Decolonizing the Body of Christ

Postcolonialism and Religions

The Postcolonialism and Religions series by its very name bridges the secular with the sacred through hybrid, interstitial, and contrapuntal inquiries. The series features the scholarship of indigenous scholars working at the intersections of postcolonial theories, theologies, and religions. The editors welcome authors around the world in an effort to move beyond and interrogate a historical North American and Eurocentric postcolonial studies disciplinary dominance. The series seeks to foster subaltern voices especially from Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the liquid continent. J. Jayakiran Sebastian is a presbyter of the Church of South India and H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He has served as professor and chairperson of the Department of Theology and Ethics at the United Theological College in Bangalore. Joseph F. Duggan is a presbyter in The Episcopal Church and an Episcopal Church Foundation Academic Fellow. He is the founder of Postcolonial Networks and the Journal of Postcolonial Networks.

Decolonizing the Body of Christ: Theology and Theory after Empire? Edited by David Joy and Joseph F. Duggan Decolonizing the Body of Christ Theology and Theory after Empire?

Edited by David Joy and Joseph F. Duggan DECOLONIZING THE BODY OF CHRIST Copyright © David Joy and Joseph F. Duggan, 2012. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-00289-1 All rights reserved. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-43405-3 ISBN 978-1-137-02103-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137021038 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Decolonizing the body of Christ : theology and theory after empire? / edited by David Joy and Joseph F. Duggan. p. cm.—(Postcolonialism and religions) Proceedings of a conference held May 2, 2008 in Manchester, England.

1. Religion and politics—Congresses. 2. Christianity and politics— Congresses. 3. Postcolonialism—Congresses. 4. Political theology— Congresses. I. Joy, David II. Duggan, Joseph F., 1966– BL65.P7D43 2012 202—dc23 2011050881 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: July 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

United Theological College (UTC) was established as a mark of ecumenical thinking in 1910 along with Edinburgh. It produced many national and international theologians and leaders who influenced the thinking of postcolonial theologies. It passed through three main stages, namely, colonial leadership, nationalistic leadership, and the postcolonial era. UTC always listens to indigenous voices and cultures. This page intentionally left blank C o n t e n t s

Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Duncan B. Forrester Introduction to Postcolonialism and Religions Series xiii Joseph F. Duggan Introduction xxi David Joy

Part I Decolonizing the Sources 1 Decolonizing the Bible, Church, and Jesus: A Search for an Alternate Reading Space for the Postcolonial Context 3 David Joy 2 Decolonizing Marital Gender Norms in Eph. 5:21–33 25 Jayachitra Lalitha 3 “ Pierced by the Curved End of a Rainbow” : Decolonizing the Body of the Martyr 35 J. Jayakiran Sebastian 4 Decolonizing the Formulation of Scripture: A Postcolonial Reading of Genesis 12, 20, and 26 53 Naveen Rao

Part II Decolonizing Relations Between Theology and Theory 5 Postmodernity, Postcoloniality, and Religious Cultures 67 Simi Malhotra 6 Theologies of, for, and by Asians: Reformulating Dialogue 79 Sharon A. Bong viii Contents

7 Allama Muhammad Iqbal: Poet-Philosopher and the Dangers of Appropriation 107 Masood Ashraf Raja

Part III Decolonizing Contexts 8 Diaspora and Kenosis as Postcolonial Themes 127 Mark G. Brett 9 Discourses of Learning and Love: Sufi Paths in Pakistan 141 Mahwash Shoaib

Part IV Respondent Chapters 10 Postcolonial Theory and Theology: On Educating Ourselves to be Planetary Subjects 161 Mrinalini Sebastian 11 Decolonizing the Body of Christ: An Initial Response 179 Anthony G. Reddie

Notes on the Contributors 197

Acknowledgments

Special thanks are due to several organizations and people: The Lincoln Theological Institute (LTI) of the University of Manchester in England under the leadership of its director, Peter M. Scott. LTI was instrumental in providing support for several scholars involved in this project, including Joseph Duggan, one of the series editors, for their travels to Bangalore, India. The Episcopal Church Foundation generously funded Joseph Duggan as an Academic Fellow. Jason Craige Harris, a general editor of Postcolonial Networks, who meticulously edited the manuscript and advised its authors prior to its submission to Palgrave. Joseph Duggan will always be grateful for Annie Vocature Bullock, who, excited about the potentiality of the Postcolonial Theology Network, gave him her appointment with Burke Gerstenschlager, the Religion Editor at Palgrave, during AAR Montreal. Thank you Annie and Burke for your passionate commitment to the youthful Postcolonial Networks.

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Duncan B. Forrester

Colonialism in its many forms produced a great variety of religious and theological justifications of imperialism. These provide an important prelude to the discussion of the various forms of postcolonial theology that flourish today. A good example is represented by a remarkable painting by Thomas Barker in the London National Portrait Gallery. A young and beautiful Queen Victoria delivers a Bible to an African chieftain who kneels abjectly at her feet. The mes- sage of the painting is clear: Christian mission is an element of the imperial project; colonialism and evangelism belong together; and the expansion of empire is providential, part of God’s plan, the fulfill- ment of which has been delegated to the imperial power. The chieftain who kneels and cowers before the queen apparently receives the Bible from her hand with awe, reverence, and gratitude. That striking picture captures something of the complex and important interweav- ing of imperialism and Christianity, which, for long, was considered by many as essential to both. There were, of course, many other ways of exploring the relationship of mission and empire. The earliest Scottish missionaries to India in the early nineteenth century, for example, came to the Indian Presidency towns directly from the exciting intellectual turmoil of the Scottish Enlightenment. They believed that their task was to stimulate in India a movement of intellectual renewal and religious reform on the model of the European Reformation and Renaissance. This could be done only by Indian converts to Christianity who would lead a process of national religious and secular renewal. Alexander Duff, the pioneer Scottish missionary, believed that his task and that of his col- leagues was to raise up Indian Christian leaders who could play the role that Luther, Calvin, and Knox had played in Europe. Ultimately under the leadership of these Indian converts to Christianity, all India would become free—or so the missionaries believed and hoped. xii Preface

This was a rather different colonialism from that represented by the painting of Queen Victoria and the African chieftain. But it was colonialism nonetheless. Many forms of colonialism were particularly savage and aggressive. Others seem to have been moved at least to some extent by an impulse to improve the lot of the colonized people. And in between there were varieties of forms, processes, and objec- tives. Christian theologians need to take this diversity into account as they relate constructively to the postcolonial scene in which empire continues, often in disguised fashion, but powerful and destructive nonetheless. All theology engages with its changing context, at least to some degree, though theologians often deny or neglect this. And there are many ways of relating, ranging from outright rejection of a particular cultural dimension to the sanctification of some part of the context, as when religion is treated in an unqualified way as a necessary and subtle tool of government. The chapters in this important book address constructively and rigorously key issues for the church and for Christians in today’s complex postcolonial world. The focus of many of the chapters is on India, but their relevance goes far beyond Southeast Asia. All of us can be challenged and can learn from these chapters much about the responsible reading of scripture, about relevant ways of being the church in today’s tempestuous world, about the centrality of liberation in Christian thought and practice, about the continuing relevance of insights from the fathers of the church, and more recently from the liberation theologians, about the challenge of the poor and marginalized, particularly the Dalits in India—and much else besides. Postcolonial theology thus has its own complex and demand- ing agenda, which must be addressed with rigor, as in this book, if Christian theology is to be faithful, relevant, challenging, and con- structive in today’s postcolonial world. Introduction to Postcolonialism and Religions Series The Death and Rebirth of a Discipline: T aking S ubalterns S eriously1

Joseph F. Duggan

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s famous essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” was one of the defining essays of the field of postcolonial studies. 2 Many other scholars have resonated with or echoed Spivak’s prophetic eloquence. Spivak’s programmatic essay raised many vital issues about the subaltern experience and voice, and the implications of her analysis are still being unpacked and explicated. More work is needed too, since after decades of erudite postcolonial works subaltern voices are still not audible. Numerous groundbreaking postcolonial works have spelled out the necessary theoretical moves, but collectively, these contributions have not led to a systemic commitment to changing the narrative practices privileged by the Western academy and their associated publishers. Without such necessary changes the field of postcolonial studies will continue to privilege Western dominance, ignoring the critiques mobi- lized by indigenously located cultures and societies of the world. The Postcolonialism and Religions series takes one of the next steps necessary to change the field in order for subaltern voices not only to be audible but also to be engaged in ways that potentially make the field more credibly postcolonial to subalterns. The purpose of this chapter is to share with readers the identified gaps and vision as they were outlined in the original series proposal to Palgrave Macmillan. Postcolonialism and Religions —the series’ reach is indigenous, multireligious, and transnational. In the first volume in the series, Decolonizing the Body of Christ: Theology and Theory after Empire? , each of these characteristics are engaged and expressly xiv Postcolonialism and Religions Series manifested. Several contributors to the volume are first-time published authors, including Jayachitra Lalitha and Naveen Rao. The chapters by Masood Raja and Mahwash Shoaib introduce multireligious lenses beyond (colonial) Christianity. The edited collection emerged from a transnational meeting held in Bangalore, India, in January 2010. Transnational meetings such as the one in Bangalore hosted by David Joy are a critical component to the publishing strategy of this series. Meetings are held in an indigenous, former- colonial context to reposition the historical scholarly focus in ways that will now privilege scholars for whom it is not always easy to travel or find funds for research. In addition to these fundamental characteristics—indigenous, multireligious, and transnational—the series anticipates and enables a shift in a predominant disciplinary mindset that has too often and for too long kept theories of religion and postcolonialism apart. Postcolonialism and Religions seeks to transform the field through the introduction of previously unasked questions that decenter the status quo and resignify the epistemo- logical and ideological principles of postcolonial studies. The first volume’s title, Decolonizing the Body of Christ, is an initial attempt to claim and acknowledge the colonizing legacy of Christianity. The series will not merely shift the methodological contours of the field. The majority of the series scholar-authors will write out of their indigenous contexts and memories, as they deploy alternative methodological and analytical tools. The scholarly norm has been for well-funded Western scholars to study “foreign” lands in ways that risk the Orientalization of subjects through a distant anthropological lens. Funded scholars have produced the majority of indigenous, postcolonial scholarship. The result has been a recolonization of scholarly cartographies that re-render the indigenous other invis- ible, thereby sustaining the dominance of the imperial victors’ stories based on learned memories perpetuated through Western- dominated publications. The scholarly literature bears out our claims and the urgency for this new series. Other Postcolonial Series and the Anticipated Contribution of Postcolonialism and Religions Palgrave’s Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies series’ editors Megan Vaughan and Richard Drayton of Kings College London’s Department of History reflect the dominant British historical scholarship on imperial studies. The new Palgrave series represents an important shift of focus with an Indian co-editor and board members in Africa, Oceania, and South America, and from the Middle East. The global series board includes Musa W. Dube (Africa), Jione Havea Postcolonialism and Religions Series xv

(Oceania), Nestor Miguez (South America), Masood Raja (Pakistan), J. Jayakiran Sebastian (Asia), and Joseph Duggan (United States).

● Musa W. Dube—Associate professor, University of Botswana, and visiting professor, Union Theological Seminary (2010–2011); among her most important titles is Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible . 3 ● Joseph Duggan—Founder of Postcolonial Networks and founding series editor of Postcolonialism and Religions . ● Jione Havea—United Theological College, Australia; Cross Cultural Theologies series co-editor with Anthony Reddie through Equinox. Havea is recent author of Out of Place: Doing Theology on the Crosscultural Brink . 4 ● Nestor Miguez—Professor of New Testament at ISEDET, Buenos Aires; coedited Beyond the Spirit of Empire: Theology and Politics in a New Key 5 with Joerg Rieger and Jung Mo Sung. ● Masood Raja—Assistant professor of postcolonial literature and theory, University of North Texas; founding editor of Pakistaniaat. 6 ● J. Jayakiran Sebastian—H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He has been professor and chairperson of the Department of Theology and Ethics at the United Theological College in Bangalore. His latest book is Enlivening the Past: An Asian Theologian’s Engagement with the Early Teachers of Faith. 7

The Palgrave Cambridge series with its 77 titles has provided a strong foundation for the new Postcolonialism and Religions series. The Palgrave Cambridge series began in May 1979 with the release of The Political Economy of The Raj . 8 The next title was not released for another ten years (June 1989) with British Imperial Policy and Decolonization . 9 Titles then started to come out every few years with Governors and Settlers in 1992, Background to The Angus Pact in 1994, and Imagined Commonwealth in 1998. 10 With the release of Money and End of Empire in 2001, Palgrave began to release several titles each year through the current period with its heaviest concen- tration of new titles per year in the last few years. 11 The Postcolonialism and Religions series anticipates a decade or more of published scholarship with new trailblazing titles being released every year. The proposed series builds on Palgrave’s groundbreaking series, but takes the scholarship further in ways not yet explored in its current series or anywhere else in the existing postcolonial studies xvi Postcolonialism and Religions Series publishing market. The indigenous memory embodied in these texts will then provide the space for global debates that have minimally taken place within the field of postcolonial studies. Imperialism, Decolonization and Africa edited by Roy Bridges, University of Aberdeen, will be coupled with indigenous African memories after the Postcolonial Networks-initiated Kenya meeting at St. Paul’s University hosted by Esther Mombo and Musa Dube in 2014. 12 The Postcolonialism and Religions series expands the field in ways that decolonize much of the existing scholarship, even pushing beyond Palgrave’s own existing leading Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies series. Routledge has several different postcolonial series including Postcolonial Politics with 3 titles, Intersections, Colonial and Postcolonial Histories with 3 titles, and Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures with 45 titles. A general search of all Routledge postcolonial titles on the Taylor and Francis website yields 74 titles dating back to 1993 with the publication of Nations Unbound. 13 Routledge is already publishing titles beyond those by well-funded Western scholars with books like the 2007 Contemporary Arab Women Writers and English Writing and India by Pramod Nayar, a board member of the Journal of Postcolonial Networks .14 However, the few titles Routledge has published at the intersection of postcolonialism and religions have not been marketed or categorized under their subject heading “postcolonial.” On June 30, 2012, Routledge will publish Jenny Daggers’s Postcolonial Theology of Religions: Particularity and Pluralism in World Christianity .15 Daggers’s new title is listed by Routledge under three subject headings, including religion and politics, church history, and Christian Theology (their caps), but not postcolonial! Routledge’s canonical categorization of titles also excluded from its postcolonial titles Laurel Schneider’s Beyond Monotheism: A Theology of Multiplicity . 16 Routledge’s consistent categorization of Daggers’s and Schneider’s works as not postcolonial appears to maintain and sustain their commitment to the historical postcolonial suspicion and demarcation of religion and theology as outside the purview of postcolonial research. Schneider’s book is categorized in three Routledge subject areas: Philosophy of Religion, Christian Theology, and Religion and Gender. However, Routledge’s categorization is at odds with Schneider’s introduction, where, as a theologian, she explicitly and unambiguously connects the genealogy of monotheism with empire and colonialism on the very first page of her work. 17 Schneider’s book is no exception as Richard King’s Orientalism and Religion: Post-colonial Theory, India and “The Postcolonialism and Religions Series xvii

Mystic East” is categorized under the subjects “Asian Religions” and “Hinduism” but not postcolonial studies.18 Kwok Pui-Lan and Laura Donaldson’s Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Studies is not even categorized into any subject-heading by Routledge. 19 Continuing with the British and European contributions to postcolonial studies is Oxford University’s Studies in Postcolonial Literatures : The Oxford series has eight titles, but unlike Palgrave’s aforemen- tioned Cambridge series, not one of Oxford’s books addresses the intersections between postcolonialism and religions. Peter Lang offers a postcolonial series under the direction of Maria C. Zamora. The series explores transnational literatures. It has 12 titles but they are all exclusively focused on the established literature market with no mention of religions. Among the important postcolonial contributions by North American publishers, the SUNY Press’ Explorations in Postcolonial Studies includes Posts and Pasts: A Theory of Postcolonialism by Alfred Lopez, Globalization, Cultural Identities, and Media Representations by Natascha Gentz and Stefan Kramer, and Postcolonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections by John C. Hawley.20 The SUNY series has 15 titles. Following the dominant Western pattern of distanced scholarship, Olakunle George, University of Brown, authored Relocating Agency: Modernity and African Letters . 21 Zed books’ Postcolonial Encounters series includes: Working on The Margins: Black Workers, White Farmers in Postcolonial Zimbabwe , by Blair Rutherford, assistant professor of anthropology, University of Regina, Canada, who conducted research in Zimbabwe; Postcolonial Subjectivities in Africa , by a professor of African anthropology, University of Manchester; and Rights and Politics of Recognition in Africa, by Francis Nyamnjoh, formerly associate professor of sociology at the University of Botswana, now director of publications at CODESRIA, Dakar, and Harri Englund, University lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. 22 There are five books in the Zed series. The first two Zed books mentioned above are written from the distance of the anthropological lens. Both of these books further suggest a contextual need for indigenous interpreta- tions to expand scholarly memory and debate. Zed’s slightly better mix of voices paves the way for a new style of scholarly engagement, even though it lacks engagement with religion. Lexington Books, a division of Rowman and Littlefield, offers the series, After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France . The series editor is Valérie Orlando, University of Maryland. There are 37 titles in this particular series. All the titles are exclusively xviii Postcolonialism and Religions Series focused on literature, film, culture, and politics to the exclusion of religions.

C olonizing R isks A ssociated with the Series By showcasing the scholarship of indigenous and multireligious authors, there is a risk that this series could be criticized for conquer- ing scholars as part of a new Orientalist Western project that even more subtly controls and silences the subaltern subject. The scholars of the series’ board acknowledge the risks of such perceptions but proceed with urgency to destabilize and rethink the postcolonial studies field dominated by Western scholars and elite-funded projects at major universities. The reader might ask, how I as the founding editor of this series should be authorized or even trusted to destabilize Western categories, given my own positionality and social loca- tion. The inspiration for the series is multileveled and manifested in five ways: Power Analysis—The draw to postcolonial work comes out of my lifelong intellectual and embodied interest in power analysis, specifically the way such analysis relates to the marginalization of people at the periphery of dominant social categories. Growing up in the 1960s in a segregated working-class neighborhood in New York City and doing my PhD five decades later at the University of Manchester while living in segregated working-class Gorton has heightened my awareness of the destructive sustainability of systemic racism and clas- sism that has perpetuated neocolonialism. “White Privilege”—Graduate studies at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004–2006, with Christopher Duraisingh, Kwok Pui-Lan, and Gale Yee heightened my awareness of the urgent necessity to move from theory to praxis as an ally who uses his “white privilege” toward facilitating social transformation through the advancement of indigenous peoples. 23 The sole purpose of the ally’s intellectual, social, and financial capital is to privilege marginalized persons and societies in ways that lead to transformation. Funding provided to me by the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester and the Episcopal Church Foundation was used for my travel to Bangalore to accomplish the purpose of the initial volume of this series. It was intentional on my part not to submit for publication the paper that I gave in Bangalore for this volume or series. Working at the Periphery—As a postdoctoral scholar who is not employed by a Western university with its significant resources Postcolonialism and Religions Series xix otherwise dedicated to research activities, lets this first volume and future volumes be substantially less burdened by the expectations of such capital freight. Let the Subaltern Speak to Postcolonial Studies—Concurrent with the meetings in South India that led to this first volume was my opportunity to hear firsthand the suspicion that some Indian scholars have of postcolonial studies as a Western construct that does not address their liberation through radical praxis, but stops with theory and never engages with the needs of people beyond the Euro- American imperial shores of consciousness. The reservations that I heard spoken tempered any naïve postcolonial idealism that I had and gave me a more profound sense of the power behind subaltern speech. Engagement through Postcolonial Friendships—The series and its first volume are coedited by an Indian scholar and an American scholar to model the necessary multicultural relationships and scholarly friendships that have led to my/our deeper understanding and urgency to work together for postcolonial social change within and beyond the academy. As the first step toward credible praxis, Postcolonialism and Religions attempts to move beyond theory through the series’ priori- tization of indigenous voices. Our board members have deep indigenous networks that they will use to recommend and introduce scholars to this series. The proof of the new series will be whose work will be published. Based on the above critical analysis of existing postcolonial series, it will not be long before this series establishes its distinctive position in the postcolonial studies field. This series, with the support of Palgrave, will also challenge a systemic indigenous desire to publish scholarship that meets Western publishing historical conventions and marketability tests. The commitment will be embodied through our distinctive publishing strategy more fully described above. Through this strategy, the series editors will commission monographs that prioritize telling untold indigenous memories and explicating non-Western theorizing. We invite series readers to recommend scholars whose works will expand the postcolonial studies field in the ways we have outlined above. The series will include the works of nonindigenous scholars who engage postcolonial theologies and theories in ways that prioritize indigenous knowledge making. We specifically welcome nontra- ditional methods that engage multivalent approaches of dialectical engagement. xx Postcolonialism and Religions Series

F uture Postcolonialism and Religions Volumes Looking ahead, we anticipate that the next volumes in the series will explore multireligious themes including the Muslim sacred and Sufi mysticism. One scholar is working on a volume to introduce anti- colonialist Indian thinkers who were writing postcolonial theologies before Western scholars coined the term, while another scholar will offer an indigenous critique of postcolonial theory that works to decolonize methodological tools for future postcolonial studies. These volumes and others, we hope, will move the postcolonial studies field toward unimagined possibilities. As the dominance of Western-centered postcolonial scholarship wanes, it is expected that the postcolonial field will enter uncharted waters with some latent colonial anxieties; but it is hoped that the tension will have changed long enough for different memories of the past and alternative visions of futures to be seriously engaged so that the way might be given to renewed hope in postcolonial societies.

P ostnote Postcolonialism and Religions series is a project of Postcolonial Networks—http://postcolonialnetworks.com/. Postcolonial Networks makes postcolonial scholarship available through both the use of online media and in relationship with Palgrave Macmillan in print media. Postcolonial Networks brings scholars, activists, and leaders together with the urgency of a movement to foster decolonizing relationships, innovative scholarship, and societal transformation. The questions initiated and undertaken by Postcolonial Networks are far too complex for any one scholar to address alone. Likewise, if these questions were pursued in any solitary context they would perpetuate divisions that sustain disciplinary suspicions and curtail scholarly innovation that foster real sociopolitical changes.

Introduction

David J oy

It was on May 2, 2008, in Manchester, UK, that a group of ener- getic and innovative theologians from across the globe decided to continue exploring new avenues of doing postcolonial theology and theory. The conference, organized by Dr. Joseph Duggan on behalf of Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester and Postcolonial Networks, was indeed a pathbreaking one as it brought together many voices from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Dr. Peter M. Scott, the director of Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester, offered unconditional and sincere support for our moving into new horizons of explorations in postcolonial theology and hermeneutics. A passionate affirmation came from the participants about the open-minded approach of Dr. Joseph Duggan and Dr. Peter Scott in creating a fresh and innovative space for scholars across the globe to express their views without reservations. That atmosphere invited all of us to design a series of conferences addressing our desire to launch a new highway for doing postcolonial theology and theory. The Bangalore conference was the first result of such a courageous endeavor. “Envisioning Postcolonial Theologies to Decolonize the Body of Christ” was the theme on which there were 10 main and 20 short papers prepared and presented by postcolonial practitioners from Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Canada. It was a unique challenge to bring together theoreticians and theologians. Though India has contributed a lot in terms of postcolonial literature and thinking for over more than 50 years, there has heretofore been no successful attempt to bring together secular voices and theologians for a common cause, namely, charting postcolonial thinking for the future. For about one-hundred years, the United Theological College (UTC), Bangalore, has been a pioneer institution in India in the field of theological education, offering invaluable impetus in terms xxii Introduction of pursuits in theology, theory, pedagogical methods in education, social engagements of the church, and a true search for Christian identity in a pluralistic culture like India. There have been many milestones in theological discourse in the life and min- istry of UTC, namely, the resolution in 1942 that supported the Quit India Movement (The Guardian : 1942, 389), the consulta- tion on “Hermeneutics in the Indian Context” in 1978, the Faith and Order meeting in Bangalore in 1978, and so on. In the 1980s and 1990s, UTC also engineered many contextual theologies and hermeneutical patterns to create a space for the marginalized and the subalterns. Those attempts assisted the students and researchers in understanding the ground-level realities of India in a better and deeper manner. Now the challenge of postcolonialism certainly takes us to a new level of thinking and analysis. The history of Christianity in India cannot be viewed without a proper reading of the sociocultural history of India as both are closely connected. “What is this term ‘postcolonialism’ all about?” is a basic question many ask as the term often invokes a lot of confusion because of its multifaceted meanings. Anthony Reddie and Michael Jagessar define this term:

The notion “postcolonial” is contentious in terms of the multiplicity of ways it is used. It is a term, position or theory borrowed from literary studies and other disciplines and it offers some exciting possibilities for God-talk and religious discourse . . . Hence, postcolonialism is not about the demise of colonialism as “post” since it embodies both “after” and “beyond.” It is not about historical chronologies, but more about a critical stance, oppositional tactic or subversive reading strategy.24

F uture of Indian Postcolonial B iblical S cholarship It is very clear from the past six decades of postindependent biblical and theological discourses in Indian churches and theological institutions, that the practitioners should be given adequate freedom in applying critical and reflective faculty to facilitate the use of native resources and insights for a meaningful exercise of hermeneutics. German scholarship certainly had a degree of influence at least in the first three decades of independence, as many theological educa- tors were trained at the German Universities. Immediately after the freedom of the country there were many British scholars who were Introduction xxiii part of the church as bishops and theological teachers and continued to shape the agenda for doing theology. After a few years, North American thinking began to control some schools, especially the so- called evangelical schools. However, the coming of liberation theology in the 1960s radically changed the theological language and expression. Thus there was a shift in Indian Christian hermeneutics. At the same time the judgmental attitude of some of the diaspora Indian biblical scholars and theologians toward the native schools and thinking patterns created an atmosphere of conflict rather than a critical engagement. It is said that there should be an open-minded discourse and engagement in terms of contributions of the native scholars who are training, teaching, and shaping thousands of ministerial candidates and researchers for millions of Christians in India. This process can be empowered by the coming together of both diaspora scholars and anaphora scholars of the field. This issue may be addressed by Indian biblical scholarship to cater to native practices and insights in an effective manner. It is in this context, the conference and its papers could challenge the ongoing patterns of doing theology and hermeneutics, especially the patterns designed, directed, and controlled by outsiders. The editors decided to include three essays that were not originally presented at the meeting, as the aspects of pluralism and multiculturalism could not adequately be addressed by the papers presented at the meeting. Moreover, the meeting, according to our view, failed in creating a balanced platform where theorists and theologians could voice out their concerns. At the same time the chapters of the book indeed incorporated those concerns very well. The aspect of the praxis of decolonizing the body of Christ should further be explored with the help of practitioners of the filed and leaders of the church. The chapters of the book present a variety of postcolonial reading strategies, based on the experiences of the authors and their contexts. The papers from the conference selected as chapters for this book mainly represent Indian scholars both anaphora and diaspora along with the voices of the future organizers of the conference, namely, Mark Brett and Esther Mombo. The conference was jointly inaugurated by Bishop John S. Sadananda and Bishop Laurie Green, bishop of Bradwill, UK. Bishop John Sadananda, the master of the Senate of Serampore University and a bishop in CSI, presented a brief paper as part of his inaugu- ral speech. He said that the place of biblical interpretation in the life and mission of the church in India is very important. Though xxiv Introduction traditionally, Indian theological schools follow critical tools in biblical interpretation, it is the perspective that grew out of postcolonial experiences that equips biblical scholars in a true fashion. Placing the biblical issues and concerns within the wider context of the society will enable the interpreters to do a timely intervention in terms of building up the communities of hope and justice. In the same way, Bishop Laurie Green also challenged the participants by presenting a short paper. He says: “Each of us will bring our own contribution and our own challenge to this conference, and I am particularly fas- cinated to find myself here in India as an English Bishop given our complex, intertwined imperial and ecclesial history.” Bishop Laurie Green exposes the dynamics and undercurrents of power relations in the field of mission and evangelism, including education and related institutions. Thus, a postcolonial reading strategy becomes necessary to understand the ongoing theological and hermeneutical trends in the church and academy. The papers presented at the conference, the discussion held, and even the questions raised by about 130 participants challenged us to rethink the present patterns of doing theology and theory in terms of postcolonial concerns, as the basics are far away from the academy frameworks. Therefore, after a careful reading and scrutiny of all papers, it was decided to publish the following papers in a book form edited by David Joy and Joseph Duggan. David Joy’s chapter, “Decolonizing the Bible, Church, and Jesus,” evaluates the colonizing elements in the church, biblical interpretation, and identity of Jesus from a postcolonial viewpoint, and sug- gests a number of hermeneutical principles such as the use of native tools and insights from cultures for a meaningful deconstruction of the image of Jesus and the church. He also believes that a proper hermeneutical tool is required to liberate the Bible from the hands of the dominant powers and cultures for proposing a hermeneutical paradigm for a postcolonial context. J. Jayakiran Sebastian’s chapter, ‘“Pierced by the Curved End of a Rainbow’: Decolonizing the Body of the Martyr,” utilizes the history of Cyprian of Carthage to assess the present context of empire within the religio-political horizons. Having analyzed the original documents, he throws the following observations:

● the global worldview implied in these letters, where what seems to be something of consequence to a local context, is situated within the global horizon of that day, namely, the horizon encompassed by the Roman Empire Introduction xxv

● the imperial condition, which intersects, interpenetrates, and fills the interstices of the emerging Christian religion ● the counterimperial protest, inspired by the “ecology of love”— love for God and all God’s people.

In short, this chapter has set a pattern of doing theology in the context of neocolonial tendencies. Mark Brett in his chapter, “Diaspora and Kenosis as Postcolonial Themes,” looks at the themes “diaspora” and “kenosis” within the framework and context of postcolonial subjectivity. In a world of domination and subjugation, it is important to understand that kenosis belongs to the colonizer and diaspora belongs to the colonized. Starting from the exilic experience of the people of Israel, Mark Brett places the issue of diaspora within the ethnocentric discourses of the present Australian context. He believes that the major contribution of postcolonial theory is its ability to address the concerns of the diasporized state and people. The chapter concludes with valuable insights in relation to identity politics of our time. L. Jayachitra’s chapter, “Decolonizing Marital Gender Norms in Eph. 5:21–33,” is part of a larger research framework uncovering the Roman colonial oppression in the first century CE. She argues that the institution of the household was used to perpetuate the imperial domination and hegemonic regime even at the household level. However, the Christological idea that was projected by the representatives of the church enabled the communities to sustain their freedom even in the midst of hegemonic gender-discriminatory issues. The understanding of the Holy Spirit acted as a channel of resistance by offering a clear anti-imperial ideology. Naveen Rao’s chapter, “Decolonizing the Formulation of Scripture,” deals with the issues of identity and ethnicity in light of the experiences of the people of Israel. What happens to the liberation stories of the marginal groups? Where do these end up and in what form? This study looks into the co-option of these (Ge. 12, 20, and 26) liberation stories in the wider scriptural corpus of a nation whose basic concern is stability, solidarity, governance, and maintaining status quo. And finally, how these stories are decolonized, reclaimed, and recast to formulate a liberative scripture positioned against the agenda and propaganda of the Persian Empire. Simi Malhotra in her chapter, “Postmodernity, Postcoloniality, and Religious Cultures,” presents a number of concerns that are vital in the postmodern context as the ghost of colonialism continues in many forms. It is clearly understood by many communities, xxvi Introduction as they offer a variety of cultural resistance to sustain in their given contexts. As the conference evolved from a meeting to a book, the editors felt it was necessary to broaden the scope of inquiry beyond the Indian Christian and secular contexts. It became clear that the conference had only begun to decolonize the Body of Christ through Christian and secular postcolonial subjects in India. The decolonization of the Body of Christ has limited meaning with only Indian and Christian postcolonial scholars. A radical decolonization of the Body of Christ requires a multiplicty of contextual voices and people from other religious tra- ditions to destabilize homogenous unities associated with colonialism. Through the scholarly relationships of Postcolonial Networks, the following scholars were invited to contribute to this manuscript, to add to the interpretative lenses and broaden the inquiry. Mahwash Shoaib’s chapter entitled “Discourses of Learning and Love: Sufi Paths in Pakistan” deals with the power of mystical tradi- tions in terms of building up platforms of resistance when the empire tries to impose hegemonies upon the natives. She expresses powerfully in “The Sufi Paths in Pakistan” negotiations between idealism and reality. Sufi approaches offer alternative communities to hegemonic articulations of imagined subjectivity, by intervening in prevailing social and political discourses. These discourses of desire promote debates about the intersections of faith and knowledge. Sharon A. Bong’s chapter, “Theologies of, for, and by Asians: Reformulating Dialogue,” is primarily a critical and reflective sur- vey on the contextual theologies of Asia, namely, people’s theology, Dalit theology, Minjung theology, Tribal theology, and so on. Sharon explains the context of the chapter in this way: “In cognizance of such discursive limits, this chapter seeks to afford a strategic assessment of the rather volatile dynamics between an ‘original’ Christianity and its apparent ‘Asianised’ derivative.” The key argument is that everyone who is engaged in the process of contextual expression of theology should stand for decolonization of theology. Massod Ashraf Raja’s chapter, “Allama Muhammad Iqbal,” is an important addition to the book. Very effectively, he assumes the issues of identity and structures from the viewpoint of postcolonialism. Raja evaluates the idea of Muslim subjectivity as proposed by Iqbal in view of specific subjectivity. He argues: “Iqbal, therefore, attempts to purify Islam and sift through the influences of centuries to retrieve a purist Muslim identity. This subject of resistance, thus, would be a true Muslim unimpressed by the material knowledge of the West and untainted by the rationalist and mystical strains of Islam.” For Raja, Introduction xxvii the literature becomes an expression of resistance by the natives while addressing the issues of nation-state and postcolonies. Our book, in short, constitutes a possible picture of the platform in a postcolonial context where theologians and theorists have engaged in a reflective and critical dialogue to decolonize the Body of Christ.

N o t e s 1 . Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, The Death of a Discipline (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003). 2 . Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, eds. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (Chicago: University of Illinois, 1988), 271–314. 3 . Musa W. Dube, Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2000). 4 . Jione Havea and Clive Pearson, Out of Place: Doing Theology on the Crosscultural Brink (London: Equinox, 2011). 5 . Nestor Miguez, Joerg Rieger, and Jung Mo Sung, Beyond the Spirit of Empire: Theology and Politics in a New Key (London: SCM Press, 2009). 6 . Masood Raja, Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies, http://www .pakistaniaat.org (accessed February 14, 2012). 7 . J. Jayakiran Sebastian, Enlivening the Past (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2009). 8 . B. R. Tomlinson, The Political Economy of the Raj, 1914–1947: The Economics of Decolonisation in India (London: Palgrave, 1979). 9 . Andrew Porter and A. J. Stockwell, British Imperial Policy and Decolonization, 1938–64 (London: Palgrave, 1989). 10 . Mark Francis, Governors and Settlers: Images of Authority in the British Colonies, 1820–60 (London: Palgrave, 1992); David McIntyre, Background to the Angus Pact, Policymakers, Strategies and Diplomacy (London: Palgrave, 1994); and T. J. Cribb, Imagined Commonwealth (London: Palgrave, 1998). 11 . Nandis Chatterjee, Money and End of Empire (London: Palgrave, 2001). 12. Roy Bridges, Imperialism, Decolonization and Africa (London: Palgrave, 1999). 13 . Linda Basch, Linda Glick Schiller, and Christina Szanton Blanc, Nations Unbound: Transnational Projects, Postcolonial Predicaments and Deterritorialized Nation-States (New York: Routledge, 1994). 14 . Pramod Nayar, Contemporary Arab Women Writers and English Writing and India (London: Routledge, 2007). 15 . Jenny Daggers, Postcolonial Theology of Religions: Particularity and Pluralism of World Christianity (London: Routledge, 2012 forthcoming). xxviii Introduction

16 . Laurel Schneider, Beyond Monotheism: A Theology of Multiplicity (London: Routledge, 2007). 17 . Ibid., 1. 18 . Richard King, Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and “The Mystic East” (London: Routledge, 1999). 19 . Kwok Pui-Lan and Laura Donaldson, Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Discourse (London: Routledge, 2001). 20 . Alfred J. Lopez, Posts and Pasts: A Theory of Postcolonialism (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001) and John C. Hawley, Post- Colonial, Queer: Theoretical Intersections (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2001). 21 . Olakunle George, Relocating Agency (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2003). 22 . Blair Rutherford, Black Workers, White Farmers in Postcolonial Zimbabwe (London: Zed Books, 2001); Richard Wernber, Postcolonial Subjectivities in Africa (London: Zed Books, 2002); and Harri Englund and Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Rights and Politics of Recognition in Africa (London: Zed Books, 2004). 23 . Christopher Duraisingh, “Toward a Postcolonial Re-Visioning of the Church’s Faith, Witness, and Communion” in Beyond Colonial Anglicanism: The Anglican Communion in the Twenty-First Century, eds. Ian T. Douglas and Kwok Pui-Lan (New York: Church Publishing, 2001); Gale Yee, Poor Banished Children of Eve: Women as Evil in the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2001); and Kwok Pui- Lan, Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women’s Theology (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010). 24 . Anthony G. Reddie and Michael Jagessar, Postcolonial Black British Theology: New Textures and Themes (Peterborough, UK: Epworth, 2006), p. xvii.