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Offers a new, interreligious approach to questions of mission and conversion, grounded in a close study of the Chinmaya Mission, Ramakrishna Mission and other movements associated with the Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedānta.
For some four hundred years, Hindus and Christians have been engaged in a public controversy about conversion and missionary proselytization, especially in India and the Hindu diaspora. Hindu Mission, Christian Mission reframes this controversy by shifting attention from "conversion" to a wider, interreligious study of "mission" as a category of thought and practice. Comparative theologian Reid B. Locklin traces the emergence of the nondualist Hindu teaching of Advaita Vedānta as a missionary tradition, from the eighth century to the present day, and draws this tradition into dialogue with contemporary proposals in Christian missiology. As a descriptive study of the Chinmaya Mission, the Ramakrishna Mission, and other leading Advaita mission movements, Hindu Mission, Christian Mission contributes to a growing body of scholarship on transnational Hinduism. As a speculative work of Christian comparative theology, it develops key themes from this engagement for a new, interreligious theology of mission and conversion for the twenty-first century and beyond.
"Locklin's work is an important contribution to our deeper understanding of contemporary Hindu non-dual movements, their universal claims, and their transnational dissemination methods … Locklin helps strengthen Hindu-Christian relationships and opens both traditions to new opportunities for dialogue and for mutual learning and enrichment." —Toronto Journal of Theology
"Hindu Mission, Christian Mission offers a wealth of information and historical detail on modern missionary Advaita that can only be provided by someone who has spent many years studying the movements both in India and in the West, patiently observing, reflecting and analyzing the data. It is the work of a mature scholar who has taken the time to digest the material and bring it together in an elegantly written and masterfully documented book." — Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies
"This brilliant work of scholarship succeeds very well in creating a firm foundation for further much-needed work in the area of comparative missiology as yet another field of comparative theology." — Theological Studies
"This book takes on a deeply contentious topic between Hindus and Christians—the phenomena of missionary activity and conversion—and addresses it with profound sensitivity and impressive scholarship. Locklin clearly shows that the conversion debate involves far more complexity and nuance than is typically manifested in its popular iterations (both Hindu and Christian), and both religious communities will be better off if they engage with the work that he has done here." — Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College
"For people seeking to understand comparative Hindu and Christian missionary theology, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I can see it being particularly useful for courses in comparative religion, comparative theology, and world religions." — Varun Khanna, Swarthmore College
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Beyond the Conversion Controversy
Part I: Constructing Missionary Advaita
1. Toward a Comparative Theology of Mission
2. A History of Missionary Advaita in Late Modernity
3. Paradigms and Styles of Advaita Mission
Part II: Fruits of Encounter
4. A Gospel of Inner Experience? Transcending Limits of Language and Culture
5. Conquest of the Quarters? Crossing Borders and Charting New Geographies
6. All Selves, and Whole Selves? Striving for Social and Political Liberation
7. From Lower to Higher Truth? Rethinking Conversion
Conclusion: The Still More Common Task
Notes
Works Cited
Index