Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on Hindu–Christian relations. It reflects the diversity of scholarly work in the field of what in North America has come to be called Hindu–Christian Studies. In addition to consideration of caste, race, and ethnicity, the book demonstrates that any proper consideration of Hindu–Christian relations must attend as well to gender. It focuses on some of the Hindu individuals and communities that resisted the tendency of Christians in the colonial era to create hierarchies subordinating Hindu people, cultures, and religious ideas to their European and Christian counterparts. The book explores that many Hindus conceive of religion as something tied intimately to ethnicity and see potential for spiritual progress in all religious traditions. It conceptualizes Hindu–Christian relations through a religious studies lens privileges Western and Christian ways of knowing.