Religious Conversion: Indian Disputes and Their European Origins (Critical Humanities Across Cultures)

Description

This book re-examines the issue of religious conversion, which has been a site of conflict in India for several centuries. It discusses wide-ranging themes such as conversion, education, and reform in colonial India; the process and practices of conversion in Christian Europe; Gandhi, conversion, and the equality of religions; perspectives from Hindu nationalism, secularism, and religious minorities; religious freedom and the limits of propagating religion; and conversion in constitutional law, commissions, and courts, to chart new directions for research on religion, tradition, and conversion. Tracing developments from the 19th-century colonial era to contemporary times, the book analyses cultural background frameworks and the origins of religious conversion and its conceptualisation in Western Christianity. It further delves into how Indian culture and its traditions have shaped responses to conversion. Part of the Critical Humanities Across Cultures series, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of critical humanities, religion, cultural studies, sociology of religion, comparative religion, philosophy, anthropology, theology, Indology, history, politics, postcolonial studies, critical theory, and South Asian studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction: The Issue of Conversion in India Religious Conversion: Where Is the Quarrel? Two Clusters of Concerns Attitudes towards Conversion Confusion about Conversion Assuming Knowledge Conclusion Notes Chapter 2: Conversion, Education, and Reform in Colonial India Challenging Interactions Divine Origin vs. Human Invention Virtue vs. Vice From Falsity to Truth Puzzling Rejoinders Alien Debates Reviling Another Religion Non-Interference A Plausible Defence Education, Reform, and Conversion Learning to Reason about Religion The Route of Education A Colonial Education Scientific Tempers Caste and Conversion Concluding Reflections Notes Chapter 3: The Process of Conversio in Christian Europe The Process of Conversio Monasticism and Conversion Contours of Conversion Spiritual Change and Seeing Sin God and His Word Faith, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Conscience Spiritual Freedom Conversion, Not of This World The Deceit of Popes, Priests, and Monks Human Additions Idolatry Clergy and Laity Conclusion Notes Chapter 4: Gandhi, Conversion, and the Equality of Religions Making Sense of Gandhi Tradition vs. Conversion Religion and Transformation The Question of Truth A Heuristic Tool Gandhi’s Conversion? Conclusion Notes Chapter 5: Religious Freedom and the Limits of Propagation Religious Conversion in the Constituent Assembly Conversion as a Fundamental Right? The Problem of Propagation Patterns in the Conflict A First Approximation A Second Approximation Blindness on Both Sides A Culture Constituted by Tradition Tradition, Propagation, and Conversion Dead-Ends Propagation Revisited Incomprehension Revisited Conflict Revisited Coda Notes Index