Theology-Christopher

                                           Bible Study on 1    Kings 10   ‘Restlessness and coming to a common place and demanding justice has become common in our society today. On the one hand, the elite and upper (middle) class Indians fear for democracy and governance, while on the other hand, poor and grass-roots communities fear for their future, life and livelihood. Different encounters such as ‘lokpal’ verses, ‘Jan-lokpal’, fundamentalist verses, secularist ideologies and grass-roots communities and the State(s) are found  common today.  These encounters have given rise to debates from different perspectives: some consider these encounters to be democratic, while some others consider them to be anti-administration and anti-state. The grass-roots expressions of ‘satyagraha’ are usually regarded as being anti-state and anti-development: t...

                             (Ilavarasan's Grave in Natham Colony) Grave a language legend… historical symbol… memory… speech… Call… for what… For centuries, India has been known for the richness of her culture, tradition and heritage, which even the global communities have always recognized. But today, the recent incidents, particularly the Delhi rape case, the Dharmapuri and Marakkanam incidents make us to put our head down. Adding on to the shame, now, the graveyard business, created and developed by the hate campaigners, in order to bury the dead-body of the victims of hate campaigns and moral policing, appears to be gaining considerable momentum.  Paradoxically, it is the same ‘casteists and custodians of the morality’ who had victimized certain individuals and communities, who have erected those graves in the name of the victims.  While, for many among us it h...

Politics and Ethics of Assam Riots The communities of North East India (NEI) are fleeing from their respective work and living places with clueless and anxious faces in jam- packed special exodus trains. They had moved over to the other parts of India for education and employment. The NEI communities have been under apathy and discrimination by the mainland Indian politicians. The NEI region is still found underdeveloped in the midst of rich natural resources, challenged by insurgency as response to political pressure. There have been cross border infiltration by the citizens of the neighboring countries. The mass exodus is a fall-out of the recent violence in Assam. This particular violence was between the Bodos (a native tribal community) and the infiltrated communities and recent settlers who marginalize the rest of the local ethnic communities . Media reported that the violence took 77+ lives and damaged several crores worth of property that triggered panic, insecurity ...

“Coming of the Messiah is Good News for the Oppressed” God of life… Wake us up with your life giving Words. Splash our faiths with your Truth, which can make gasp and catch our breath. Draw us deeper into the depths of our Spiritual lives, where we may learn to realize more by your life giving words. Surprise us with deeper meaning of the Scriptures which would help us to enlarge our vision and action. Fill us with the sense of urgency to perceive and obey your powerful words. Renew and strengthen our faiths. In Jesus name we pray………… Amen Advent is a special season in Christian ecclesial faith and tradition, marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing for deliverance and for justice. Advent is a season of hope and expectation within the context of exclusion, poverty, untouchability, oppression, violence, stigma and discrimination and injustice in the world. The joy of advent contrasts sharply with the suffering people who live in the edges of the soc...

The Indian Constitution acknowledges and affirms ‘democracy’ as the way of life for every individual citizen of this country and has set a model for the world at large. Our political context today does not make it evident that "democracy has become a global choice of governance.” Some of the following incidents in our democracy lead us to re-examine the very idea and purpose of democracy and the question whether it serves the purpose: The entire winter session of the Indian Parliament was simply usurped by the opposition parties. Several hundred crores of money and precious time was wasted just to have a discussion on a ‘scam’ of similar value. Every other day we as the public are given the terrible news that some kind of violence has claimed lots of lives in civil society and several hundred crores worth of public properties have been damaged and destroyed. Several State administrations are not able to handle the public demonstrations against the policy decisions of the states an...

World without Children: Voices From and Around the Manger Christianity around the globe traditionally reads and reflects the life enhancing activities in the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels. Characters that fascinate us during such reflections are baby Jesus, Manger, Crib, Christmas-tree, Star, Angel, Joseph, Mary, Shepherds, Wisemen with expensive gifts, and animals in the stable. Most of our celebrations and greetings are not without their depiction. They have projecting the Christmas as only ‘celebration’. While it is not at all completely off track itself to ‘celebrate’ Christmas, one’s reading of the scripture should span the peril that Jesus and other children around the time of Jesus’ birth went through. Children below two years of age became an endangered lot instantly. Forced migration and escape for life certainly add new dimensions to theological, missiological, and social thinking of the churches. In fact the popular superficio-mystical religiosity and spirituality...

“…you shall raise up the foundations of many generations ...” Is. 58:12. (NRSV) Back Ground: The affiliates of Isaiah's addressees were fasting for all the erroneous reasons! They fasted to get things from God and hypocritically appear righteous. God says, though, that we should fast to free others from their sins, to intercede with God for their healing, to help provide for their needs and to understand the Will of God. Here the writer says, you shall build the old waste places - Shall repair the old ruins, and restore the desolate cities and fields to their former beauty. This language is taken from the condition of Judea during the long captivity at Babylon. The land could have been desolated by the Chaldeans, and lain waste for a period of seventy years. Of course all the remains of their former prosperity would have gone to decay, and the whole country would be filled with draughts and ruins. But all this, says the prophet, would be restored if they were obedient to God and w...