In the quest to understand what advances the agency of the child both in global and Indian contexts, this book argues for a purposeful and rooted solidarity of adult-communities with children, often at the expense of their adult-entitlements. The rooted solidarity can be further strengthened and held together by exploring the belief in the immanent mystery of God and the child. The arguments consider some of the debates in Child Theology, Holistic Child Development and Theologies of Childhood.
Rev. Dr. Rohan P. Gideon is a Professor of Christian Theology at the United Theological College, Bengaluru (India), and a Presbyter of the Church of South India (KND). His area of continued research and research supervision is Children, Child Rights and Christian Theology.
He also advises the church and related organizations on Child-friendly Church projects and Child-protection Policies.
Following the unexpected and unprecedented reception of his book, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979, ET 1984), Jean-François Lyotard published a follow-up, with the English translation entitled The Postmodern Explained: Correspondence 1982 - 1985 (ET 1992). I find it fascinating that the French original has the title Le Postmoderne expliqué aux enfants (1988), that is ""The Postmodern explained to children."" It is fascinating that the actual title regarding explaining postmodernism to children was probably deemed facetious by the English translation editors, leading to something which in my opinion does disservice to something deeply significant that Lyotard discerned and put up-front-and-centre, namely, that something as complex as postmodernism was, at the same time, something that was explainable and graspable by children. I recognize that one can easily quibble with this statement and I can hear readers saying, ""let's read a short section of this book aloud to children and ask them what sense, if any, they made out of this""!! That is not the point - the point is that Lyotard consciously or unconsciously delved back into a fundamental but often dismissed insight of the Christian legacy and tradition, and that is Jesus' affirmation of children time and time again, as in his response to people when they brought ""little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it"" (Mark 10:13-15, NRSV).
It is to the credit of Rohan Gideon that children have been at the apex of his research, writings, commitments, and public ministry; they form the subject that he has explored, interrogated, and contributed to for many years, from examining the tragic work conditions of child labourers to exploring how Christianity had a different attitude to children from the very beginning as it emerged in the Roman world; from the conundrum of church structures and ministerial authorities treating children as ""half-members"" to certain strands of theology instrumentalizing children; from never underestimating the importance of solid and challenging Christian education from Sunday School onwards in local contexts to keeping abreast of the burgeoning field of ""child studies"" in the academy, as, for example, the ""Childhood Studies and Religion Unit"" of the American Academy of Religion, where the self-description of this on the AAR website reads: ""The focus of the Unit is both timely and significant given the present concern for children across the globe and the rising interdisciplinary academic interest in childhood studies. The Unit functions as a forum at the AAR for advancing childhood studies as a new line of scholarly inquiry.
In my quest to understand what advances the agency of the child both globally and in my own national context, India, I attempt to nuance the arguments of the agency of the child, the solidarity of the adults and the immanent mystery. The understanding of the agency of the agency of the child constitutes view, expressions that are both creative, reactionary and disruptive, and their very presence with their unsettling imagination. These constituent thoughts are sourced from histories, scriptures, theological expressions and from our cultural learnings, in both written and oral forms. The specific contexts of these arguments and understandings are Children-related theologies and liberationist theologies in India.
This work is a critical study of the inadequacies and untapped potentials of two methodological streams: methodologies of liberation theologies in India and methodologies of Child-focussed theologies in advancing an understanding of the agency of children. Liberation theologies in India have had reinvented liberationist principles to address the needs of dalits, women, tribals and adivasis.
Liberation theologies in India have been couched in the discourses that advance adult subjectivity and have not explored the possibility of understanding the agency of child in their methodologies. By contrast, many child-focussed theologies are currently attempting methods and explanations that seem to advance the agency of the child. Of them, two significant streams, Child theologies and Holistic Child Development, have been impacting theological thinking in India to claim the subjecthood of children with the aim of advancing the centrality of children and their agency. The child-focussed theologies have claimed to develop the concept of the agency of children by drawing methodological insights from liberation theologies. However, these children-related theologies have not adequately explored the hermeneutical principles of liberation theologies, thus falling short of contributing to the explanation of the agency of the child.
Chapter One presents the conundrums that children are in or exposed to in theological and social contexts. It discusses some theoretical debates on extremely resistant forms of agency among the adult subjects which would distance resources for liberation coming in the forms of advocacy and solidary. It also offers a methodological framework called 'qualitative agency' which opens up expansive spaces to explore intersectional interactions to place children in these discourses.
Chapter Two offers a critical appraisal of the 'child in the midst method, a unique and creative method of contemporary child-focussed theologies which envisions to advance the agency of the children. The arguments assess where the child-focussed theologies have wavered and hesitated to explore liberationist theological principles after having claimed to initiated the application of these principles.
Chapter Three takes Christology as a case to explain how child-focussed theologies can draw insights both affirmative and cautious arguments from the life and teachings of Jesus and also from different christological debates. It explains that only bolder and unconventional forms of Christology help advance the agency of the child.
Chapter Four explains the strong influences of methodological exclusivism in Indian liberationist theologies which have left the themes of deeper solidarities less explored, thereby making these theologies unable to discover spaces to address the risks and vulnerabilities of children in Indian contexts. The chapter examines how postcolonial theoretical principles aids expand the liberative framework of the liberationist theologies in India.
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