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Liberative Service: A Comparative Theological Reflection on Dalit Theology's Service and Swami Vivekananda's Seva Author: Christopher Robert Conway Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:103548 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2014 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Theology LIBERATIVE SERVICE: A COMPARATIVE THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON DALIT THEOLOGY’S SERVICE AND SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S SEVA a dissertation by CHRISTOPHER ROBERT CONWAY submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2014 © Copyright by Christopher Robert Conway 2014 ii Liberative Service: A Comparative Theological Reflection on Dalit Theology’s Service and Swami Vivekananda’s Seva Christopher Robert Conway Dr. Catherine Cornille Abstract: This dissertation offers a comparative theological reflection on Dalit Christian theology—a contextual, liberation theology rooted in the Dalit communities’ experiences of caste-based oppression—and Swami Vivekananda—the late 19th c. Neo-Vedantin and founder of the Ramkrishna Math and Mission. It seeks to provide a model of Dalit liberative service that attends to the theology’s objectives—identity affirmation and a liberative social vision—works to foster liberative partnerships beyond the Dalit Christian community, and responds to the critical, but constructive assessment of Dalit theology offered by its present generation of theologians. As a work in comparative theology, it does so through a close, reflective reading of Swami Vivekananda, his Practical Vedanta, and his own reworking of sevā (devotional service). The intent is not to present Vivekananda as a corrective, but rather to see newly and understand differently the dimensions of liberative service that are made manifest by seeing and understanding how sevā performs in Vivekananda’s thought and how it there leads to spiritual and social liberation. These dimensions include recovering by uncovering the imago Dei in Dalit theology, re-presenting liberative service as representing the Kingdom of God, and service understood as doubly and mutually liberating. While Chapter Five presents the fruits of this comparative theological reflection on Dalit Christian theology and Swami Vivekananda, the preceding four chapters provide the necessary foundation for this engagement. The first and second chapters address the iii historical and theological development of Dalit Christian theology presenting its origins in the Modern Maharashtran Dalit Movement and the Indian Christian context, respectively. The third and fourth examine Vivekananda’s development of Practical Vedanta and sevā. Together they provide the content from which and through which this comparative theological reflection occurs. iv Acknowledgements I have had the good fortune to have been accompanied by so many fine folks throughout this dissertation. Their guidance and support sustained me during the tough times, and their humor and joy provided me with many good times as well. As a collective they have seen me through to this point, and I so am grateful. As individuals the have shaped, challenged, and comforted me, and so am I am blessed to have had them alongside of me. Let me begin by thanking my committee without whom this dissertation would not have been possible: my director Dr. Catherine Cornille and my readers Drs. Francis X. Clooney, S.J. and Roberto Goizueta. Their support for and insight into this project has been immense as has their patience and kindness been towards me. I was fortunate to have such a distinguished class of scholars serving on my committee, but even more fortunate to have such a remarkable class of persons. Thank you also to my CT professors and classmates at Boston College for great conversations and friendships: Professors Ruth Langer, John Makransky, and Jim Morris; my current classmates Gregory Baker, Tim Carey, Stephanie Corigliano, Won-Jae Hur, Neil Hutton, Kevin Johnson, Emma O’Donnell, Jillian Stout Maxey, Glenn Willis, and Jen Wade; and those who have gone on Bede Bidlack, Karen Enriquez, and Bagus Laksana, S.J. The BC CT area also provided funding for my research in India for which I am most grateful. A special thanks to Erik Ranstrom with whom I entered this program and who has been a great friend ever since. Thank you to my many wonderful professors and classmates in the BC Theology department, and especially Professors M. Shawn Copeland, Mary Ann Hinsdale, Fred Lawrence, Jim Kennan, S. J., John McDargh, Erik Owens, Steve Pope, and Margaret Schatkin; and classmates Kim Bauser, Tom Fraatz, Daryn Henry, Megan McCabe, Autumn Ridenour, and Bobby Rivera. Thank you also to all the members of my cohort. Thank you to my current flatmates: Kirstin Farchaus, Aaron Fix, Amanda Gallinat, and our Boston Terrier Maebe. One could not ask for better persons to live with. Thank you to my former Newman Housemates: Kevin Ahearn, Rob Broderick, Megan Courtney, John Edwards, Nichole Flores-Henry, Meghan Lovett, Stephen Okey, Amanda Osheim, Nicole Reibe, and Aaron Taylor. It was a joy to live in community with you. Thank you to my friends in the wider Boston College community including my regular noontime basketball group, Dr. Craig Burns, and members of BC Econ Department: Samson Alva, Rosella Calvi, Farooq Pasha, Geoff Sanzenbacher, and Meg Skira. And to my friends in the Great Boston Area: Doug Ballas, Alex Daigle, John Henderson, Ann and Justin Palmer, Iyar Mazar, Liz Shea, and V. Lee Stephenson. v Thank you to my professors and classmates from Princeton Theological Seminary: Professors Luis Rivera-Pagan, Herman Tull, and Richard Fox Young, and my classmates Jessica Bratt, Jamey Heit, Scott Haile, Amanda Ihan Joe Kramp, Larry Stratton, and Clay Stauffer. A special thanks to Jeff Meyers, my pastor and friend, and Pangernungba and his family, who first introduced to me to Dalit theology and hosted me in Nagaland. Thank you as well to all those from Georgetown University. Thank you to the faculty and staff at United Theological College in Bangalore: Professors Peniel Rajkumar and Joseph Dayam Prabhakar both of whom were very generous with their time; Jai Singh and Balakrishnan Kathamuthu and his family for their hospitality and prayers. They all made my time in India productive and transformative. Thank you also to Chinna Devaraj and Swami Tyagananda both who from Boston provided me with many contacts in India. Thank you to all my friends from Louisville, KY: Joseph Ardery, Omar Kahn, Chris Kosfled, Greg May, Chris Stege, Greg Wirtzberger and Andrew Wobbee. A special thanks the Agrawal family: Arpit, Nirmesh, Nirmala, and Mahesh who first introduced me to the beauty and truth in Hinduism. Thank you to Margaret Nuzzolese whose support and encouragement saw me through to the end and for whom I am ever thankful. To the many others I have forgotten, my thanks and my apologies. Finally, thank you to my family whose love made this all possible. My sister Margaret, my brother-in-law Jack, my niece Eleanor, my nephew John, and my grandmother Ruth. To my father, Peter, who has been my rock, and to my mother, Lorrie, a fount of love, I dedicate this dissertation: non potest ut filius istarum lacrimarum pereat. vi vii Table of Contents Abstract . iii Acknowledgements . v Introduction Dalit Theology: Then and Now . 1 Why Swami Vivekananda? . 6 Swami Vivekananda, Dalit Theology, Comparative Theology . 8 Swami Vivekananda, Dalit Theology, and I . 9 Conclusion the Road Ahead . 13 Chapter One In the Beginning: The Origins of Dalit Theology and the ‘Dalit’ of Dalit Christianity Introduction . 17 Towards the Beginning of ‘a’ Theology . 18 From Whence Dalit Theology: The History of a Beginning . 20 The Maharashtran Influence: The ‘Dalit’ of Dalit Christianity Jyotiba Phule: Recovering a History . 30 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Raising a Conscious . 40 Dalit Sahitya: Making a Name . 55 The Dalit Panthers: Taking it to the Streets . 65 Dalit Christian Theology: Taking a Historical Consciousness and a Name to the Church . 72 Conclusion . 73 ix Chapter Two Dalit Christian Theology and Pathos: The Painful Need for a Pain-filled Theology Introduction . 75 Looking Back and Looking Ahead . 76 A New Way of Doing Indian Christian Theology The Mass Movement of Dalit Conversion . 79 The Rise of (Traditional) Indian Christian Theology . 85 Dalit Theology: A Response to Indian Christian Theology and ‘Other Theologies’ . 92 Dalit Theology and Dalit Identity . 101 A Suffering Identity . 107 The Problem with the Pathos Paradigm . 118 Moving Forward Dalit Theology in a Comparative Key . 131 Conclusion . 136 Chapter Three Swami Vivekananda’s Practical and Synthetic Vedanta Introduction . 139 Swami Vivekananda: Biographical Sketch . 144 Family and Schooling (1863- 1881) . 145 With the Brāhmos and Sri Ramakrishna (1881 – 1886) . 151 After Ramakrishna: The Math and Travels through India (1886 – 1892) . 160 Swami Vivekananda Abroad: The United States and England (1893 – 1897) . 167 x Swami Vivekananda and Vedānta: Synthetic Vedānta and Practical Vedānta as Synthetic Vedānta . 170 Vedānta as Practical Vedanta . 178 Practical Vedanta and Ethics . 182 Practical Vedanta and Adhikāra . 197 Conclusion . 209 Chapter Four Jīva Sevā: Swami Vivekananda’s Program of Social and Spiritual Uplift Introduction . 213 The Origins of Jīva Sevā . 214 Jīva Sevā: The Development of an Idea . 234 Jīva Sevā: A Reworking of Sevā in Theory and Practice . 252 Vivekananda’s Sevā and Vaiṣṇavism . 257 Jīva Sevā: Identity Affirmation and Liberative Social Vision Identity Affirmation . 270 Liberative Social Vision . 277 Conclusion . 285 Chapter Five Dalit Liberative Service and Swami Vivekananda’s Sevā: A Comparative Theological Reflection Introduction . 287 Dalit Theology in the Twenty-first Century . 288 In The Beginning: Dalit Theology and the Modern Dalit Movement . 292 Rethinking Dalit Theology in and for the Twenty-first Century: Identity and Exclusivism . 299 xi Dalit Theology and Strategic Essentialism . 308 Dalit Theology and Methodological Exclusivism .
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