10/19/10

Today was our day to meet with James Massey, the noted Dalit theologian. We started out the day with worship at the CNI Bhawan, led by Alwan Masih, the General Secretary. He called on me once again to pray aloud – I think I'm seeing a trend here. We had tea with him after the service and talked in general about our plans for while we are here. He is very encouraged that we are wanting to work through the CNI. There are many church groups that come into India and do work all on their own, but they don't know the landscape or the politics or the problems that Christians have here in India and they end up making trouble for Indian Christians and for the church. Working through the CNI, we will be able to avoid those problems.

Then we went to see Dr Massey. He is really a very kind and approachable person and blocked out the entire day to meet with us. It's really very generous of him, especially since he doesn't know us at all. We had an interesting discussion about the Church of North India, the problems of the Dalits in Christianity in India and the theological differences between liberation theology and Dalit theology.

He was also showing us his Dalit commentary on the New Testament, a book I've been looking for on the internet, but have been unable to find. I bought it and the commentary on Exodus, which is part of their proposed commentary on the Hebrew Bible.

After awhile, his wife joined us and they took us to lunch at a nice restaurant. We invited him to visit us in New York so we can return the favor (also so he can talk to our congregations in his inviting and engaging way). Lunch was great and afterwards I asked if he were close to Dilli Haat. Mrs. Massey told me that it was her favorite place and said that I should have asked sooner because we would have eaten faster and gone.

Then we went to Connaught Place and walked around the entire circle, which is pretty big. There wasn't exciting shopping, although I did get a Filmfare magazine and a nice map of India.

Then back to the CNI Bhawan, where we are staying, for dinner and internet.

Reflection: The Caste System

For good or ill, the caste system is alive and well in India and is part of the culture of the country, although it started as part of Hinduism. The original theory of the caste system dates to earliest times, when the castes were said to come from the body of Brahma. Each caste relates to a specific body part of Brahma and takes its order of priority from the top down – Brahmins are said to come from Brahma’s head and are the highest caste, while Sudras, who are said to come from Brahma’s feet are the lowest caste. The Dalits, or people that were formerly called Untouchable, are outside of the caste system and are considered to be below the Sudras.

The caste system, which was originally associated with job categories, became associated with birth, but is now being chipped away at slowly. In modern urban culture, it is difficult to tell the caste of the person jostling next to you on the bus, treating you in the hospital or sitting next to you in a restaurant. For Dalits, though, the caste system still has many and far-reaching implications. In the constitution of India, a percentage of jobs in various categories is set aside for so-called “backward” castes. This is a form of affirmative action, which gives the Dalits rights to jobs that caste discrimination might otherwise prevent them from obtaining. Many Dalits have become Christians, however, to escape from the stigma associated with caste in their social and private lives. Becoming Christians takes them out of the caste system entirely, liberating them in some ways, but also making them ineligible for the jobs set aside for the “backward” castes. It’s a predicament.