Theologising with the Sacred ‘Prostitutes’ of South India

Eve Rebecca Parker, Ph.D. (2016), University of St Andrews, is Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theological Education at Durham University. Her recent publications include The Virgin and the Whore – An Interreligious Challenge for Our Times, The Ecumenical Review (2019).

• AcknowledgementsList of FiguresIntroduction1 The Context for Theologising: Dalit Self, Gender and Identity2 Hinduism, the Caste System and the ‘Untouchables’3 The Touchable Untouchables: From Feminist to Dalit Womanist4 Developing a Methodology for Theologising with Devadāsīs5 The Book1 Meeting Mathamma: Sacred ‘Prostitute’ and Mother Goddess1 Situating the Devadāsīs2 The Devadāsī and the Politics of Her Body3 Dalit Reform, the Devadāsī and Her Devi4 Dedicated to the Goddess5 The Mother Goddess Mathamma6 A Goddess of Pain, Blood and Discharge7 Sacred Sexuality and the Demand for Decency8 From Goddess to ‘Slut’: Locating a Devadāsī Theology2 What Theology Hides Under the Sari of a Sacred Sex Worker?1 Towards Theologising with Mathamma2 Indian Theology and the Brahmin Christ2 The Bhakti Movement: A Subaltern Voice of Resistance3 The Dalit Revolutionists Impact on Indian Christian Theology4 Dalit Liberation Theology5 Jesus Is Dalit: The Dukkha of the Dalits Is One with Christ6 Dalit Religiosity in Dalit Christian Theological Discourse7 Gendered Bodies and Multiple Marginalities in Dalit Theology3 A Body Theology of the Thrice Marginalised1 Dalit Women Resistance: Ja Bhim!2 The Voice of Dalit Women in Dalit Theology3 The Dalit Womanist Christ4 Dalit Feminist/Womanist Hermeneutics5 The Missing Voice of the Indecent in Dalit Theology6 Boundary Crossing with the Sexual Stories of the Oppressed4 Liberating Scriptures Whores with the Devadāsīs1 Bringing Metaphors to Life through Dalit Womanist Hermeneutics2 Through the Lens of the Devadāsī to the Bodies of Oholah and Oholibah3 Tortured Concubines and ‘Christ the Decent Woman’4 The Prostitute at Christ’s Feet with Her Matted Hair: A Model of Resistance5 From Sinful Woman to Prophetic ‘Prostitute’: A Theology from Indecent Bodies6 Liberating the “Whore” in Dalit Theological Discourse5 Towards an Indecent Dalit The(a)ology with the Silenced Goddess1 The Re-Birth of the Goddess in Dalit Theologising2 A Tali around her Neck and a Bible in her Hand: Indecent Religious Hybridity in the South Indian Village3 Jesus and the Goddess: Towards a Dalit The(a)ological Christology4 Jesus in the South Indian Village5 Towards an Indecent Dalit Christology6 The Dalit Christa’s Kin-dom to Come7 From Dalit Theology to Indecent Dalit TheologyBibliographyPrimary SourcesIndex of SubjectsIndex of Names