Cyril Desbruslais

Cyril Desbruslais SJ (b. 21 December 1940, Calcutta) is an Indian Jesuit priest, a playwright and Professor of Philosophy at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India.

Cyril Desbruslais SJ
Born	(1940-12-21) 21 December 1940 Calcutta

Family background and early life

Desbruslais was born in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India, on 21 December 1940. He was born to Cyril and Maisie Desbruslais. He has a sister named after his mother. Another sister, Marina, was born two years later but she died of tuberculosis at the age of eighteen months. Desbruslais has stated, "She has always been my little baby intercessor in heaven. Mum and Dad died, also of TB, in the early 1950s (it was a fatal illness, in those days). We were brought up by a very loving uncle (my Mum's brother)."

Desbruslais was schooled in Calcutta with the Jesuits (St Xavier's), then with the Irish Christian brothers in a boarding school in Asansol. He gained his Bachelor of Commerce at St Xavier's College (Calcutta) and worked for a year at Remington Rand of India, before joining the Society of Jesus. His uncle Vernon Desbruslais was also a Jesuit.

Searching in Service and Unity

While studying theology at De Nobili College, Pune, India in 1971, he started a youth group, "Searching in Service and Unity", (SSU). He wanted to support young people, to hold inter-faith celebrations and develop young people's charitable impulses.

Celebrating 50 years of his Jesuit life at De Nobili College, Pune, India, one of the largest Jesuit communities in the world

Liberation theology

Desbruslais was exposed to liberation theology during his theology studies (1971-1974) at JDV and was deeply moved by it. In particular, he was inspired by the work of Ernesto Cardenal.

As Gustavo Gutiérrez had stated, liberation theology was not a re-hashing of the old doctrinal theses with a new emphases, as in Jürgen Moltmann's Theology of Hope. Instead, he saw liberation theology as a radically new hermeneutic - "a theologising from the underside of the boot."

Shortly after, the 1975 International Synod of Bishops spoke of the inseparable link between authentic faith and action for justice. General Congregation XXXII of the Society of Jesus spoke of the "inseparable link" between faith formation and building up God's kingdom.

Desbruslais knew that India is 98.5% non-Christian, thus liberation theology would be able to galvanise, at most 1.5% of the population for faith-inspired action for justice. He believed that the country needed a united action for justice and liberation by all Indians, inspired with a common vision, and went about forming a dialogue with young people from all religions across India.

Based on these dialogues and taking a phrase from the medieval Francisco Suárez SJ: "common human nature, adequately understood", he thoughtfully formulated an understanding of four essential conditions of being human: 1. Embodiedness, 2. Social Dimension, 3. Rootedness in the world and 4. Capacity for Transcendence (the ability to go beyond the space-time boundaries). As such, he saw that it was not absolutely necessary to believe in God or be religious to be human; but as long as a person was spiritual and open to transcendence, they were living fully their humanity.

He has influenced figures including Shashi Tharoor, former Minister of External Affairs, and General Shankar Roychowdhury, former Chief of the Army Staff.

Plays

Desbruslais has written and directed yearly plays with current social themes since 1972. Believing that theatre can change mindsets and attitudes, his plays tackle subjects including nuclear disarmament, globalisation, terrorism, consumerism and religious dogma. "Through the messages embedded in our plays, SSU is promoting out-of-the-box thinking among the young and is abating - if not removing - hatred that's making us all such violent beings," he says Some of his plays include:

• The Impossible Dream (1972)
• Pilgrim of the Future (1973)
• Eschaton (1974)
• No plays(1974 - 1977)
• The Promised Land (1978)
• Boy and Girl (1978)
• Two By Two (1979)
• No. No, Jeremiah (1981)
• The Prince of Whales (1983)
• Dateline Jerusalem (1987)
• Inigo (1990)
• Even to the Indies (1993)
• Pedro (1995)
• Camillo (1997)
• The Ballad of Nestor and Cecy (1997)
• Excelsior (2000)
• Carry on Boy and Girl (2002)
• Boy and Girl Forever (2004)
• It's Great to Be Young (2006)
• Change your Habit (2008)
• Against the Tide (2010)
• The White Rose (2012)
• A. T. (2014)
• Adam and Eve (2015)
• Esperanza (2016)
• Roses in the Sea (2017)
• Giddyap Gideon (2018)
• Two By Two (2019: Revised, repeat performance!)

Books

• Desbruslais, Cyril (1989). Interpretations of transcendence. Pune: Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth. OCLC 34670453.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (1997). Pandikattu, Kuruvilla (ed.). The philosophy of the human person: an introduction to philosophical anthropology. JDV text book series. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Pune: Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth. OCLC 65417894.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (1997). Pandikattu, Kuruvilla (ed.). The philosophy of be-ing: introduction to a metaphysics for today. JDV text book series. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Pune: Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth. OCLC 65417895.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (2012). Röttig, Paul F. (ed.). Unser Vater: Gespräche mit Gott im Osten und Westen [Daddy darling: talks with God in East and West] (in German). Perchtoldsdorf, DE: Plattform. ISBN 978-3-9503295-0-6.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (2015). Business Advice from an Artist: 1. (with Aaron Brachfeld et al)

• Desbruslais, Cyril (2016). The Philosophy of Liberation:: Revisiting Genuine Religious Experiences with Special Reference to Christianity.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (2017). Collected Deepak Morris: Business Advice from an Artist AND I have to Eat and Sleep. (with Aaron Brachfeld et al)

• Desbruslais, Cyril (2019). The Philosophy of God:: Faith and Traditions.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (2019). Postmodernity:: An Indian Christian Philosophical Appraisal.
• Desbruslais, Cyril (2021). Ancient, Medieval and Modern Philosophy: A Historical Introduction (500 BC-1800 AD).