Christology and cosmology: weaving incarnation into the indigenous lifeworlds of Rongmei Baptists in Manipur, India

Abstract

Focusing on Rongmei Baptists, this thesis argues that the implications of Christology go beyond humanity to nonhumans and the land, and by extension, the rest of creation. The cosmological views that Christians hold of the world around them are linked to their perception of Christ and his incarnation. The thesis demonstrates the interrelations between Christology and cosmology through digital ethnographic methods and theological analysis of lived theology among Rongmei Baptists in upland Manipur, India. The interdisciplinary analyses illuminate how the interweaving of Jisu Krista (the Rongmei name for Jesus Christ) into Rongmei life generates wide-ranging cosmological reconfigurations of their ways of life. These reconfigurations comprise continuities and discontinuities brought about by Christianity, grounded in how Christians negotiate between indigenous traditions and land on the one hand, and Christian notions of “divine ways of life” and heaven on the other. The dynamics of socio-cultural change/continuity in Christianity are rooted in the theology of the incarnation, that recognises Christ as indigenising into a particular culture while simultaneously transcending it. Christian lifeworlds emerge from the encounter of Jisu Krista and the particularities of traditional indigenous life, through the negotiations between Christianity and indigenous life. According to this then, the shape of Christian cosmological lifeworlds is largely determined by how Christology is perceived—what are the limits of the effects of the incarnation of Jesus Christ? If their Christology is anthropocentric, as observed among Rongmei Baptists, their cosmological lifeworlds can be dualistic and disrupt the relationship with the land. However, it is argued that such a disruptive ethos contradicts both indigenous sensibilities (marked by relations and intimacy with the land) and the theology of the Divine incarnation into the fabric of creatureliness. Seeking a fuller articulation of Christology from the framework of indigenous lifeworlds, the thesis then presents a constructive theological argument. If the incarnation of Christ is envisioned as reaching to all creation, implying that Christ identifies with and transforms the land, this would be reflected in Christian cosmological lifeworlds that prioritise interconnectedness, reconciliation, and healing of relations. The land in Christ, according to their reconfigured relations with humans and with God, is affirmed as participating in the life(worlds) of the Creator God.

Through its qualitative and theological study of indigenous lived theology, the thesis contributes towards the enrichment of wider theological discourse by offering critical interventions on Christological methodology, by providing a case study of an indigenous encounter with Christology, and by putting forward a constructive theology of the incarnation. The interconnected and relational sensibilities of Rongmei communities appeal for the study of Christology-in-relation—as opposed to Christology-in-isolation—that recognises the complex networks that make up the theological perceptions of Christ. Additionally, Rongmei Christian lifeworlds provide unique opportunities for the analysis of the interrelation between Christology and cosmology, because of its relatively short history with traceable religious change, its process of indigenisation spearheaded by indigenous actors, and the persistence of the place of the land in Christian lifeworlds. Finally, going beyond description of indigenous Christology in context, the thesis critically develops a constructive Christology that provides a theological and incarnational understanding of creation, both for the context of Rongmei Christianity and beyond.