A Christian Dialogical Theology: The Contribution of Swami Abhishiktananda

This book in its original form is the thesis submitted to the Senate of Serampore College towards the D.Th degree with the title: "An Examination of Swami Abhishiktananda's Dialogical Theology": now published, with written permission with the title: "A Christian Dialogical Theology The Contribution of Swami Abhishiktananda.

The Book is both a person-oriented and a problem- oriented research. It focuses on the unique personality of Swami Abhishiktananda and on the unique contribution he has made to the problem of Inter-Faith relationships in terms of Inter-Faith dialogue. Meeting between the Sanathana Dharma (classical Hindu Faith, Advaita in particular) and Christianity as a Faith and not as a religion is taken as a case in point, the meeting point between the two being "the cave of the heart" as Swamiji would love to put it.

Swamiji, undoubtedly, succeeded in combining in himself the two great traditions of the East and the West the Hindu Dharma and the Christian Faith to the point of interiorizing both in his person. Swamiji was a Sannyasi to the core - a Benedictine monk and an Indian Sannyasi at one and the same time. A synthesis of these two forms of spirituality was essential to the fulfillment of his vision and vocation, and this he accomplished by being a "ferryman between the two shores" between Eastern and Western spiritualities in general and Hindu and Christian spiritualities in particular.

Abhishiktananda dedicated himself unstintingly to the cause of ecumenical dialogue with Hinduism and made a significant contribution to that cause by evolving a "Dialogical Theology" which has special significance for Hindu-Christian dialogue in India. True dialogue, for Swamiji. is a "meeting". an "exchange" and a "mutual donation", the end purpose of which is "communion" rather than "communication" (though that is not excluded completely) - "interpersonal involvement" as Buber would have it. It is on the basis of "mutual donation" and "interpersonal involvement" that Swamiji's Dialogical Theology is constructed. It is good to remember that Swamiji was the first Christian Sannyasi to live in a hermitage like an Indian Sannyasi and perhaps, the first person to realize that India has a message of spirituality not only for the church but also for the world at large.

Regunta Yesurathnam. a Shudra convert. born to poor illiterate parents, in 1941. hails from a remote. underdeveloped village in Adilabad district of Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh. He is an ordained minister of the Church of South India, Medak Diocese. He obtained his M.A. (Phil.) from Osmania University. Hyderabad. He earned all his theological degrees B.D. (Bachelor of Divinity). M.Th. (Master of Theology), and D.Th (Doctor of Theology) from Serampore University after a period of study in Birmingham University. England (1979-80). Professor Yesurathnam has an illustrious career as a theological teacher since 1974 till date. Having taught for many years in the Department of Theology as the Head of the Department, at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad, he served as its Principal for a term of four years (1994-98). Earlier, he worked as a Guest Professor at Wuppertal. Germany in 1993. Currently he is working in Jamaica (West Indies) as Professor of Systematic Theology in the International University of the Caribbean (IUC), and as the National Coordinator for B.A. Theology Continuing Education Programme of the Institute for Theological and Leadership Development (TTLD). Besides publishing a number of articles in various scholarly periodicals and books. national and international, he has written a Text Book - Bharathava nilo Christava Sangham (The Church in India) for Serampore University. Three more text books Indian Christian Theology, Christological Issues: Classical and Contemporary, and Contemporary Theologies are in the making.

Prof. Yesurathnam is married to Santha (M.A.. B.Ed.), formerly a lecturer in Philosophy. Andhra Christian College. Guntur. Andhra Pradesh. They are blessed with two children - a daughter and a son - who are well settled in life.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages