Gospel Ferment in India among both Hindus and Christians Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Some Reflections—Historical, Indological, and Theological— on the Quest for a “Christian” Vedanta by Richard Fox Young

Who Needs to Rethink Hinduism and Why? o start these discussions off, let me share with you a few cursory observations of a philological nature on a Sanskrit word commonly T used in the Vedantic tradition, a word that comes close to describ- ing what I regard as a necessary predisposition for doing what this forum invites us to do, which is to “rethink” Hinduism. The word I wish to draw attention to is jijnasa, a desiderative form of the root verb jna, to “know” or “understand.” In the Vedantic tradition, salvific knowledge, mokashajnana or muktijnana, isn’t for just anyone, isn’t a universal entitlement. To qualify for it, one must seek for it single-mindedly, out of an overwhelming sense of urgency, because no other knowledge is more desirable, more salvifically con- sequential. Jijnasa, of course, isn’t the only prerequisite (among other quali- fications, one must also have a front-to-back familiarity with the Vedas), but without jijnasa, the predisposition to rigorously rethink the assumptions we routinely make, one might as well stay home (in the idiom of the Indian tradition, as a householder, grhastha), conduct oneself well according to the dharma, pursue the good things of life (artha, wealth, and kama, pleasure), and transmigrate a while longer to realize just how inconsequential all these things really are, compared with salvific knowledge. To repeat, one just isn’t ready for Vedanta unless the glint of jijnasa shines in one’s eyes.1

Since at this forum we too are being invited to rethink certain assumptions, the assumptions we routinely make about Hinduism, it wouldn’t hurt to muster up some jijnasa ourselves, or to talk about doing so in a Vedantic idiom even though the idiom isn’t ours. Otherwise we’ll find ourselves going around and around in a sansara of our own making, an endlessly repeating,  ever worsening cycle of ignorance, superimposing upon Hinduism the same invidious misunderstandings of the past, like people who jump back in fear every time they see a coil of rope because they can’t help seeing it as a coiled snake. I’ll switch to a more familiar idiom in just a moment, but Vedanta Richard Fox Young, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of the History of Religions at here provides us with its own analogy for what we’re doing, a very familiar Princeton Theological Seminary. analogy for the way in which the true and the real (sat) gets confused with International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002•19 20 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 21 the false and the unreal (asat). It is at this point a whole cluster of collat- izing, reifying effect of referring to an analogy that can also speak to eral questions rears up. Among them, I this loose agglomeration by a single us cross-culturally about the need to address the following: which Hinduism name, “Hinduism,” sometimes seem rethink Hinduism and not be deceived do Christians need to rethink? where exaggerated or simply pedantic. by appearances. For that task, the pre- should Christian rethinking begin? The caution, however, is to be taken disposition of jijnasa is a prerequisite. how should Christian rethinking seriously, especially here, because to proceed? and—the most difficult of talk of rethinking Hinduism without Since, however, we are invited here to all— purpose(s) should Christian reference to contextually specifi- rethink Hinduism as Christians, the what rethinking serve? able, concrete particularities would glint of jijnasa in our eyes isn’t the only end in abstractions that would only thing, or even the main thing, Let me anticipate for you the trajec- themselves need further rethinking at required of us. Christian jijnasa must tory of my discussion by re-phrasing a subsequent forum. be accompanied by a change of heart the last question, the toughest, like and not only of mind, which is to say, this: would any other purpose than To sort through the multiform phe- in a more congenial idiom of our own, thinking about Hinduism with a view nomena that we sloppily, if inadver- that the proper predisposition of a toward its Christ-bearing potential tently, render uniform with the label Christian for the task at hand is that be sufficient to warrant a call for “Hinduism,” anthropology offers of metanoia, a turning from the false some helpful schemes of classification, and the unreal toward the true and especially the Great Tradition/Little the real. We need metanoia as well as I submit that Tradition distinction formulated years jijnasa because of the misunderstand- conservatives, who see a ago by Robert Redfield. According ings we superimpose upon Hinduism, to this, one of the primary and as if the Commandment not to bear venomous snake in every most symptomatic features of Great false witness against our neighbors harmless rope, need to Tradition Hinduism would be its tex- doesn’t apply to the faithful of this tuality, the fact of its being embedded religion or others. rethink Hinduism . . . and in the Veda and its auxiliary literature the same goes for liberals, in Sanskrit, and along with textual- It isn’t, therefore, only to rethink ity there is the literacy that textuality Hinduism that we are meeting, but who see a harmless rope in implies. It follows from this, of course, also, I would suppose, to rethink every venomous that Great Tradition Hinduism is Christianity and who we are as about as universal, or pan-Indian Christians in relation to Hinduism. I snake. as Indian religions ever get, because would further suppose that rethinking radical “rethinking”? That is not literate communities everywhere enjoy Hinduism—intellectually and meta- virtually unlimited access to it. noically—as faithful Christians who to deny, of course, that other, non- confess that the misunderstandings theological purposes would be served Where Little Tradition Hinduism is we’ve been content to perpetuate, is by rethinking Hinduism, or that I concerned, one of its most primary something we all need to do, whatever downplay the need to be more aware and symptomatic features would be theological tag we care to wear, con- of them—I refer here to the academic orality, the fact of its being embedded servative, liberal, or something else. discipline of the history of religions, in unwritten texts, which implies the about which theologians need to be absence of literacy, although oral texts At the risk of caricature, I submit that more cognizant if their theologies of can be just as complex and highly conservatives, who see a venomous religion are to be anything more than developed as written texts. It fol- snake in every harmless rope, need to a priori abstractions. lows from this that Little Tradition rethink Hinduism (Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism is geographically localized etc.), and the same goes for liber- Which Hinduism Do and linguistically restrictive, since for als, who see a harmless rope in every reasons of language anyone who isn’t venomous snake. As unlike in their Christians Need to Rethink? Because “Hinduism,” like all world a part of the community will find it theologies as conservatives and liber- difficult of access. als are, they are at least alike in being religions, our own included, is a aloof from, or indifferent to, the deep, semi-fictional construct of European As obvious as it seems, it needs to be origin, superimposed upon a loose jijnasa-like and metanoic engagement further observed in this connection with Hinduism (or, for that matter, agglomeration of variable and con- that Great Tradition Hinduism, being Buddhism, Islam, etc.) that this trastive phenomena, any rethinking of Sanskritic, contextually specifies the forum refers to as “rethinking” what it, by theologians or non-theologians, religious complex of the privileged we think we already know. ought to be contextually specifiable, minority, a miniscule community in by which I mean verifiable in regard terms of percentages, whereas Little To say that Christians across the to concrete particularities. One can Tradition Hinduism contextually board need to “rethink” Hinduism, hardly afford in today’s academic specifies the religious complex of the intellectually and metanoically, isn’t climate to be slack in this regard, even marginalized majority, known in saying very much, of course, because though concerns about the essential- today’s nomenclature as Dalits (or in International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 20 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 21

the outdated Gandhian terminology themes that Advaita Vedanta perenni- The objection is one to which I am of the past as Harijans, and so forth). ally addresses with a variety of per- sensitive. One would have to search mutations, two stand out as being of long and hard for a Vedantic coun- One can get more contextually spe- special relevance for Christian rethink- terpart to Christian theologies of cific than this, and it would, of course, ing: the Brahman/ dichotomy, liberation, because the only liberation be the responsible thing to do, but my Ishvara or the ontological difference between of interest to classical Vedanta is the purpose is only to suggest a way, a way unqualified ( ) and qualified liberation from rebirth ( ). among others, in which our rethink- nirguna samsara ( ) being ( ), and its corol- But such theologies have emerged ing of Hinduism might be made saguna sat lary, the epistemological trichotomy among neo-Vedantins even in Dalit more verifiable in regard to concrete between 1) transempirical ( communities, as was demonstrated particularities. In my own case, since param- ) reality, which is the absolute in a doctoral dissertation by Vazhayil I have thus far already alluded to it arthika reality of Brahman; 2) empirical Varughese, a recent Princeton gradu- several times, it hardly needs to be ( ) reality, which is the con- ate, whose study of the Sri Narayana said that my own point of reference vyavaharika tingent reality of the world of human Guru movement in Kerala during for the duration of this discussion will transactions that we inhabit, as well the early decades of the twentieth be the Vedanta. as that of Ishvara (lit. ‘the Sovereign century found that the downtrod- This may sound contextually specific, Lord,’ the highest divinity imagin- den Ezhava (Ilava) community but really isn’t, because the word able by theistic religions, including self-consciously rejected its Little “Vedanta” (veda + anta) can be used Christianity); and 3) the most idio- Tradition Hinduism—as well as in more than one sense, first in the syncratic category of the trichotomy, Christianity—in favor of the self- literal sense of being a name for the illusory (pratibhasika) reality, like that transcending powers of Vedanta to Upanishads, the collection of texts at of the snake superimposed upon the rise above the social obloquy to which the “end [anta] of the Veda,” second rope. As a total system imbued with it was traditionally consigned. This in the sense of being the culmination, a distinctive form of perspectivism, itself is an indication of the need to essence, or perfection of the ante- Advaita sometimes speaks of reality rethink Advaita, which among Dalit Upanishadic portion of the Vedic transempirically, sometimes empiri- theologians is nowadays emblematic corpus, and third in the sense of a cally, and to crack its hermeneutical of everything about Hinduism that name for any of the several lineages code, one will need to be familiar with seems unjust and immoral. (or schools) of Upanishadic inter- the whole range of Vedantic terminol- My apologetic, however, goes a step pretation, which are primarily three: ogy: (being), (consciousness), sat chit further. Think for a moment of how that of Shankara (early 8th century), (bliss), (self), ananda atman avidya hard it would be for today’s Indian known as Advaita Vedanta (Non- (ignorance), (illusion), and much, maya theologians to talk theologically in Dualism), that of Ramanuja (11th much more. Obviously, there’s a great their own languages, were it not for century), known as Vishishtadvaita deal in Advaita that will perplex and Great Tradition Hinduism, so depen- (Qualified Non-Dualism), and that challenge even the most rigorous of dent are they on Sanskritic terms of Madhva (13th century), known as thinking Christians. that have become Dualism (Dvaita Vedanta). At one Christ-bearing Before we get on with the task of words. In short, to say that rethink- time or another down to the present, rethinking Advaita, a bit of apolo- ing Vedanta pays theological divi- each of these Vedantas has elicited the getic on its behalf would be in order, dends doesn’t mean that it’s the interest and attention, the admiration ideal because a very pertinent question now Hinduism or the Hinduism that and concern of Christians, Indian and only arises, Why do I single out for prefer- needs rethinking. European, but none so much as the ential attention a variety of Hinduism Advaita Vedanta of Shankara. identified with a privileged and hege- Where Should Christian Why Advaita came to have a corner on monic strata of Indian society, when so Rethinking Begin? the market for Vedanta, inside India many other contexts could be specified “Rethinking” implies that some and outside, would be better explained for which Christian rethinking is also thinking has already been done, on another occasion; likewise, discus- sorely needed? And, when the major- that instances can be adduced from sion of the particularities of Advaita’s ity of Indian Christians come from history that provide starting points historical development will have to be the marginalized majority that chafes for further reflection. That is indeed deferred (and some basic knowledge under the yoke of brahminical bond- the case; looking into the past in this assumed), because we are dealing age, doesn’t it smack of elitism to focus connection can be instructive, because here with a highly complex, internally on Vedanta, which is Great Tradition Christians before us have had a great differentiated tradition that includes a Hinduism? Wouldn’t it be more deal to say about Vedanta, sometimes pre- and a post-Shankarite Advaita as responsible, for the sake of the newly- ignorantly, sometimes insightfully. I well as modern departures from clas- emerging Dalit theologies, to rethink leave it to other colleagues here at the sical Advaita, not to mention an early the more representative varieties of forum, however, to engage some of Shankara who can be differentiated Little Tradition Hinduism in terms of these individuals in depth, since the from the later Shankara. At the risk their Christ-bearing potentialities? best that I can do for this presentation of oversimplifying the symptomatic International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 22 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 23 is to characterize in broad strokes, local communities of indigenous from the Catholic breviary, for the with a few pauses to fill in the details, advocates, whom he called the “sect use of Indian converts, and in them the complex historical and theological of the Gnanis” (the “Spirituals”; lit., we not only find the same Vedantic dynamics of Christianity’s on-going “Wise Ones”; De Smet 1976). De vocabulary that we’ve seen thus far but encounter with Vedanta. Nobili admired the “Gnanis” for their also a tantalizing fondness for refer- ambivalence to image-worship (idola- ring to God as saccidananda. I would Of this encounter we already have try, as he called it) and their insistence surmise that because the prayers were some four-hundred years, beginning on the immateriality and the unity only meant for Christians, Calmette in the 17th century with a Catholic (the ; lit., not-two-ness) of felt freer about the problem of denota- quest for a fundamental rapport with advaita Brahman, which as a name for the tion and went for the connotation the religions of India, including and Christian God seems to have struck instead, believing that repeated use perhaps especially Advaita, followed him as having the right of saccidananda over time would by a Protestant interregnum marked connotation but the wrong .2 Perhaps transform even the most Vedantically by confrontation in the 18th and 19th denotation because the Vedantins already enjoyed monopolized Brahman-bearing word centuries, some of it conscientious 3 a monopoly on Brahman, de Nobili into a Christ-bearing word. confrontation and not all of it con- turned to other undenotated names— tentious confrontation, followed by When I say that literary productions , another, somewhat different phase in sarveshvara, paraparavastu, parapara like de Nobili’s and Calmette’s signify to cite only a few of Sanskritic deriva- the Catholic quest for a fundamental a quest for a fundamental rapport with tion—and in so doing enriched the rapport between Christianity and the Vedanta, I mean, theologically South Indian Christian vocabulary. Vedanta, which brings us down to the speaking, that theirs were Thomistic 20th century and the present. This is a Moving on rapidly to the next genera- endeavors, that Catholicism’s dichot- long history that other scholars might tion of Jesuit missionaries, one finds omy between Nature and Grace reconstruct and periodize differently, the same reserve about Brahman, but informed their undertakings, and that and a general historiography of the also a bit of flirtation and courtship. Christianity perfects Vedanta. I do not Christian encounter with Vedanta Consider, for instance, Jean Calmette mean that Vedanta and Christianity (or, for that matter, any other form (1693-1740) of the Carnatic Mission, were seen as entirely commensurable, of Hinduism) remains to be written. author of The Essence of the True Veda for in fact in most respects de Nobili What follows is meant to be sugges- (Satyavedasarasamgraha; “True Veda” and Calmette saw them as incommen- tive, not exhaustive. In any event, being a periphrasis for Christianity), surable and yielded no ground in argu- rethinking begins in the past with who utilized the nomenclature of ing that the truths of Vedanta, even the thinking that others have already Advaita to a greater extent than even though encased in glittering Sanskrit done, some of it for the very first time. de Nobili did, and of that the follow- ornaments, are more like fool’s gold ing line (actually a verse) would be a than real gold, until transformed into a In a deep-time perspective, the first particularly pregnant example: Christ-bearing word. Catholic quest for a fundamental rap- port with the Vedanta takes us back [Sarveshvara (lit., The Sovereign The long eighteenth- and nine- to the early decades of the seventeenth Lord of All)] is devoid of stain teenth-century Protestant interreg- century, to the Madurai Mission (niranjana) and change (nirakara)/ num that follows upon the era I have without form (arupa) and invis- just discussed, was, as I have already founded in South India by the Italian ible (adrishya)/ without qualities Jesuit Robert de Nobili (1577-1656), (nirguna), without blemish (nishka- mentioned, marked by confrontation who in some respects is better known lanka)./ He is undivided (akhanda), that was sometimes conscientious, for the adaptation of his European the Sovereign Lord of All. sometimes contentious, in which the lifestyle to the upper-caste Hindu disjunctions between Christianity The passage has a distinctively codes of social conduct than for any and the Vedanta were magnified Vedantic ring to it, but keep in serious and sustained engagement and the conjunctions minimized. mind that the text from which it is with Advaita (Clooney 1990b, 1999). Insofar as I know, none of mission extracted, like virtually all Jesuit writ- The whole corpus of his writing, how- history’s superstars—the German ings of the era, belongs to the genre ever, is suffused throughout with so Pietist of Tranquebar, Bartolomaeus of apologetics and is forthrightly much Advaitic technical terminology Ziegenbalg (1683-1719), for instance, anti-Vedantic even though it cannot that one is never left in doubt as to the or the English Baptist of Serampore, say what it intends to say without contextual specificity of the Christ- William Carey (1761-1837)—ever Vedanta, that the Christian is the bearing word that he articulated, engaged in a serious and sustained true brahmajnani (the one who knows whether in Tamil, Telegu, or Sanskrit. study of the Vedanta, although in Brahman)—note how Brahman as other respects these were individuals We know, moreover, from de Nobili’s the name of the Christian God slips whose Indological and missiological correspondence and his European- in!—and that Christianity is the true contributions were rarely excelled language treatises, that he had a first- religion (the literal meaning of saty- thereafter.4 Even more unfortunate is hand acquaintance with the living aveda). Interestingly and significantly, that the interest in Christianity being traditions of Vedanta and its concrete Calmette also composed a variety of evinced by Vedantins was often con- particularities, from his contacts with prayers in Sanskrit, many of them International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 22 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 23

sidered suspect, as we see in the clash The Protestant interregnum, for- rules of Indian logic (nyaya), anyone between Carey’s colleague, Joshua tunately, was more than a period serious about getting a Christian Marshman (1768-1837) of Serampore, of shameless colonial flag-waving, perspective on Vedanta from the era who heaped polemic scorn upon the Indological ineptitude, and of the Protestant interregnum ought neo-Vedantic Hindu reformer of missiological mediocrity, and for this to slog through A Rational Refutation, Calcutta, Ram Mohun Roy (1772- we have to give thanks for India’s even though it was more important 1833), in whose landmark study of Christian intellectuals, among whom to Goreh to affirm things that were the Christian gospels, The Precepts Nilakanth-Nehemiah Goreh (1825- new for him in Christianity instead of Jesus, he failed to see how far Ram 1885), a converted brahmin of Benares of things that Christianity could Mohun had come in his apprecia- and a leading figure at mid-century, affirmin common with Vedanta. tion of Christianity and instead only exemplified some of the very best Missionaries of the time gener- harped on how far he still had to go virtues of the lesser-known consci- ally approved of his approach, and (Robertson, 1995: 39-42). entious confrontation with Vedanta there the matter stood for a good in many years to come, marking the During the Protestant interregnum, A Rational Refutation of Hindu (1860), originally Protestant Interregnum as an era of the Vedanta begins to be perceived as Philosophical Systems in Sanskrit but widely read in English open confrontation, clear boundaries, more malign and less benign, as it was and—thanks to Indian Christians earlier when Jesuits took the trouble to like Goreh—honest and forthright gain a first-hand acquaintance with it. recognition of the Vedantic “other” in Take Joseph Mullens of the London The Protestant all its concrete particularity and Missionary Society in Calcutta radi- . (Bhowanipore), whose vicious carica- interregnum, fortunately, cal otherness ture of the Vedanta in The Religious was more than The next distinct phase of serious Aspects of Hindu Philosophy (1860), Christian engagement with Vedanta, based on sloppy, second-hand research, a period of shameless the one that brings us down to the starts with the ludicrous claim (p. 246) colonial flagwaving, present, which I call the second that, “The Vedanta … declares all Catholic quest for a fundamental matter and spirit to be identical with Indological ineptitude, rapport with the Vedanta, can be Brahma.” Mullens is here mischar- characterized more briefly than the acterizing the Vedanta as a crude and missiological previous two. One reason for brevity Pantheism, an accusation that should mediocrity is that we have Timothy Tennent’s have been put to rest long ago but is recent book, Building Christianity still being echoed. translation until not many years ago. on Indian Foundations [2000] on Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (1861- Not only is the analysis badly skewed Goreh, who knew Vedanta from the 1907), an interstitial, transitional and the tone unnecessarily con- inside as a living tradition and was figure of hyphenated identity who tentious, The Religious Aspects of himself a Vedantin until he became a considered himself a . Hindu Philosophy, which was widely Christian, was of the same mind about Hindu-Catholic In Brahmabandhab, we see suggestive acclaimed at the time, is a sad example Hindu philosophy as the early theolo- continuities as well as of the “discourse of domination,” gian Tertuallian about Greek philoso- discontinuities with the first Catholic quest for a fun- to borrow a phrase from postcolo- phy: Jerusalem had no more in common damental rapport with the Vedanta, nial scholarship. I mean by this that with Benares than Athens. One for his was an identity that the early the author, who wrote the book in therefore looks in vain in A Rational Jesuits would never have dreamed the form of a dialogue between a Refutation for any hope that the imaginable except as a identity, Vedantin and an Englishman—not Vedanta can be converted or become a social not as a religious identity. a Christian even!—commits himself Christ-bearing word (Young 2002). to the colonial project, to British As a convert who had once been an To get a feel for the complexity of domination, by depicting Vedanta insider (Young 1981), Goreh under- the man, one should read Building as emblematic of everything wrong stood that Vedanta had to be dealt Christianity on Indian Foundations with India, which in this view was too with organically, as a total system, and in one hand with Julius Lipner’s mystical, too impractical, too effemi- so, since he realized that Christians biography of Brahmabandhab, oddly nate to govern itself. And, as if this and Hindus cannot conduct their subtitled (as if Brahmabandhab were were not already bad enough, Mullens’ discussions by citing their own respec- some kind of Che Guevara when Englishman, whom he casts in the tive self-authenticating sacred texts, he was really an Indian Christian role of a magistrate in the British the Veda to Christians and the Bible nationalist) The Life and Thought colonial administration, orders his to Vedantins, A Rational Refutation of a Revolutionary (1999). Between imaginary Vedantin, as the discussion relies on logic alone, syllogism after the two there is little agreement comes to a close, to hush up and listen nit-picking and mind-numbing syl- as to whether the foundations on as he dictates “an outline of the truth.” logism. But since the syllogisms were which Brahmabandhab constructed formulated according to the standard his theology were more Indian

International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 24 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 25 or European, more Vedantic or individuals who preceded us had a Thomistic. Whichever side of the On the contrary, jijnasa-like glint in their eyes and a Tennent-Lipner debate one takes up, metanoic change in their hearts and there was in Brahmabandhab a streak to rethink Hinduism, minds, there would be plenty to praise of the Catholic contemplative that we it would help to return or blame. Being at a “rethinking” do not find in earlier representatives of forum, however, shouldn’t mean—and the Catholic quest for a fundamental to an even deeper past, of course doesn’t—that we look down rapport with the Vedanta, which was one that goes . . . to the first at the past, condescendingly, from the a more text-based engagement. Olympian heights of the present. On centuries of the Greco- the contrary, to rethink Hinduism, Brahmabandhab, however, marks the it would help to return to an even gradually increasing shift away from Roman Church deeper past, one that goes beyond the engaging Vedanta on the basis of texts four centuries of Christian engage- to engaging Vedanta on the basis of ment with Vedanta dealt with thus experience. We see this shift even more symbols of Vedanta—sat (being), chit far, to the first centuries of the Greco- clearly in the post-Brahmabandhab (consciousness), and ananda (bliss). Roman Church and the engage- period in Henri Le Saux (Swami Under pre-Christian conditions, these ment of its theologians with “pagan” Abhishiktananda) of Hindu-Christian terms would have been evocative philosophy, not only because their cir- Meeting Point within the Cave of the of Brahman, but here we see them cumstances are much like India’s (and, Heart and Bede Griffiths ofVedanta being transformed into the words of a for that matter, ours in the Euro- and Christian Faith, to mention only Christ-bearing prayer: American world) but also because two of the best known figures, who Repeating that sacred formula there is much to learn from them bring us down to the second half saccidananda, the Christian gives about how our rethinking ought to of the 20th century. The change of it a new and mysterious mean- be properly catalyzed and galvanized epistemological paradigm from sacred ing, unknown to man, because theologically. And so, to rethink the text to sacred experience as the point such a knowledge is above any present, I invoke antiquity, which I of engagement between Christianity created intelligence, but was communicated … to all mankind review in the same way I reviewed the and Vedanta did not occur all at once, last four centuries—briefly—and with of course. One must not overlook in through ultimate Revelation by the Word made flesh. a debt to the Catholic scholars who this connection To Christ through the have most influenced my perspec- Vedanta, the series of studies by the There it is again!—Grace perfecting tive in this connection, the late Paul Belgian Jesuits Pierre Johanns and Nature (gratia perficit naturam). And Hacker of Münster (1970a, 1970b, Georges Dandoy, who were classic so, from this perspective, it cannot be 1971, 1980), Halbfass (1994) and Paul Thomists, or the River of Compassion said of the second Catholic quest, that J. Griffiths of Chicago (1997, 2000). of Bede Griffiths, a Christian com- it was any less opposed than the first mentary on the Bhagavad Gita, which to making Christianity and Vedanta A more thorough review than is good proof that the most recent equivalent or interchangeable. As mine would include Old and New Catholic engagement with Vedanta pregnant linguistic symbols, sat, chit, Testament references to the “nations” remains radically textual. and ananda are not being perceived or and the “gentiles,” Justin Martyr’s two treated as if they already are Christian. Apologies (155-65 a.d.), which iden- Even though the shift to which I am Nonetheless, because we are deal- tify Christ with the Logos, and the alluding becomes increasingly evident ing not only with the vocabulary of Stromata (ca. 200 a.d.) of Clement of with the appearance of generically Vedantic theoria but also with the Alexandria, in which Greek philoso- Hindu and sometimes specifically spiritual disciplines of Hindu praxis, phy is welcomed into the Church— Vedantic prayer and meditation the boundaries between pre-Christian provisionally—as a gift of God but techniques in the spiritual praxis of Vedanta and Christian Vedanta nowa- also only as an adumbration of the the Catholic contemplative move- days seem fuzzier than ever before—a gospel. Other texts and individuals, ment, the same concern for the concern that leads me to make some Origen especially, could be singled Christianizing transformation of concluding observations about how out for what they tell us about the indigenous religious elements that our rethinking ought to be properly Church’s engagement with its cultural we saw in the first Catholic quest is catalyzed and galvanized. heritage during the first few centuries, seen in the second as well. Consider, which for them always had contextual for instance, this passage from A How Should Christian specificity with respect to the concrete Benedictine Ashram (1951: 77) by Rethinking Proceed particularities of Paganism. I restrict Jules Monchanin and Henri Le my scope, however, only to texts from Saux, on the monastic community and for What Purpose? a somewhat later period in which the founded by them early in the second If my purpose in reviewing the three Greek term chrêsis (χρησισ) and the half of the twentieth century, where epochs of Christian engagement Latin term usus (and their related spiritual discipline included medita- with the Vedanta had been to adduce verbal forms) have already become tion on the best-known linguistic evidence that the many pioneering technically connotated terms signify- International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 24 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 25

ing a theological process by which are miscarried. They might perhaps So far so good, one might think, but pre-Christian symbols—linguistic have become men, if they had not Augustine takes back with one hand symbols of the kind already discussed been enclosed in the bosom of what he gives with the other by adding in connection with Vedanta and other barren wisdom alone. that the Egyptians forfeited their kinds as well—become Christianized. As the conclusion to this rambling ownership when they misused their To exemplify the technical meanings meditation, which is problematic treasures by dedicating them to the of chrêsis and usus, I take Gregory of for a number of reasons—its mixed worship of false gods. Accordingly, Nyssa’s allegorical interpretation of metaphors and its troublesome notion when pagans become Christians an event in the life of Moses—the of “extrinsic” cultures, which seems through the sacrament of Baptism, the Exodus account of his sojourn among to raise the specter of a normative gold they possess must be given back the Egyptians—and Augustine’s Christian culture—we finally get an to the Church, their lawful owner. similarly allegorical interpretation of unambiguous indication as to why One wonders, of course, how much the “Egyptian Gold” passage (spolia Moses lingers so long in Egypt: “So sympathy an American court of law Aegyptiorum) in Exodus, which that it may not seem,” says Gregory, (or, for that matter, any court of law) together contain some of the most “that he has not profited from the would have for a defense like his—the illustrative instances of how early values which those people possess.” implications of biblically-sanctioned theologians deployed the terms. For Gregory, even though the wisdom pillage and plunder are surely Of the several meditations in of Egypt cannot substitute for the Gregory’s Life of Moses (390-392 milk of the Church, its wisdom can be hat models do the a.d.), perhaps the one most pertinent utilized by the Church when Moses early theologians to this discussion would be that of returns to Israel. The conclusion Pharaoh’s daughter (Ex. 2.1-10), who seems to me emblematic of the spirit like Gregory and functions for Gregory both generi- of chrêsis in the early Greek Church. W cally as a symbol of “pagans” and Augustine, to whom we now turn, Augustine exemplify that specifically as a symbol ofEgyptian will drive it home even more pointedly catalyze and galvanize Paganism, while Moses, of course, in the Latin Church. symbolically represents Christians Augustine’s interpretation in Book what we’re doing today? and Christianity. Although Pharaoh’s II, chapters 40-41 of de doctrina troublesome to anyone serious about daughter nurtures Moses, it isn’t she Christiana (ca. 397 a.d.) of the rethinking the relevance of Christian who suckles him but the wet-nurse various “Egyptian Gold” passages of antiquity to the present situation of the who, as the story goes, is Moses’ real Exodus (3.21f., 11.2., 12.35f., etc.), Church in India (or elsewhere)—but mother (Jochebed), the Church. “This which speak of how the Israelites that’s the position Augustine takes: seems to teach us,” Gregory says, took items of precious value (gold taking the Egyptians’ gold was not a that even though we may study and silver jewelry, etc.) from the criminal act; to take it was to repossess extrinsic doctrines during the time Egyptians before the exodus began, it and put it to a better, Christian use. of our education, we should never allegorizes the relationship between And in making this point Augustine’s sever ourselves from the Church’s Christianity and Paganism in much conclusion seems to me both problem- milk which makes us gradually grow the same way as Gregory’s Life of atic and emblematic of the spirit of up. This milk is the practices and Moses (i.e., gold and other precious customs of the Church by which the usus in the early Latin Church. metals symbolize the pre-Christian soul is nourished and strengthened How, then, does invoking antiquity philosophies of the Gentile world for its setting out from here to help us rethink the present? What generically and of Egypt specifically), ascend to the height. model do the early theologians like but with a different twist. Augustine Gregory and Augustine exemplify that To return to the Exodus story, when (like Origen and others) was greatly might catalyze and galvanize what we’re Moses comes of age, Gregory tells us vexed by the matter of ownership: doing today? And how might one refor- that he feels ashamed of being taken what right (or lawful claim) to the mulate propositionally what they were for the son of a barren woman (which wisdom of Paganism did the Church saying allegorically in a way that would would indeed be cause for wonder and have? Augustine contends that the be pertinent to the task at hand, the ridicule!). This prompts the following Egyptians, who stand for other reli- seeking of India’s Christ-bearing word? comment from Gregory: gious communities generally, were not The following series of summary reflec- In fact the culture that is extrinsic to the lawful owners of the treasures in tions on the model they exemplify may the church is barren. It is always in their possession, which include “some be of help in bridging the gap between travail but never gives birth to off- most useful moral precepts.” And spring. Philosophy has indeed been antiquity and the present, allegory and besides, “concerning the worship of the in travail for a long time, but has it propositional logic. produced a fruit worthy of so many one true God some true statements are and great efforts? Are not all its found among them.” Such precepts and First, pre-Christian Paganism is richly fruits unsubstantial [wind-like] and truths, as it were, are the Egyptians’ endowed with knowledge and truth of immature? Before they attain to the “gold and silver,” which came into their precious value, which isn’t ours yet, but light of the knowledge of God, they possession providentially. International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 26 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 27 can be, which means that Christianity earlier in this presentation, then the Interaction between hasn’t been enriched yet, but can be, if chrêsis/usus model that Gregory and Rethinking Forum Participants we linger in Egypt and acquire its gold. Augustine (and other early theologians) Question: Could you please give some Second, we linger in Egypt and acquire exemplify has considerable potential for more detailed comments on what you its gold, not just any gold anywhere and catalyzing and galvanizing our rethink- mean by “Christ-bearing word”? not out of a vaguely generalized open- ing of Hinduism. And, whether you ness to pre-Christian Paganism, but call it as I do, seeking India’s Christ- Richard Fox Young: I take this phrase rather because the knowledge and truth bearing word, or reading the world in from a patristic source, the 4th century we search for has contextual specificity Christ as Paul J. Griffiths does (follow- Greek theologian Gregory Nazianzus, and concrete particularity. Third, the ing Francis X. Clooney), rethinking who was trained in the classics of his real radiance—the Christian radiance— serves one overarching purpose (as well culture. Gregory was noted in his of the knowledge and truth of precious as many other underarching purposes), society for the beauty of his language value that we find in pre-Christian that of relating all religious phenomena, and the conformity of everything he Paganism will only be revealed once including Hinduism generally and the wrote to the canon of standards for we’ve lingered in Egypt and acquired Vedanta particularly, as Griffiths says good literature. He was a litterateur its gold, which is to say, after recontex- (1997: 15), “initially and principally who wrote noted works of secular tualization and reparticularization by a in terms of their relations to Christ.”5 literature as well as being a theologian transformational process of chrêsis and Once we are clear on that, we can of the church. In his secular literature usus in the post-Pagan context of the roam freely and rove creatively through he had to refer to the Greek gods and Church. Fourth, once we’ve lingered in the Great Traditions and the Little the myths of their exploits; this was Egypt and acquired its gold, we move Traditions of India, lingering in Egypt necessarily a part of writing good lit- on, paying no heed to whether anyone and acquiring Egyptian gold, as it were, erature at that time. In a letter of his knows, even the Egyptians, that we’ve for these are fundamental metaphors (as to a disciple by the name of Nemesius, been in Egypt or recognizes that the Griffiths calls them [2000: 7], espe- he expressed a weariness with writing gold we have dedicated to the Church is cially “Egyptian Gold,” his preferred about the Greek deities and wrote: Egyptian gold, because what’s important metaphor) that “intimate, provoke, “As for me, I will sing of the things is affirming the new standard for gold, suggest, and stimulate.” Christ the light taught me well, the divine song of Christ-bearing words.” not the old—anything else would not be Metaphors help, for the reasons men- to linger but malinger and to leave the I found this very moving. It seemed tioned, but lingering sounds too passive to express to me very much what any raw nuggets of pre-Christian knowledge for the task of active rethinking, and and truth as they were, unprocessed. kind of rethinking endeavor should do gold usually doesn’t just lie in plain related to the gospel and the religious That would go against the spirit of what sight on top of the ground, waiting to the early theologians like Gregory and material at our disposal from India be picked up. Having been to Alaska that we try to use to articulate the Augustine were doing, whose model was recently and having seen, like every that of processing the knowledge and gospel and the significance of Christ. first-time visitor, the artifacts of the I use it also since I have referred to the truth of Paganism through the filters Gold Rush, the shafts tunneled into the and buffers of chrêsis and usus. Vedanta in this discussion in which mountains, the ramshackle mills that the word is the Brahman-bearing processed precious ounces of gold from word, and yet contains a great deal Rethinking Hinduism Today tons of barren rock, I feel that I can pre- It is problematic, however, that the that can also be a Christ-bearing tend to know at least a few things about rhetoric and idiom of Gregory and word, so I have tried to use it apposi- the mining industry. Most mines yield Augustine is so very redolent of tionally (the Brahman-bearing word theirs very little, many run dry, but whatever versus , of versus and the Christ-bearing word). I am ours possession repos- they produce is so fantastically desirable , which means that Christian looking for a kind of Christo-centric session that prospectors are still out there, look- antiquity needs rethinking as much language to convey the Christian faith ing for what was missed, some of them as pre-Christian antiquity, especially within the Indian context. with primitive methods like panning, in the context of India where relations others with more modern, sophisticated Question: So you are seeking to convey between Hindus and Christians have equipment. That seems to me an apt the meaning of Christ in Hindu become so alarmingly politicized and analogy for what a rethinking forum is categories? radicalized over the past few decades. all about: looking for the nuggets that But once we understand that the Richard Fox Young: I think those spiri- were missed. And the good news is, we purport of lingering in Egypt and categories are good not only for tual can linger longer in the goldfields of acquiring its gold is not that of conveying a Christ-bearing word, but ransack- India, which is precious to the Church but of an intellectually, biblically, those categories can also somehow ing worldwide, because there is still a rich and theologically warranted enrich us. That is the whole meaning searching vein of ore waiting to be extracted.6 IJFM and sifting through the treasures of of the Egyptian gold metaphor; that Paganism with the jijnasa-like glint it is something really precious for us in one’s eyes and the metanoic change to have. It may not be fully under- of heart and mind that I talked about stood and fully appreciated in all its

International Journal of Frontier Missions 19:3 Fall 2002 26 Seeking India’s Christ-Bearing Word Richard Fox Young 27 preciousness in its original context, point has been that there is this gold, Endnotes but once it is within a Christ-centered and it is gold of many kinds and you 1 For Shankara’s discussion of context then it can be appreciated and will find it in many different places, jijnasa and other qualifications necessary its real value can come out. If I did not only in Advaita. If you really for the attainment of salvific knowledge, not really bring that out sufficiently it got me going I would get away from see his commentary on the Vedanta would be a failing on my part, because Advaita entirely, because I am frankly Sutras, the Brahmsutrabhashya, 1.1.1 I really want it to be understood that not very philosophically minded (Thibaut 1890: 9-15). the perspective I am conveying is that and there are other meanings of sat 2 De Nobili’s most systematic the Indian materials at our disposal that move me much more than the remarks on Vedanta generally and are like Egyptian gold and can enrich philosophical notion of the ground of Advaita specifically are in sections us. Not just the Indian church, but being. Sat is also a power that comes 3.6.2, 4.2, and 4.4.3 of his Customs of the also the world-wide church, just as we into a person and transforms a person Indian Nation (1613), for which see the experienced as we sat here and sang for the good. That is Little Tradition annotated translation of Amaladass and the hymn Vande Sacchidananda. sat; I have just been talking about the Clooney (2000: 87-88, 95-96, 100-02). highfalutin Great Tradition, but there In the first of these sections, de Nobili Comment by Herbert Hoefer: We have is much more besides. writes, “Vedanta theologians explain just our way, our philosophical tradition, about all the divine attributes, stressing our intellectual pattern for defin- Question: Who has the right to be mining in the Vedantic tradition? Are their absolute character. For instance, ing how we have come to know God they show that God is a self-subsistent we right to be sitting here in the USA in Christ. But there are many other Being, that he is eternal, immaterial, discussing this? Is this something the philosophical traditions besides ours that by his nature he is God, that he Indian church has a right to talk about? which are rooted in Greek philosophy, exists everywhere and that he is the Is this something better left to those and where there are these other tradi- cause of every being.” from Hindu families who are in Christ? tions there need to be other theologies 3 For the full Sanskrit and developed. The other philosophical Richard Fox Young:I think we have English text of Calmette’s Satyave- traditions demand of us an affirma- to be very careful about the idiom dasarasamgraha and the breviary prayers, tion of the validity of developing other that the early theologians used. It see Amaladass and Young (1995: 105-46 definitions of the way to know God is really a difficult idiom to employ, and 147-95). Instances of saccidananda and Christ. so the question does arise as to our are found in the morning prayers (174) Richard Fox Young: I am with you predisposition. This cannot be a kind and the prayers for the sacrament of entirely; I don’t think that the of ransacking, like knocking on the marriage (182). Western Magisterium needs transla- doors of the houses of the Egyptians 4 Thanks to Dr. Daniel Jeyaraj, the tion into the languages of India. It is and taking their gold and silver and Mackay Visiting Professor of World of no concern to me that we redupli- other things. Who does this? I think Christianity at Princeton Theologi- cate with Indian terminology what that I would want to try to avoid any cal Seminary, I realize that Ziegenbalg we have done in the West. I do think kind of dichotomizing language; that was more aware of Vedanta and more there has to be a dialogue, there has it is an Indian task and not a non- impressed by it than I had thought to to be a sense that what India does Indian task. I would rather think that be the case. In his encyclopedic work theologically with its own linguistic it is something we can do together; of 1711, Malabarisches Heidenthum (on and cultural and religious heritage is that this is a religious heritage that South Indian Hinduism), he refers meaningful in relation to what the any can empathetically study and seek to Vedanta and Vedantins as follows: West has done. But we are not look- to understand. “Where can you find such correct ing simply for some sort of evidence expressions of god in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans? When I that India can do this. It can, obvi- was reading such things in their books ously, and it can do even more in its for the first time, I was indeed persuaded own way with its own language and to think that these authors must have heritage, and that too can enrich us. been Christians, because they not only The Greek heritage that we have is reject the worship of multiple deities and one that emphasizes reason and logic. concentrate on the worship of the one The biblical Hebrew way is much and only God, they also discard all other more act oriented; what God has done heathenish things as foolishness.” and not so much what God is in the 5 The fuller context from which philosophical sense. India has a way I have extracted these few words from that is very much like the Greek way, Griffiths, is worth noting idem( ): “All but India also has ways that are rather phenomena, human and nonhuman, like the Hebrew way, but that is not so must be readable in Christ, for Christ well known to me so is harder to get is the axis of the cosmos and the means into. But you are very right that India through which all meaning is given. needs this freedom to be itself. My

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This is at least part of what it means to should respect, absorb, and transform, Goreh, Nehemiah have a properly Trinitarian theology. the better to fully appreciate aspects of 1862 A Rational Refutation of the Reading the world in Christ, then, is Christian self-understanding that west- Hindu Philosophical Systems that part of the Christian account that ern theologies often neglect, the need for (Calcutta: Bishop’s College Press). construes all phenomena initially and recontextualization and reparticulariza- Griffiths, Bede principally in terms of their relations to tion seems to me imperative. In fact, 1973 Vedanta and Christian Faith (Los Christ.” without really knowing it, The Depth of 6 Angeles: Dawn Horse Press). For just a hint of some of the most the Riches does do precisely that. 1987 River of Compassion: A Christian interesting theological rethinking of Commentary on the Bhagavad Hinduism (among other religions) being Bibliography Gita (Warwick, NY: Amity done today, see The Depth of the Riches House). Abhishiktananda (Swami) of S. Mark Heim, whose perspective on Griffiths, Paul J. 1969 Hindu-Christian Meeting Point Advaita is suggested by the following 1997 The Properly Christian within the Cave of the Heart passage (2001: 229): “If one seeks to Response to Religious Plurality. (Bombay: Institute of Indian Anglican Theological Review 79: look to the very bottom of every finite Culture; Bangalore: Christian 3-26. being, past everything apparently tran- Institute for the Study of 2000 Seeking Egyptian Gold: A sient and particular, and to find where Religion and Society). Fundamental Metaphor for the its true source of being lies, one can truly 1974 Saccidananda: A Christian Christian Intellectual Life in a discover just one divine life beneath it Approach to Advaitic Experience Religiously Diverse Age. The (Delhi: ISPCK). all, one divine process of immanence. Cresset: A Review of Literature, Indeed, if God is known in this way Amaladass, Anand and Clooney, Francis Arts, and Public Affairs (Trinity alone, the result is identification. Pre- X. (eds. and trans.) issue): 6-17. cisely in looking past bodies, personali- 2000 Preaching Wisdom to the Wise: Hacker, Paul ties, and individuality, one arrives at a Three Treatises by Roberto de 1970a The Religions of the Gentiles point of contact with the source of our Nobili, S.J., Missionary and as Viewed by Fathers of being. … Thus, I as a Christian do not Scholar in 17th Century India the Church. Zeitschrift für (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit deny that a Hindu may actually realize Missionswissenschaft und Sources). identity with the divine, with absolute Religionswissenschaft 54: 253-78. Amaladass, Anand and Young, Richard Fox Brahman. I regard this as in fact identity 1970b The Religions of the 1995 The Indian Christiad: A Concise with the underlying immanence of the Nations in the Light of Anthology of Didactic and Holy Scripture. Zeitschrift triune God.” While there is much in Devotional Literature in Early für Missionswissenschaft und this passage that would not seem off the Church Sanskrit (Anand, Gujarat: Religionswissenschaft 54: 161-85. mark to theologians of the second quest Gujarat Sahitya Prakash). 1971 The Christian Attitude for a fundamental rapport with Vedanta Clooney, Francis X. toward Non-Christian (with which I, too, broadly identify), 1990a Reading the World in Religions. Zeitschrift für what makes Heim’s approach different, Christ: from Comparison to Missionswissenschaft und challenging, and problematic is that he Inclusivism. In Gavin d’Costa Religionswissenschaft 55: 81-97. is an advocate of absorbing the insights (ed.), Christian Uniqueness 1980 Theological Foundations of of Advaita (such as the one discussed Reconsidered: The Myth of a Evangelization (St. Augustine: in this passage) into Christian theology Pluralistic Theology of Religions n. pub.). (Maryknoll: Orbis). Pp. 63-80. as they are. To understand why Heim Halbfass, Wilhelm (ed.) 1990b Roberto de Nobili, Adaptation, insists on retaining the concrete par- 1994 Philology and Confrontation: and the Reasonable Paul Hacker on Traditional and ticularities of Advaita (as well as those Interpretation of Religion. Modern Vedanta (Albany: State of other religions) in the structure of the Missiology 18:25-36. University of New York Press). Trinitarian theology he envisions, one 1993 Theology after Vedanta: An Heim, S. Mark must first appreciate the position he took Experiment in Comparative 1995 Salvations: Truth and Difference up in an earlier work, Salvations: Truth Theology (Albany: State in Religion (Maryknoll: Orbis). and Difference in Religions, which rightly University of New York Press). 2001 The Depth of the Riches: A and persuasively argued, with specifiable 1999 Roberto de Nobili’s Dialogue on Trinitarian Theology of Religious contextuality, that different religions Eternal Life and an Early Jesuit Ends (Grand Rapids: William Evaluation of Religion in South seek different salvations. Hence, Heim’s B. Eerdmans). India. In John W. O’Malley et Johanns, P. and Dandoy, G. concern for keeping that emphasis in The al. (eds.), The Jesuits: Cultures, 1944 Depth of the Riches. However, to retain Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773 A Synopsis of To Christ through the concrete particularities of Advaita as (Toronto: University of Toronto the Vedanta, Pt. 1, Shankara they are, as if they could remain as they Press). Pp. 402-17. (Ranchi: Catholic Press). are in any other context than the one to De Smet, Richard Lipner, Julius J. which they organically belong, seems 1976 Robert de Nobili and Vedanta. 1999 Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: to me neither possible nor desirable. Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological The Life and Thought of a Revolutionary (Delhi: Oxford While Advaita’s insight into the ground Reflection (September): 363- University Press). of being is an insight that Christians 371.

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Marshman, Joshua Brahmabandhav Upadhyay Frykenberg (eds.), Christians, 1822 A Defense of the Deity and (Delhi: ISPCK). Cultural Interactions, and India’s Atonement of Jesus Christ in Reply Thibaut, George (trans.) Religious Traditions (Grand to Ram-Mohun Roy (London: 1890 The Vedanta Sutras of Rapids: William B. Eerdmans; Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allan) Badarayana, with the London: RoutledgeCurzon). Monchanin, J., and Le Saux, Henri Commentary of Shankara. Sacred Pp. 37-60. 1964 A Benedictine Ashram (Douglas, Books of the East, vol. 34, pt. Isle of Man: Times Press). 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Mullens, Joseph. Press). 1860 The Religious Aspects of Hindu Varughese, Vazhayil Philosophy Stated and Discussed 2002 Religion, Renaissance and (London: Smith, Elder and Protest: Caste Identity in Co.). Kerala, 1870-1940. Unpub. Robertson, Bruce Carlisle Ph. D. dissertation, Princeton 1995 Raja Rammohan Ray: The Theological Seminary Founder of Modern India (Delhi: (Princeton, New Jersey). Oxford University Press). Young, Richard Fox Roy, Ram Mohun 1981 Resistant Hinduism: Sanskrit 1820 The Precepts of Jesus, The Guide Sources on Anti-Christian to Peace and Happiness; Extracted Apologetics in Early Nineteenth- from the Books of the New Century India (Vienna: Testament, Ascribed to the Four Indological Institute of the Evangelists (Calcutta: Baptist University of Vienna). Mission Press). 2002 Some Hindu Perspectives Tennent, Timothy C. on Christian Missionaries in the Indic World of the Mid 2000 Building Christianity on Indian Nineteenth Century. In Judith Foundations: The Legacy of M. Brown and Robert E.

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