A Hindu Vision of Grace for a Western Christian Community Mark E. Hanshaw Abstract: The author compares the thought of the eleventh-century Hindu theologian Rāmānuja to the eighteenth-century Protestant theologian John Wesley, in particular in terms of how the two teachers examined the concept of grace. For Rāmānuja, the author shows, “Grace represented the entry of God into the life of the individual.” Wesley wrote similarly that “grace is a prerequisite for the establishment of a relationship with God.” Both men believed that grace is bestowed as a gift on people everywhere. Each was a voice for important developments in religion, Rāmānuja for the practice of bhakti, or salvation through devotion, and Wesley for Methodism. This article appeared in Religion East & West, Issue 8, October 2008.
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he doctrine of divine grace serves as a fundamental concept that undergirds Christian theological understandings. Consideration of this concept is central to the thinking of the eighteenth-century Anglican priest John Wesley, who founded the Methodist movement. For Wesley, the vitality of the faith itself hinged on the doctrine of grace. His thinking can perhaps be illuminated by a consideration of the insights offered by the Indian philosopher Rāmānuja, who 700 years earlier also wrestled with the concept of grace and its role in the interplay between humankind and the divine. The question of the extent to which Rāmānuja’s understandings of divine grace may serve as enlightenment for Christians, and in particular for Wesleyans, stands in the shadow of a larger question. To what extent, we may ask, may one’s own beliefs be illuminated by an investigation of the texts, doctrinal statements, and other writings of religious cultures markedly different from one’s own?
Issue 10, October 2010
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