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Contact: [email protected] HINDU-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE AND THE BLURRED BOUNDARIES OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY by Laura Michelle Coles Thesis submitted to Canterbury Christ Church University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy [2013] Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking and acknowledging those places and institutions which helped to inform my research. I am deeply grateful to Saccidananda ashram for their hospitality in December 2010, and for accommodating me as a person interested in the academic as well as the spiritual aspects of the āśrama. I am also indebted to Jill Hemmings for organising the trip there. Secondly, I would like to thank the Graduate School of Canterbury Christ Church University for helping to fund this trip to India, as well as providing me with a three year, full- time scholarship in order to pursue a PhD. Thirdly, I am much obliged to Heythrop College, London for granting me a Visiting Research Studentship there in May 2010 for the summer term. This was incredibly beneficial for writing my chapter on Robert de Nobili. My thanks also go to Dr. Martin Ganeri for being my temporary supervisor whilst I was visiting the college, and to my own Theology and Religious Studies department for part-funding this venture. Fourthly, I am also thankful for the wonderful resource that is the British Library in London, where I have spent many happy hours reading and thinking. Many thanks are due to my own department in general, for they have supported me throughout my undergraduate and doctoral studies, offering encouragement and guidance along the way. The passion that the lecturers in our department have for Theology and Religious Studies has always inspired me, and I hope that my passion for my subject might come across as strongly as theirs does. Particular thanks must go to Dr Brian Capper and Dr Robert Beckford for being on my ‘supervisory panel’, offering helpful insights and critical reflections so as to help me really develop my own research. I am also grateful to Revd Dr Jeremy Law and Dr Paul Hedges for their insightful comments and critiques; I hope that the thesis is now stronger and more coherent, and I am thankful that they read my work so thoroughly so as to really make me think. But most of all thanks are due to Dr David Burton, who has been the most fantastic PhD supervisor I could have asked for. His constant support, encouragement, keen interest and complete confidence in my ability to write this thesis, meant that I could keep doing my research even when I felt like walking away from it (which, at times, was a genuine possibility). Canterbury Christ Church University as a whole has become my home over the seven or so years that I have now been here, and the people in it have become a big part of my life. The chapel community have been such a fantastic network of support and friendship, and I would like to thank Revd Dave Stroud especially for his pastoral care and countless tea breaks! To two of my fellow PhD students in the department, Richard May and Megory Anderson, I am extremely thankful for, and glad of, the friendships we have; to Richard especially, for the willingness and passion to talk about theology and faith ‘til the cows come home! ii Last but by no means least, I want to say thank you formally to my immediate family for supporting me and always taking an interest in my PhD. Finally, to Chris, whom I met at Canterbury Christ Church University: I thank you, and God, from the bottom of my heart for the love, friendship and shared passion in theology and faith that we have. I could not have done this PhD without you. Notes First, a note on sources: Regarding the Sanskrit terminology used in this thesis, the transliterated spellings have been checked predominantly against W.J.Johnson’s A Dictionary of Hinduism [2009]. All primary sources not originally written in English have been consulted in translation; their very existence in translation is something I am truly grateful for, as it has made these writings accessible to me. Secondly, a note on spellings: there are various ways to spell particular names, e.g. Brahmabandhab Upadhyay has a couple of variations. I have tried to be consistent by using one spelling of each name only. Thirdly, regarding the use of photographs: I am grateful to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London for their kind permission to use a photograph from their database, of the Cōḻa period sculpture Śiva Naṭarāja. The photographs of Saccidananda ashram are used with thanks for accommodating me as a PhD student. These photographs have greatly enhanced the content of chapter eight. iii Abstract Abhishiktananda described himself as a “Hindu-Christian monk”, and spent much of his life blurring the religious boundaries between being Hindu and being Christian. There are many others like him who have claimed or been assigned religious identities which might seem paradoxical. In contemporary theological speak, they can be seen as having a ‘double religious identity’; that is, they are believed to be engaging with both simultaneously. Indeed a ‘theology of double religious identity’ tends to attribute this to cultural norms, family ties, syncretism or even a consumerist approach, and has explored it mostly through Buddhist-Christian examples. Whilst a few references have been made to ‘Hindu-Christian identity’, this thesis has chosen to widen the demographic and draw on a set of case studies solely located within the interfaith sphere of Hindu-Christian dialogue (These include Robert de Nobili, Abhishiktananda and Brahmabandhab Upadhyay). By exploring it outside of the Buddhist-Christian paradigm, this thesis hopes to aid a better theological understanding of double religious identity, by examining both how and why such identities occur. The shift into Hindu-Christian dialogue uncovers further reasons as to why double religious identity might arise, which includes aesthetics, politics, theology and inculturation. Inculturation is a means of mission and dialogue which involves suitably adapting another religious culture to ground the Church in a different context. This use of religious symbolism has led, at times, to perceptions of its practitioners as both Hindu and Christian. Indeed, this thesis concludes that perception plays a large role in the designation and understanding of people’s double religious identities. It hopes that this research will aid further interest in the interactions between religious identities, particularly within Hindu-Christian dialogue. By taking a broader approach to what constitutes and influences a person’s religious identity, such identities as ‘Hindu-Christian’ can be better understood. iv CONTENTS PAGE Introduction............................................................................................................................1-32 Issues of Methodology………………………………………………………..................7 Early Case Studies…………………………………………………………………….............18 Indigenous Case Studies……………………………………………………………...............19 Post-colonial rule Case Studies………………………………………………………...........19 Contemporary Case Studies...........................................................................................20 Context and Methodology Chapter 1: Religious Identity and Hindu-Christian Dialogue…………………………........33-53 Literature Review………………………………………………………………...................33 Hindu-Christian double religious identity.....................................................................39 Singular and Non singular Religious Identities…………………………….............42 Double Religious Identity– spiritually and theologically speaking………..............44 Inculturation and double/multiple religious identities……………………..............45 Double Religious Identities: Vocation, choice, lifestyle or underhand conversion? ..................................................,.....................................................................................47 Closing Remarks………………………………………………………………...........52 Chapter 2: The ambiguous nature of Hinduism and Christianity…………………….........54-76 Post-colonialism and defining the ‘religion’ of Hinduism…………………….......55 Hindu and Christian Attitudes to Other Faiths……………………………...........59 Critical Approaches.......................................................................................................61 Hinduism – The ‘Pluralistic’ Religion………………………………………………..........62 Is Christianity always exclusive in its attitudes towards other faiths?.........................66 Moving forward from Christian Exclusivism, Inclusivism and Pluralism……............70 Sub-Typologies………………………………………………………………………..71 Concluding Remarks…………………………………………………………………………..74