This volume offers a concise and rigorous framework for interpreting the Bible from a Dalit perspective. Drawing on decades of engagement with marginalized communities and shaped by associations with Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary and Wycliffe Hall, the author challenges dominant Western and elite readings of Scripture. He foregrounds the Bible's liberative thrust and God's preferential concern for the anawim (the poor and oppressed), a theme resonant with Dalit experiences of caste exclusion and social dehumanization. The first section critiques oppressive interpretive models-dogmatic, prosperity-oriented, colonial, and karma-legitimizing readings-that sustain inequality. It argues that all theology is contextual and proposes a Dalit hermeneutic grounded in protest, praxis, and casteless orthopraxy. The second section using a perspectival interpretive method, the author traces liberative motifs across Scripture: creation equality (Gen 1), marginalized women's agency (Gen 16; 38), midwives' resistance (Exod 1), prophetic denunciations of exploitation (Isa 61; Amos 2:6), and Jesus' solidarity with the oppressed (Luke 4:18). The Good Samaritan narrative and Pauline community texts are read as dismantling purity hierarchies and social exclusion. The eleven essays develop New Testament hermeneutics for the Indian context, prioritizing Dalit rural realities over abstract philosophical concerns. Themes include Dalit Christology, Pneumatology, and Ecclesiology; critique of Brahmanism and Sanskritisation; womanist insights; and the call for social transformation beyond class-based liberation models. An essential resource for theologians, pastors, and scholars seeking to reclaim Scripture as a source of liberation and justice in contexts of structural oppression.
