March 8, 2012

CHENNAI, India/GENEVA – As Rev. Dr Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar recounts moments in her life that have shaped what she is today, her mind is already occupied – preparing for next week's national program, presentations for national or international conferences, Lenten sermons, supervising four of her students' theses, and all this along with helping her 11-year-old daughter Davina with her homework and exams.

She attributes her ability to balance her multiple roles – ordained minister in the Arcot Lutheran Church (ALC), Dean of Doctoral Studies and Research Programmes at the United Theological College (UTC), Dalit rights activist, feminist theologian – efficiently in a patriarchal context to her "faith in the Word of God" that "has given the inner strength to emerge as a person with self-confidence." "Women are in no way inferior to men. It could be a healthy and harmonious relationship between women and men – at home, in church and in society – when they are ready to recognize in each other the God-given potential of being loved and loving human beings," says Anderson-Rajkumar.

She sees Genesis 1: 26-27 as not "mere" verses but as "a core tenet of faith that binds the whole humanity together (…) endowed with equal worth and dignity before God – regardless of race, sex, gender, creed, color or caste." "If this verse has given me a reason to believe that all are equal before God," she asserts, "I will not give any power to any ideology, however long it has survived in this world, to replace, reject or deny this gift of utter common worth as a human being," she says.

This assertive personality took time in the shaping. During her interview for admission into the Bachelor of Divinity (BD) course at UTC in 1983, she evoked laughter when she replied to the question of what she would do after completing her BD since there was no women's ordination in her church.

"Perhaps return to teach at the college," she said.

She was the only woman in a divinity class of 21 students, but says that she hardly felt any difference with her male classmates. "I was quite comfortable being ‘one of the boys' and competed with them in academics and extra-curricular activities." "Though theology was a male bastion, and women's ordination was unheard of, especially in the Lutheran church, my father's faith inspired and led all [of us] eight children into the field of theology and ministry," she comments.

Eye-opener

After completing the BD course at the top of her class, Anderson-Rajkumar applied for a job in her former church, the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC). She was told that she could work as a "women's worker" but without a salary. Two of her (male) classmates, however, were accepted immediately and placed on the church roster. She recalls that moment as an "eye-opener." "I realized it does not matter how academically excellent you are, you have no place in the church if you are a woman." This eye-opener kindled her "fire" of feminism. She pursued a Master's of Theology at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary in Madurai, and then proceeded to teaching Theology and Ethics at the Serampore College in West Bengal. After securing a Doctor of Theology in Systematic Christian Theology, she joined UTC as a faculty member, where she is a professor of Feminist Theology and Hermeneutics.

Rightful Place to Women

Her classes challenge students to reread the Bible through feminist lenses. In one exercise, she asks her students to read aloud 1 Corinthians 15: 3-5.

Students often are surprised that Paul ascribes the first witness to the risen Lord Jesus to Peter and that Mary Magdalene is missing from the text.

"What happened to her? Can we ignore this as something unimportant?" she pushes her class. When the students are made to think long and hard in this way, this is how "learning begins" to realize and assert women's rightful place in the Bible, church and society, says Anderson-Rajkumar.

The theologian had a long wait before her desire to serve the larger Lutheran communion was realized.

Ordination came only in 2006, 20 years after completing her theological education, when the board of the ALC, one of the 12 member churches of the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India (UELCI), opened its doors for Anderson-Rajkumar to join the church ministry.

In the same year, she was elected as the first woman vice-president of the UELCI after the Lutheran communion in India made a constitutional amendment to allow women's participation in governance.

As an ordained minister, she even solemnizes weddings as a feminist.

"Usually, the bride is given to the groom in marriage by her father. In my church, I insist that both parents do the same, together." Anderson-Rajkumar encourages women to step up and invites mothers – especially widows – who tend to shy away from such ceremonies, and they have started coming forth to participate. This is how it should always have been, she adds.

The ALC pastor identifies herself as a Dalit feminist, and her sermons address discrimination against Dalits, adivasis (tribals), women and the underprivileged in general. "To support their struggles is but a form of worship."

A Strong Message

However, she feels sad and even pained when she sees the intensity of patriarchal structures, power and practice at work within the church.

"How can the Church, the Body of Christ – which should take a lead in the world to be a gender-just community – turn against members of its own body, and deny them their rightful value, human dignity and identity within the Church?" Anderson-Rajkumar challenges women: "Anger, sadness or even frustration with the system of patriarchy or corruption cannot be the last word because our faith is grounded in a God of justice and love.

"We can turn these emotions, experiences and tears into ingredients of faith for struggle. Such a faith can become a power that can dislodge the tombstone of patriarchy that stifles life and release in us, the energy, spirit and power of Resurrection," she affirms.

Lutheran World Information
UELCI communications secretary Timothy Melvyn interviewed Rev. Anderson-Rajkumar.