Publisher's Synopsis
INTRODUCING THE STUDY
1.1 RESEARCH ISSUES AND AIMS
The research problem, The Ethics of Personhood Contextualizing Casteism
in Tamilnadu Church' is located from the context of the prevalence of Casteism in
Tamilnadu Church and the imperative to respond to this problem ethically from
conceptual foundations of both philosophy and Christian ethical dispositions. Given
to the presence of Tamilnadu Church for several centuries, with the native castecultural
context, seems to have culturally incorporated which is otherwise is
antithetical to philosophical and ethical claims of personhood. The cultural context
social discrimination given to its various typologies prevalent in Tamilnadu Church
alternatively implores the need for implores an ethics of personhood. This demands a
systematic study of
(i) The existentiality of caste discrimination
(ii) And the need towards the exploration of the ethics of personhood both from
philosophical and Christian religious ethos.
The unethical existentiality of Casteism is but the denial of human
personhood and human personhood can be emphasized from philosophical writings
and critical thinkers such as Ambedkar from Indian Context and Emmanuel Levinas
from western context and all the more from the very doctrinal foundations of
universal Christian church. Hence the research will bring together the study of the
problem of Casteism in Tamilnadu church vis-à-vis the ethical concept of personhood
embedded in philosophy and church documents.
Accordingly the research aims at the:
(i) Study Casteism in Tamilnadu Church as the context to critically evaluate the
ethics of Personhood.
(ii) Exploration of the critique of Ambedkar regarding Casteism in Christianity.
(iii) Concept of Personhood from philosophical and ethical perspectives.
(iv) Derivation an ethic of personhood from Christian doctrinal positions.
