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Building Christianity on Indian foundations: the theological legacy of Brahmabāndhav Upādhyāy (1861-1907)

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TennentTC_1998redux.pdf (65.46Mb)
Date
1998
Author
Tennent, Timothy C.
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Abstract
 
 
Brahmabandhav Upadhyay, a pioneer of Indian Christian theology, was born Bhavani Charan Baneijea into a Bengali Brahmin family in 1861. In 1887, he was formally initiated into the Brahmo Samaj where, until 1890, he was actively involved in promoting reforms within Hinduism. However, he became increasingly attracted to the uniqueness of Christ and on 26 February 1891, he received Christian baptism and on 1 September formally united with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1894, he declared himself a sannyasin and thereafter was known as Brahmabandhav Upadhyay. Upadhyay's conversion to Christianity marks the beginning of a series of journalistic efforts in which he sought to demonstrate how Christian theology, particularly neo-Thomistic thought, was compatible with indigenous thought forms present in India. This thesis is an analysis of the theology of Upadhyay drawn from his writings from 1893 until his untimely death in 1907. These writings are primarily found in several journals he founded, including the Sophia, The Twentieth Century and, Sandhya.
 
This research focuses on three main areas in which Upadhyay's theology seeks to interact with indigenous Indian religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions. First, there is an analysis of how Upadhyay sought to build Christian theology on the foundation of human reason and his belief in universal, primitive theism. In his writings from 1894 until 1897, he sought to construct Christian theology on the foundation of the earliest Indian Scriptures, the Vedas. However, after January 1898, he recognized that the Vedas provided an insufficient philosophical foundation and he increasingly sought to demonstrate the compatibility between neo-Thomism and, what he regarded as the highest expression of Hindu philosophy, advaita Vedantism, as expressed by the 8th century philosophical theologian, Sarikara. His development of Sarikara's thought occurs primarily over the next five years in several important and definable stages, each designed to demonstrate how the key concepts in Sarikara's thought could be used "as stepping stones to the Catholic faith." Upadhyay recognized that Sarikara's theology need not be re-interpreted or re-directed, but only properly understood to be an adequate statement of many important themes in Christianity. Thus, Upadhyay's use of Sarikara became the second major foundation upon which he sought to construct Christian theology in India. The third and final area in which Upadhyay constructs an indigenous theology, was on the foundation of Indian culture which he viewed as an extension of his ongoing commitment to Sarikara's advaitism. By 1902, Upadhyay had re-defined Hinduism as primarily a cultural, not theological, phenomenon, which enabled him to embrace various iconic figures in India, such as Krishna, as cultural symbols which are in no fundamental conflict with the Christian faith. Upadhyay was convinced that once Hinduism was accepted as an expression of Indian culture, then an indigeneous Christianity might then be able to be planted in Indian soil which was not unnecessarily united with European cultural forms. Upadhyay insisted, both in his writings as a 'Hindu-Catholic,' as well as in his life as a sannyasi, then he could live and behave as a Hindu, but believe as a Catholic.
 
After a thorough examination of his theological writings, the thesis concludes by arguing that Upadhyay has left a lasting theological legacy which continues to provide fresh insights relevant to the ongoing process of the emergence of indigenous expressions of Christianity in India.
 
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30823
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