Sharada Sugirtharajah

The notion of the “manly Englishman” and the “effeminate Bengali” was a recurring theme in nineteenth-century colonial discourse, and has now become the subject of extensive scholarly discussion in various academic disciplines. Both the colonizer and the colonized produced varied, com plex and ambivalent images of each other and their religious traditions. This paper looks at how the colonized reacted to the colonizers’ versions of Hinduism, focusing particularly on how Swami Vivekananda, a nineteenth century Bengali Hindu saṃnyāsi, responded to colonial and missionary representations of Hinduism as an effeminate religion. In doing so, the paper draws attention to how Vivekananda drew on resources from within and outside the tradition, in order to forge a distinctive style of Hinduism— “a man-making religion”—a robust kind of Vedantic spirituality that combined both physical and spiritual manliness

This chapter focuses on two eminent thinkers whose perspectives on religious pluralism have attracted much attention: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975), a prominent Indian philosopher, statesman and cultural ambassador to the West, interpreting Indian philosophy and religion to a Western audience, and John Hick (1922–2012), a world-renowned British theologian and philosopher of religion, known for his contentious views on Christian beliefs and philosophy of religious pluralism. The chapter draws attention to some significant convergences and divergences in their perspectives on the Real and the relation between the knowable and the unknowable Real in their writings.

The volume represents a global response to Hick's philosophy of religious pluralism. Setting out the historical and theological background against which Hick’s religious pluralism emerged, it examines some of the contentious issues that resurface in the pluralism debate, ranging from his concept of divine ineffability to Kant to the noumenal Real to the ethical-soteriological criterion, and the reception of his version of religious pluralism both within and outside the Western hemisphere. It widens the discourse by bringing Hick’s pluralistic hypothesis into a critical and constructive cultural and interreligious engagement with Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Daoist, Hindu, Jain, as well as Japanese, Korean, and African perspectives. The volume demonstrates how Hick’s pluralistic hypothesis is globally widespread, yet locally rooted and interconnected. Whether one welcomes or critiques Hick’s pluralism, one cannot but be deeply touched by his own journey to a pluralistic vision which continues to be relevant in a world torn apart by various kinds of absolutisms.

This volume contains fresh scholarly contributions to mark the birth centenary of John Hick, the internationally well-known philosopher of religion, whose works continue to have significant global relevance in today’s religiously diverse and conflict-ridden world. His writings have reset the parameters of religious pluralism. Up till now, Hick’s religious pluralism has been mainly seen in relation to the Western context where Christianity is the predominant religion. This volume includes both Western and non-Western engagement with his thinking in contexts such as Japan, China, Korea, Nigeria, and India, where Christianity is a minority religion with little political power. Its distinctiveness lies in widening the debate on religious pluralism by bringing Hick’s pluralistic hypothesis into a constructive cross-cultural and interreligious conversation with scholars of Hinduism, Jainism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and African traditional religions. In doing so, this collection examines how Hick’s philosophy of religious pluralism has been received, appropriated and appraised by these scholars. It has been appreciated and critiqued in equal measure, and continues to impact on current thinking on religious pluralism. This volume makes a significant contribution to the debate initiated by Hick.