Abstract
A retrospective look at "How We Do Hindu-Christian Studies" can be had by going through the issues of our journal from 1988 to the present. In the first issue of the journal the approach was described as follows: "Materials selected for publication will be balanced between historical research and contemporary practice, and, where possible, should employ analytical and theoretical analysis set within the context of our shared human experience." The issue contained two articles illustrating this approach: an overview of Hindu-Christian dialogue in India in the 1970s and 1980s by Anand Amaladass, and an assessment of the various approaches to dialogue in the modern West by Klaus Klostermaier. While Amaladass finds the focus in India in the 1980s to be on church organizations and their theology of dialogue (with some Christians linking dialogue with proselytisation), Klostermaier sees dialogue is the West occurring at the academic level in Religious Studies courses where he feels there is a greater openness and honesty "where formerly dissimulation and hypocrisy were the rule." In each tradition, says Klostermaier, our study requires scholars who are willing "to fight hard against prejudice and pretense, against petrified tradition and vested religious interest" if the Hindu-Christian dialogue is to be open and honest.
Recommended Citation
Coward, Harold
(2008)
"A Retrospective of Hindu-Christian Studies: Establishment of the Journal and Formation of the Society,"
Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies:
Vol. 21, Article 5.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1404