The Society

Statement of Purpose

The Society for Hindu-Christian Studies was founded in November, 1994 as a logical extension to the dialogue and scholarship being carried on in the Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin (now the Journal of Hindu Christian Studies), which first appeared in 1988 under its founding editor, Dr. Harold Coward.

The society is dedicated to the study of Hinduism and Christianity and their interrelationships. It seeks to create a forum for the presentation of historical research and studies of contemporary practice, for the fostering of dialogue and interreligious conversation, carried forward in a spirit of openness, respect and true inquiry.

Committed to scholarly interchange according to accepted traditional and contemporary methods, the society understands its scope broadly, so as to include issues related to religious practice, spirituality, education; it is interested in supporting activities related to the comparative study of Hinduism and Christianity. Our membership includes Christians interested in the study of Hinduism, Hindus interested in the study of Christianity, and scholars--Hindu, Christian, and other--interested in the historical and contemporary interactions of Hinduism and Christianity.

The words "Hindu" and "Christian" in our name indicate the general scope of our society, but their use is not intended to overlook the diversity within the several traditions, nor to reduce them to simplistic essences, nor to posit them as two exactly parallel traditions conformed to a single standard of religion. Essential to the work of the society will be the effort to unpack the terms "Christian" and "Hindu" productively.

We are aware our scholarship does not take place in a vacuum. There is a long history to the interactions between Christians and Hindus, and centuries of good and fruitful encounters must be balanced against a series of unfortunate factors as well, including colonialism, orientalist misreadings, clumsy missionary efforts, tendencies to relativize the faith of others and reduce it to a version of one's own. Influential features of today's situation--such as immigration, growing global economic and cultural interdependence, the simultaneous events of secularization and religious revival, shifting styles in the academic study of religion--mark the context in which the work of the society occurs. We initial years of the society have included forthright and frank conversations in which important issues have been brought forward and discussed.

Officers of the Society

Corinne Dempsey, President
Dept of Religious Studies
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Stevens Point Wisconsin, WI 54481-3897

Reid Locklin, Vice-President
Christianity and Culture
St. Michael's College
University of Toronto
81 St. Mary Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1J4

Chad Bauman, Secretary
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Butler University
Indianapolis, IN 46208 U.S.A.

Bradley J. Malkovsky, Treasurer and Editor, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies
232 Malloy Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556, U.S.A.

Michael Amaladoss, S.J., Co-Editor, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies
Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions
Loyola College
Nungambakkam
Chennai 600 034, India

Deepak Sarma, Past-President
Department of Religion
Case Western Reserve University
11201 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7112 U.S.A.

Board of Directors

Swasti Bhattacharyya Buena Vista University	Harold Coward University of Victoria
Ravi M. Gupta The College of William & Mary	Eliza Kent Colgate University
Michael McLaughlin St. Leo University	Anne Monius Harvard University
Brian Pennington Maryville College	Tracy Tiemeier Loyola Marymount University

Society Bylaws