---
layout: default
title: "Foreword to Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation"
description: "Foreword by Dr. Godwin Shiri to the 2006 volume Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation by Rev. A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel."
categories: [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel, Full text]
authors: ["Godwin Shiri"]
source: "Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation"
date: 2006-09-30
permalink: /amaa/edrl-foreword/
created: 2026-05-20
---
This page reproduces the full text of the foreword to [*Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation*](/amaa/edrl/) (2006), written by Dr. Godwin Shiri. The volume collected major essays and papers by [Rev. A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel](/amaa/) on Dalit theology, religion, caste, and liberation.
FOREWORD
Abraham Ayrookuzhiel came to CISRS in 1974 from a scholastic background of many years of study in Rome and Oxford. He was able to gain valuable insights into the life-situations of the oppressed, particularly the Dalits. He turned the study of religion in CISRS to the study of religion from the eyes of the oppressed. These insights he diligently pursued to the end of his life through a series of research work on traditions, religion and culture, the oppressive structures dominating these communities, and their literary and verbal expressions of struggles and aspirations. Many of these studies have been published while a major research remained incomplete since he passed away on 29 November 1996.
Abraham's contributions are significant in the context of the epic struggle of the oppressed. In the process of his pursuits he was able to give us new tools of analysis in the field of religion and culture. Secondly, both his insights and objective analysis produced invaluable ingredients of Dalit theology, a radical approach towards the cultural domination of the oppressed, a new methodology for the study of religions, and the search for a new ideology combining these fundamental factors with the socio-economic facets of the people's life situations.
He was a remarkable person in whose veins throbbed a life of commitment, an intense desire for the liberation of the oppressed, and a life of struggle for the new creation inaugurated by our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The CISRS feels very happy and honoured to publish this volume on the eve of the Golden Jubilee of CISRS on the one hand and Abraham's tenth death anniversary on the other. The selected articles included in this volume were once published by 'Religion and Society' and a few other well-known journals.
However CISRS is happy to publish these writings again because of the seminal insights they still carry for the unfinished task of liberation of the oppressed in this country.
We are grateful to Dr. K.C. Abraham for writing an appropriate 'Introduction' to this volume. We are also indebted to our Editorial Consultant Rev. Arun Kumar Wesley for his meticulous editorial work and for all his efforts in bringing out this volume. We thank Mrs. Ponnamma Abraham and children for their support and co-operation in bringing out this book. Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore have brought out this book for CISRS and we are thankful to them.