What is it about?
This article attempts to encourage the study of prison writing as theological discourse. Exploring the letters of political and religious figures writing in colonial India and Nazi Germany, the author suggests that the shared nature of prison writing spans across cultural boundaries, affecting not only those writing such letters, but in essence eclipsing the writers, as the act of letter writing demands broader participation from sacred/secular communities and enemies alike, who become vessels for new interpretative judgments.
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Why is it important?
Prison writing is often characterized as a translation of emotion and personality by individuals imprisoned throughout the world, showing us a side of the writer that is raw, unembellished, and personal. The result is that the theological project of prison writing is marginalized as a less meaningful activity in favor of doctrinal and propositional writing from and on the sacred scriptures. This study encourages a new appreciation for the act of theological writing outside the accepted works of sacred scripture and canon. The act of theological writing is examined through the traditions of German Protestantism, Hinduism, and Sikhism to provide a broad cross-section for the purpose of connecting interfaith experiences to a common spiritual center.
Perspectives
My interest in the subject of prison writing began with my thesis research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his ethical approach (now an upcoming book). Since such a large part of Bonhoeffer's most influential writing occurs in prison, I started thinking about how important prison writing was to the Christian tradition, beginning with Paul the Apostle who wrote epistolary work from prison. I began searching for a large body of serious and scholarly works on prison writing as an activity, but found myself disappointed by its lack of attention. I knew Bonhoeffer's interest in Gandhi and India around 1934 and so I expanded my search to important Indian figures who spent time in prisons in colonial India around this time. I started noticing common themes and interests in the writing occurring between writers in British colonial and German prisons. My interest in theology is primarily in its reception rather than transmission, and so how we experience our traditions, sacred scriptures, and communities, translated into how people reading the letters (or censoring) them all became a part of the theological event of prison writing.
Mr Trey Palmisano
Towson University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Prison Letter Writing as Theology of Presence: German and Indian Perspectives, Religions of South Asia, September 2015, Equinox Publishing,
DOI: 10.1558/rosa.v8i3.28341.
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