THE MARGIN

Academic Curriculum Vitae

Rev. Dr. Y. T. Vinayaraj B.Sc., B.D, M.Th., Th.M., Ph.D Professor of Theology Dharma Jyoti Vidya Peeth, Fazipur Khader, Chandpur,P.O Faridabad, Haryana, 121101

yvinayaraj@gmail.com

Education

Ph.D., Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, IL, USA

· Dissertation: “God and the Other: Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy”

· Dissertation Committee: Catherine Keller (Drew University, New Jersey), John J. Thatamanil (Union Theological Seminary, New York), Linda Thomas (LSTC), Lea Schweitz (LSTC), and Vitor Westhelle (advisor)

Th.M., Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2011

M.Th., with first class, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research

Institute, Chennai, South India, 2006

· Thesis: “Poststructuralist Theory of Language, Discourse, Power, and Resistance and its Implications for the Re-working of Dalit Theological Methodology”

B.D., with first class, Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, South India,

1997

· Thesis: “Critique of Modernity: Quest for Dalit Identity in Indian Context”

B.Sc., Kerala University, Trivandrum, Kerala, 1992

Teaching Experience:

· Teaching Dalit/ Tribal/ Adivasi/ Feminist/Womanist Theology/ Christian Ethics/ Doctrinal/ Philosophical Theology for BD & M.Th. students at Dharma Jyoti Vidya Peeth, Faridabad from July 2014 onwards.

· Teaching Assistant: “Systematic Theology II,” Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2012 (Linda Thomas, instructor)

· “Constructive Theology,” Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2013 (Lea Schweitz, instructor)

Church Affiliation and Ecumenical Association

· Completed 18 years as an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Church

· Member of the editorial committee: Mar Thoma Church directory 1997, various study Committees of the church 1998, 2000, 2002 etc.

· Executive committee member of Evangelistic Association, Development Committee, Youth Department of the Mar Thoma etc.

· Steward, Executive committee of World Council of Churches (WCC), South Africa, 1994

· Senior secretary, Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI), Kerala Region, 2001-2004

· Executive committee member, National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), Member, Dalit Desk, Unit-IV, 2002-2004

· Vice president, Kerala Council of Churches (KCC), 2002-2004

Publications

Books:

· Theology of Dalit Experiences, (Malayalam), Thiruvalla: CSS, 2000.

· God of Little Lambs, (Malayalam), Thiruvalla: CSS, 2004

· Re-imagining Dalit Theology: Postmodern Readings, Thiruvalla: CSS, 2008

· Re-visiting the Other: Discourses on Postmodern Theology, Thiruvalla: CSS, 2010

· Intercessions: Theology, Liturgy, and Politics, New Delhi: ISPCK, 2015

· God and the Other: Dalit Theology after Continental Philosophy, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (To be released in the American Academy of Religions (AAR) in October 2015)

Edited Books:

· Re-imagining Indian Christian Theology, co-edited with George Zachariah, Thiruvalla: CSS, 2014 (forthcoming)

· Dalit Vision: History, Theology, and Politics, (Malayalam), Thiruvalla: TLC, 2002

Articles in Journals:

· “Church, Diakonia, and Theology,” Religion and Society, Bangalore April 2015

· “Agamben, Liturgy, and Politics,” SATHRI Journal, January 2015

· “One and the Many: Looking at the Question of Religious Pluralism in India from a Materialist Philosophical / Theological Perspective,” NCC Review, Vol. CXXXIII, No. 7 August 2014.

· “Spivak, Feminism, and Theology,” Feminist Theology, 2014, Vol. 22(2) 144-156

· “Being One: Various Models of Ecumenism,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 49:3, Summer 2014: Temple University, Philadelphia

· “Reconfiguring ‘Christian Unity’: Towards an Ecumenism of ‘Manyness,” Bangalore Theological Forum, Vol. XLV, No.2, December 2014

· “Ambedkar, Politics, and Theology,” Theology for Today, ECC, Bangalore, April 2014.

· “Representation of Subaltern: Spivak and Historiography,” Mar Thoma Seminary

Journal of Theology, Vol. II, No. 2, Kottayam, December 2013

· “God of Life: Theology that Matters” NCC Review, Nagpur, Vol. CXXXIII, No 09,

October 2013

· “God and the Other: Levinas Re-visited, A Critique of the Continental Philosophy of God,” in Theology for Today, ECC, Bangalore, November 2012.

· “Dalit Body without God: Challenges for Epistemology and Theology,” in Gurukul

Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. XXIII, No.2, June 2012, pp. 56-63.

· “Epistemic Shifts in subaltern Discourses and methodological challenges to Christian Theology” in NCCI Review, November 2011, Vol. CXXXII, No. 04, Nagpur: NCCI; Previously published in Theology for our Times. October, 2010. Bangalore: ECC.

· “Re-defining Oikumene: A Subaltern Perspective’, in Theology for our Times,” ECC, Bangalore, October 2010.

· “Re-visiting the Other: Towards a Postmodern Understanding of Christian Mission”, in Journal of Theologies and Cultures in Asia, 2008/ 2009 Vol. 7&8 ISSN: 1682-6086. PCTA, Jorhat.

· “Re-imagining the Social Space, Social Position, and Subjectivity: Dalits in the Postmodern Social-Theoretical and Epistemological Context, NCCI Review, Nagpur, Vol. CXXVII, No 7, August 2009

· “Re-locating Local Congregations in a Globalized Context”, NCCI Review, Nagpur, Vol. CXXVIII, No 2, August 2008

· “Defining Dalit Epistemology: Telling Stories of the De-casteist Traditions as Dalit Epistemological Engagements”, Bangalore Theological Forum, UTC Bangalore, Vol. XXXIX, No 2, December 2007

· “Towards a Postmodern Dalit Hermeneutics”, Voices from the Third World, EATWOT, Vol. XXX, No 2, December 2007

· “Anointing: New Imaginations on the Body”, in God’s Image, Journal of Asian Women’s Resource Centre for Culture and Theology, Indonesia, Vol. 26, No 3, September 2007

· “From the ‘Colonial Other to the ‘Asian Self’, Gurukul Journal of Theological Studies, GLTC &RI, Chennai, Vol. XVI, No 1&2, 2006

Articles in Books:

· “Towards a Political Theology the Crucified God: M.M. Thomas and the Contemporary Political Thought,” M.M. Thomas Volume ed., Jesudas Athyal (London: Ashgate, 2015).

· “Social Theories for the Theological Research,” in Theological Research in the Global South: Prospects and Challenges, ed., P. G. George (Kolkata: SATHRI, 2015).

· “God and the Other: Re-locating Mission in the Context of Margins,” in Mission in the Context of Margins, eds., Kwon Jin-Kwan & P. Mohan Larbeer (Bangalore: BTESSC, 2015).

· “Ecumenism and Marginality: Engaging Ecumenical Movements with the Margins,” in Prophetic Ecumenism: The Journey Ahead, edited by R. Christopher Rajkumar (Thiruvalla: CSS & NCCI, 2014)

· “Dalit Body without God: Challenges for Epistemology and Theology,” in Body, Emotion and Mind: ‘Embodying the Experiences in Indo-European Encounters, Martin Tamcke and Gladson Jathanna, eds. (Germany: Lit Verlag, 2013).

· “Kingdom is on the Road” in Even Now, But not Yet; the festschrift volume in honor of Rt. Rev. Dr. Cherian Thomas (Bangalore: Ecumenical Christian Center, 2013).

· “Shaping Ecclesiology in a Postmodern Context” Vincent Rajkumar (ed.), Theologizing in India Today: Interpreting the Signs of the Times, pp. 109-119. Bangalore: CISRS, 2012.

· “Hospitality: Reading Derrida, Re-imaging Mission” in Joseph Prabhakar and P. Mohan Larbeer (eds.), Margins in Conversation, Methodological Discourses in Theological Disciplines, pp. 310-321. Bangalore: BTESSC, 2012.

· “Border Lives and Border God: Diaspora Reconfigures Heritage, Mission, and Theology” P. J. Alexander (ed.), Heritage and Development in the Mission of the Church, pp. 126-132. Thiruvalla: The MTSC of Malabar, 2011.

· “Re-visiting the Other: Towards a Postmodern Understanding of Christian Mission”, in Challenges and Prospects of Mission in the Emerging Context, Koshy P. Varghese (ed.), pp. 171-180. Faridabad: Dharma Jyoti Vidya Peeth, 2010.

· “Envisioning a Postmodern Method of Doing Dalit Theology” in Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala, and Philip Peacock (eds), Dalit Theology in the Twenty-first Century: Discordant Voices, Discerning Pathways, pp. 93-103. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Other Publications:

· “Mission from the Diasporas,” Chalanam, Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, 2012.

· “Forgive Me, O Lord,” Lenten Lantern 2012, Sunil Raj Philip (ed.), pp. 27-28. Nagpur: NCCI, 2012.

· “Kingdom and the God of ‘Little Ones’,” Lenten Lantern 2013, NCCI, Nagpur

· “Eternity at the Neighborhood,” Yuvadeepam, Thiruvalla, October 2014.

· “Redemption of Life,” Darshan, Delhi, June 2015

Book Reviews:

· Religion and Society. Vol. 56 No. 3-4, Bangalore: CISRS, 2011.

Invited Presentations:

· M.M. Thomas and the Political Theological in India, National Seminar on “Re-reading M.M. Thomas in the light of Indian Christian Theology,” SATHRI on 11^th-13^th August 2015, UBS, Pune.

· Reconstituting a Theology of Multitude in India, Main Talk at the National Consultation on “Resisting the Empire: Re-imagining Multitudes at YMCA on 11^th August, New Delhi.

· Theology, Ethics and Social Analysis: Contemporary Methodological Concerns, National Consultation on Christian Ethics, BTESSC, at UTC on 30-31^st July, 2015.

· Ordained Ministers: The Stewards of the Mysteries of God, Bible Study at the Annual Mar Thoma Clergy Conference, Charal Kunnu, Kerala on 25^th November 2014.

· The Theology of Marginality, International Seminar on Minjung/ Contextual/ Liberation Theology at Yonsei Unversity, Seoul, South Korea on 23^rd-28^th October 2014.

· Theology after Postmodernity, A Lecture for the MTh students at the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam on 29^th September 2014.

· Theology and the Contemporary, A Public Talk at the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam on 29^th September 2014

· Eternity at the Neighborhood, A meditation at the Annual general body meeting of the Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam, Adoor on 27^th September 2014.

· Agamben, Liturgy, and Politics, International Seminar on Sovereignty: Theological Perspectives, Whitley College, Melbourne, Australia, 22^nd-24^th August 2014 (The paper was read and discussed in my absence).

· Dalit Theology after Liberation Theology, Arvind P. Nirmal Memorial Lectures at United Theological College, Bangalore on 22^nd August 2014.

· God and the Other: Re-locating Mission in the Context of Margins, Key-note address, Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC), Dalit-Minjung Dialogue held at Vistar, Bangalore on 19^th-22^nd August 2014.

· Social Theories for the Theological Research, SATHRI Jubilee Consultation and Thanksgiving Service at the Senate of Serampore College (University) on 15^th-17^th August 2014.

· “Towards an Ecumenism of Manyness,” in 2013 Annual Conference of the North American Academy of Ecumenists, at the Lutheran Church Worldwide Office, Chicago, Illinois on 27^th September 2013.

· “God of Life: Theology That Matters,” in The 5^th Student Symposium on Science and Spirituality, The Zygon Center for Religion and Science, LSTC on 15^th March 2013.

· “God and the Dalit Body: Towards a Dalit Theology of God” in Graduate Theological Forum held on 23^rd October, 2012 at Drew University, New Jersey, USA.

· “Interrogating Colonial/ Postcolonial Gaze: Methodological Contestations on Ethnography, Anthropology and Theology” in Church and State: The Fifth Annual Student Theological Conference held on 20^th April 2012 at Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL 60201, USA.

· “The Future of Dalit Theology”, Global Ecumenical Conference on Dalit Liberation, organized by WCC, LWF & CCA at Bangkok, Thailand, 20-24 March, 2009.

· “Envisioning a Postmodern Method of Doing Dalit Theology” in the International seminar on Dalit Theology organized by WCC, held at Bishop’s College, Calcutta, India, 13-18^th Jan 2008.

· “Understanding of Self in Bhagavad-Gita,” in the Indo-Germen Cultural Seminar held at Missions Academy, Hamburg, Germany, 2005.

Fellowships, Honors and Awards:

· Academic Proficiency (First) and General Proficiency (First) award for B.D, Mar Thoma Theological College, Kottayam (1997)

· Academic Proficiency (First) and General Proficiency (First) award for MTh, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute, Chennai (2006)

· Mar Thoma Church literary award (2000, 2008 & 2015)

· Grover Wright Scholarship, Lutheran School of School of Theology (2011-2012)

· William J. and Elizabeth M. Danker Fellowship, Lutheran School of Theology (2011-2012)

Research languages:

· Reading: Hebrew, Greek, French, Sanskrit

References:

· Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (1100 E, 55^th Street, Chicago, Il 60615)

Vitor Westhelle; vwesthel@lstc.edu

Linda E. Thomas; lthomas@lstc.edu

Lea Schweitz; lschweitz@lstc.edu

Peter Vethanayagamony; pvethana@lstc.edu

· Drew University, 36 Madison Ave, Madison, NJ 07940