivates a mission-conscious

church: when we say that contextualization is mission

centred, we are speaking of the incarnational aspect of the

gospel, which means the good news is for every person.

Contextualization Fosters the Growth

and Multiplication of Churches: churches that are not35

contextualized seem strange to the believers of that

society. It can be recognized that if people are to be won

to Christ in any considerable numbers, they must be

approached with the gospel on their own terms.

36

Conclusion

In order to present the good news of Jesus Christ to

those of the Hindu (Dalit) fold. Indian Christians are

compelled to go beyond both cultural and theological

contextualization in modern India. There are some who

consider only the religious aspects as the relevant sphere,

while others deal only with the ideological aspect. Thus

far a wholistic contextualization, taking into

consideration the total pre-understanding of the receptor,

has not been attempted in India. Perhaps of even greater

weight is the fact of the ‘coming world culture’. Whether

we like it or not we are being caught up in ‘the current of

the single world history’ which is huddling us together as37

neighbours to one another in one global village, this is a

new fact particular to our time. In India it is becoming

increasingly difficult to identify what a Hindu culture is,

like many others the modern India is in a cultural vacuum

or at least in a multi-cultural situation.

In Indi there is a vast plurality of cultures, even to

the point of contradiction. Thus we find in India a very

highly developed expression of Hindu culture side by side

with the most primitive and popular expressions of the

same. The plurality of faces, languages, religions and

life-styles in India are unparalleled in the history of

mankind within comparable geographical and national limits.

The church today must understand, recognize and appreciate

the values of Indian cultures irrespective of the class and

race. Every cultural group has some enduring values. It is

the duty of the church to discover this and bring to

fullness of all the riches that God has hidden in creation

and history. Thus contextualization here is meant as the

process of showing the Bible to be meaningful and relevant

to the receiver in whatever culture/context he may be, in38

order that he may truly discover what the Bible has to say

to him.

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