Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Critiques Of Christianity From Savarkar To Malhotra, Chad Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Featured in this chapter are a number of prominent Indian critics of evangelism and conversion to Christianity over roughly the last one hundred years. After briefly covering early twentieth-century figures like Savarkar, Hedgewar, and Golwalkar, the chapter focuses primarily on postcolonial leaders of the last few decades, especially Mohandas Gandhi (who survived just barely into the “postcolonial” era), Ram Swarup, Sita Ram Goel, Arun Shourie, Ashok Chowgule, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and Radha Rajan. Finally, at the end, to demonstrate the multinational scope of these polemics, I briefly discuss the views of the Hindu American Foundation and Rajiv Malhotra. It is …

Does God Have A Body? Rāmānuja’S Challenge To The Christian Tradition, Jon Paul Sydnor

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

The Christian tradition’s core theological assertion is the embodiment of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet, even while asserting God’s incarnation in space and time, the tradition has usually denied embodiment unto the Godhead itself. Theologians have based this denial on Jewish iconoclasm, Greek idealism, and inferences from God’s omnipresence, transcendence, and infinity. This speculative essay will argue that Hindu Śrīvaiṣṇava theologian Rāmānuja successfully addresses these concerns. He argues for the embodiment of an omnipresent, transcendent, and infinite personal God. Rāmānuja largely derives his arguments from the Hindu scriptures. Nevertheless, their rational explication and internal coherence render divine …

Slow Scholarship: Do Bloggers Rush In Where Jesus’ Wife Would Fear To Tread?, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

Faith And Foreign Policy In India: Legal Ambiguity, Selective Xenophobia, And Anti-Minority Violence, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

As a secular democracy, India’s constitution enshrines relatively robust safeguards for religious equality and freedom. Article 25 provides all citizens the right to “freely profess, practice, and propagate” religion, and avoids assigning to Hinduism any special role or explicit privilege (in contradistinction to the situation with Buddhism in Sri Lanka, for example). Moreover, the Indian government itself has not generally engaged in any systematic or flagrant way in the direct persecution or oppression of its religious minorities.

However, India’s religious minorities do face certain challenges. Among them are several legal and judicial issues. Judicial rulings in independent India have weakened …

"Introduction" To Theology And Science Fiction, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

What is the difference between a god and a powerful alien? Can an android have a soul, or be considered a person with rights? Can we imagine biblical stories being retold in the distant future on planets far from Earth? Whether your interest is in Christianity in the future, or the Jedi in the present--and whether your interest in the Jedi is focused on real-world adherents or the fictional religion depicted on the silver screen--this book will help you explore the intersection between theology and science fiction across a range of authors and stories, topics and questions.

Throughout this volume, …

How Jesus Became God: One Scholar’S View, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Dr. James McGrath's brief analysis of early Christology. Originally presented as a seminar paper at the University of Michigan, March 19, 2015.

Introduction, Chad Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

An Introduction to the edited volume, Constructing Indian Christianities.

Hindu-Christian Conflict In India: Globalization, Conversion, And The Coterminal Castes And Tribes, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

While Hindu-Muslim violence in India has received a great deal of scholarly attention, Hindu-Christian violence has not. This article seeks to contribute to the analysis of Hindu-Christian violence, and to elucidate the curious alliance, in that violence, of largely upper-caste, anti-minority Hindu nationalists with lower-status groups, by analyzing both with reference to the varied processes of globalization. The article begins with a short review of the history of anti-Christian rhetoric in India, and then discusses and critiques a number of inadequately unicausal explanations of communal violence before arguing, with reference to the work of Mark Taylor, that only theories linking …

Review Of "The Church Event: Call And Challenge Of A Church Protestant", Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of "The Church Event: Call and Challenge of a Church Protestant" by Vitor Westhelle.

Review Of "Take My Hand: A Theological Memoir", Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of "Take My Hand: A Theological Memoir" by Andrew Taylor-Troutman.

Review Of "What’S Wrong With Sin? Sin In Individual And Social Perspective From Schleiermacher To Theologies Of Liberation", Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of "What’s Wrong with Sin? Sin in Individual and Social Perspective from Schleiermacher to Theologies of Liberation" by Derek R. Nelson.

Latvian Folk Dance: Sustaining Cultural Heritage In The Context Of Christianity And Communism, Emilija Karina Grinvalds

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In times of chaos and violence, brutality and oppression, one would not think of the arts as a guiding light for maintaining cultural identity and establishing peace and independence. However, the small country of Latvia serves as a prime example of how the arts, specifically folk dance, helped to maintain Latvian culture through centuries of oppression and war. As Swedish and German missionaries sought to spread Christianity throughout the pagan tribes in the 11th century, dance helped to sustain the cultural and religious beliefs of the ancient Latvians. Folk dance created a sense of unity within their communities, and the …

Christianity And Hinduism: An Annotated Bibliography, Chad M. Bauman, Arun Jones, Brian Pennington, Joseph Prabhakar Dayam, Michelie Voss Roberts

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract available

Review Of "An Introduction To Christian Theology", Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of "An Introduction to Christian Theology" by Richard J. Plantinga, Thomas R. Thompson, and Matthew D. Lundberg.

Review Of "Thinking With The Church: Essays In Historical Theology", Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of "Thinking with the Church: Essays in Historical Theology" by B. A. Gerrish.

Review Of Missionaries And Their Medicine, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A review of Missionaries And Their Medicine: A Christian Modernity for Tribal India, by David Hardiman, Manchester University Press, 2008.

The Desert Of The Real: Christianity, Buddhism & Baudrillard In The Matrix Films And Popular Culture, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The movie The Matrix and its sequels draw explicitly on imagery from a number of sources, including in particular Buddhism, Christianity, and the writings of Jean Baudrillard. A perspective is offered on the perennial philosophical question ‘What is real?’, using language and symbols drawn from three seemingly incompatible world views. In doing so, these movies provide us with an insight into the way popular culture makes eclectic use of various streams of thought to fashion a new reality that is not unrelated to, and yet is nonetheless distinct from, its religious and philosophical undercurrents and underpinnings.

Geschichte Und Historie: The Problem Of Faith And History, Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Faith at the Intersection of History and Experience is the first study in English of the theology of the German Lutheran theologian, Georg Wobbermin (1869–1943), who has been called a “captain of the liberal rearguard.” Widely read and discussed in his own lifetime, Wobbermin’s theology fell into obscurity as dialectical theology rose to prominence in the years following the First World War.

Hege presents the major themes of Wobbermin’s theology, particularly his analysis of the relationship between faith and history and his development of a religio-psychological theological method that places faith at the intersection of history and experience. Wobbermin’s critiques …

Review: Bourgeois Hinduism, Or The Faith Of The Modern Vedantists: Rare Discourses From Early Colonial Bengal, Chad Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article reviews the book "Bourgeois Hinduism, or The Faith of the Modern Vedantists: Rare Discourses from Early Colonial Bengal," by Brian Hatcher.

Redeeming Indian ‘Christian’ Womanhood?: Missionaries, Dalits, And Agency In Colonial India, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This study of dalit Christians in colonial North India suggests that women who converted to Christianity in the region often experienced a contraction of the range of their activities. Bauman analyzes this counterintuitive result of missionary work and then draws on the work of Saba Mahmood and others to interrogate the predilection of feminist historians for agents, rabble-rousers, and gender troublemakers. The article concludes not only that this predilection represents a mild form of egocentrism but also that it prevents historians from adequately analyzing the complexity of factors that motivate and influence human behavior.

Postcolonial Anxiety And Anti-Conversion Sentiment In The Report Of The Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Conversion to Christianity is one of the most politically charged issues in contemporary India and has recently been very much in the news.1 For example, in 2006, on the fiftieth anniversary of B. R. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism2 hundreds of dalits gathered to convert, some to Buddhism and others to Christianity, rejecting Hinduism, a religion they claim oppresses and demeans them. In attacks on Christians in Orissa at the end of 2007 (and associated reprisals), dozens of churches, homes, and businesses were destroyed, hundreds of people were injured, and thousands were displaced.

Review: Converting Women: Gender And Protestant Christianity In Colonial South India, Chad Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article reviews the book "Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India," by Eliza Kent.

Singing Of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, Dalit Religious Identity, And Satnami-Christian Music In Chhattisgarh, India, Chad M. Bauman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This paper explores the Indianization of Christianity in late colonial Chhattisgarh, India, with special reference to a Salnami-Christian catechist and composer, Blind Simon Patros.

Two Powers’ And Early Jewish And Christian Monotheism, James F. Mcgrath, Jerry Truex

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Our understanding of early Judaism and its relationship to Christianity has been significantly advanced by Alan Segal’s formative work on the two powers heresy. This work demonstrated that belief in two heavenly powers was considered an intolerable heresy by the rabbis and that Christians were among those indicted. Furthermore, Segal argued that the two powers debate could be traced back to the first century, as evidenced by certain christological passages of the NT4 and by Philo's writings.

The Africanization Of Roman Catholic And Presbyterian Churches In Krobo-Odumase, Ghana, Lori Elizabeth Godich

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The following pages include a combination of scholarly research and fieldwork pertaining to the Africanization of Christianity, specifically the relationship between Christianity and culture in the Ghanaian village of Krobo-Odumase. Chapter One outlines a brief history of Christianity in Africa, followed by Chapters Two and Three which contain more detailed histories of the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian Churches in Ghana. Special attention is given to Zimmermann Presbyterian Church and Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Krobo-Odurnase, where most ofthe study's fieldwork was conducted. Chapters Four -Eight examine five critical issues facing churches in Krobo-Odumase and throughout the African continent as …

A Rebellious Son? Hugo Odeberg And The Interpretation Of John 5.18, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A solution to the difficult question of how to interpret John 5.18 appeared to have been provided with the publication of Hugo Odeberg's monumental work, The Fourth Gospel, published in 1929. Odeberg cited a rabbinic expression which characterized a rebellious son as one who 'makes himself equal with his father, and thus suggested that 'the Jews' are here making a similar accusation: they regard Jesus as rebelling against the divine authority. Subsequent scholarship for a long time cited Odeberg as a definitive demonstration of the background and meaning of John 5.18, and thus of the entire passage.

Review Of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. The History Of Judaism, The Background Of Christianity, The Lost Library Of Qumran", James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

James McGrath's review of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, The Lost Library of Qumran"

A Study Of Numinous Experience, Dama C. Cofield

Graduate Thesis Collection

For the past ten years I have worked in the area of Christian education in an ecumenical context. This has afforded me the privilege of participating in many communities of faith as well as the challenge of ministry and leadership in diverse situations. These responsibilities, involving me in the lives and personalities of fellow human beings and the necessity of personal growth to meet the demands of my own life's situations have forced me to examine repeatedly the premises of my own faith and its relevance to life.

Problems And Progress In The Development Of Girls' Education In India, Rozaline Jean Cleaveland

Graduate Thesis Collection

In a country where only 2.53 per cent of the female population is literate, the importance of education for girls cannot be overestimated. India, being freed from British Rule in 1947, is now an independent self-governing nation. In its draft constitution it has accepted the democratic way of life. Democracy postulates an equality of opportunity for every individual to develop his abilities to the fullest extent and to be able to play his proper role in society. Therefore, in Indian today women have equal opportunity with men guaranteed by the constitution; and, in order to exercise this libety with an …

Indiana Migrants: An Open Door For The Church, William Jesse Briggs Jr.

Graduate Thesis Collection

A study of migrant workers in Indiana and their relationship with various Christian churches and programs throughout the state.