Dr. Emy Merin Joy
About
emy.merin15@gmail.com
Emy Merin Joy is a doctoral graduate from Central European University, specializing in early modern interreligious dialogues in Malabar.
Her research explores cross-cultural interactions among Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus, with a focus on Jesuit texts and vernacular church histories of Kerala.
With a background in English literature and social sciences, she analyzes the philological and socio-cultural dimensions of historical documents to understand institutional authority and religious negotiations.
Currently a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Religious Studies of the Central European University, Joy’s work illuminates the complex religious tapestry of South India during the colonial encounter.
Lecture Abstract:
I will present the first interreligious dialogues written in Malabar, namely, Paravur Dialogues, which is a multilingual interfaith text presumably authored by Francisco Ros, S.J. (1559–1624), a Catalan Jesuit and the first European archbishop of Malabar’s Christians. Composed in Garshuni Malayalam—a hybrid script blending Syriac and Dravidian (Tekkan Malayānma) graphemes—the Dialogues stages a theological debate between two Jews, a Christian, a Hindu, and a Muslim, incorporating rabbinic citations in Garshuni Hebrew and biblical quotations in Aramaic and Syriac. Dated to the late 16th or early 17th century, the text exemplifies Jesuit efforts to adapt European anti-Jewish polemics to Kerala’s pluralistic context, particularly targeting the conversion of Cochin’s Jewish community. I argue that it served as a vehicle for intellectual transfer, refracting European theological antagonisms through local linguistic and cultural frameworks. By analysing its polemical rhetoric, multilingual composition, and engagement with Kerala’s Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim communities, this presentation will reveal how Jesuit missionaries repurposed European anti-Judaic discourse for a Malabar audience. The text’s hybrid script and interreligious structure underscore the Jesuits’ reliance on cultural translation, even as they sought to undermine rival faiths. I will also present the Dialogues as a case study in the transnational circulation of polemical literature, while also offering new insights into Kerala’s intellectual history and the Jesuit role in shaping interreligious dynamics in South Asia.