Why am I here?

Here is a letter I wrote some 8 months ago explaining why I was interested in coming to India. While the questions guiding my project are constantly being reassessed in light of my experiences and conversations on the ground, the initial inertia behind this journey steers true.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I finished a year of research on inculturation/contextual theology in Africa impassioned with the ideas I was engaging with, yet discouraged by its sparse application in churches beyond a theoretical setting. I walked away convinced that all theology is contextual and that a proper inculutration theology can be liberative in its affirmation of human identities. The obstacles of anthropological poverty that privilege "western" theological formulations, and the obstacles presented by ecclesiastic authorities who adhered to more roman interpretations prevented inculturation as liberation theology from turning into a movement. My year of study, however, continually pointed to India, as the next step for pursuing my own passion of the relationship between faith and culture.

I concluded this year of exploration in Senegal. In many respects, Senegal's milieu echoes that context of pluralism found in both the Indian and the American context, for within a Senegalese family, one might find a Christian, a Muslim and a practitioner of traditional religion, all living co-harmoniously. In Senegal, I began to approach the question not so much as a dialogue between a Christian faith and a local African culture, but as Christianity being one of many partners in this community of conversations. My interviews with priests, religious and theologians there raised the question for me, of how this pluralistic context itself can be a departure point for doing theology.

Indian Christianity, with its strong critique of colonialism and its commitment to conversations between faiths, is an ideal place for me to continue this research. In exploring the implications of these interfaith conversations, I hope to better understand how engaged clergy and laity wrestle with questions regarding the nature of God and revelation, humanity and salvation, and pluralism. Working with both theologians and with engaged Christians, I hope to better understand the theology undergirding interfaith dialogue, and how it is born out in day-to-day inter-religious interaction.

Studying here at the University of Chicago, I carry the questions born in me from a year of intercultural experiences. My own commitment to context keeps me rooted in a theology that is done from the pew. This theology of the pew recognizes the active role that the laity play in our churches today and seeks, in this recognition, to help conscienscitize the laity in their own reflective autonomy. Thus, I see this not only as an extension of the work that brought me here to Chicago, but a deeper expression of that particular trait of our ministry program: a blending of deep theological understanding and critically aware ministry. Pursuing this research work in India will give me the opportunity to hone the critical skills that we are being taught here in Chicago within the context of practical theology. Furthermore, I hope that my studies of theology within pluralism will not be segregated off to a question of "world Christianity" but will continue to inform my studies as I pursue a theology from the pews even here in my diverse American context.

Michael Le Chevallier
MDiv candidate 2011
University of Chicago
email/skype: mike.lechevallier@gmail.com
Cell: +949003176932