SN Balagangadhara

SN Balagangadhara ( Kannada ಎಸ್ ಏನ್ ಬಾಲಗಂಗಾಧರ ; born January 3, 1952 in Bangalore , India ) is Professor in Indology at the University of Ghent , Director of the India Platform and the research center "Vergelijkende Cutuurwetenschap".

He studied in Bangalore and at the University of Ghent. Balagangadhara published a number of books on Indology . He was co-chair of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) from 2004 to 2007 . On October 1, 2013, the University of Pardubice (Czech Republic) awarded him an honorary doctorate honoris causa and a gold medal for his research.

One of his most discussed works is "The Heathen in his Blindness ..." , published in 1994 : Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion " (roughly German: " The Heathen in his blindness ... ": Asia, the West and The Dynamics of Religion ) In 2010 a translation of the book, which was originally written in English, was also published in Kannada .

research

Since the 1980s, SN Balagangadhara developed the Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (Comparative Cultural Studies) research program to examine cultural differences. On the one hand, he examines Western culture and its intellectual thinking as well as the resulting representations of other cultures. Balagangadhara places a special emphasis on the western representations of India. On the other hand, he tries to translate the knowledge embodied by Indian traditions into the terminology of the 21st century.

For some time now, there has been an increasing number of voices in religious studies that speak out against the further use of Western concepts such as ›religion‹ or ›Hinduism‹ in relation to the Indian context. The philosopher SN Balagangadhara is a good example of this (alongside, for example, King Timothy Fitzgerald ).

In the first published work he, The Heathen in his Blindness ... (1994) (The heathen in his blindness) is Balagangadhara preoccupied with religion, culture and cultural differences. His work is highly controversial in reception. In particular, his thesis that Hinduism is not a religion are discussed in the research debate.

Balagangadhara defines religion as "an explicable and understandable representation of the cosmos and itself" (1994, 394: "an explanatorily intelligible account of the Cosmos"). He sees Hinduism as an imaginary structure (1994, 116: "an imaginary entity") that was created by European schools. The study of religions in the Indian context is still too strongly influenced by Christian assumptions. In addition, according to Balagangadhara, Indian traditions and thus Hinduism cannot be a religion because they do not have the same elements as the Semitic religions. The Indian traditions must not be seen as religions, but must be described as world views (1994, 398: "Indian traditions could not possibly be religions"). Balagangadhara therefore speaks out against transferring the concept of religion to South Asian traditions. For Balagangadhara all Semitic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) have characteristics that make them a religion: beliefs ("creeds"), belief in God ("beliefs in God"), holy writings ("scriptures") and sacred buildings ( "Churches"). All three are prototypical instances of religion because each of the individual traditions has described itself as a tradition. In the further course, however, he only reduces Christianity as a prototypical religion (to avoid problems relating to Judaism and Islam); Christianity understands its definition as one.

Hinduism, however, cannot be called a religion, because it does not have the properties that, according to Balagangadhara, are characteristic of a religion. However, these characteristics can be found in other traditions (the Semitic religions). He also explains his argument on the basis of three premises:

o Christianity is prototypical in terms of religion

o Hinduism does not have the relevant characteristics of Christianity

o So: Hinduism is not a religion.

Balagangadhara sees another striking difference in the configuration of learning (1994, 314: configuration of learning). In Asia - and thus also in India - there are ritual and performative traditions, but not religious ones. The configuration of learning is therefore more practical in the Asian region, e.g. B. oriented towards the practice of certain spiritual actions, whereas in Europe the practice of tradition is theoretical and therefore less performative.

criticism

Some statements of Balagangadhara have been discussed controversially in religious studies circles. It is generally stated that Balagangadhara remains imprecise as regards the precise definition of Hinduism, but also as regards the explanation of what it means by the Indian context. The descriptions are more general than specific. However, this inaccuracy is a distinctive feature of Balagangadhara that makes it difficult to attack for many critics. His overly narrow definition of religion, which is too influenced by Christianity, is also criticized. One could also think that Balagangadhara is too much caught up in his interpretation of European thought patterns, from which he actually wants to distance himself in his argumentation.

Philip Almond sees the difficulty in Balagangadhara's concept of religion that the religion, which is essentially prototypically Christian (and thus also prototypically religious), represents a manifestation of Christianity and thus the impression of an enlightening deist Christianity could arise.

Works

• Balagangadhara, SN (1994). "The Heathen in his Blindness ..." Asia, the West, and the Dynamic of Religion . Leiden, New York: EJ Brill. p. 563. ISBN 90-04-09943-3 . | (Second, revised edition, New Delhi, Manohar, 2005, ISBN 81-7304-608-5 )
• Balagangadhara, SN (2012). Reconceptualizing India Studies . New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-808296-5 . | [1]
• Balagangadhara, SN; Jhingran, Divya (2014). Do All Road Lead to Jerusalem ?: The Making of Indian Religions . New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 978-93-5098-061-3 . | [2]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sudha Anantharaman: In search of new idioms. The hindu, December 9, 2007, accessed June 19, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Dunkin Jalki: Decolonising the social sciences. The Hindu, November 27, 2012, accessed June 19, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Smruti, Vismruti: Bharatiya Samskruti. January 2, 2017, accessed May 23, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Sushuma Kannan: Meaningful encounter. The Hindu, December 31, 2010, accessed May 23, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Balagangadhara, SN: "The Heathen in his Blindness ..." Asia, the West, and the Dynamic of Religion . Leiden, New York 1994, ISBN 90-04-09943-3 .
6. ^ Sweetman, Will: "Hinduism" and the History of "Religion": Protestant Presuppositions in the Critique of the Concept of Hinduism . In: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion . tape 15 , 2003, p. 329-353 .