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Contrasts Within Comparative Theology Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 28 Article 8 2015 The Asymmetry of ‘Creation’ and ‘Origination’: Contrasts within Comparative Theology Daniel P. Sheridan Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs Recommended Citation Sheridan, Daniel P. (2015) "The Asymmetry of ‘Creation’ and ‘Origination’: Contrasts within Comparative Theology," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 28, Article 8. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1607 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 [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. The Asymmetry of ‘Creation’ and ‘Origination’: Contrasts within Comparative Theology Daniel P. Sheridan Saint Joseph’s College of Maine I. Semantic Specificity and Theological commentator. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s first line Confusion has a clear reference to the second sutra of THE following essay is a contribution to Bādarāyana’s Brahma Sūtras, i.e. janmādyasya comparative theology, particularly in its yatah. contrastive dimension. For a successful comparative theology, the two theologies or Śrīdhara: “‘Him from whom is the creation, religious perspectives being compared and etc. of this [universe],’ inferred by positive contrasted must be described accurately and and negative concomitance in things; all- equally in depth. Where Christian theology in knower, self-luminous; who revealed the its Catholic dimension is one pole of the Vedas through the heart to the first sage; comparison, it is important to make a about whom the gods are confused; in distinction between doctrine and theology whom the threefold evolution is real as is which I will do below. Issues of translation also the transformation of fire, water, earth; by immediately arise. his own strength, always free from Recently I re-read two articles I wrote in deception; the True, the Supreme, [on him] 2 1994 and in 1997 for the Journal of Vaishnava we meditate.” Studies, “Śrīdhara and His Commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa” and “Madhva, the Bhāgavata Madhva: “‘Him from whom is the creation, Purāṇa, and His Commentary on Its First etc. of this [universe],’ on account of Chapter.”1 In them, I translated the Bhāgavata harmonization and the other [logical Purāṇa’s opening line according to each reasoning about the senses of scripture], Daniel P. Sheridan, Ph.D. (Fordham University, 1976) is Professor of Theology at Saint Joseph’s College in Maine. He is an engaged scholar at the intersection of Catholic systematic theology and the history of religions with special interest in Hindu theism, especially the Madhva tradition. He has published two books, The Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Purana [Motilal Banarsdass 1986] and Loving God: Krsna and Christ [Peeters 2007], and numerous articles in The Thomist, Anima, Journal of Religion, Horizons, Journal of Vaisnava Studies, Chicago Studies, Journal of Dharma, Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, Studies in Formative Spirituality, Purana, Cross Currents, Journal of Religious Studies, Religious Traditions, Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin, and Journal of Religious Pluralism. He is currently studying the work of Charles Taylor on secularity and writing a book on the Catholic theology of the diaconate. Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies 28 (2015):76-87 The Asymmetry of ‘Creation’ and ‘Origination’: Contrasts within Comparative Theology 77 all-knower, self-ruling; who revealed the significantly less theological term. In view of Vedas through the heart to the first sage; the ongoing work of comparative theology in about whom the sages are confused; in which translation is always a major issue, is whom the threefold evolution is “creation” an appropriate translation of janma [apparently] false as is the transformation in connection with Bādarāyana and citations of of fire, water, earth; by his own strength this verse in later works like the Bhāgavata always free from deception; the True, the Purāṇa? And what considerations are involved Supreme, [on him] we meditate.”3 in answering this question of translation? I am exploring a very difficult area of The Sanskrit word I translated here as comparative theology, that is, the area of how, “creation” is janma. Francis Clooney had and how well, we form categories and concepts translated janma differently in a related passage suitable for inter-religious subjects that we from the much earlier Brahma Sūtras of study and about which we reason. This may be Bādarāyana [fifth century BCE ?] which the based on how we translate specific words from Bhāgavata Purāṇa [eighth century CE ?] was one religious tradition to another. Dilemmas of citing: category formation and conceptual taxonomy arise when concepts that have specific Next, therefore, the desire to know theological definitions in one religious Brahman. tradition, while also accompanied by a broad ‘Brahman’ indicates that whence derive the semantic range within that religious tradition, origination, etc. of this world. are used to translate concepts in another Brahman is knowable because it is the religious tradition, which may have a different source of the teachings. semantic range.4 It is known from the Upanishads because it For example, in the interaction between is their consistent object. the Christian religious traditions and Hindu religious traditions over the past five centuries, A quick survey of different translators at we can discern several different types of uses of hand revealed the following: janma as theological terms taken from Christian faith (in “creation” (Sheridan; Pereira; Raghunathan; English) and then used within the religious Sanyal, Sharma); janma as “origination” or traditions of Hinduism (in English). In the case “origin” (Dasgpta; Clooney [1993], of the theological concept of God, (1) “God,” in Vireswarananda; Panikkar; Apte; Thibaut); its Christian theological usage as “supreme janma as “source” (Radhakrishnan); janma as being,” is used in a homologous function within “birth” (Gambirananda; Clooney [2001]). Thus some of the traditions of Hinduism; thus the this somewhat random selection shows a conceptualization of God is thought to be close general divide between those preferring a to the conceptualization of Brahman. Witness translation of janma as “creation” with a Clooney’s book Hindu God, Christian God.5 (2) significant, almost unavoidable, “God” can be used to translate a term in theological/Christian denotation and Sanskrit with a specific definition within connotation and those who translate it with a Hinduism, “Brahman,” even though “Brahman” 78 Daniel P. Sheridan has its own broad and very different semantic range among the religious traditions of There are significant asymmetries in the Hinduism. (3) “God” and/or “Brahman” can project of ‘comparative theology’ that become inter-religious, or comparative reflect and reveal the complex historical, theological, categories that postulate a putative intellectual, and political realities of identical reality that is called “God” in Christianity’s encounter with ‘others’ . Christian theology and “Brahman” in Hindu It is not possible, in my opinion, to theology. In Clooney’s perspective, this last sets accurately describe Hindu arguments and up not a mistake in judgment but a dual process theories in English without a deep of reading and reasoning through the claims of familiarity with philosophical and Christian the two religious traditions. In my judgment, writing in English. Thus, any discussion of however, we must be clear that the existence of Hindu material that is authentic to the an equivalent reality across the two traditions tradition and intelligible to contemporary should be a conclusion, not a premise, in either theologians will already have to be theology. comparative and dialogically responsible to My concern about translating janma as Christian traditions of theology . As “creation” also raises the questions whether theologians from other traditions are these three types of uses are legitimate, and allowed to contribute to the conceptual then whether they are theologically useful for resources of the discipline, the vocabulary either Christian theology or Hindu theology. I and style of English language theology think that the term “theology” can itself be should . become properly interreligious.6 used in these three ways. However, to judge the legitimacy of these uses we must, following Patel may be too sanguine about the coherence Clooney, read the texts from the two traditions of our English theological vocabulary, not yet and then reason across the two traditions. Of “properly interreligious.” course, this is very much the work of a For forty-three years I have been comparative theology that relies on translating Sanskrit texts. I often found myself appropriate and accurate translations. A flipping through Sanskrit-English dictionaries penultimate investigation is appropriate about looking for English words that might match the use, misuse, and abuse of Christian Sanskrit words. It took me a while to realize theological terms like “God” and “creation” that the dictionaries depended on Oxbridge when translating Sanskrit terms. study of Latin and Greek, the Authorized For historical, cultural, and theological Version, the Book of Common Prayer, reasons,
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