Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 1-12

3. God as the ‘Transcendent Other’: A Critical Engagement with ‘The Theological Turn’

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 13-35

4. Spivak and the ‘Subordinated Other’: The “Third World Turn” in Continental Philosophy

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 37-62

5. God, Human, and Creation: Spivak and Postcolonial Theologies

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 63-86

6. De-othering God: Dalit Theology After Continental Philosophy

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 87-119

7. Conclusion

   • Y. T. Vinayaraj

   Pages 121-126

8. Back Matter

   Pages 127-143

   PDF

This book, steeped in the traditions of both postcolonial theory and Continental philosophy, addresses fundamental questions about God and theology in the postcolonial world. Namely, Y.T. Vinayaraj asks whether Continental philosophies of God and the ‘other’ can attend to the struggles that entail human pain and suffering in the postcolonial context. The volume offers a constructive proposal for a Dalit theology of immanent God or de-othering God as it emerges out of the Lokayata, the Indian materialist epistemology.  Engaging with the post-Continental philosophers of immanence such as Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben, Catherine Malabou, and Jean-Luc Nancy, Vinayaraj explores the idea of a Dalit theology of God and body in the post-Continental context. The book investigates how there can be a Dalit theology of God without any Christian philosophical baggage of transcendentalism. The study ends with a clarion call for Indian Christian Theology to take a turn toward an immanence thatis political and polydoxical in content.

• Postcolonial
• Continental philosophy
• Dalit theology
• Dalit
• Subaltern
• Theology
• Postcolonialism
• religion and society

“In this work, a subaltern voice resounds with clarity and dissonant virtuosity. The author presents his readers with a subversive incision into the “third world turn” in recent philosophical theology. With audacious proficiency, Y.T. Vinayaraj enunciates a new platform for postcolonial theology. In opportune time, distinct and lucid accents that have long been trampled join a planetary conversation. We salute this advent!” (Vitor Westhelle, author of Eschatology and Space: The Lost Dimension in Theology Past and Present) 

“This book challenges us to reactivate the audacious spirit of Indian materialist philosophies of Lokyata/Carvaca to reimagine God as the “enfleshed immanent other.” Y.T. Vinayaraj analyzes, interrogates, and critiques continental philosophers and liberation theologies, offering a rousing conclusion that calls for a “third world turn.” This book is a significant contribution to Indian Christian theology and is certain to become a landmark of Dalit postcolonial discourse.” (Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, Associate Professor, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia)

“Proposing an immanent God of Dalit theology conceived away from transcendence is a double move towards liberation for humans and resolution of the alienation between the divine and the human. This is a radical step that could visualize an alternative politics of liberation informed by the immanence of the divine transforming the human, yet integral. Traversing continental philosophy and postcolonial theory, this book is set to become a classic in the field.” (P. Sanal Mohan, author of Modernity of Slavery: Struggles Against Caste Inequality in Colonial Kerala)  

• Dharma Jyoti Vidya Peeth , New Delhi, India

  Y.T. Vinayaraj

Y.T. Vinayaraj teaches Theology at the Dharma Jyoti Vidya Peeth and Nav Jyoti Post-Graduate Research Centre (NJPGRC), New Delhi, India. He holds a PhD from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, USA, and is an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Church. His research areas are Continental philosophy, cultural hermeneutics, and Dalit theology. 

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