Indian Theologies - In Search of Methods And Models For Theologizing

This book is the fruit of a Seminar on Indian theological methods held at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. In addition to providing tools for theologizing in the Indian context, this promotes reflection on important dimensions of theologizing enriched by the feminist, interreligious, oriental and postcolonial perspectives, as also its consequences and processes. The advancement of efficient communication of theology is facilitated. All in all, it is a must read by the students, teachers and scholars of theology, alike.

Dr. Mathew Jayanth, SJ, a Jesuit of the Calcutta Province, obtained a doctorate in theology and anthropology from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, and from the University of California, Berkeley. He wrote his dissertation on Eucharist and Social Ethics. He taught several courses in the areas of systematic theology and theological methods at the under graduate and the Graduate levels at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (Pontifical Athenaeum), Pune. He has published several articles.

The Second Vatican Council generated great enthusiasm among the Indian theologians about initiating a new process of theologizing in India. Dr. Kurien Kunnumpuram, SJ and his colleagues took up the leadership and organized a seminar on theologizing in India. The book that came out of that Seminar, namely, Theologizing in India', can be considered as the first book to be published on Indian theological methods after Vatican II. That was about 35 years ago. Since then scholars in various fields of theology continued their search for ways of doing theology that are relevant to the Indian context. The search is going on and theologians from the Indian subcontinent are making valuable contributions to the process of theologizing in general. Now, the responsibility rests on the present day theologians to consolidate the previous efforts as well as to take the search for methods a step forward to make our theology more firmly rooted in the Indian soil. The word 'method' calls for some clarifications. The term is ambiguous and it can be understood in different ways. Hence, it is necessary to ensure a certain degree of consensus on the meaning of the term. First, when taken in the ordinary sense, it can mean the steps followed or the technicalities involved in the process of theologizing. This understanding is applicable more to the fields of experimental sciences than to theology. In theology this aspect is subsumed under ‘research methodology' and it is not our not our concern in this work.