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Hindu women edit book on Bible

Updated: April 07, 2009 11:16 AM GMT
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Two Hindu women college teachers, who edited as well as contributed to a book on the Bible, say they see close ties between the Bible and literature. "The influence of the Bible is so pervasive that one cannot think of literature without reference to the Bible," said Sukanya Dasgupta, who teaches at Loreto College, a Church-run premier women´s college in Kolkata, eastern India. She and her colleague, Mangala Gauri Chakraborty, both from the college´s English department, jointly edited "The Word and the World," which deals with the Bible and its impact on the world. Both women also contributed articles to the book, which was released on March 25. Agreeing with her colleague, Chakraborty said there is a "symbiotic relationship between literature and the Bible." However, the book she helped to edit shows "how the Bible takes us beyond myths and archetypes." The 192-page book contains 11 articles, seven of which are from a 2007 seminar on the Bible held at the college. Two of the writers are Jesuit priests while the rest are Hindus, all English-literature scholars. The first part of the two-part book contains four articles on "the Word," dealing with biblical texts. The second has seven articles on "the World," dealing with the Bible´s impact on history, literature and ecology, according to Dasgupta. Her article, titled "United in Christ, Divided in Speech: Gender in St. Paul´s Epistles" critically looks at the apostle´s apparent negative remarks on women´s roles in the Church. Dasgupta explained that Saint Paul came from a tradition that was hostile to women, and his remarks have to be looked at in that context. Chakraborty contributed an article titled "Judith as Hero." The lecturer, who had studied the literary genre of the Book of Judith in the Old Testament, places the biblical work under the heroic poetry genre, where a woman is the central character. Through her, God shows he does not require male heroism to accomplish his will, said Chakraborty. Jesuit Father Albert Huart, who released the book, said the respect, sensitivity and scholarship the Hindu writers showed toward Christian Scripture amazed him. "Every religious faith opens up an immense world of art, poetry and music, and the Bible is no exception," added the priest, a former vice-principal of Kolkata´s Jesuit-run St. Xavier´s College. However, Jesuit Father Christian Mignon, one of the book´s contributors, said that some of the analyses in the book, on Jesus and the Church, "are incorrect."

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