Persistent Abuse in the Global Economy of Sex Trafcking

Of the many contributions of the global market to the sex trafcking industry in India, one that needs attention here is the consumers’ sense of ownership of the “product” that the market creates and therefore the power to use these women as the consumer desires. Once bought, the consumer decides the way they will treat these women. In commodifcation, the value of these women for their consumers becomes equal to the value of money with which they are bought. The money spent, therefore, demands the maximum utility of the “product” in the consumers’ desired manner. This is the intolerable paradox of this industry, where the consumer is considered a higher being with power who is worthy enough to be meeting their fantasies of pleasure while the women are commodifed and treated as lesser humans or even as non-human entities that can be abused. Kara notes that “slaves are raped, tortured, starved, humiliated, and drugged.”26 These are some of the cruel treatments these women face during their slavery. Often the justifcation behind these exploitative treatments is based on the presumed freedom of choice these women have to enter the industry. However, the concept of freedom of choice as rightly described by F. Perter underscores that freedom of choice practically never posits consent, and it would be so only if the person took part in the deciding of the choice.27 Therefore, amidst the push and pull factors behind sex trafcking in India, these women almost never have had the “freedom” to choose, as there are always coercions in the forms of push and pull factors involved. Moreover, the consumer here is not a fgure who is a passive receiver of ofers coming from the market. Furthermore, neither freedom of the women nor the

26 Kara, 11.

27 F. Peter (“Choice, consent and the legitimacy of market transactions”, Economics and Philosophy, 20, 2004), consumers’ purchasing power justifes this complicated malice of inhuman exploitations and abuse of these women.

Studying the economy of global sex trafcking for Indian women from a consumer-centered approach exposes the impacts that consumers make on the market. Their economic decisions have far reaching ethical efects. These three major infuences of the consumers on this industry point to the reality of interconnectedness of economics and ethics. Such interaction of economics and ethics raises a fundamental theological question: how can we theologize in the global market of sex trafcking? Public theology must engage in this economic sphere as Jürgen Moltmann asserts that Christian theology “must engage with the political, cultural, educational, economic, and ecological spheres of life, not just with the private and ecclesial spheres.”28

God in the Soiled Brothels and Sprawling Mansions: eologizing at Global market of Sex tra cking

The economy of the global sex trade for Indian women exposes the ethical issues behind the market when viewed through a consumer-centered approach. The pressing demand, the “purchasable products,” and the persistent abuse point to three attributes of the consumer involved in this trade: their self-perception, the perception of the other’s being, and the perception of power relationship with others. These attributes uncover the Fall and deprivation that undergirds them. It is in the specifc context of these three manifestations of the Fall in relationships with oneself, others, and power in the public space of global sex trafcking, that makes theologizing necessary. Moltmann asserts that Christian theology is public theology because it is the theology of the kingdom of God.29 Therefore, the task of theologizing in this nexus of theology and the global sex market is to strive for the kingdom, which is to strive for the original created purpose of God for human beings’ being and relating. While it is extremely difcult to theologize in this space of complicated wickedness, it is theology’s call today to struggle to address these deprivations and align these broken relationships to the prelapsarian understanding of self, others, and power.

28 C. Marshall, “What Language Shall I Borrow?: The Bilingual Dilemma of Public Theology,” Stimulus 13, no 3 (2005), 11.

Unlike theologizing from a victim-centered perspective, the challenge in theologizing while taking a consumer-centered approach is the unidentifable nature of the people addressed. The question of who these people are who enslave these women cannot be answered with precision; they are everywhere within and outside the church. They go by several euphemistic names and are ubiquitous and have been for ages. Yet, the pressing demand, which is the life of this market, exposes the consumer’s probable self-perception as one who can meet their sexual desires in the utmost perverted ways. Thus, this demand is a complex problem that can be intimidating to consider. However, the complexity should not stop the church from engaging. Gregg Okesson postulates that complexity is a gift arising from the Trinity and fows into the world to create fruitfulness for all lives.30 Theologizing in this context of the global market starts with realizing the issue of pressing demand as rooted in sexual sin which is deprivation from God’s creative purpose of sex. Sex was God’s original intention solely for marriage, instituted in the

29 Marshall, 11.

30 Gregg Okesson, A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 8.

Garden of Eden on the sixth day of creation when God created Adam and Eve. The Hebrew words for “man” and “woman” in Gen 2:23 are ’iš and ’iššah, which also mean husband and wife, respectively. The following verse in 2:24 also assets that the husband “cleaved” to his wife. These underscore a long-lasting commitment. They engaged in “very personal concern, fdelity, and involvement.”31 Therefore, this unity of two human beings for sexual satisfaction fnds its rightful expression only within the boundaries of marriage. Hence the persisting demand of these consumers is a deviation from this God-intended means for sexual gratifcation.

Theologizing calls us to understand the sexual sin that creates the demand for sex trafcking and alienation from God. Paul provides insights regarding the dangers of sexual immorality and what it might entail. The Corinthians probably discarded sexual immorality as a sin like other sins that are outside the body. But Paul corrects them to demonstrate that sexual immorality is a sin against one’s own body. Paul clarifes the non-duality by stating that, while all other sins are beyond the body, sexual immorality is an action that sins against the body (1 Cor 6:18). Gordon Fee says, “Lay to rest the implicit dualism of so much that has been passed of as Christian, where the body is rejected, subdued, or indulged because it is of no signifcance for—or is even hindrance to—‘real salvation,’ which has to do with the ‘soul.”32 Therefore, theologizing in this space must move away from such body-soul dualism as contested by Paul.

31 Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 234.

32 Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 277.

Furthermore, doing theology in this space emphasizes the eschatological signifcance of sex. Alister May aptly states the “eschatological fate of the believer also places a demand on his physical existence.”33 Therefore, while one violates oneself in sexual sins, their future in the kingdom is afected. Therefore, sexual sin is a sin that one commits against one’s whole being, which has eschatological signifcance. This eschatological impact of sexual sin points to the need for repentance and forgiveness that can restore one to right relationship with God.

This is true with global consumers, of whom many “identify” as Christians. While working on their sexual desires based on their probable self-perceptions, they sin against God and defle themselves in a way that has eschatological implications. Therefore, this requires missional engagement by the church to call for repentance. Millard Erickson defnes repentance as “godly sorrow for one’s sin together with a resolution to turn from it.”34 In the New Testament, repentance is expressed by two words, metanoia (change of heart) and metamelomai (experiencing remorse).35 Therefore, it is a lifechanging principle. While the church engages in theologizing through the call for repentance, it rebuilds the sinner to God.

The Church must also engage in theologizing while addressing the demand by sensitizing the public about the consequences of their actions, as their demand is the foundational cause of the abuse of millions of these women, depriving them of basic human rights. Such theologizing is a courageous act that may cause difculties in relationships, given the political environment in India today, but it is an essential one. This self-perception also bleeds into how they view the other’s personhood.

33 Alistair Scott May, “‘The Body for the Lord’: Sex and Identity in 1 Corinthians 5–7,” JSNT 278, no 12 (2004), 110.

34 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 950.

35 Gerhard Kittel, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985).

The purchase of the “product” in the sex market seeps into the way consumers view women’s personhood. This is evidenced through the way a woman is seen as a mere commodity for consumption in the trafcking industry. Such a view of the personhood of a woman points to a failure in realizing the image of God in the other. Here, the woman is the image of God who is being commodifed. This is a vile crime against humanity and God. It treats human life as if they were only a commodity. Being created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26–27) conveys the ultimate value of a person. Therefore, the ofense of sex trafcking is primarily an ofense against the image of God, expressed through the commodifcation of thousands of women in the world. The image of God, which refects His justice, mercy, and equality is violated when a woman’s body is commodifed as a “product” to be used. The consumer in the commodifcation of these women seeks to destroy God’s image in them and corrupt His purposes for them. These women are bought and sold and used and discarded as if they are merely things and not image-bearers of God. Denigrating and dehumanizing a person’s worth to the extent that they are viewed as objects thereby corrupts the imago Dei. Such a view of the others’ personhood explains the way these consumers view the relationship with these women.

Theologizing in the global sex market must focus on the restoration of the image of God in women and consumers. A theology that stresses the image of God must invite both these women and the perpetrators to restore that image. According to Matthew Henry,

Of other creatures, it is said that they were created and made; but of man [human] that he was formed, which denotes a gradual process in the work with great accuracy and exactness. To express the creation of this new thing, he takes a new word, a word (some think) borrowed from the potter’s forming his vessel upon the wheel; for we are the clay, and God the potter.36

This diference in the way human beings are created extends into the image of God humans share and the responsibilities of being image-bearers. Erickson writes, “The image of God is intrinsic to humankind. We would not be human without it. Of all creation, we alone are capable of having a conscious personal relationship with the Creator and of responding to him.”37 This conscious relationship with God is broken in the context of sex trafcking. This brokenness in relationships and responsibilities to each other is a brokenness in the image of God in these consumers. Andreas Kostenberger writes, “By placing his image on the man and the woman and by setting them in a particular environment, therefore, God assigns to them the mandate of representative rule.”38 This representative ruling is broken in the chains of global sex trafcking markets where both the consumer’s and the woman’s responsibilities as image-bearers are distorted, as any mistreatment of others is in essence mistreatment of God and his rule and reign over the entire cosmos. Restoration is made possible through the ministry of Jesus Christ. Charles

36 Matthew Henry, Genesis to Ruth, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), 14.

37 Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 165.

38 Andreas Kostenberger, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), 33.

Sherlock, in The Doctrine of Humanity, describes healing as possible through the imago Dei: “Christ as the image of God restores all the relationships corrupted in and by sin.”39 Christ’s death transforms and continually gives humankind another chance. This restoration of the image moves these women to a life that afrms their dignity, thereby moving closer to the image of God in them. Dawn A. Beamish, while discussing the role of the image of God in the context of trafcking postulates,

The imago Dei provides a template of hope and restoration for persons caught up in sex trafcking, be they victims, survivors, or perpetrators. Understanding the imago Dei is essential for restoration and healing. God has created all in his image and each had dignity. Having been created with dignity in the imago Dei underscores that dehumanization is a perversion of humanity and the reversal, the re-humanization of persons in the imago Dei. restores them through God’s grace and power and makes healing and wholeness possible.40

This reminder of the image would ignite hope, reversing the dehumanization that these women go through. Therefore, doing theology in this space within and outside the church calls for transforming the victimized of this crime to become survivors and live and experience the abundance of life for which they were created in the image of God.

Persistent abuse is an indicator of the way these consumers perceive power in relationships. These women are violated in multitudes of ways for the sake of the consumers’ pleasure. Momentary pleasure and greed cause others to sufer, and relationships are broken and marred due to this abuse of power. The way these consumers relate with these women seeps from the “am I my brother’s/sister’s keeper” attitude in Genesis 4:1-13. A “brother’s/sister’s keeper” is one who uses their power to loyally cares for their brother or sister. In this passage, Yahweh asks Cain a simple question about where Abel is. Cain replies that he does not know but then adds another question which expects a negative answer. Paul A. Riemann states that “the participle ‘keeper’ and other forms of the same verb were used frequently of the protective custody of the deity.”41 Therefore, Cain was intending to deny his responsibility within his power to provide protective custody of his brother. Cain here not only denies what he has done to his brother but also denies any guilt for the abuse of the power to be responsible for his brother. This shows an utter lack of compassion and guilt and goes beyond that to show how Cain misused his power of being responsible for his brother’s well-being to abuse him. This is what is seen in the way these consumers relate with these women while they use their power to subjugate them to violent abuses. The economic power is translated into a misconceived sense of the power of “ownership,” creating broken power relationships of persisting abuse.

39 Charles Sherlock, The Doctrine of Humanity: Contours of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, lL: InterVarsity, 1996), 69.

40 Dawn A. Beamish, “For Such a Time as This: Ecclesiastical Response to Human Sexual Trafcking in North America.” Ph.D. thesis (Asbury Theological Seminary, 2016), 205.

Theologizing must aim to restore these broken power relationships that refect an “am I brother’s/sister’s keeper” attitude. This restoration demands justice and to stands for the cause of justice for these women. One of the ways this can be achieved is by advocating for the cause of these women which comes from the very nature of God:

41 Paul A. Riemann, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” Interpretation 24, no 4 (October 1970), 483.

God’s advocacy begins with the person of the Trinity and only thereafter relates to how God engages the world. Hence advocacy is not something new that barges into the scene after sin enters the world rather advocacy remains part of God’s nature for all eternity . . . . Trinity as a polis, a community of being who perfectly represent goodness, love, and beauty.42

Therefore, advocacy rooted in the very nature of God demonstrates how power within relationships of all sorts needs to be based on how power within a community is founded on goodness, love, and beauty.43 This entails engaging in advocacy for the rights of these women and the penalizations of the preparators and thereby witnessing in this public sphere of the global sex market. This advocacy is about living into the Kingdom of God, living out the lordship of Jesus Christ, and must base its witness on its own experience. These eforts will facilitate the restoration of justice for these women by freeing them from these abuses of power and keeping their rights in perspective. As Nicholas Wolterstorf rightly postulates, these rights are grounded in worth, value, and dignity of these human beings. “Rights are ways of being treated that are required by the respect of worth.”44 The worth, value, and dignity that they have as being the image of God stands in opposition to these abusive power relationships but afrms that acquired or given power by virtue of any means calls us to be our brother’s or sister’s keepers.

42 Stephen Ofutt, F David Bronkema, et al., Advocacy for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016), 57–58.

43 Ofutt, 111–113.

44 Nicholas P Wolterstorf, Journey towards Justice: Personal Encounter in the Global South (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 57–58.

222 | Priya Leela

Theologizing in the global market for India’s sex trafcking calls for acknowledging the fallenness of relationships with oneself, with the other, and with power within relationships. Doing theology must highlight a deep impression of demand on the existence and survival of the market and dehumanizing of these women, the gross impact of the evil of commodifcation of human beings into “purchasable products,” and the misconceived perception of economic power. This recognition of the fallenness of this market requires theologizing to strive to restore these relationships. Hence, theologizing must move past recognizing the evil impacts of this market to striking the very market at its root through engagements against the commodifcation and abuse of these women by active advocacies, rescues, and rehabilitation.

A consumer-centered study of the global economy of sex trafcking of Indian women exposes a new set of features of this market which includes constant commodifcation and abuse as they are moved from soiled brothels of India to sprawling mansions in economically stable nations. These features of the market demand a consumer-centered theological analysis in the global space done with the sex-trafcked women and “for” the consumers to facilitate the recognition of the fallenness of this market and restoration of relationships within it. This is an important and inevitable engagement in this sphere as God loves the victimized and the preparators equally and expects His image to be restored to them. This engagement could be seen as a reversal of Sonia’s move from her Garden to the City as this theologizing calls us to strive for a move from the city to the Garden, a life of brokenness in the sex market in the cities to a life of restoration as designed by God in the Garden.

Bales, Kevin and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafcking and Slavery in America Today. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

Beamish, Dawn A. “For Such a Time as This: Ecclesiastical Response to Human Sexual Trafcking in North America.” Ph.D. thesis, Asbury Theological Seminary, 2016.

Brysk, Alison and Aditee Maskey. “Rethinking Trafcking: Patriarchy, Poverty, and Private Wrongs in India.” Global Dialogue. 14, no. 2 (2012): 41–49.

Brewer, Anthony. A Guide to Marx’s Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Christine Jofres et. al. “Sexual Slavery Without Borders: Trafcking for Commercial Sexual Exploitation in India.” International Journal for Equity in Health 7, no. 2 (2008): 1–11.

Crawford, Mary. Sex Trafcking in South Asia: Telling Maya’s Story. London: Routledge, 2010.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.

Erickson, Millard. Introducing Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.

Everett, Jana, and Sue Ellen M. Charlton. Women Navigating Globalization: Feminist Approaches to Development. Maryland: Bowman & Littlefeld, 2014.

Farr, Kathryn. Sex Trafcking: The Global Market in Women and Children. New York, Word Publisher, 2005.

Fee, Gordon. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2014.

Giddens, Anthony. Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives. London: Routledge, 2000.

“Global Report on Trafcking in Persons.” A Report by United Nations Ofce on Drugs and Crime, 2020. https://www. unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tip/2021/ GLOTiP_2020_15jan_web.pdf.

Haddadin, Youla and Ilona Klimova-Alexander. “Human Rights-Based Approach to Trafcking: The Work of the United Nations Ofce of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.” Judges’ Journal 52, no. 1 (2013).

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Vol. 1 Genesis to Ruth. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1706.

Hughes. Donna M. 2002. The Demand: The Driving Force of Sex Trafcking Paper presented “The Human Rights Challenge of Globalization in Asia-Pacifc-U.S. The Trafcking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.” Paper presented at Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 13–15, 2002. https://icasa.org/docs/ the_demand.pdf.

India Country Report, 2008. To Prevent and Combat Trafcking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Women World Congress III Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. November 2008. https:// www.unodc.org/pdf/india/publications/India%20 Country%20Report.pdf

Kara, Siddharth. Sex Trafcking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.

Kara, Siddharth. “Supply and Demand: Human Trafcking in the Global Economy.” Harvard International Review 33, no. 2 (2011): 66–71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42763479

Kara, Siddharth. Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.

Karandikar, Sharvari, Lindsay B. Gezinski, and Jacquelyn C.A. Meshelemiah. “A Qualitative Examination of Women Involved in Prostitution in Mumbai, India: The Role of Family and Acquaintances.” International Social Work 56, no. 4 (2011): 496–515.

Kempadoo, K. Trafcking and prostitution reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex work, and Human Rights. Kamala Kempadoo, Jyoti Sanghera, Bandana Pattanaik, editors. Paradigm Publishers: Boulder, 2005.

Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich, editors. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Abridged in One Volume. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985.

Kostenberger, Andreas. God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004.

226 | Priya Leela

Marshall, C. “What Language Shall I Borrow?: The Bilingual Dilemma of Public Theology.” in Stimulus 13. No 3 (2005): 11–18.

Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. ed. Frederick L. Bender. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1988.

May, Alistair Scott. The Body for the Lord: Sex and Identity in 1 Corinthians 5-7. vol. 278. London: T&T Clark International, 2004.

Nair, P.M. and Sankar Sen. Trafcking in Women and Children in India. Hyderabad: Orient Longman,2005.

Ofutt, Stephen, F. David Bronkema, Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Robb Davis, and Gregg Okesson. Advocacy for Justice: An Evangelical Vision for Transforming Systems and Structures. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016.

Okesson, Gregg. A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020.

Peter, Fabienne. “Choice, Consent and the Legitimacy of Market Transactions.” Economics and Philosophy. 20. No. 1 (2004): 1–18.

Poulin, Richard. “Globalization and the Sex Trade: Trafcking and the Commodifcation of Women and Children.” Canadian Woman Studies 22. No. 3 (2003): 38–48.

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafcking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the

United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, art. 3, Dec. 25, 2003, 2237 UNTS 319, http://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/UNTS/ Volume%202237/v2237.pdf. https://goachronicle.com/what-happened-to-the586024-women-missing-in-india/.

Rana, Usha. “Understanding the Hidden Aspects of Sex Trafcking of Girl Children in Central India.” Journal of International Women’s Studies. 22, no.9 (2021): 256–270.

Raymond, Janice. “Prostitution on Demand.” Violence Against Women 10, no. 10 (2004): 1156–1186.

Rychen, D. S. & Salganik, L. H. Eds. Key Competencies: For a Successful Life and a Well-functioning Society. Cambridge: Hogrefe & Huber, 2003.

Riemann, Paul A. “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” Interpretation 24, no. 4 Oct (1970):482–491.

Rodrigues, Savio. “What happened to the 5,86,024 women missing in India?” Goa Chronicles, September 17 2020.

Scholte, Jan Aart. Globalization: A Critical Introduction. 2nd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Sherlock, Charles. The Doctrine of Humanity: Contours of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996.

Silverman, J. G., M. R. Decker, J. Gupta, A. Maheshwari, V. Patel, B. M. Willis, and A. Raj. “Experiences of Sex Trafcking https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019Trafcking-in-Persons-Report.pdf.

228 | Priya Leela Victims in Mumbai, India.” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 97 (2007): 221–226.

Theocharous, Myrto. “Becoming a Refuge: Sex Trafcking and the People of God.” JETS 59/2 (2016): 309–322.

Turek, Jaime M. “Human Security and Development Issues in Human Trafcking.” In Human Trafcking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Edited by Mary C. Burke. New York: Routledge, 2013.

Vidushy, Vimal. “Human Trafcking In India: An Analysis.” International Journal of Applied Research 2, no. 6 (2016):168–171.

Westermann, Claus. Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994.

Widgren, Jonas, “Multilateral Co-operation to Combat Trafcking in Migrant and the Role of International Organizations.” Discussion paper, Eleventh IOM seminar. International response to trafcking in migrants and the safeguarding of migrant rights, October 26–28, 1994.

Wolterstorf, Nicholas P. Journey towards Justice: Personal Encounter in the Global South. Grand Rapids: Bakers Academic, 2013.

US Department of State. Trafcking in Person Report. 2019.

Allan Varghese Meloottu

In November 2020, Paula White, the spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump, made headlines for her impassioned prayers, hoping for the re-election of President Trump. In one of the prayers, along with the continuous speaking in tongues, “Paula White claimed that ‘demonic’ elements are seeking to “hijack the will of God to hijack what God has already Allan Varghese Meloottu is a doctoral student (Intercultural Studies) at Asbury Theological Seminary. His current research interests are in the intersection of Pentecostalism, social engagement, and public witness. His work on Kerala Pentecostalism has been published in Nidan: The International Journal of Indian Studies (2019). Prior to academic work, he has been involved in cross cultural social work and pastoral care ministries, especially serving with Hillsong London, Kids Company London, and with World Relief in Durham, North Carolina. He holds a Certifcate in Theological Studies (University of Oxford), BA in Economics, Political Science, Sociology (Christ University), Masters in Social Work (Christ University, Bangalore), MA in Integrative Psychotherapy (London School of Theology/Middlesex University) and a Masters in Theological Studies (Duke University).

230 | Allan Varghese established in the Earth.’”1 The allusion to spiritual warfare language in the prayer in such a politically heightened time reignited the conversation on “the mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism”2 and the role Pentecostals and Charismatics are playing in recent American politics.3 It has also brought forward the notion of spiritual warfare to the forefront and its conduciveness while engaging with the public realm, notably, in the context of seeing the political “other as an enemy to be defeated through spiritual warfare rather than a neighbor to be loved and cared for as part of a shared common life.”4

5

1 Frederick Clarkson, “Beneath The ‘Wacky’ Paula White Video is a Dark and Deeply Undemocratic World Propping up the President” Religion Dispatches. November 17, 2020. https://religiondispatches.org/beneath-the-wacky-paulawhite-video-is-a-dark-and-deeply-undemocratic-world-propping-up-thepresident/.

2 Daniel G. Hummel, “Paula White and the Mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism” Religion News. November 8, 2019. https://religionnews. com/2019/11/08/paula-white-and-the-mainstreaming-of-americanpentecostalism/.

3 Erica Ramirez and Leah Payne, “President Trump’s Hidden Religious Base: Pentecostal-Charismatic Celebrities” Religion News. August 27, 2020. https:// religionnews.com/2020/08/27/president-trumps-rnc-religious-base-pentecostalcharismatic-kari-jobe-paula-white/.

4 Luke, Bretherton, Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019), 80.

5 In this paper, the word Pentecostal is used to denote a wider community of Christians who belong to denominationally Pentecostal communities. The main rationale for this broad characterization is to acknowledge the infuence of Pentecostalism on other existing denominations. Pentecostalism has prompted various existing Christian traditions toward a process of what Amos Yong calls, “Charismatization and . . . Pentecostalization” (Yong, 58), where Protestant and

To arrive at that objective, frst, I shall briefy explore the broad Pentecostal understanding of spiritual warfare with its relevance in bringing spiritual liberation, although it has been limited in scope in engaging in the public realm. Second, I shall critically analyze the strategic-level spiritual warfare (SLSW) framework that has been popular among Pentecostal and charismatic circles highlighting its problematic ‘triumphant’ public theology. Subsequently, I shall also critically engage with Walter Wink’s world-systems warfare approach as a corrective toward the Pentecostal triumphant theology of public witness. Finally, I will propose an intermediatory model of spiritual warfare that positions itself in between the strategic-level and world systems paradigms to re-imagine a Pentecostal public theology that discerns the real enemy who is “not against fesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12) and doesn’t see the other as an enemy to be defeated but as a neighbor to be loved and cared for and to work in partnership with as part of a shared common life. I will also conclude by suggesting two public engagement practices, considering them as weapons of spiritual warfare. In doing so, the chapter envisions the spiritual warfare paradigm to serve as a theological directive for Pentecostals to engage in the public sphere as resisting “the powers of politics and market, . . . characterized by critical discussion between equal participants, free from constraint, threat, and self-interest,”6 and works toward the common good.

Catholic traditions have been renewed as it gave rise to numerous denominational Pentecostal and indigenous independent charismatic movements worldwide.

6 Dirk Jacobus, Smit, “Notions of the Public and Doing Theology.” International Journal of Public Theology 1, no 3 (2007), 433.