from Part V - In dialogue with other religions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2011
This chapter shares the recognition presupposed in this volume of the Trinity's place at the core of Christian reflection on a very wide range of topics of theological and spiritual import. It is no surprise that Christians consider world religions, in general and also in their particular forms, in light of the reality and theology of Trinity, and we can expect that trinitarian theology will inform how we construct Christian theology, even in its interreligious form. What is true in general remains pertinent in particular cases, among which Hindu traditions (henceforth “Hinduism”) are a particularly interesting case. Given the specific nature of the Hindu–Christian relationship – long and varied, surprising in its instances of common ground, yet far less foundational or developed than Christian relations with Judaism and Islam – reflection on the Trinity in relation to Hinduism enables us to see the possibilities and drawbacks of using a trinitarian hermeneutic in encounter with a tradition so interestingly like yet unlike the Christian. In this brief chapter, I explore some older Christian uses of trinitarian imagery in understanding and judging Hinduism, Hindu reactions to and appropriations of the Trinity, the contemporary use of trinitarian theology with particular reference to Hinduism, and the larger problem of the reality and theology of Trinity in Hinduism. Given the breadth of possibilities, I limit my reflections to topics that highlight the trinitarian dimension, thus forgoing topics such as creation, incarnation, and inspiration that in other contexts would naturally be considered from a trinitarian perspective.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.