Buddha, Bhakti, and Brahman: Sebastian Kappen S.J.’s Dialogue with Indian Religions

This article analyzes how Sebastian Kappen S.J. (1924-1993), a social thinker and one of the most radical Indian liberation theologians, related to Indian religions. It argues that Kappen, in spite of his criticism of the caste system, also found inspiration in Hinduism. He especially appreciated the ontic and cosmic understandings of transcendence and immanence, the inclusive interpretation of the divine, and the religious approach to nature. In addition, Kappen also valued other Asian religious traditions, such as Buddhism and the Bhakti movement. Being an anti-institutional and anti-hierarchical progressive theologian, Kappen used Indian religions as a challenge to his own Christian faith

Constructing Counter-culture through Theology of Liberation: Sebastian Kappen SJ (1924-93)

This research explores the history of the origin, growth, and development of the theology of liberation in India, focusing on the life and contributions of Sebastian Kappen S.J. (1924-1993), a renowned progressive thinker and champion of counter culture. There are two central research questions: how does Indian theology of liberation relate to global liberation theology, and what is Kappen’s position in this? The research is based on a variety of sources, such as Kappen’s publications, archival material from India and Rome, interviews, several periodicals, etc. The relevance of this dissertation is that, unlike the hitherto understanding on Kappen as a liberation theologian, it also adequately presents him as a social activist and progressive thinker who engaged interdisciplinary elements in both social analysis and theologizing. Being all this, Kappen contributed extensively towards constructing a counter culture through his intellectual contributions and activism. For this, he depended mainly on three sources: Marx, Jesus, and Buddha. We expect to scrutinize the significance of this inclusive approach in the multi-religious and multi-cultural Indian society.Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents v Table of Figures ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 I The Kerala Context A. The core of Indian Christianity 16 B. Reformist and nationalist agitation in British India 26 C. Communism and Church in Kerala 35 II Liberation Theology: An Overview A. Liberation theology: definition and preliminary notions 46 B. Liberation theology in Latin America 49 C. Asian liberation theology 63 D. Liberation theology in India 74 E. The Vatican and liberation theology 84 III A Biographical Introduction A. Childhood and education 90 B. Inspiration through foreign contacts 96 C. Increasing activism 103 D. A bibliographical note: brief sketch of the works of Kappen 110 IV Kappen on Marxism A. Capitalism 119 B. Alienation 127 C. Revolution 133 V Kappen on Christology A. Catholic Christology and Asian understanding of Jesus 144 B. Kappen’s distinction between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history 150 C. Conflict with the Vatican 159 VI Kappen on Indian Religious Traditions A. Buddhism as the reservoir of liberating elements 166 B. Hinduism 171 C. The Bhakti movement 179 D. Hindu nationalism 182 E. Kappen’s preference for an ethical religiosity 186 VII Liberation Theology and Counter-Culture A. Kappen as a liberation theologian 189 B. An Asian challenge of traditional theology 196 C. The prophet of counter-culture 204 Conclusion 215 Bibliographynrpages: 273status: publishe