A review of Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity, edited by Arvind Sharma

Neufeldt, Ronald

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Ronald Neufeldt

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Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Book Review: "Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity"

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Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 4 Article 10 January 1991 Book Review: "Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity" Ronald Neufeldt Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs  Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Neufeldt, Ronald (1991) "Book Review: "Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity"," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 4, Article 10. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1048 The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact cbauman@butler.edu. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact digitalscholarship@butler.edu. Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity. Arvind Sharma (ed.) Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1988, 212 p, $40 US A GREAT DEAL of scholarly attention has in the past been paid to Buddhist-Christian dia-logue. Till recently little scholarly interest has been shown in Hindu-Christian dialogue, or the interplay between Christianity and Hin-duism. This volume, along with volumes such as Hindu Christian Dialogue edited by H. Cow-ard, underline the importance of the interplay between Hinduism and Christianity. The work is comprised of nine chapters dealing with Neo-Hindu images of Christianity, Ram Mo-han Roy, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Keshub Chandra Sen, Dayananda, Gandhi, Radhakr-ishnan, and Aurobindo. The introductory chapter of Eric Sharpe provides a useful overview of the shift in Neo-Hinduism from an interest in the Oriental Christ to a rejection of the need for such a Christ. The following chapters, however, deal not with this shift, but largely with figures who in some way accepted the idea of an Oriental Christ. Cromwell Crawford, in his chapter on Ram Mohan Roy, concentrates on Roy's feud with the Serampore Baptists with respect to the interpretation of the New Testament. There is a disconcerting tendency to hyperbole in the description of the encounters. Nonetheless, Crawford provides a great deal of detailed in-formation on the feud. H.W. French's chapter on Ramakrishna is questionable in that the life of Ramakrishna does not provide much by way of actual encounters. We are left with specula-tions on parallels between Christ and Ramakr-ishna by followers of Ramakrishna and French. In his chapter on Vivekananda French does fo-cus on actual controversies between Vive-kananda and his opponents, Christian and otherwise. David Kopf provides an excellent presentation of Keshub Chandra Sen's Orien-tal Christ, arguing that Keshub's New Dispensation should be seen as a sensitive re-sponse to Western militarism, nationalism, and imperialism. J.T.F. Jordens, in dealing with Dayananda's treatment of the Bible provides a revealing comparison of Dayananda's approach to the Bible and his approach to the Vedas. Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 4 (1991) 43-48 KL.S. Rao emphasizes Gandhi's rejection of Christian exclusivism and proselytization. Ish-war Harris attempts to contrast the inclusive-ness of Radhakrishnan's religion of the spirit to the exclusiveness of Christianity. The compari-son is questionable in that, according to Rad-hakrishnan, the religion of the spirit is "reli-gion" per se, while Christianity, along with other traditions, belongs in the category of "re-ligions." Finally, Arabinda Basu attempts an exegetical account of Aurobindo's views of Christianity. It is, in fact, a presentation of Au-robindo's own words through extensive quota-tions, rather than an exegesis. With the exception of the chapters by Crawford, Kopf, and Jordens, there is little at-tempt to evaluate and critique the views pre-sented. Questionable interpretations of both Christianity and Hinduism by Vivekananda, Gandhi, Radhakrishnan, and Aurobindo are allowed to stand unchallenged. To use a case in point, we have had far too much uncritical acceptance of notions such as Hindu tolerance and Christian exclusivism, or India as spiritual and the West as materialistic. Nonetheless, the volume is valuable for its detailed descriptions of encounters between neo-Hindus and Chris-tians in nineteenth and twentieth century India. Ronald Neufeldt University of Calgary Calgary, Canada T2N IN4 1Neufeldt: Book Review: "Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity"Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 1991

Book Review:  Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity

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Book Review: Neo-Hindu Views of Christianity

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