Mothers in the Pulpit: A Study of the Sermons at a Bengali Protestant Church in Kolkata

Abhijit Dasgupta

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Chapter 1 Mothers in the Pulpit: A Study of the Sermons at a Bengali Protestant Church in Kolkata

In: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

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Abhijit Dasgupta

Abhijit Dasgupta
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 3–19

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505315_002

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Abstract

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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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

Lesser Heard Voices in Studies of Religion

Series: Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume: 32

Cover Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004505315

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 12 Apr 2022

Subjects
- Religious Studies
- Social Sciences
  - Religion & Society

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Edited by

Ralph W. Hood and Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor

Special section 1 Religion or Belief in Higher Education

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by Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor

Special section 2 Cultural Blindness in Psychology

Edited by

Louise Sundararajan

Special section 3 Religious Authority in Practice in Contemporary Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

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Maren Freudenberg, Martin Radermacher and Sebastian Schüler

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Chapter 1 Mothers in the Pulpit: A Study of the Sermons at a Bengali Protestant Church in Kolkata

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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 32

Lesser Heard Voices in Studies of Religion

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