ABSTRACT

This book focuses on dual belonging within Hindu-Christian contexts. Written by experts in a variety of fields, the chapters explore the theological, philosophical, and cultural anthropological debates relating to religious pluralism, religious language, and social identity while addressing the fact that both Hindu and Christian forms of self-understandings have been significantly moulded through their interactions in South Asia and across certain Euro-American horizons. The limits of the definition of dual belonging are tested via case studies, and contributors address the question of whether there is anything distinctive about dual belonging across Christianity and Hinduism specifically.

A timely contribution to the emerging subject of dual religious belonging, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Hindu studies and Christian theology, Hindu-Christian comparative theology, religious pluralism, interreligious relations, the sociology and anthropology of religion, and comparative theology and philosophy.

chapter 1|15 pages

Introduction

Both, between, or beyond? An introduction to Hindu-Christian dual belonging

chapter 2|17 pages

Negotiating dual belonging

A study of the sociocultural history of the St. Thomas Christians of India1

chapter 4|18 pages

The possibility of Hindu-Christian dual belonging

Anthropological reflections on a theological debate

chapter 6|18 pages

Where we start, who we are, and what we seek

The born versus the convert “dual belonger”1

chapter 8|18 pages

Non-dual conversion and non-dual belonging

Trajectories of religious transformation in missionary Advaita Vedānta

chapter 9|17 pages

Hindu, Christian, Hindu-Christian, and beyond

Exploring the relations between identity and spirituality

chapter 10|18 pages

The struggle of belonging

Considering some on-the-ground realities of multiple religious orientation1

chapter 11|18 pages

Inculturation, belonging, and defining “religion”

Some reflections on Sara Grant and the Christa Prema Seva Ashram1

chapter 12|18 pages

Christian Sannyāsa

Dual belonging or a bridge too far?