Lessons in Miracles from Kerala, South India: Stories of Three "Christian" Saints

Dempsey, Corinne G.

doi:10.1086/463585

Cited by 11 publications

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“…For example, the complexities of Indian Christianity, which includes numerous Eastern Orthodox churches like the Syro‐Malabar and Syro‐Malankara churches and their liturgical traditions, challenge any such simplistic constructions (Dempsey 2001). A new generation of emerging scholars is helping to undo the “exotic” argument (Dempsey 2002; Kent 2002 and 2004; Meibohm 2002; Raj 2002a; Schmalz 2002). My suggestion is that we move away from a tradition‐centered approach to a region‐centered approach as we envision world religions textbooks for the future.…”

Section: The Quest For a Balanced Representation Of South Asian Religmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion/S Between Covers: Dilemmas of the World Religions Textbook

MacWilliams

Waghorne

Sommer

et al. 2005

Religious Studies Review

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Section: The Quest For a Balanced Representation Of South Asian Religmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion/S Between Covers: Dilemmas of the World Religions Textbook

MacWilliams

Waghorne

Sommer

et al. 2005

Religious Studies Review

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Kerala Christian Sainthood

Dempsey¹

2001

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Kerala Christian Sainthood is an ethnography‐based study that celebrates the multivocal function of saints. Drawing on pilgrim anecdotes, shrine practices, official hagiographies, and regional folklore, it shows how the business of saints routinely extends beyond their capacity as earthly conduits of miraculous power. Saintly characters described in this book, hailing from the religiously pluralistic South Indian state of Kerala, not only tend to the health and happiness of individual devotees but also help craft and express the multiple identities and complex power relations of their devotional communities as well. Highlighted throughout the study are the traditions of Sr. Alphonsa of Bharananganam (1910–46) and St. George the martyr, figures who richly reflect the many preoccupations of Kerala sainthood. Sr. Alphonsa, native to Kerala and famous for her life of suffering and posthumous power, stands in line to be canonized by the Vatican. St. George, the caped dragon slayer imported to Kerala by Syrian merchants and later by Portuguese and British colonizers, is today partially debunked by Rome. These two figures, while differing dramatically in temperament, nationality, age of cult, and Vatican standing, boast a vast popular appeal in Kerala's Kottayam district. By examining practices and stories surrounding Sr. Alphonsa and St. George, Dempsey shows how their traditions help express devotees’ hybrid identities in both colonial and postcolonial times. This ethnography of Christian sainthood within a Hindu cultural context, of “foreign” traditions adapted to native practice and of female sanctity negotiated through patriarchal expectation, is poised at a number of intersections. The book provides not only a comparative study of cultures, religions, and worldviews but also a unique grounding for contemporary ethnographic, postcolonial, and feminist concerns.

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2001

Kerala Christian Sainthood

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Lessons in Miracles from Kerala, South India: Stories of Three "Christian" Saints

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Religion/S Between Covers: Dilemmas of the World Religions Textbook

Religion/S Between Covers: Dilemmas of the World Religions Textbook

Kerala Christian Sainthood

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