Panel: RELIGION AND SOCIO-CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION: PERSPECTIVES FROM VIENNA-BASED RESEARCHERS



740.17 - THE PARAVUR DIALOGUES- THE FIRST INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUES BETWEEN TWO JEWS, A CHRISTIAN, A PAGAN AND A MUSLIM: A MULTI RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES OF INTELLECTUAL EXCHANGES FROM EARLY MODERN SOUTH INDIA

AUTHORS:
Joy E.M. (Central European University ~ Vienna ~ Austria)
Text:
My paper examines the Jesuit mission strategies in Malabar (modern-day Kerala) through a literary and historical analysis of the Paravur Dialogues-an interfaith dialogue involving two Jews, a Pagan (Hindu), a Christian, and a Muslim, likely authored by Francisco Ros S.J. (1559-1624), a Catalan Jesuit priest and the first European archbishop of the Christians of Malabar. The Dialogues, dated to the late 16th- early 17th centuries, reflect early efforts to integrate European missionary methods with local religious and cultural contexts, particularly among the St. Thomas Christians, who claimed apostolic lineage but were viewed by Jesuits as requiring doctrinal "purification." This paper highlights the importance of the production of the interreligious dialogues and cultural and intellectual exchange. It also tries offer fresh insights into early Jesuit cultural translation, the dissemination of European knowledge in Kerala, and the overlooked literary contributions of Jesuit missions to Kerala's linguistic and intellectual heritage.