"The tension between the two historical realities, Hinduism as an ancient Indian religion and Christianity as a religion associated with foreign power and colonialism, continues to animate Hindu-Christian relations today. On the one hand, The Routledge Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations describes
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a rich history of amicable, productive, even sometimes syncretic Hindu-Christian encounters. On the other, this handbook equally attends to historical and contemporary moments of tension, conflict, and violence between Hindus and Christians. Comprising thirty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, this handbook is divided into seven parts: theoretical and methodological considerations; historical interactions, contemporary exchanges; sites of bodily and material interactions; significant figures; comparative theologies; responses. The handbook explores: how the study of Hindu–Christian relations has been and ought to be done, the history of Hindu–Christian relations through key interactions, ethnographic reflections on current dynamics of Hindu–Christian exchange, important key thinkers, and topics in comparative theology, ultimately providing a framework for further debates in the area." (Publisher description)
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"This article discusses greeting messages as a genre of interreligious communication. Greeting messages are defined as official communication issued by religious institutions and addressed to the members of another religious community on the occasion of specific feast days or anniversaries. Drawing
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on the insights of politolinguistic analysis, this article treats these messages primarily as a form of public diplomacy. The case study analyses the messages issued on the occasion of the Hindu festival Diwali/Deepavali by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and World Council of Churches between 2015 and 2017. Distributed through the social media and posted on the institutional websites, the Diwali messages seek to speak as a Christian voice to all Hindus. Beyond the official addressee, the messages also potentially face the scrutiny of the global public sphere, especially an internal Christian readership. This article analyses what language strategies are used to deal with these varied demands." (Abstract)
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"Die Studie diskutiert das Friedenspotential nicht-abrahamitischer Religionen am Beispiel des Buddhismus und Hinduismus und das konkrete Friedensengagement jeweiliger Akteure. Dabei werden die Entstehung und Aktivitäten zentraler friedensstiftender Personen, Organisationen und Netzwerke des Buddhis
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mus und Hinduismus in einzelnen asiatischen Ländern geschildert. Ergänzt wird die ausführliche Darstellung durch einzelne kritische Fallbeispiele. Zusammenfassend lässt sich festhalten, dass in beiden Religionen das holistische und im eigenen Inneren beginnende friedensstiftende Engagement der Akteure meist auf eigenen Kriegs- und Leidenserfahrungen beruht und auch immer soziales, politisches und ökologisches Engagement miteinschließt. Eine zentrale Rolle der friedensstiftenden Aktivitäten spielen Friedensmärsche und groß angelegte Kampagnen. Im Vergleich zum Buddhismus gibt es sehr viel weniger friedensstiftende Initiativen, die sich auf hinduistisch-religiöse Quellen beziehen. Die meisten religiösen Friedensakteure, nicht nur in Indien, sondern religionsübergreifend in ganz Asien, berufen sich auf das Vorbild Mahatma Gandhis. Ein großes Potential für zukünftige Zusammenarbeit mit Friedensakteuren in Asien liegt in der zentralen Rolle religiös motivierter Frauen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"This book explores historical and cultural aspects of modern and contemporary Bengal through the performance-centred study of a particular repertoire: the songs of the saint-composer Bhaba Pagla (1902-1984), who is particularly revered among Baul and Fakir singers. The author shows how songs, if ex
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amined as 'sacred scriptures', represent multi-dimensional texts for the study of South Asian religions. Revealing how previous studies about Bauls mirror the history of folkloristics in Bengal, this book presents sacred songs as a precious symbolic capital for a marginalized community of dislocated and unorthodox Hindus, who consider the practice of singing in itself an integral part of the path towards self-realization." (Publisher description)
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