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Swami Abhishiktananda and Comparative Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 March 2013
Abstract
Swami Abhishiktananda (Fr. Henri Le Saux, 1910–1973) was a French Benedictine who wrote a pioneering work in Hindu-Christian dialogue entitled Saccidānanda: A Christian Approach to Advaitic Experience. Therein he attempted an inclusivist integration of the theologies of Advaita Vedanta and Roman Catholicism. He later rejected aspects of Saccidānanda and argued that Advaita and Christianity are too different to be integrated in this manner. In place of Saccidānanda, Abhishiktananda developed two positions at the end of the 1960s which anticipated current Roman Catholic debates over the theology of religions. One was an experiential inclusivism which bears affinities with the pluralist position of Paul Knitter and others. The other was a “comparativist” position, similar to the one later developed by Francis Clooney and James Fredericks. This paper will examine how Abhishiktananda developed these various approaches to Hindu-Christian dialogue and the tensions between them.
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References
1 This paper is dedicated to the memory of Judson B. Trapnell (1954–2003). His scholarly work on Bede Griffiths has done much to advance Hindu-Christian studies. He was also a source of support to this author.
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It was undoubtedly the mental and spiritual strain of the synthetic task, spread out over so many years, which led Abhishiktananda to these conclusions. The intuition which was worked out in Sagesse [Saccidānanda] came to me towards 1960; but the further I went, the more impossible it became to bear the strain of maintaining this insight (nothing physical or psychological, but rather like a ‘count-down’ of an extreme tension)” (ibid., Abhishiktananda to Odette Baumer-Despeigne, 23 December 1970, p. 271).
30 Abhishiktananda, letter, 2 September 1972, in Dupuis, Jacques, Jesus Christ at the Encounter of World Religions, trans. Barr, Robert R. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991), 75.Google Scholar “The best course is still, I think, to hold on even under extreme tension to these two forms of a unique ‘faith’ until the dawn appears” (Abhishiktananda to Odette Baumer-Despeigne, 5 December 1970, in Stuart, 268). See also [James Stuart], J.D.M.S., editors note to Saccidānanda, rev. ed., by Abhishiktananda, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1984), viiiGoogle Scholar; Dupuis, , Jesus Christ, 81–82.Google Scholar
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36 “Rien, dans l'évolution religieuse présente de l'humanité, n'autorise à penser que cette convergence de tout vers l'Eglise, et, réciproquement, cette totale catholicisation de l'Eglise puissent se réaliser un jour, du moins dans un avenir tant soit peu prévisible” (Saux, Le, Intériorité et Révélation, 200Google Scholar). “Not only is it necessary to grant the actual existence of religious pluralism here and now, but it is also impossible to foresee a time in the historical future when Christianity might become for mankind as a whole even the predominantlet alone the onlyway of realizing their transcendent vocation (Abhishiktananda, , Saccidānanda, rev. ed., xiGoogle Scholar). See also ibid., xii–xv.
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39 It was Michael F. Stoeber who suggested that Abhishiktananda's position is best described by this term. For other examples of such approaches see Stoeber, Michael F., Theo-Monistic Mysticism: A Hindu-Christian Comparison (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), 40–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Minore, R. N., “The Response of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother,” in Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism, ed. Coward, Harold G. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), 90–92.Google Scholar
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43 Maharshi, Ramana, The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words, ed. Osborne, Arthur, 2d ed. (London: Rider, 1965), 12.Google Scholar
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45 “La religion chrétienne est seulement une manifestation spatio-temporelle—même si privilégiée—du mystère humano-divin, theandrique … Ce mystère théandrique avait déjà été approché dans d'autres aires culturelles et religieuses sous la forme de l'Eveillé (buddha), du Prophète, … de Nārāyana, de Nārāyani, … d'Ishvara (Saux, Le, Intériorité et Révélation, 268Google Scholar). See also ibid., 201–02, 271–73. See also Abhishiktananda, diary entry, 3 July 1970, Ascent, 314–15; ibid., 9 July 1970, p. 315; ibid., 2 July 1971, p. 330; ibid., 24 July 1971, p. 331–32; ibid., 12 December 1971, p. 334; ibid., 24 April 1972, pp. 343–47; ibid., 25 October 1972, p. 360; ibid., 27 December 1972, p. 364.
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52 “The Christian does not understand us [Advaitins] when we refuse to consider Christ as the Only Incarnation. It is because we know that what is created can nowhere and in no single being comprehendere [grasp, understand] God. It is not to defend our position that we refuse to accept the uniqueness of a deva-mārga [way of the gods]; it follows from one of the deepest demands of our philosophical and religious thought.
How can we believe in the absoluteness of a dogmatic formula? of a rite? hence, of a Church? Could God then be shut up in what is created? We too believe in Christ as a Son of God. But how could Christ exhaust God?” (Abhishiktananda, diary entry, 8 March 1953, Ascent, 62). (Here Abhishiktananda is speaking as an Advaitin. “[Grasp, understand]” and “[way of the gods]” are the editor's interpolations. “[Advaitins]” is mine.) See also ibid., 7 January 1954, p. 88; ibid., 9 January 1954, p. 89.
53 Abhishiktananda, , diary entry, 11 September 1973, Ascent, 385–87.Google Scholar This experience bears close resemblance to one reported by Ramana Maharshi. See Osborne, Arthur, Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge (London: Rider, 1954), 18–19.Google Scholar
54 See Stuart, 344–62.
56 Abhishiktananda to Marc Chaduc, 16 January 1973, in Stuart, 318. See also ibid., Abhishiktananda to Térèse de Jésus, 16 January 1973, p. 317; ibid., Abhishiktananda to Marc Chaduc, 21 January 1973, pp. 318–19; Abhishiktananda, , diary entry, 11 January 1969, Ascent, 305Google Scholar; ibid., 15 January 1971, p. 326; ibid., 2 July 1971, pp. 328–29; ibid., 24 July 1971, pp. 331–32; ibid., 14 December 1971, p. 334; ibid., 24 April 1972, p. 346–47; ibid., 3 August 1972, p. 359; ibid., 23 September 1972, p. 360; ibid., 25 December 1972, pp. 363–64; ibid., 2 January 1973, p. 367; ibid., 17 February 1973, pp. 372–73; ibid., 28 April 1973, p. 379; ibid., 30 April 1973, pp. 379–80; ibid., 11 May 1973, p. 381.
57 See, for instance, Donald Nicholl, Foreword to Stuart, , Swāmi Abhishiktānanda, ix–x.Google Scholar Trapnell also offers a sympathetic analysis. Trapnell, Judson B., Two Models of Christian Dialogue with Hinduism. III: Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda,” Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection 60 (1996): 249–54.Google Scholar
58 Dupuis, , Jesus Christ, 85.Google Scholar (Although Dupuis expresses this reservation, he believes that Abhishiktananda found a solid balance in the end. See ibid. 85–86.) For Bede Griffiths' view see Trapnell, , “Two Models of Christian Dialogue,” 244–45.Google Scholar
59 Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Roberts, Alexander and Donaldson, James, eds., in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, vol. 1, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenæus [New York: Scribner's, 1926]), 6.36.1.Google Scholar (Interpolations are the translator's.)
60 Abhishiktananda was aware of the relativistic attitudes which his theory of religion might generate and attempted to protect against it. For instance, although religious structures are not relevant to the final awakening, he believed that they have their place: “The man who is awake marvels at the dream; in it he grasps the symbolism of the mystery. He knows that every detail has its significance” (Abhishiktananda to Marc Chaduc, 30 January 1973, in Stuart, 320). See also ibid., Abhishiktananda to Odette Baumer-Despeigne, 1 October 1968, p. 231; ibid., Abhishiktananda to J. Lemarié, 12 September 1970, p. 263; ibid., Abhishiktananda to Marc Chaduc, 20/21 October 1973, p. 356; Abhishiktananda, , diary entry, 18 November 1970, Ascent, pp. 322–23Google Scholar; ibid., 28 May 1972, p. 351.
61 Glenn Friesen develops a position parallel to mine: “Abhishiktānanda‥‥ initially tried to interpret the advaitic experience in Christian terms. But he ended by accepting the authenticity of the experience and trying instead to reconcile and to interpret his previous Christian beliefs in relation to that experience (Friesen, J. Glenn, Abhishiktānanda, : Hindu Advaitic Experience and Christian Beliefs, Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 11 [1998]: 36).Google Scholar
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65 Samartha, Stanley J., “The Cross and the Rainbow: Christ in a Multireligious Culture,” in The Myth of Christian Uniqueness, ed. Hick, and Knitter, , pp. 75–76.Google Scholar (Sanskrit terms which appear in the text were dropped in this quotation.)
66 Clooney, Francis X., “Reading the World in Christ: From Comparison to Inclusivism,” in Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, ed. D'Costa, Gavin (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990), 78.Google Scholar “I am not impressed by this kind of claim for the diminishment of religious and theological language and reason in the face of Mystery, in part because I am not sure what is left to theology as an activity (distinct from contemplation)” (ibid, 77). See also Fredericks, , Faith among Faiths, 113–16.Google Scholar
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68 [Marc Chaduc] Foreword to The Further Shore: Two Essays by Abhishiktananda, : “Sannyasa” and “The Upanishads–An Introduction” (Delhi: ISPCK, 1975)Google Scholar, by Abhishiktananda, ix. See also Panikkar, Raimundo, “Letter to Abhishiktananda on Eastern-Western Monasticism,” Studies in Formative Spirituality 3/3 (1982): 447–48.Google Scholar
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70 Duffy, Stephen J., A Theology of the Religions and/or A Comparative Theology?, Horizons 26/1 (1999): 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Clooney and Knitter both present responses similar to Duffys. Clooney, , Theology after Vedānta, 195Google Scholar; Knitter, Paul F., “Review Symposium: Paul F. Knitter's Introducing Theology of Religions,” Horizons 30/1 (2003): 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Fredericks addresses the need for a coherent approach to other religions by discussing Jesus' commandment to love (“Faith among Faiths,” 173–77).
71 Though critical of theology of religions as a whole, Clooney, argues that inclusivist models offer, at present, the most balanced approach (Theology after Vedānta, 194–95).Google Scholar