Gospel and Cultures: An Indian Perspective

Gospel and Cultures: An Indian Perspective: "The primary concern of this paper is to focus on a paradigm shift in the theology of Christian mission in India today. During the last decade or so, there has been a decisive shift in the theological thinking on the implications of Christian witness in the country, to one that is basically from the perspective of the marginalised people. One of the key aspects of the shift is the awakening of the people to the recognition that theologizing in the past was not sufficiently sensitive to their perspectives. A certain continuity with the past, especially with the mission and theology of the Indian Church, the missionary movement and the ecumenical discussions on missiology and ecclesiology, is implicit in this shift, and therefore it is not an outright rejection of the earlier patterns. But there is also a radical discontinuity with the past, a critical corrective rooted mainly in a re-reading of history and theology, especially in the light of the liberal democratic and socialist values of justice, equality and participation. My thesis here is that relevant patterns of Christian witness can be sought only in the context of an organic dialogue between traditional theologies and the subaltern perspectives, especially on the questions of mission and koinonia in pluralistic societies like India." Athyal