Dalit Christology: (A. P.
Nirmal)
Who are the dalits? (i) the broken, the torn, the rent, the burst, the split (ii) the opened, the
expanded (iii) the bisected (iv) the driven, asunder, the dispelled, the scattered (v) the down
trodden, the crushed, the destroyed (iv) the manifested.
What is dalit theology? This question according to Webster may be answered in at least three
different ways:
The first answer may be that it is a theology about the dalits or theological reflection upon the
Christian responsibility to the depressed classes.
Secondly, the answer may be that it is a theology for the depressed classes or the theology of
the message addressed to the depressed classes and to which they seem to be responding.
Thirdly, the answer may be that it is a theology from the depressed classes that is the
theology which they themselves would like to expound.
This question, according to Webster, may be answered in at least three different ways: The
first answer may be that it is a theology about the dalits or theological reflection upon the
Christian responsibility to the depressed classes. Secondly the answer may be that it is a
theology for the depressed classes, or the theology of the message addressed to the depressed
classes and to which they seem to be responding. Thirdly, the answer may be that it is a
theology from the depressed classes that is the theology, which they themselves would like to
expound.
Historical dalit consciousness: It is the primary datum of a Christian dalit theology. The
question of dalit consciousness is really the question of dalit identity, the question of their
roots. Deuteronomy 26: 5-12 is taken as one of the biblical foundations because it has
tremendous implications for a dalit theology. A creed, a confession, a faith affirmation must
exercise in laying bare the roots of the believing community. ‘A wandering Aramean was my
father’ recalls the nomadic consciousness. To confess that ‘once we were no people’ is also
an integral part of a confession, before we come to the claims ‘now we are God’s people.’ It
is only when we recognize one’s root, one’s identity, we become truly confessional. A truly
confessional theology has to do with the question of the roots, identity and consciousness.
The historic Deuteronomic Creed has paradigmatic value for dalit theological construct.
The God whom Jesus Christ revealed and about whom the prophets of the OT spoke is a
Dalit God. He is a servant God – a God who serves. Services for others have always been the
privilege of dalit communities in India. Unfortunately the word ‘service’, ministry or
diakonia has lost its cutting edge. Originally the word diakonia was associated with the
waiting at the dining table. The ‘servant’ therefore, means a waiter. Our housemaid or the
sweeper who cleans commodes and latrines are truly speaking our servants. It is precisely in
this sense that our God is a servant God. God is a waiter, a dhobi, all such services have been
the lot of dalits. This means we have participated in this servant-God’s ministries. To speak
of a servant-God therefore, is to recognize and identify Him as a truly dalit deity. The gospel
identified Jesus with the servant of God of Isaiah (Is. 53:2-8).
Dalit Christology: The dalit proclaim and affirm that Jesus Christ whose followers we are
was himself a dalit – despite his being a Jew. Both his humanity and divinity are to be
understood in terms of his dalitness. His dalitness is the key to the mystery of his divine
human unity.
(i) Genealogy (Mt. 1: 1-17): Among Jesus’ ancestors there are few names which should
startle and shocked us.
(ii) The Son of Man: The title is used in three different ways – it means person in an ordinary
way. Secondly, the Son of Man saying is indicative of Jesus’ present sufferings and imminent
death. Thirdly, it is the eschatological Son of Man sayings.
(iii) Another features of Jesus’ life is his total identification with the dalits of his day. Again
and again Jesus is accused of eating and drinking with publicans, tax-collectors and sinners of
his day.
Jesus dalitness is symbolized by the Cross. On the cross, he was the broken, the crushed, the
split, the torn, the driven asunder man, the dalit in the fullest possible meaning of that term.
My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He cries aloud from the cross. The Son of God
feels that he is God-forsaken. That feeling of being God-forsaken is at the heart of our dalit
experiences and dalit consciousness in India. It is the dalitness of the divinity and humanity
that the Cross of Jesus symbolizes.
