Hindu Avatāra and Christian Kenosis: A New Approach in Comparative Theology1

Abstract

Within comparative theology, the Hindu doctrine of avatāra has traditionally been compared to the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, both of which are expressions of divine embodiment in creaturely form. This article, however, contrasts the doctrine of avatāra with a reading of the incarnation that frames the latter within the broader context of kenoticism developed primarily in modern Christian theology. I argue that this approach (a) alleviates some of the difficulties encountered by the traditional comparison of avatāra with the incarnation and (b) highlights some noteworthy but easily missed dimensions present in the doctrines of both faith traditions. This is established through a comparison of two stories of young Kṛṣṇa and their display of divine play, līlā, with Hans Urs von Balthasar's kenotic reading of both the intratrinitarian relations and the metaphysical structure of finite beings. In this way, the article, on the one hand, alleviates the discrepancies about the number of divine descents and the link between these and the world's creation and metaphysical constitution, and, on the other hand, highlights how the Hindu notion of līlā and Christian kenotic readings intend to express the dialectic of divine sovereignty and accessibility in a philosophically and theologically responsible way.