Login (DCU Staff Only)
Login (DCU Staff Only)

DORAS | DCU Research Repository

Explore open access research and scholarly works from DCU

Advanced Search

Abraham’s crossings to Egypt and Gerar and its implications for Dalit theology

Skaria, Jobymon (2020) Abraham’s crossings to Egypt and Gerar and its implications for Dalit theology. PhD thesis, Dublin City University.

Abstract
Dalits are members of the lowest level of the Indian caste system. They are considered unclean, polluting and untouchable. Some of them joined Christian Churches in search of liberation. However, Christian denominations and Indian Christian theology failed them, and Dalit Theology emerged from that historical and theological contexts. However, Dalit theology followed the hermeneutical examples of Latin American and African American theologies and overlooked the subversive voices in Dalit contexts. It placed the hermeneutical examples developed in alien contexts at the centre of Dalit theology as a dominant self and the longing for a liberated-reconciled society connected through mutual partnerships, embedded in the subversive voices, as a dominated self at the periphery of Dalit theology. This dissertation seeks to redress this drawback and proposes that a reading from the margins, concentrating on Dalit religious and cultural foundations, can liberate Dalit theology from its alienation from Dalit contexts. From such a perspective, this research evaluates the paradigms of Dalit theology and suggests how a postcolonial reading of Abraham’s cross-religious, cross-cultural and cross-ethnic trips to Egypt (Genesis 12: 10-20) and Gerar (Genesis 20:1-16) can reorient Dalit theology. Abraham’s crossings are the product of an editor, lived in Achaemenid Yehud, who rescripted Israel’s ancient traditions to address his political and religious situation. Abraham’s encounters highlight God as a liberator and an author of reconciliation, morality and piety among outsiders and Sarah as God’s covenant partner and a mediator of God’s mission. Such imperatives sought to subvert the concept of Egyptian and Philistine outsiders that Persian bureaucrats had popularised in Yehud. This dissertation suggests that a similar attempt can help Dalit theology redefine the agency of God in liberating Dalits and reconciling Dalits with non-Dalits and rediscover the role of Dalit women as participants in God’s mission for the entire creation. Further, it will assist Dalit theology in empowering Dalits and Syrian Orthodox Christians to continue God’s mission by crossing the boundaries of the caste system. It will also help them appreciate their counterparts to realise liberated-reconciled Church and society, connected through partnerships, as envisioned in the liberative voices in Dalit contexts.
Metadata
Item Type:Thesis (PhD)
Date of Award:March 2020
Refereed:No
Supervisor(s):Admirand, Peter and Anderson, Brad
Subjects:Humanities > Religions
DCU Faculties and Centres:UNSPECIFIED
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:24089
Deposited On:19 May 2020 11:21 by Peter Admirand . Last Modified 06 Jan 2024 04:30
Documents

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of 14100851.02.01.2020.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
2MB
Downloads

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record