ABSTRACT
The efforts to form a new identity of Indian Christians through ashrams have failed. The monastic communities of Christian sannyasins have not come into existence. The inculturated liturgy has not spread outside the ashram setting and continues taking place exclusively in an experimental environment. The tendency toward religious and spiritual elitism has always been present in ashrams. However, the Christian Ashram Movement offers a number of other interpretive perspectives, which complete its image, dynamism and limitations in terms of temporal scope. The concept of an interfaith dialogue originated in the environment of religiously liberalized, plural and to a large extent also post-Christian Europe. It brought to the fore the interests and needs of autonomous individuals, including the freedom of their religious preferences. The issues related to interfaith dialogue and its content, structure, possible extent and meaning are also associated with the approach of religious studies and thus also philosophy toward interpreting the Christian Ashram Movement.
