CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM ON HUMAN EXISTENCE

2017

This paper compares and contrasts Hinduism and Christianity. In particular, it analyses the figure of Krishna, according to the text of the Baghavad Gītā, and the figure of Christ, according to the Gospel of St John. Each religious text will serve as a means to compare two aspects or dimensions of the divinity itself, namely his identity and his saving nature. This comparison will lead secondly to a resolution of these two elements into the essence of religion.

Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, henotheism, monism and atheism. In this paper, I shall strive to indicate certain structural affinities between the ideas of Liberation from Bondage found in theistic Hinduism and Salvation in History found in Christian thought. This entails an elucidation of the meaning of Moksha, the Hindu counterpart of salvation. One of the significant features of Hindu thought is a polarization of two standpoints: the theistic and the absolutist. This polarity must be recognized in order to understand Hinduism. Absolutist Hinduism is characterized by its view of Liberation as liberation from Time, the World and all that has been conditioned by time. Absolutist Hinduism declares the world to be a Falsity. Theistic Hinduism, on the other hand, has been shaped by the stimulus of the challenge of Buddhism and its concern with the suffering of this world. Theistic Hinduism of all shades stands defined by its readiness to affirm freedom, love, personality, community, history and moral obligation, and to rediscover their spiritual significance for man. Their positive role in the service of man's freedom from the thralldom of unfreedom can be duly appreciated once man is liberated from the penumbra of illusion, or Maya. There is a spiritual purpose to history: to reclaim man estranged from himself and from others in consequence of his estrangement from the ground of his very being. God's cosmic function is to help us grow into full spiritual realization through the historical process. History, as the sphere of man's conscious, deliberate and collective striving, is what makes possible the realization of his values. This is not itself viewed as an accomplishment, but as an aspect of cosmic history. Two kinds of eschatologies-under the categories of 'bondage' and 'liberation'-are used. There is a continuity between the two. Bondage, or samsara, includes the conception of an 'after-life' which remains on the same level as the present life and is grounded in moral responsibility. The corollary to this afterlife concept is karma. The individual continues from life to life in an embodied existence, the contents and forms of his life dependent on what the individual has performed in former lives, yet affording some scope for growth and gradual perfection by the performance of meritorious actions. This is the sphere of dharma.

The Routledge Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations, 2021

This brief overview of Hindu-Christian theological encounters highlights some of the distinctive themes these encounters have generated on the relation of the world to the Ultimate. Similar dialectics between apophatic and kataphatic modalities in relation to both ultimate and human reality, combined with certain narrative sensibilities and a sense of the divine presence in the world, have created a rich set of theological possibilities.

Please see link to access the article. Abstract: This essay consists of philosophical and comparative theological reflections on the topic of rebirth, or reincarnation. Informed by the work of William James, John Hick, and Francis X. Clooney, the essay first establishes the author’s stance that reincarnation is a plausible option for belief, at least as attractive as its two main rivals. These rival options are the belief in an everlasting life in either heaven or hell, characteristic of religions such as Christianity and Islam, and the materialist or physicalist belief that there is no afterlife, except in a highly attenuated sense. The essay then moves into a dialogical, comparative theological mode. It raises the question of whether traditional Christian rejection of rebirth, even if it is not something to which the author ultimately assents, might nevertheless carry with it an important insight that is worthy of serious consideration by those who accept the idea of rebirth. This is seen as an instance of the ‘deep learning across religious borders’ that is the main goal of comparative theology, as defined by Clooney.

The concept of Ultimate Reality is present in all world religions, even though they differ greatly from the Christian doctrine of God. A superficial look at the theme or a pluralist view of salvation could conclude that it is just a question of terminology and that there is no real gain in pointing out the exclusive claims of the Christian faith in regards to the reality of God. It is true that some similarities can be observed when a comparative analysis is made among those religions. However, those similarities should not be used as an excuse for Christians to just talk about points of agreement and to gloss over the huge gulf that exists in the way that Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians perceive ultimate reality. When Christians talk about the divine, they are not talking about the same being Hindus and Buddhists are. In fact, despite of the many similarities, there are irreconcilable differences in our understanding of the Supreme Being and our relationship with him. I believe that those differences should be addressed if Christianity is to truthfully share its faith. This paper presents a short analysis on how Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists perceive the Ultimate Reality and how they understand the Christian doctrine of God. Based on this information, a Christian response is offered.

Choice Reviews Online, 1997

This is an important new book about Hinduism, which deals with its various aspects in richly documented fashion. After chapters on theoretical principles and historical bases, it treats in detail the place the "Hindu-religions" occupy in society, the rites of transition that accompany Hindus throughout their lives, conceptions of death and life after death, the so-called caste system and the role of the Brahmin and the gods and goddesses, etc. etc. On each of these topics Michaels has

Proceedings of the International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2018), 2018

The main task of this article is to analyze some philosophical approaches proposed by the contemporary scholars of religious hermeneutics and history of Indian Philosophy and Religions. The author tries to ponder and correlate the weak and strong points of each approach. The three approaches, which were elaborated on the base of Religious Hermeneutics and the investigation of Indian religious-philosophical thought, are represented in the works Gerhard Oberhammer (Austria), Francis X. Clooney (USA) and John B. Carman (USA). The article sums up the philosophical outcomes of the theoretical considerations of each scholar.

Faculty of Islamic Studies & Arabic Language, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, University Park Oluvil, 32360 ,Sri Lanka, 2021

Religion is the moral basis for all affairs of human beings. Stephen Juan mentioned in his study, there are approximately 4,300 religions in the world. Among them, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism are the most influential religions in the world. These regions have their own specific cults, teachings, cultures, and customs. Recently, religious harmony has become a growing field in social science research. Most of the contradictions are to occur in the world by name of religions. It is a universal truth that the way of inter-religious understanding can create a peaceful environment in a plural society. Thus, in this context, the study aims to examine the theologies between Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. To reach the objective of this study, data were collected from scriptures and other secondary sources such as research articles, books, web-publications, and video clips. This study complies comparatively and review of literature. The Study concluded with the findings of that three scriptures which were taken up for this study have accepted oneness of God and that all praises, worships, obedience of human beings are blogs to him. In particular, both religions, except Islam, have a polytheism, which contradicts the pure theology of that both religions.