The historical interplay of Hinduism as an ancient Indian religion and Christianity as a religion associated (in India, at least) with foreign power and colonialism, continues to animate HinduChristian relations today. On the one hand, The Routledge Handbook of HinduChristian Relations describes a rich history of amicable, productive, even sometimes syncretic HinduChristian encounters. On the other, this handbook equally attends to historical and contemporary moments of tension, conflict, and violence between Hindus and Christians. Comprising thirty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, this handbook is divided into seven parts:
- Theoretical and methodological considerations
- Historical interactions
- Contemporary exchanges
- Sites of bodily and material interactions
- Significant figures
- Comparative theologies
- Responses
The handbook explores: how the study of HinduChristian relations has been and ought to be done, the history of HinduChristian relations through key interactions, ethnographic reflections on current dynamics of HinduChristian exchange, important key thinkers, and topics in comparative theology, ultimately providing a framework for further debates in the area.
The Routledge Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations is essential reading for students and researchers in HinduChristian studies, Hindu traditions, Asian religions, and studies in Christianity. This handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as anthropology, political science, theology, and history.
The tension between Hinduism as an ancient Indian religion and Christianity as a religion associated with foreign power and colonialism, continues to animate Hindu-Christian relations today. The handbook describes both the rich history of productive Hindu-Christian encounters, and moments of conflict between Hindus and Christians.
1. Introduction Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations
2.
The Formation and Mutual Re-formations of "Christianity" and "Hinduism" as
"Religious" Categories
3. The Emergence of Modern Hinduism
4. Western
Philosophy and Christian Theology in Twentieth-Century Hindu Thought
5.
Orientalism and Postcolonial Theory in HinduChristian Encounters Part II:
Historical Interactions
6. Syrian Christians and Dominant-Caste Hindus
7.
HinduJesuit Encounters
8. State Power in the Relations between Catholics and
Hindus
9. HinduProtestant Encounters
10. The East India Company,
Christianity, and Hinduism
11. HinduChristian Debates in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries
12. Critiques of Christianity from Savarkar to Malhotra
Part III: Contemporary Exchanges: Conversion, Caste, and the Diaspora
13.
Anti-Conversion Laws in Post-Independence India
14. HinduChristian Relations
through the Lens of Caste
15. Race, Representation, and HinduChristian
Encounters in Contemporary North America
16. ISKCONChristian Encounters
17.
HinduChristian Relations in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Part IV:
Sites of Bodily and Material Interactions
18. Popular Religious Traditions
and Shared Religious Spaces
19. "Religion" and HinduChristian Relations
after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
20. Gender and the Social Boundaries
between "Hindus" and "Christians"
21. Ritual and Ritualization in
HinduChristian Relations
22. Aesthetics, Art, and Visual Culture in
HinduChristian Relations
23. Christian and Hindu Responses to Christian Yoga
Practice in North America Part V: Significant Figures
24. Rammohun Roy
25.
Swami Vivekananda
26. Mohandas K. ("Mahatma") Gandhi
27. Raimon Panikkar
28.
Abhishiktananda Part VI: Comparative Theologies
29. A Theology of
HinduChristian Relations
30. Rethinking the One and the Many in Advaita
31.
Creation, Cosmos, Ecology
32. Competing Philosophies and Theologies of the
Human Person
33. Divine Embodiment in Hinduism and Christianity
34. Truth and
Salvation in HinduChristian Encounters
35. Inculturation
36. Peace and
Conflict
37. Contemporary HinduChristian Dialogue Part VII: Responses
38.
Response: Shared and Contested Spaces: HinduChristian Relations through a
Performing Arts Lens
39. Response: The Handbook in Light of the Past and
Future of HinduChristian Relations
Chad M. Bauman is Professor of Religion at Butler University, USA and a Research Fellow at the Center for Religion and American Culture.
Michelle Voss Roberts is Professor of Theology and Principal at Emmanuel College, a multireligious theological school in the University of Toronto, Canada.