This book focuses on the life and witness the faith community in the context of the Empire. The author calls for a radical ecclesiology of the excluded and the unqualified, and challenges the traditional notions of ecumenism and ekklesia. He advocates for a contextual ecclesiology that seriously considers new strategies of mission and ministry in India and identifies the greatest challenges of the church in the contemporary world. The presentations also highlight the dangers of ecumenism baselin the imperial logic of 'oneness' and re-defines ecumenism as a radical ontology of the multitude and common-wealth in the context of empire. These meticulously written articles identify the role of the theological academia and the church as to formulate biblical hermeneutics, liturgical discourses and ministerial models that will enable them to listen to the voice of the silenced by re- articulating their own theology, politics and aesthetics.
Rev. Dr. Y. T. Vinayaraj is an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Church. Currently, he serves as the Professor at Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam & Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture (FFRRC), Kottayam. His recent books include Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); Intercessions: Theology, Liturgy and Politics (ISPCK, 2016); Theology after Spivak (ISPCK, 2016); Re-claiming Manyness: Re-reading M.M. Thomas in the Light of Indian Christian Theologies (Co-editor, SATHRI, 2017); Re-imagining Reformation (Co-editor, ISPCK, 2017); Empire, Multitude and the Church: Theology after Hardt and Negri (ISPCK, 2017).
I am very happy that Rev. Dr. Y. T. Vinayaraj has published these papers on Church and Empire, which he had formerly presented at national and international seminars, now in the form of a book. It is clear that these studies focus on the life and witness of the faith community in the context of the Empire. The author calls for a radical ecclesiology of the excluded and the unqualified, and challenges the traditional notions of ecumenism and ecclesia. He advocates for a contextual ecclesiology that seriously considers new strategies of mission and ministry in India and identifies the greatest challenges of the church in the contemporary world. The prevailing notion of ecumenism is being questioned and a search for a relevant theology of ecumenism in the context of empire is made. The presentations also highlight the dangers of ecumenism based on the imperial logic of 'oneness' and re-defines ecumenism as a radical ontology of the multitude and common wealth in the context of empire.
Another major theme in this volume is the messianic vocation of the church which is to be grounded on anti-imperial eschatology that takes seriously the present moment in relation to end-time and eternity. These presentations will surely enable the theological academia to re-imagine ecumenism and church in a meaningful way. Another theme expounded in this volume is Christian Mission in the 'Postcolonial World'. In this context, the nexus between Christianity and Empire, theology and politics is exposed and Christian theology and mission rooted in the subaltern ethical and religious epistemologies (that seriously considers Ambedkar's understanding on religion and his critique on Christianity) is advocated.
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