Revisiting the Antecedents of Interreligious Dialogue

This article looks critically at the trend to connect contemporary interreligious dialogue with certain events and developments that took place in Europe and India during the 19th and early 20th centuries: (i) the comparative study of religion, (ii) the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, (iii) three World Missionary Conferences in the first half of the 20th century, (iv) renascent Hinduism in India, and (v) Indian Christian efforts for inculturation. These events/developments are often perceived as the formative factors of dialogue. But this essay argues that they had their own complexities, agendas, and targets and rarely had interreligious dialogue as their objective or focus. Uncritical reading of the history of interreligious dialogue ignores how colonialism and imperialism have shaped these “antecedents.”     

Towards an American Indian Indigenous Theology

An indigenous American Indian theology must respond, first of all, out of the ongoing oppression of Indian communities. This means that our indigenous theologies must be explicitly and unashamedly political. After 500 years of colonialism and conquest, we must begin, in this process, to find ways to reclaim our own indigenous identities. As we struggle theologically with the residual effects of colonialism and conquest, this means that we will struggle to maintain or reclaim our cultures and our languages. We must assure our colonizer/missionary relatives that our peoples were in touch with the Creator long before the European colonialist ancestors brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to us. From this point on, we indigenous peoples must focus on rebuilding our national (indigenous) communities and not on building churches. That should be the substance of our theological reflection today. So our theologies must necessarily deconstruct the theological discourses of the colonialist Euro‐Western churches that have missionized and continue to missionize our peoples. This has to be our starting point before we can reconstruct useful ways of organizing our lives together as indigenous communities.     

Teaching Liberal Arts Undergraduates about Hinduism amid Theoretical and Political Contestation Today

Abstract. As the number of people of South Asian heritage in America has greatly increased over recent decades, the study and teaching of Hinduism has come under ever greater scrutiny. During this time, the number of students of Indian background has vastly increased in some schools in some parts of the United States. This increased presence and scrutiny has had some salutary effects, including greater attention to and accountability in our field, but has also led to some unwelcome conflict and feelings of misrepresentation by both academics and adherents. Some of us are in the perplexing position of being keenly aware of and in conversation about tensions elsewhere, yet still having few (or no) Hindu students in our own classrooms. This essay will discuss two matters given this background: first, I will describe how I present Hindu religious traditions in my local context, and then I will offer some more general reflections on teaching and researching Hinduism in the United States today.     

Indian Spirituality: How Relevant is Pargament’s Framework?

The psychology of religion and spirituality is a topic of increasing interest in India as well as in the West. An internationally influential framework for defining religion and spirituality has been developed by US psychologist Kenneth Pargament, who conceptualizes spirituality and religion as search processes related to sacred realities. Pargament’s framework has been found to resonate across multiple cultures and has guided and informed empirical research in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim populations. The present paper argues that Pargament’s framework can also coherently resonate with Hinduism and other indigenous Indian religious beliefs and practices. We conclude that future studies of religion and spirituality in Indian contexts may benefit by framing their investigations with reference to Pargament’s approach. Such framing need not be uncritical and would help bring Indian psychology of spirituality/religion in closer contact with psychology of spirituality/religion in other parts of the world, benefiting both India and the worldwide psychology of religion and spirituality.     

Ecumenical and Inter‐religious Contributions to Asian Liberation Theologies

This essay surveys the varieties of liberation theologies that have emerged in different religious communities across Asia. It explores how Asian liberation theologians from across the major religious traditions of Asia have sought answers from within their own religious traditions and social locations to the endemic persistence of mass poverty, exploitative socio‐economic structures, and oppressive political systems that often deny basic human and democratic rights to the poor and marginalized masses in Asia. The article's basic premise is that liberation and social justice are not monopolies of Christianity, but are found across the great religious traditions of Asia, and it highlights examples such as Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Hinduism, B. R. Ambedkar in Indian Buddhism, and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in Thai Buddhism. Christian examples include Aloysius Pieris (Sri Lanka), Dalit and indigenous tribal theologies from India, and Minjung theology from Korea.     

Hinduism and cyberspace

Hinduism is thriving in cyberspace. In this article I consider the suitability of this environment for Hinduism. This can indicate both whether various forms of Hindu religious expression online are valid and whether Hinduism needs to undergo any radical changes as a result of its presence in cyberspace. In order to investigate this issue I consider the nature of cyberspace and then discuss a number of key aspects of Hinduism in the light of this. I conclude that, overall, cyberspace appears to be a highly suitable environment for Hinduism.     

Jivanmukti in Neo‐Hinduism: The case of Ramana Maharsi

Jivanmukti or ‘living liberation’ has been identified as a distinguishing feature of Indian thought; or, upon drawing a narrower circle, of Hindu thought; and upon drawing an even narrower cocentric circle of Vedānta—of Advaita Vedānta. In some recent studies the cogency of its formulation within Advaita Vedānta has been questioned—but without reference to the testimony of its major modem exemplar, Ramana Maharsi (1879–1950). This paper examines the significance of the life and statements of Ramana Maharsi for the current debate in the context of neo‐Hinduism     

印度的婆罗门教、佛教与中国的儒家、道家

印度的婆罗门教和中国的儒家学说都有着维护社会秩序、延续既有文明、创造符号体系的建构功能 ;与此相对立 ,印度的佛家和中国的道家学说则以反向解构的姿态分别对婆罗门教和儒家学说在民族文化的建构过程中所导致的异化现象进行了深刻的批判。这种建构与解构的关系体现了追求文明与反抗异化、积极进取与消极无为、崇尚秩序与回归自然之间的辩证关系。作为这种逻辑关系的历史性发展 ,印度宗教文化从婆罗门教到佛教再到印度教的发展过程 ,与中国世俗文化中儒家和道家之间的彼此更迭 ,都形成着“否定之否定”式的阶段性变革。     

From Sanātana Dharmato Secularism: Hindu Identity in the Thought of Swami Rama Tirtha and the Swami Rama Tirtha Mission

The speeches and writings of the neo-Vedantin Swami Rama Tirtha (1873–1906) and his followers show an ongoing concern with discussion of Hinduism, Vedanta, and religion in general. Although a constant in this discussion is the basic understanding of Vedanta as the core, essential truth of all religions, the presentation of Vedanta has changed in differing social and political situations. This paper examines how one Hindu community has sought to define Hinduism and construct its own sense of identity over time, focusing particularly on the ways in which the definition of Hinduism has been modified since India became an independent, secular state.     

Science and the Spiritual Vision: A Hindu Perspective

Every religious tradition has a spiritual basis. Hinduism is no exception. In this paper the spiritual framework of Hinduism is discussed, after a brief historical background, with reference to scientific worldviews. Particular attention is paid to the notions of objective knowledge, transcendental reality, and the Hindu view on the meaning of human existence.     

‘He thinks Krishna is his friend’: Domestic space and temple sociality in the socialisation beliefs of immigrant Indian Hindu parents

This paper reports results from a study of the cultural belief systems, or ethnotheories, of Asian Indian Hindu parents in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, in the USA. I adopted a cultural, developmental psychological approach and, over a one-year period, used caregiver diaries, ecological inventories, repeated in-depth interviews and participant observations to gain access to the ethnotheories of the parents. These immigrant parents emphasised family ties, unprompted adherence to the daily routine, knowledge of cultural origins and religiously inflected moral values. Exploring the nuances of their emphasis on cultural origins and moral and religious values, particularly as those relate to Hinduism and its transnational rearticulation, I show how the parents utilised domestic spaces and the temple as dual venues to systematically socialise their children into a new form of Hindu religious and ‘Indian’ ethnic identity in the USA.     

Schizotypal personality traits and attitudes towards Hinduism among Balinese Hindus

The study explored the relationship between schizotypal personality traits and attitude of Hindus towards their faith. A total of 309 Balinese Hindus responded to the Santosh–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Hinduism, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief, and a number of external indicators and religious practices. Attitude towards Hinduism, frequency of prayer, and temple attendance had a rather weak positive relationship with each other, while prayer behaviour exhibited negative low-to-moderate relationships with schizotypal traits. A hierarchical multiple linear regression model identified the disorganised elements of schizotypy as the primary predictor of the attitude towards Hinduism. Finally, age showed negative associations with schizotypy and positive ones with Hinduism, while women were less schizotypal and had more positive attitude towards their faith than men. These findings suggest the presence of both underlying cross-faith elements and the strong influence of faith- and culture-specific forces on the relationship between religiosity and schizotypy.     

A Return to Reciprocity

Feminist affiliation has long been suspect among Native American women whose memories survive the dishonor of colonialism. The idea of common struggles is simultaneously repugnant and alluring. Sadly, this has led to much confusion and rejection between Aboriginal women. I suggest “a return to reciprocity” to understand and come to terms with feminist rejection or affiliation. If we cannot come together, the fracturing that began with European ideology will continue to fragment and destroy the fabric of Native cultures.     

The Notion of Merit in Indian Religions

There are uses of the term merit in Indian religions which also appear in secular contexts, but in addition there are other uses that are not encountered outside religion. Transfer of merit is a specific doctrine in whose connection the term merit is used with an intention which is not the same as that found in nonreligious contexts. Two main types of transfer of merit can be distinguished. First, the transfer of merit has been associated with certain ritual practices in Hinduism and in Buddhism. Another main type of transfer of merit is connected with Mahāyāna belief in bodhisattvas' loving-kindness towards other beings. In the orthodox Hindu schools, in Hīnayāna Buddhism and in Jainism, transfer of merit has been rejected on account of the doctrine of karma according to which the person can acquire karmic outcomes for only those actions he or she has performed by himself.     

Tales of Women's Suffering: Draupadi and other Amman Goddesses as Role Models for Women

Although Hinduism offers the greatest living resource for the veneration of the Goddess, there is an obvious discrepancy between the respect paid to these divine images and the daily realities of the lives of Hindu women. However, I believe that the ancient, indigenous south Indian Amman religion, dominated by female deities and brought to KwaZulu-Natal by the original Hindu immigrants, offers a unique and valuable form of Goddess veneration. It presents myths and rituals of women, both divine and human, violated, betrayed and exploited by men, but whose courage and purity brought them victory against males threatening to disrupt the social order. These powerful female figures, especially Draupadi, Mother Goddess and patron of firewalking, offer women empowering role models, encouraging them to challenge patriarchal structures and injustice perpetrated against women. Recovering knowledge of some of the Amman Goddess mythology could provide women (and men) with a potent feminist theodicy and a post-patriarchal spirituality with the possibility to bring about social transformation.     

What's in a List?:A Rule of Interpretation for Hindu Dharma Offered in Response to Maria Hibbets

The study of South Asian ethics presents a variety of problems for the comparative ethicist. This response focuses on one such problem relating to Hinduism: the pervasive use of nonsystematic lists as a source of ethical injunctions and guidelines. The author demonstrates how an indigenous hermeneutic may unpack a list that contains the gift of fearlessness among other gifts. The source of this interpretation is Purva Mimamsa, an ancient Indian school of philosophy that specialized in language and the application of sacrificial logic to law and ethics. The same principles that allowed ritual specialists to sort out a huge array of rules into proper injunctions also allow us to make sense of ethical principles embodied in puzzling lists of concrete items.