The Church and the Empire: The Political Theology of Y. T. Vinayaraj

This article examines the political theological project of Y. T. Vinayaraj as a creative and critical intervention at the intersection of Dalit theology, postcolonial critique, and continental philosophy. Vinayaraj’s theology is a form of immanent messianism, in which redemption is neither deferred to a transcendent future nor fully realized within historical structures, but emerges as a fragile, everyday possibility that interrupts the given order without stabilizing a new one. The article argues that Vinayaraj articulates an emancipatory vision for marginalized and subaltern communities in India by rethinking human agency (potentia) under conditions of imperial domination and ecclesial imperiality. Central to this project is an understanding of potentia as contingent and non-sovereign, yet capable of self-redemptive action within history.