Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »
My library | Help | Advanced Book Search | Web History | Sign in

Books

Kerala Christian Sainthood : Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India:

Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India
Front Cover
1 Review
Oxford University Press, USA, Dec 30, 2000 - Social Science - 232 pages
Kerala Christian Sainthood is an ethnography-based study that celebrates the multi-vocal function of saints. Drawing on pilgrim anecdotes, shrine practices, official hagiographies, and regional lore, author Corinne Dempsey demonstrates how the business of saints routinely extends beyond their capacity as earthly conduits of miraculous power. Saintly characters described in this book, hailing from the religiously pluralistic south Indian state of Kerala, tend not only to the health and happiness of individual devotees but help craft and express the multiple identities and complex power relations of their devotional communities as well. Throughout the study, Dempsey highlights the traditions of Sr. Alphonsa of Bharananganam (1910-1946) and St. George the martyr, two figures who reflect the many preoccupations of Kerala sainthood. Sr. Alphonsa, native of Kerala and famous for her life of suffering and posthumous power, stands in line to be canonized by the Vatican. St. George, the caped dragon slayer imported to Kerala by Syrian merchants and later by Portuguese and British colonizers, is today partially debunked by Rome. These two figures, while differing dramatically in temperament, nationality, age of cult, and Vatican standing, boast a vast popular appeal in Kerala's Kottayam district. In examining Sr. Alphonsa and St. George, Dempsey shows how Kerala's saint traditions reflect devotees' hybrid identities in both colonial and postcolonial times. This ethnography of Christian sainthood within a Hindu cultural context, of "foreign" traditions adopted by native practice, and of female sanctity negotiated through patriarchal expectation is poised at a number of intersections. Dempsey provides not only a comparative study of cultures, religions, and worldviews, but also a unique grounding for contemporary ethnographic, post-colonial, and feminist concerns.

What people are saying - Write a review

User Review - Flag as inappropriate

This book makes for an interesting read --- at bed-time, perhaps, when the critical mind is not to be engaged or taxed.
This author's statements must be taken with a copious dose of salt. She possesses only a superficial understanding of the topics she deals with, and repeats some commonly-held---but ultimately fallacious---misconceptions.
This is not a very scholarly work, and should not be regarded as such. 

Related books

The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York : Breaking Convention and Making Home ...
The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York : Breaking Convention and Making Home ...
Corinne G. Dempsey Associate Professor of Religious Studies University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Limited preview - 2005
Popular Christianity in India: Writing Between the Lines
Popular Christianity in India: Writing Between the Lines
Selva J. Raj,Corinne G. Dempsey
Limited preview - 2002
Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth: Adventures in Comparative Religion
Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth: Adventures in Comparative Religion
Corinne G. Dempsey
Limited preview - 2011
All related books »

Other editions - View all

Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India
Corinne G. Dempsey
No preview available - 2001

References to this book

From other books

Living Our Religions: Hindu and Muslim South Asian-American Women Narrate ...
Living Our Religions: Hindu and Muslim South Asian-American Women Narrate ...
Anjana Narayan,Bandana Purkayastha
Limited preview - 2009
South Asian Christian diaspora: invisible diaspora in Europe and North America
South Asian Christian diaspora: invisible diaspora in Europe and North America
Knut A. Jacobsen,Selva J. Raj
Limited preview - 2008
All Book Search results »

From Google Scholar

Global religion and the re-enchantment of the world
Thomas J Csordas - Anthropological Theory
Christian Spirituality in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania
Richard Fox Young
Global religion and the re-enchantment of the world
Thomas J Csordas
Influences of Hinduism on the Syrian Christianity of St. Thomas of ...
Linda Hess
All Scholar search results »

References from web pages

Oxford Scholarship Online: Kerala Christian Sainthood
Oxford Scholarship Online - a cross-searchable library containing the full text of over 1350 Oxford books
www.oxfordscholarship.com/ oso/ public/ content/ religion/ 9780195130287/ toc.html

JSTOR: Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. xiii+213 pp. $45.00 (cloth). ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0022-4189(200301)83%3A1%3C165%3AKCSCOC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P

citeulike: Kerala Christian Sainthood
Kerala Christian Sainthood. Articles from the last few issues of Kerala Christian Sainthood © Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs ...
www.citeulike.org/ journal/ oso-517899

Kerala Christian Sainthood - E-Books der Universitätsbibliothek ...
Dempsey, Corinne G.: Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India. Oxford University Press: 2001. (Format: HTML) ...
ebooks.ub.uni-muenchen.de/ 1942/

Kerala Christian Sainthood : Collisions of Culture and Worldview ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood : Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India/Corinne G. Dempsey. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2001, xiv, 213 p., ...
www.vedamsbooks.com/ no19954.htm

Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India. from Journal of Church and State in Reference provided by Find Articles.
findarticles.com/ p/ articles/ mi_hb3244/ is_/ ai_n7953747

BOOKS ON BL. ALPHONSA - Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India.By Corinne G. Dempsey.
www.alphonsa.com/ Content-9/ BOOKS-ON-BL-ALPHONSA.html

@article {M.:June 2003:0002-7189:439, author = "M. Thomas ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India Corrine G. Dempsey Oxford University Press 2001 213 $45.00 By Corrine G. ...
www.ingentaconnect.com/ content/ oup/ jaarel/ 2003/ 00000071/ 00000002/ art00439;jsessionid=1ujy5ecxrrd5h.alexandra?format=bib

Edward E. Curtis IV University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South. India. By Corrine G. Dempsey. Oxford University Press, 2001. 213 pages. $45.00. ...
jaar.oxfordjournals.org/ cgi/ reprint/ 71/ 2/ 439.pdf

Kerala Christian Sainthood - Dempsey, Corinne G. - 9780195130 ...
Kerala Christian Sainthood, Dempsey, Corinne G., 9780195130 - Comprar libro, Venta de libro, Libro en español e ingles, Ofertondelibros.com venta de libros ...
www.ofertondelibros.com/ default.asp?R=9780195130287B

Bibliographic information

QR code for Kerala Christian Sainthood : Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India
TitleKerala Christian Sainthood : Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India
AuthorCorinne G. Dempsey
PublisherOxford University Press, USA, 2000
ISBN0198029918, 9780198029915
Length232 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan