Theological Education

Senate of Serampore College (University) is revising its curriculum. It has conducted several seminars and consultations in different parts of India inviting academicians and church leaders. Theological education in India needs serious re-thinking. Primarily we need to be clear about the aims and objectives of theological education in the Indian Context.

First, we need to start with defining the Indian cultural context.
Who is an Indian is question raised by several national leaders. For a long time India was claimed by the Brahmins as Aryavarta, the land of the Aryans. Historically the land was occupied by indigenous people now called adivasis and dalits, most possibly, belonging to the Dravidian family. The Aryans occupied the land surrounding the Indus River and farther to south and east. The people of the land, the Indus Valley people had to flee their cities or surrender to the invaders. Those who escaped the Aryans found their shelter in far away hills while the fertile valleys were occupied by the Aryans. Those who were conquered by the Aryans were forced to slavery and kept outside the caste hierarchy, the Varnasrama Dharma, and were treated as outcastes and untouchables, and became Dalits, broken and crushed people. The north-eastern part of Indian subcontinent belonged to the Mongoloid people of various tribes and newer groups from Mongolia and China traveled to this area during different periods of time. Thus the present day India has become a land of composite people groups and culture - that of the adivasis and the dalits, the Dravidians, the Aryans and the Mongoloids. The composite population Of India are the real Indians and the composite culture of India is the Indian culture. There were several attempts to hijack the Indian culture by the Guptas and later by the Mughals. The colonial powers from the West also tried to establish their culture through the introduction of western education and colonial systems. Indian Christian theologian should start with identifying various colonial forces that claim Indian soul and need to articulate the presence of God in India by analyzing the various trajectories that shape the cultural anthropological world of India. In other words, cultural anthropology must be a primary focus of theological education, so as to clarify the identity of the Indian Christian as the heir of this composite culture.



Second, we need to aim at defining the socio-economic political context of contemporary India. Indian Christian Theology needs to search the meaning of God, not only in the composite culture which is being continuously evolved on account of its interaction with contemporary scientific, technological and market forces but also in the context of the the effects and affects of these forces upon the life and faith of the people of India. The theological curriculum should address the challenges raised by the impact of contemporary global forces upon the Indian context: the increasing marginalization of a large number of people, especially those who belong to the adivasi and dalit communities. That is, a socio-economic analysis must become part of the curriculum, so that students of theology should get a focus for their theological education.

Third, the religiously pluralistic context of India need to be understood and theologically interpreted. Traditional Hinduism certainly plays a bigger part in defining the spirituality of Indians. However, that is not the only spiritual influence in India. We have theistic as well as non-theistic spiritual traditions as well as contemporary secular ideologies that define or redefine our spirituality. Therefore, the curriculum should address the spiritual-ideological forces in India, so that the Christians in India will be equipped to tackle the challenges of conservative, fundamentalist, communalist casteist forces in India.

Fourth, the Church in India is not only the product of western missionary movement. There exists a rich tradition spanning from the arrival of St. Thomas and his travels to different parts of South India. Hence, one of the aims of theological education in India must be to understand the dynamics of the traditional Christianity as well as the missionary movements.Christianity in India is not a foreign religion as it is made out to be by some quarters. For a strong grounding of Indian Christian theology, the theological students in India need to be exposed to the factors that strengthen or destroy the faith and witness of Christians in the caste cultural background of India.

Fifth, theological education should aim at developing original forms of ecclesiology and spirituality, relevant to the modern Indian context. Many Indian Christian theologians have attempted at a critique of the existing forms of Indian Church and envisioned a non-hierarchical ashram-type, liberative, and open Church models which can do justice to the aspiration of people for equality and freedom. The western, hierarchical clerical model is neither liberative nor conducive to the dissemination of the good news of Jesus in India. Theological communities must encourage experimenting with newer forms churches which can overcome the caste, denominational and religious boundaries and can accept people of different persuasions. The church in India do not need rigid boundaries that prevent people traffic from one community to another. Churches need to be educated to accept believers outside the four walls of the Church as genuine Christians and strengthen their spirituality by giving them the right hand of fellowship. Believers outside the denominational and baptismal boundaries need to be acknowledged and encouraged in their search for meaning and newer forms of spirituality.

Sixth, we should aim at developing a new missiology that is committed to the mission of Christ in making people free from all kinds of enslaving powers of religion, language and culture that threaten their given human rights. The Church should be a place where people find a liberating God and empowering spirituality, and not one entertaining number games and proselytization.

Seventh, the curriculum should be aimed at developing a relevant hermeneutics for India. A re-reading of the scriptural texts of all traditions, inter-textual hermeneutics, need to be encouraged. Western critical methods have their positive contribution in understanding the process of the formulation of scriptural texts, but they are wanting in nurturing the spirituality of the people. Indian hermeneutical questions need not be limited to epistemology but need to be open to the emotional, psychological needs of the readers.This may not be possible within the existing departmental structures of theological systems. New inter-religious departments for World Peace, Ecology (Green Theology), Human Rights and Justice, Food Security and Viable Energy need to be introduced in order to address the life threatening challenges of the contemporary world. Such common human concerns cannot be tackled by one religion or spiritual tradition in the multireligious context of the world, especially like that of India.


Eight, theology should encourage the development of new inter-religious texts and inter-cultural myths that can address the postmodern aspirations of the people. There should be a dynamic encounter with new forms of knowledge as well as the the hither to unexamined oral traditions of people. New forms of spirituality and orality need to be encouraged in order to overcome intellectual ghettoism and colonial adherence to Western modularity. Postmodern, postcolonial, postfoundational texts need to be produced to meet the spiritual needs of the contemporary world.

Nine, the curriculum should encourage new searches of truth; courses need to be open ended; teachers and students need to be permitted to explore and experiment with new courses of study.The churches need to be educated about the need of academic freedom in seminaries. Periodical assessment of the relevance and feasibility of the courses must be held. Several of the present courses are outdated and must be removed from the syllabus.

Ten, the early church's concept of theology as sapientia (saving knowledge) must be reinstated. Brahma jijnasa of Sankara, the role imagination and intuition (thuria) as well as the oral traditions of Adivasis and the Dalits need to be acknowledged and incorporated into the structure of the theological curriculum. We need to bring together various avenues of human prowess to serve the creation of God in the world,promoting life and peace among all the organisms of the universe, which is the ultimate purpose of any theological education.