Mothers in the Pulpit: A Study of the Sermons at a Bengali Protestant Church in Kolkata
This paper will attempt an ethnographic study of the sermons delivered by the mothers’ association at the Sunday services of a Protestant church located in a Bengali Christian neighborhood in Kolkata, India. Given the masculinised structure of the church leadership, this paper analyse the ways in wh...
| Published in: | Research in the social scientific study of religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Further subjects: | B
History of religion studies
B Religious sociology B Social sciences B Religionspsycholigie B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft B Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft & Religionswissenschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper will attempt an ethnographic study of the sermons delivered by the mothers’ association at the Sunday services of a Protestant church located in a Bengali Christian neighborhood in Kolkata, India. Given the masculinised structure of the church leadership, this paper analyse the ways in which women, primarily through the constitution of the mothers’ association, negotiate their identity within the everyday life of the church. The study of the sermons throws light on the experiences of the Christian mothers, their relations with the Bible and faith and the ways they mould and remodel their lives and the congregation, explaining the significance of being Christian. The paper discerns the overlap of categories of ‘women’ and ‘mother’ and attempts to understand how mothers are key to instilling values and virtues in everyday practices of the congregation. The paper also addresses the ways in which reading and reflecting on the sermons allows the mothers to interpret and understand the Bible by focusing on the female characters and their encounters with Jesus. What does this reveal about the connection between women (read mothers), Christianity, and the society they inhabit? Examining women’s limited opportunities in the church settings, the paper attempts to go beyond the binaries of empowerment and restrictions and look into the experiences of the mothers to understand how speaking from the pulpit and delivering sermons to the congregation shape the notion of a Christian ethical self in the local context. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004505315_002 |