INDIAN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY: METHODOLOGY & PRAMANAS

METHODOLOGY
The Christian faith which was received from the west, because of western polemic attitude to the
Indian culture and religion and the inculcation of European supremacy through Christianity, was
not adequate to support the people of India in their common search for full humanity and true
self-identity. Therefore, there was a great necessity to rethink Christianity in order that it may be
matching with the Indian identity and culture, and formulate Indian Christian Theology which
will be suited to India without putting away its Christianity, i.e., Christianity which is Indian
In the phrase "Indian Christian Theology, an adjective Indian shows that there can be Christian
Theology which is not Indian, and Christian shows that there is Indian theology which is not
Christian. Therefore, without negating one or the other, to formulate Christian theology which is
Indian or Indian theology which is Christian is the necessary function of Indian Christian
theology. In order to formulate such theology, some methodological issue should be considered.
Let us briefly discuss the methodology of Indian Christian Theology
(1) Encountering Christian faith with Indian life: Firstly, Indian Christian theology has to be
emerged out of an interaction between Christian faith and Indian life. Indian Christian theology
can not be merely a transplantation of what is in other countries. It has to emerge out of an in-
depth encounter of the Christian faith with the life of India. Here, Indian Christian theology has
to be something truly creative, but this creativity should be bounded by God's self-revelation in
Christ.
(2) Explication of Christian faith: The creativity of Indian Christian theology has to be
bounded by certain authority. It has to be an explication of Christian faith. It means explicating
the Christian faith in relation to the Indian religio-cultural and socio-political realities. Therefor,
there is a need to develop the necessary frame of reference, which would be deep and broad
enough to explicate meaningfully the Christian faith in a given context.
(3) Contemporary theology: Indian Christian theology needs to relate itself to the contemporary
situation, to the problems and prospects, question and aspiration of the Indians today. For this, to
have a living contact with, and participate intimately in the life of the Indian community is
needed.
(4) Living theology: Theology is concerns not only with contemporary existence, but also with
the totality of life. It should have the challenging relevance to the whole of life, and given
direction to the totality of oneʼs living aspects. Indian Christian theology also has to take Indian
life in all its aspects and dimensions and has to concern both history and future
(5) Plurality with fundamental commonality: There is a saying that Indian Christian theology
has an obligation to all section of people, and Indian Christian theology has to be pluralistic for
this reason. It should seeks to make the meaning and significance of the Christian faith clear to
the theists and atheists, advaitins and the followers of Bhakti religion to the humanists and
Marxist, to the urbanized and villagers.
However, while Indian Christian theology has to be plural, it has to have a fundamental
commonality. They all should be attempts to explicate the cluster of events of God's self-
revelation in, through and around Jesus Christ in the context of present day India.
(6) Prophetic function: In order to fulfill its task, Indian Christian theology is to be framed to be
able to take its critical and prophetic functions seriously. In the light of the self-disclosure of God
in through and around Jesus Christ, every religio-cultural and socio-political milieu and the
inherited doctrinal formulation of Christian faith should be viewed critically.