{"title":"A Most Uncommon Task: Arvind Sharma and the Construction of Hindu Missiology","authors":"Reid B. Locklin","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09370-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this essay, I offer a critical, appreciative assessment of Arvind Sharma’s vision of missionary Hinduism, as developed in his 2011 monograph <i>Hinduism as a Missionary Religion</i> and related works in ethics, comparative method, and philosophy of religion. As a historian, Sharma has been criticized for his selective focus and his tendency to de-emphasize the diversity and mutual rivalries of Hindu traditions, especially in the classical and medieval periods. As a self-consciously constructive, even confessional thinker, however, he also develops a coherent theology of mission, grounded in his own distinctive form of universalist Advaita Vedānta. In this sense, I argue, Sharma might be regarded as a founding figure in the emergence of missiology as a vital category of contemporary Hindu thought, as well as a rich new field for interreligious exchange.</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09370-9","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this essay, I offer a critical, appreciative assessment of Arvind Sharma’s vision of missionary Hinduism, as developed in his 2011 monograph Hinduism as a Missionary Religion and related works in ethics, comparative method, and philosophy of religion. As a historian, Sharma has been criticized for his selective focus and his tendency to de-emphasize the diversity and mutual rivalries of Hindu traditions, especially in the classical and medieval periods. As a self-consciously constructive, even confessional thinker, however, he also develops a coherent theology of mission, grounded in his own distinctive form of universalist Advaita Vedānta. In this sense, I argue, Sharma might be regarded as a founding figure in the emergence of missiology as a vital category of contemporary Hindu thought, as well as a rich new field for interreligious exchange.
在这篇文章中，我对阿尔温德-夏尔马在 2011 年出版的专著《作为传教宗教的印度教》（Hinduism as a Missionary Religion）以及伦理学、比较方法和宗教哲学方面的相关著作中提出的印度教传教观点进行了批判性和赞赏性的评估。作为历史学家，夏尔马因其选择性的关注点和倾向于不强调印度教传统的多样性和相互竞争而受到批评，尤其是在古典和中世纪时期。然而，作为一位自觉具有建设性，甚至是忏悔性的思想家，他也发展了一套连贯的使命神学，其基础是他自己独特形式的普世主义阿婆达吠陀（Advaita Vedānta）。我认为，从这个意义上讲，夏尔马可以被视为当代印度教思想中重要的传教神学的奠基人，同时也是宗教间交流的一个丰富的新领域。
期刊介绍：
Founded in 1997, the International Journal of Hindu Studies is committed to publishing excellent scholarship on well-established topics in Hindu Studies, to fostering new work in neglected areas, and to stimulating alternative perspectives as well as exchange of information on a wide range of issues. The Journal supports critical inquiry, hermeneutical interpretive proposals, and historical investigation into all aspects of Hindu traditions. While committed to publishing articles that will advance scholarship in any discipline relevant to Hindu Studies, the Journal is especially interested in areas of research that have cross-disciplinary relevance or new implications for this emerging field of scholarly interest. Submissions of a comparative or theoretical nature in every discipline in the humanities and social sciences will receive serious and respectful consideration. Each submission to the Journal will receive double-blind review.
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