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    Feminist Theology

    DOI: 10.1177/0966735001000027032001; 9; 21Feminist Theology

    Pauline ChakkalakalAsian Women Reshaping Theology: Challenges and Hopes

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    Asian Women Reshaping Theology:Challenges and Hopes

    Pauline Chakkalakal

    [FT 27 (2001)21-35]

    Introduction

    In dealing with the theme, Dreams for a New Millennium: Dancing aBe-DazzlingFuture, I would like to begin with a couple of stories ofwomen who have

    emerged powerfuland

    successful throughtheir

    struggles, perseverance and commitment. These stories, though speci-fically Indian, reflect the lived realities of Asian women in general.

    Leelavathy,a mother of six children, wakes up at 4 am every day tocollect water at the local tap which often goes dry. She then cooks forthe day, washes clothes and vessels and gets her three children readyfor school. She regrets that her eldest 12-year-olddaughter has to stayat home to look after the two little ones. She is anxious about the

    safety of her growing daughter. Her husband is an erratic worker.Most days he spendswhat little he earns on drink or gambling. Leela-vathy goes from one house to another, sweeping, cleaningand wash-ing clothes until 6 pm when she reaches home exhausted. But none ofthose she serves understands her. Everyone wants her to be at workon time. She cannot afford to rest or spend time with her children. Toadd to her misery, she is subjected almost daily to abuse and assaultby her drunken husband who insists on his conjugal rights. She

    dreads the future...Yet, Leelavathy does not give up hope. The Shakti (feminineforce)in her keepsher going. Her love for, and commitment to, her childrengives her courage to struggle against all odds. With the help of alocally based womens group (MahilaMandal), she is finding ways totackle her drunken husband, and above all to ensure education for allher children.

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    22 Feminist Theology

    Lalitha, a 25-year-old DalitI woman from North India, was strippednaked and

    paradedup to the

    policestation because she

    questionedthe unjust treatment to which she was subjected by her landlord. Atthat point of time, no one from the Dalit community came to herrescue. However, later on, the Dalit community, along with leadersand activists came together to struggle for justice. Today Lalitha is asocial activist working for the empowerment of the Dalit sisters. Herbiggest challenges have been fighting feudal attitudes and casteoppression. She has become a beacon of hope and inspiration tothousands of faceless and voiceless women.

    The story of Prasanna Kumari is the story of several theologicallyeducated women in the Church. She says:

    Though I studied theology just like men in all sincerity withcommitment to serve God and Gods people, the Church tradition didnot encourage me at all. Realising the reality of the Church andresponding to Gods call, I took up the responsibility to educate womenand men to know Gods greater truths and to go beyond human-madebarriers, challengmg and breaking the patriarchal and other systems

    that oppress and discriminate against peoplein

    thename

    of God.Initially I had to face a lot of problems, mockery, anger, insults etc.

    But over several years of perseverance, educating people through Biblestudies, re-reading the biblical passages that were quoted againstwomen to silence them, and various other programmes, we opened upthe understanding of people to see the oppression, discrimination andgender inequalities and the need to redress it. Though it cannot be saidthat all is well with women m the churches today, it can confidentlybesaid that there is openness to listen and to some extent willingness tochange. The doors to ordination are open in several denominations, andstructures of decision-makingbodies loosened to some extent... At thenational level justice for women is one of the top priorities of the IndianChurch. It is not an exaggeration to say that the movement of womenhas begun and is well on its way...2

    1. Dalit means broken, crushed, ground down, oppressed, and was first usedin Marathi language. Dalits have been treated as untouchable by so-called casteHindus. Different names have been given, such as outcaste, untouchable, avarna(outside the caste system), panchama(fifth caste), harijan (people of God). TheBritish government used the term Scheduled Castes, a designation continued bythe Government of India after Independence. Dalit is the name chosen by poli-tically conscious members of these castes. See Lalrinawmi Ralte,et al., EnvisioningaNew Heaven and a New Earth (Delhi. NCCI/ISPCK, 1998),p. 284 (glossary).

    2. Prasanna Kumari is the Head of Department of Womens Studies, GurukulLutheran Theological College, Chennai, India, and Founder/Director of theChurch Womens Centre The story is taken from her article Womens Partici-

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    23Chakkalakal Asian Women ReshapingTheology

    The stories could go on and on... Women fighting against the dic-

    tates ofa

    patriarchal society and Church;women

    resisting violence inall its ugly forms (e.g. rape, dowry deaths, prostitution/flesh trade,female infanticide etc.); women challenging all oppressive, discrimi-natory attitudes and structures; women deconstructing and recon-structing theology, women envisioning a new heaven and a newearth...

    The Context ofTheologizingThe context of feminist theologizing in Asia is precisely this para-doxical situation of frustration and hope, as well as the spirit of soli-darity that enhances collective struggle and empowerment. Togetherwe raise our questions:

    . Where lies our hope as Asian peoples?. What are our sources and resources for liberation, survival

    and empowerment as Asian women?. What will be our own paradigm as Asian women?

    Asia, the earths largest continent, is the home of nearly two-thirdsof the worlds population, with China and India accounting foralmost half the total population of the globe. Asia is also the cradle ofthe worlds major religions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hindu-ism. It is the birthplace of many of the spiritual traditions such asBuddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism

    and Shintoism. Millions also follow traditional or tribal religions, withvarying degrees of structured ritual and formal religious teaching.3In Asia today the political panorama is highly complex,displaying

    an array of ideologies ranging from democratic forms of governmentto theocratic ones, and military dictatorships and atheistic ideologiesas well. Too often, people seem helpless to defend themselves againstcorrupt politicians, judges, administrators and bureaucrats.4 Econom-ically, Asia is a continent of great disparity between the few who are

    rich and the majority who are poor. Although Asian countries have gained political independence,colonialism and imperialism have been perpetuated by local elites,

    pation and Contribution in the Church, in Ralte et al, Envisioning a New Heavenand a New Earth, pp 47-53 (52).

    3. Summarized from John Paul II, Ecclesia in Asia, no 6 as cited in World &Worship5 (1999), pp. 144-45.

    4. John Paul II, Ecclesia in Asia, no. 8, p. 148.

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    24 Feminist Theology

    who connive with foreign powers to exploit Asias cheap labour. Aclassical

    exampleis the

    presenttrend towards

    globalization,which

    has been identified with economic liberalization, industrialization,modernization, trade liberalization and so on. As Janet Bruin aptlyobserves:

    Instead of spreading wealth around, globalisationi and current macro-economic politics in both North and South are concentrating wealth infewer hands. Unemployment and the number of people living inpoverty are increasing in many countries. Workers are being forced intolow paying jobs and women into unsafe workplaces,into the unpro-tected informal economy where social security and other benefits do notapply, or into prostitution. Children are forced to leave school for workin carpet factories, farms or in the streets to help support their families.

    And people are compelled to leave their countries in search of paidlabour elsewhere, provoking an international backlash against immi-grants as economic and security threats. Both migration and anti-immi-grant xenophobia are expected to intensify as population pressures,unemployment and economic disparities between countries becomeever more acute.5

    In this situation of escalating poverty, female illiteracy and exploita-tion of people, more recently in the name of development, Asianwomen are the worst-hit victims. As an example, let us analyse theplight of Indian women. Since India is a rural country, 80 per cent ofall working women are agricultural labourers. In agriculture, the shiftfrom food crops to cash crops for export has led to a decline inwomens employment.Womens contribution in the total labour forceis nearly invisible. 95 per cent of Indian women are working in theunorganized sector. Women work more than 16 hours a day, both inproduction and in producing the countrys labour force. 6 Yetwomens labour is unrecognized, undervalued. Instead they are thelast to be hired and first to be fired. They suffer not only discri-mination and subordination, but also experience domestic social vio-lence. Women are also victims of trafficking in different forms: asprostitutes, mail-order brides, overseas contract workers, domestichelpers and entertainers. 7

    5. Janet Bruin as quoted in Mary John Mananzan, Jubilee in the Wake ofGlobalisation-from an Asian Womans Perspective, In Gods Image19.1 (2000),pp. 2-14 (4).

    6. Margaret Kaliselvi, Economic Globalisation and its Impact on Women, inRatte et al., Envisioning a New Heaven and a New Earth, pp. 113-17 (115).

    7. Mary-John Mananzan, Feminist Theology in Asia: An Overview, in OfeliaOrtega (ed.), Womens Visions (Geneva:WCC Publications), pp. 29-36 (29).

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    TheologicalReflection All feminist movements are primarily struggling against patriarchy, a

    term referring to a male-dominated and man-made value system, cul-ture and religion. In Asia, patriarchy is not just a matter of malesupremacy and male centredness. It is a social system of control anddomination. It includes the domination of colonizers over the colon-ized, the elite over the masses, the clergy over the laity, humankindover the rest of creation. As for India, the caste system, the preferencefor sons, female feticide, infanticide, bride burning and dowry deaths,not only diminish women in terms of numbers but also deny women,especially at the grassroots, their full humanity and right to life.

    Undoubtedly, the roots of patriarchy also lie within our Asian reli-gious and cultural traditions: in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism andConfucianism, and in our feudal cultures that were further reinforcedby Western colonialism. Christianity is no exception to this. Usingandrocentric translations, readings and interpretation of biblical textsincluding the teachingsof Jesus, the Church has supported, perpetua-ted, legitimized such trends, and participated in the continuousviolation of women. The Statement of the Ecumenical Association ofThird World Theologians (EATWOT) Asian Womens Consultation(1994)is worth quoting here:

    Patriarchygives more value to man than to woman. A mans name, hisline, his honour is to be preserved even at the expense of womans sbody, her resources, and her very life. It is not surprising, therefore, tohave female infanticide, surrogate motherhood, dowry system, arrangedmarriages, bride sale or mail-order brides, polygyny, infidelity, rape,incest, wife-battering, and other forms of violence against womenbecoming rampant in Asian countries. These acts of violence againstwomen all serve to support male importance and dominance and todowngrade womans worth. What is shocking and painful to us is theparticipation of women in their own violence. Patriarchal culture hasalienated woman from herself by the mternalization of oppression andguilt, and the suppression of anger and hatred. Patriarchy has turnedwoman against herself, her daughters, her daughters-in-law,her sisters,her mother and her mother-in-law.88

    The realization of womens equality with men in leadership roles isa distant dream. Bina Jang aptly sums up the situation in her articleentitled, Battle to Make the Sexes More Equal. Referringto a United

    8. EATWOT Asian Womens Consultation, Spirituality for Life: Women

    Struggling Against Violence (Philippines: EATWOT,1994), pp. 15-27 (20).

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    26 Feminist Theology

    Nations study, the article begins with the glaring prediction thatwomen have to wait until the 25th

    century-2490to be

    precise-before they can achieve parity with men in the top echelons of cor-porate power. The article notes that women hold less than 2 per centof senior management positions worldwide, with only 1 per cent in

    Asia. In government, female ministers account for 4 per cent in Asiacompared to 11 per cent in the West. However, the article also noteshow the family and social connections tend to provide the few Asianwomen a push to the top. Achieving equality in business, in govern-ment and in society will therefore continue to be a

    big strugglefor

    women. And while some Asian governments have set up policies thatpromote womens participation (e.g. seat quotas in Chinese parlia-ment, in Taiwans local government, in Indias local councils, and inPakistans municipal councils), much more needs to be done to breakdown deep social barriers to womens full participation.9

    The EmergingPower of AsianWomen

    Despite such death-dealing factors, there are also life-enhancingreali-ties in Asia: peoples organizations, womens movements, and eco-logy, peace and justice forums, aimed at raising peoples awarenessand mobilizing them towards collective struggle for their rights andfor a more humane society. Womens movements have undertakenthe additional task of fighting against the evils of a patriarchal culturethat has made women invisible.

    To put theology at the service of women, and not keep it merelyforscholarly discourse, requires involvement in the womens move-ments. Emerging from the limited sphere of the family into the largersociety, women take up action collectively to challenge the inefficient,hostile government machinery and to be collectively involved insecuring basic needs for them. Further, they take up action on behalfof gender, caste and class issues as we noted in the stories givenabove. Thus women have challenged situations of rape, incest, dowrydeaths, ill treatment by drunken husbands, caste authorities, and soon. What is central to this struggle is womens claim to their rightfulplace in the family and society. Economic liberation alone does notensure a better status for women in society or truly empower them.The power that comes from womens solidarity is in fact womensgreatest strength, says Astrid Lobo Gajiwala. According to her,

    9. Bma Jang as cited in Hope S Antone, Women Challenging Globalisationand Celebrating the Jubilee, In Gods Image19.1 (2000), p 1 (editorial).

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    27Chakkalakal Asian Women ReshapingTheology

    womens empowerment involves both a struggle for power and a

    struggle with power. Once freed from their shackles, their very posi-tion of disadvantage equips them to challenge the relationships andstructures that imprison their power.1o

    Womens empowerment entails the development of an alternativeparadigm over and against the life-affecting process of patriarchy,capitalism and First World-oriented maldevelopment. Womens para-digm of new society is based on wholeness of life. It has to do with andit sustains all forms of life. It is a spiritual quest to regain our identity,that

    we

    are born of the earth and are partners with creation. Womensmovements have thus emerged to respond to global as well as localneeds. These movements manifest a new way of exercising powerthrough collective dialogue and participatory action. Team leadershipand creative ways of expressing our life through liturgy and celebra-tion are manifestations of the alternative paradigm that needs to befostered.

    Women have taken action on behalf of the community, securingassets and reclaiming land ownership. They have fearlessly and suc-cessfully launched agitation against mega projects such as dams,quarrying the earth, deforestation, pollution of water and air, nuclearpower plants, and so on. An example would be the extraordinarilylarge participation of women in the organization to help BhopalGasVictims.l1 Women extend their action against multinational andgovernment factories for better working conditions, for revision ofpay scales, and against retrenchment.

    It is amazing to note how womens organizations in Asia haveawakened to the negative effects of globalization on the poor of theworld. An example of such an organization is GABRIELA,12a federa-

    10. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala,Power Struggles, In Gods Image19.1 (2000), pp. 51-57 (53)

    11. Followingthe tragic explosion of MIC gas from the Union Carbide plant inBhopal in 1984, the one organization of gas victims that emerged as strong andsustained was the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathana (Bhopal Gas-

    Affected Women Workers Organisation) Though the organization is not feminist(indeed it is headed by a man), a number of feminist groups work with it, and it islinked to the womens movement See Radha Kumar, From Chipko to Sati TheContemporary Indian Womens Movement, in Amrita Basu (ed.), The ChallengeofLocal Feminisnis: Womens Movements in Global Perspective (New Delhi: Kali forWomen, 1995), pp. 58-86 (83)

    12. I am indebted to Mary John Mananzan for information about GABRIELACf. Mary John Mananzan, Jubilee in the Wake of Globalisation-from an AsianWomans Perspective, In Gods Image191(2000), pp 2-14 (8)

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    tion of about 200 womens organizations in the Philippines, foundedin

    1984,with about

    50,000members. We can see from the

    strategies,campaigns and activities of the organization the extent of its com-mitted struggle against the policies and projects of globalization in thecountry.

    What emerges predominantly in these movements is the bondingamong women and their experience of solidarity and sisterhood. Thecollective search for viable alternatives further binds us in creativesolutions by way of organizing, mobilizations and campaigns, educa-tions and alternative

    projects,to name a few of the activities.

    At the Church level, Asian women, drawing inspiration from theirsisters in other parts of the world, have begun to make their presencefelt. They have been challenging religious patriarchy in its variedforms and the hierarchical patterns of decision-making in the Church.

    Asian womens critique of the Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Soli-darity with Women (1988-98)gives us an insight into their journey asChristian women. Their anguish, hopes and aspirations are summedup thus:

    Although their hopes for the Ecumenical Decade have not beenrealized...hope remams a theme. It is no longer hope in the institutionalchurches. It is hope experienced on the margins, or outside the walls...m womens own strength and vision and in their solidarity with eachother. It is hope m the future and hope in God, a God beyond patriarchyand patriarchal institutions.l3

    One of the significant contributions of Asian women to patriarchalas well as feminist

    theologyis their

    questfor

    developingan Asian

    feminist theology. Western feminist scholars, who have inspired Asian feminists, have shown that traditional biblical interpretations

    cannot be value free of objective and depend on prejudices and pre-suppositions of those who translate or exegete them.14 While acknow-ledging the pioneering work of our sisters in the West, there is aquestioning as to whether the hermeneutic principles Western femin-ists offer are adequate to reflect on the complexity of structures of

    13. Janet Crawford, Of Women and Womens Hopes, In Gods Image 17.4(1998), pp 24-30 (26). There are autonomous womens organizations in the Catho-lic Church which are engaged in ongoing theological reflection from feministperspectives

    14 Elisabeth SchsslerFiorenza, Women in the Early Christian Movement, inCarol Christ and Judith Plaskow (eds), Womanspirit Rising (San Francisco: Harper& Row, 1979),p. 86

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    brating Asian womens self-worth as persons. It signifies Asianwomens efforts at

    challengingthe

    discriminatorybarriers

    imposedon women by socio-economic-political and religious-cultural factors.It also symbolizes a venue for sharing Asian womens experiencesfrom their various contexts and of their theologizing as it emergesfrom such contexts. Furthermore, it represents Asian womens hopethat in spite of the diversity in Asia, there are common bonds that tiethem together and common issues and concerns which they can moreeffectively address together. 18 Among the programmes organized by AWRC have been those in

    the area of inter-faith dialogue. In our multi-religious and pluri-cultural situation, our quest for a theology/spirituality of life cannotbe confined to the Christian tradition alone. Our specific context,where Christians are less then three per cent of the entire population,requires us to do theology in dialogue with other religious traditions.Inter-religious dialogue is not a luxury but a necessity. It is a way tolearn from one anothers religious traditions and values, insights andexperiences, in a process of sharing. Genuine dialogue fosters commu-nication and makes the faiths intelligible to one another, it contributesto growth in mutual respect and love. 19 A word about my own experience of involvement in inter-religious

    activity may be in place here. The All ReligionMovement that I ini-tiated at Bandra, Mumbai (Bombay),popularly known as Sr Paulinesbrain child, has been instrumental in bringing together followers ofmany religions in the locality. The movement has among its objectivesthe celebration of unity in diversity and the promotion of solidarityand harmonyamong people, with differing cultural backgrounds andbeliefs, languages, socio-economic status and political affiliations.From its birth in 1992, Paulines brain child has attracted people ofall religions in the locality and the neighbourhood.The movement hasdeepened my conviction that our sisters and brothers of other reli-gions are our theological partners in our common search for truth,and not mere objects of theological discourse. In this process of jour-neying together, my colleagues and I have learnt the theology ofgiving and receiving as well as the art of participatory leadership.

    18. See Hope S. Antone, Finding Ties, Making Links: An Asian WomansGleamngs from Womanist Theology, In Gods Image 17.1 (1998),pp. 43-52 (47).

    19. For further readmg, see my book, Paul: A Challengeto Christians Today(Bombay: St Paul Publications, 1992), pp 106-10 and my article Mission in a Multi-ReligiousContext, The Examiner (18 October 1997),pp. 10-11.

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    Since Christology plays an important role in the lives of Asianwomen, a

    significantnumber of Asian feminist

    theologianshave been

    involved in discussions on developing an Asian Christology. VirginiaFabella from the Philippines and Chung Hyun Kyung from Koreahave both done ground-breaking work in this area.20 Together withother Asian feminist theologians, these scholars

    are opening avenues for Christian women to break out of the mould of atransplanted Christianity and to find new paradigms for the reality oflife in Asia... While constructing new paradigms for Christologyappears to be confined to Christianity alone, in the context of pluralismin Asia, it becomes one strand of a journey that is always done withothers.21

    Towards a Theologyof Humanhood: An Indian JourneyThe first organized expression of the journey towards Indian feministhermeneutical principles took place in 1984, at a National Con-sultation of Christian Women of all denominations to discuss the

    theme, Towards a Theology of Humanhood: Womens Perspectives.This was part of an initiative of the Womens Commission of theEATWOT, which has organized a series of such meetings nationally,regionally, as women of Third World nations and finally in a meetingof Third World women with minorities in the USA.22 Although as Indian women we have not yet developed a uniquely

    Indian methodology of feminist hermeneutics, we have asserted theneed to re-read the Bible informed by a commitment to womensempowerment in particular, and human liberation and the integrity ofcreation in general. It is to be noted that Indian womens theologicalmovement has been influenced by the secular womens movementwith its critique of patriarchal ideology operatives in Indian society/Church. To quote Aruna Gnanadason,

    any reflection on biblical texts has to keep this m mind, because there isenough documented evidence to show that religious fundamentalismand extremism affect the lives of women in deleterious ways and Indian

    20. Virginia Fabella, An Asian Womens Perspective, in R.S. Sugirtharajah(ed.), Asian Faces ofJesus (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993);Chung Hyun Kyung,Who is Jesus for Asian Women?, in Sugirtharajah (ed.), Asian Faces ofJesus.

    21. Ranjini Reber, We Do Not Dream Alone, p 29.22. For further details, see Gnanadason, Feminist MethodologyIndian

    Womens Experience, p 180. See also A Gnanadasons Towards a TheologyofHumanhood: Womens

    Perspectives(Delhi: ISPCK, 1986).

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    Christian women will have to make strong contributions to the creationof an environment of compassion and dialogue.23

    To move in this direction, it is imperative that we search for theliberative strands in the Scriptures of other great religions and engagein dialogue with women (and men) of other faiths who are as eager aswe are to move into a healthier, more just world after patriarchy.24Lina Gupta, in her fascinating rediscovery of the power of Kali writes:

    The evidence that the systematic subjugation of women has often beensanctioned by mythological stories, symbolsand images in world reli-

    gionsis too

    overwhelmingto overlook. However, we have reached a

    point in history when it is simply not enough merely to recognise andanalyse the patriarchal mundset and its effects on our religious andsocial lives. It is essential for us to seek new forms of religiousexperience and expression, either through the reinterpretation andreconstruction of our traditions or through alternative models of Ulti-mate Reality that will emphasiseas well as include female experience.25

    Lina Gupta reflects on the Goddess Kali from the perspective offour central Hindu notions: Sakti - energy; Prakri ti - nature (this is afeminine category); Avidya - absence of knowledge; and Maya - adeceptive and apparently negative power.26 According to Lina Gupta,these concepts have been interpreted literally and the

    anthropomorphizing tendencies of these literalisms have to be seen asreflecting a larger, more pervasive male fear of womens power; thatpower is a creative power - a power to act creatively in the world, tocritique and create social structures, to literally create the world. Thatpower is also one that can be destructive of the limitations of

    patriarchy.In another section Lina Gupta calls for a creative and constructivereading in the light of Tantric scriptural interpretation, which

    can allow the Kali with her terrifying appearance to emerge as a power-ful symbol of hfe and liberation to women in their passage to post-patriarchy. Beyondmother and wife, she encourages us to challenge our

    23. Aruna Gnanadason, The Bible and Women of Faith, in D.J. Muthunaya-gom (ed), Bible SpeaksToday:Essays in Honour of Gnana Robinson (Delhi: ISPCK,2000), pp. 327-38 (336).

    24. Lma Gupta, Kali the Saviour, in Paula Cooeyet al. (eds.), After Patriarchy:Feminist Interpretations of the World Religions (Faith Meets Faith Series; Maryknoll,NY: Orbis Books, 1992), p. 15.

    25 Gupta, Kali the Saviour, pp. 15-16.26. Gnanadason, The Bible and Women of Faith, p. 337.27. Gupta, Kali the Saviour, p. 29.

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    33Chakkalakal Asian Women ReshapingTheology

    assumptions, ambiguities, negatives, uncertainties and fears aboutothers. Under her assurance we confront who we are in reality asopposed to what we perceive ourselves to be through the subjugatedroles we play.28

    In her comments on Indian feminist methodology, Aruna Gnana-dason singles out the role of motherhood

    because the creative principle is at the heart of feminist consciousness.Denying themselves a life of their own, women have been engaged increating and sustaining life for all... This creative nurturing urge rootedin

    givingbirth to, and

    protectingnew life, is surrounded with

    ceremonyand rituals in Indian homes, particularly in Hmdu homes, an expressionof the fertility associated with the earth and the gifts nature bestows onus.29

    Indian women should be shrewd enough to realize that it is thisvery creative principle and self-sacrificinglove of women which hasbeen idealized, glorified, used and abused to keep women in theirproper place, crippling their growth into humanhood/womanhood.

    Asour

    Asian sisters describe it, therecan

    bea

    danger of condoningthe traditional self-effacing masochism of women, reinforced in theglorification of motherhood, keeping them in depth of despair andresignation. 30

    Conclusion/Call to Action

    As Asian women are engaged in a struggle-centred, life affirming and

    change-oriented theology,we

    shouldensure a

    shift from the para-digm of anti-patriarchism to that of life and let-live, without howeverundermining the theories developedby antipatriarchism.31

    Equally important is our involvement in peoples lives. For partici-pation in movements for political action and social transformationgives authenticity to our theology. An important challenge is to facili-tate the process of networking among womens organizations at thelocal, regional, national and international levels.

    28. Gupta, Kali the Saviour, p. 24.29. Aruna Gnanadason, What do These Women Speak of?, Voices (June 1993),

    pp. 39-40.30. Sun Ai Lee Park and Mary John Mananzan, Emerging Spirituality of Asian

    Women, in Virginia Fabella and Mercy Amba Oduyoye (eds.), With Passion andCompassion -Third World Women Doing Theology(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books,1988),p. 82.

    31. Kyungmi Park, A Preview of Challenges for Asian Feminist Theologyin

    the 21st Century, PTCA Bulletin 13.1, 2 (June and December 2000), pp. 7-16 (12).

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    34 Feminist Theology

    We need to search further in our cultural roots to discover the

    emerging force in the primal, mother-centred traditions. I reiteratehere the recommendations of our EATWOT Consultation: Thissearch would enable us to further search and evolve a theology/spirituality of Asian womens struggle for life, as experienced bywomen, as we share the cost and consequences of our decisions andactions.32

    It is important for Asian feminists to unearth our religio-culturalresources for theologizing. Kwok Pui-lan from Hong Kong stronglyrecommends this when she says that, our serious digging intowomens historical, cultural and religious resources open our eyesto the treasures that have hitherto been unexploded by Asiantheologians.33

    Asian womens theology, with its accent on womens experience ofsuffering and struggle must enhance their experience of power amidstpowerlessness. As Ranjini Rebera rightly points out, the ownership ofpower can lead to a commitment to action wherever violence andabuse are evident .34

    In our re-interpretation of biblical texts and theological teachings,we shall affirm that any hermeneutical principle must take into con-sideration gender and racial/ caste oppression as much as it must takethe economic/class dimension seriously.35

    We must continue to make room for creativity and connected-ness.36 One of the characteristics of our theology is creating space formutual

    learning.We do

    theologynot

    onlywith the

    heart,but also

    with the body-the whole person, using dance, singing, poetry, paint-ing, and so on as means of theologizing.

    While engaging in a fundamental search for new identity as awoman, as human, as Asian, it is of the utmost importance to do theo-logy with passion and compassion, compassion for the least of oursisters and brothers, translated into concrete actions of loving service.

    32. EATWOT Asian Womens Consultation, Spirituality for Life, p. 26.33. Kwok Pui-lan, The Emergence of Asian Feminist Consciousness on

    Culture and Theology, in John Pobee (ed.), Culture, Women and Theology(Delhi:ISPCK, 1994), p 73.

    34. Ranjini Rebera, Recognismg and Naming Power, In Gods Image 17.1(1998),p. 39.

    35 Gnanadason, What do These Women Speak of?, p 3936 Elizabeth

    Tapiaas cited

    by Ann

    Wansbrough,Behold I Make All Things

    New: Trends in Asian Womens Theology,In Gods Image15.3 (1996), pp. 6-9 (7).She has summarized E. Tapias outline of the nature of Asian feminist theology.

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    35Chakkalakal Asian Women ReshapingTheology

    Given the enormous diversity and complexity of Asian people with

    their cultures, languages, religions and traditions, womens theologiescarry different emphases and nuances. The challenge before us is topromote contextual theologies from feminist perspectives, whichdraw inspiration from Christian and other religious traditions, as wellas from secular womens movements.

    We realize that the development of Asian feminist theologies is anongoing process; hence we need to network with women and men in

    Asia and beyond. Networking becomes all the more necessary in our

    presentcontext of

    increasing&dquo;fundamentalist-nationalist&dquo;backlash

    against women, especially those marginalized and oppressed, as wellas against feminist religious and political movements. 37

    Our commitment to Asian feminist theology should not makeus exclusive, narrow-minded, selfish and inward-looking. On thecontrary, we continue to think globally and act locally. MahatmaGandhis wise instruction sounds good at this point: I do not wantmy house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. Iwant the cultures of all the lands to be blown about

    myhouse as

    freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.38I conclude by pointing to Marys affirmation song of liberation/

    revolution in the Magnificat (Lk. 1.46-55), wherein she expressespowerfully the integral liberation envisaged by God, a three-foldrevolution brought about by God-a cultural, political and economicrevolution. 39

    As we journey through the third millennium, let our bond of sister-

    hood andbrotherhood

    and solidaritywith

    thevictims

    of oppressionand exploitation urge us to join hands with all people of goodwill infighting against the forces of evil and ushering in an era of hope,justice, equality and freedom.

    37. Elisabeth SchsslerFiorenza, Feminist Theologies in Different Contexts,Concilium 1 (1996), pp. vii-xii (vii).

    38 Quotes of Gandhi 1921 as cited in Pauline Chakkalakal (ed.), Gifts of Edu-cation: Gandhis Visions and Realities (Bombay St Paul Publications, 1994),p 48

    39. Tissa Balasuriya, Maryand Human Liberation (Sri Lanka. CSR, 1997), p 14.