Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy

Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy is a 2016 book by Rev. Dr. Y. T. Vinayaraj, published by Palgrave Macmillan as part of the Postcolonialism and Religions book series. The book brings together questions of Dalit theology, postcolonial thought and Continental philosophy, with particular attention to questions of God, the “other”, human suffering and the relationship between transcendence and immanence.

Contents

  1. Background
  2. Themes
  3. Chapters
  4. Publication details
  5. References
  6. External links

Background

The book examines questions of theology in the postcolonial context through an engagement with Continental philosophy and postcolonial theory. Vinayaraj asks whether Continental philosophical approaches to God and the “other” can respond to struggles involving human pain and suffering in the postcolonial world.

A central concern of the study is the possibility of a Dalit theology centred on an immanent understanding of God. The book develops this discussion through an engagement with Lokayata, described by the publisher as an Indian materialist epistemology, and with post-Continental philosophers concerned with immanence.

Themes

The book engages with the work of Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben, Catherine Malabou and Jean-Luc Nancy. It considers their approaches alongside questions arising from Dalit theology and postcolonial thought.

Vinayaraj also explores questions concerning God and the body in a post-Continental context. The study considers how a Dalit theology of God might be developed without relying on a Christian philosophical framework centred on transcendentalism. It concludes by calling for Indian Christian theology to turn towards an understanding of immanence that is political and “polydoxical” in content.

Chapters

The book is organised into an Introduction, four main chapters and a Conclusion:

  1. “God as the ‘Transcendent Other’: A Critical Engagement with ‘The Theological Turn’”
  2. “Spivak and the ‘Subordinated Other’: The ‘Third World Turn’ in Continental Philosophy”
  3. “God, Human, and Creation: Spivak and Postcolonial Theologies”
  4. “De-Othering God: Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy”

The publisher lists the Introduction on pages 1-12, the four main chapters on pages 13-119, the Conclusion on pages 121-126, and the Back Matter on pages 127-143.

Publication details

A softcover edition was published on 31 May 2018 with ISBN 978-3-319-81002-7.

References

  1. Springer Nature. “Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy.” Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
  2. Open Library. “Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy.” Bibliographic record.

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