A Postcolonial Subaltern (Dalit) Study of Isaiah 52:13-53:12
February 6, 2023
Rev. Selva Rathinam, S.J., an International Visiting Jesuit Fellow at Holy Cross for 2023, applies concepts of the postcolonial method to interpret the text of the last Servant Song from the point of view of the Dalits, the oppressed people of India’s lowest caste. Through the lens of “otherness,” he interprets the resistance of the Servant before the oppressors who finally confront their past and repent.
Fr. Rathinam, a Jesuit priest ordained in Bangalore, is a professor and past president of Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), the Pontifical Athenaeum of Philosophy and Theology in Pune, India. A Hebrew Bible scholar, he is teaching a course on the Hebrew prophets at Holy Cross.