It is well known that the modern world religions which trace their origins to the Axial Age are centrally concerned with death. Some might call this concern an obsession. Of these world religions, only Hinduism does not have Axial roots. This is not to say that “Hinduism” (which is neither singular nor unified) was unaffected [...]
Tags:afterlife·ancestors·axial age·Brahmins·Buddhism·death·deification·Denial of Death·dying·Ernest Becker·existential·Hindu·Hinduism·immortality·impurity·India·Jainism·Kali·psychoanalysis·purity·rebirth·reincarnation·Sanskrit·Stuart Blackburn·thanatos·Vedic·Wendy Doniger·world rejecting
No stranger to the angst arising from the meta-and-physical dichotomy of sacred/profane, the inimitable Christopher Hitchens recently evaluated similar sorts of tensions in the life of India’s hagiographic hero. Whilst reviewing Joseph Lelyveld’s new book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India, Hitchens pours cold pragmatic water on the man and his myths.
Despite [...]
Tags:caste·Christopher Hitchens·commonsense dualism·Dalit·David Pizarro·Descartes·dualism·false binary·false dichotomy·Great Soul·Hindu·Homer's Soul·India·Joseph Lelyveld·Mahatma Gandhi·metaphysics·mind-body·monism·Paul Bloom·soul beliefs·The Simpsons·untouchables·Vedic·Yoga
Are capitalism and Christianity compatible? This is the bizarre question asked by Mario Gómez-Zimmerman in “The Capitalist Structures of Hinduism.” His belief is that this compatibility (which seems self-evident to me) will somehow be strengthened if he can show that other religions are also compatible with capitalism.
This is a zinger of a non-sequitur which would [...]
Tags:Ayn Rand·capitalism·caste·Christianity·classical Hinduism·elites·Hinduism·India·inequality·legitimation·Mario Gomez-Zimmerman·Neolithic transition·political economy·power·stratification·Varna·Vedic
Nearly 5,500 years ago or about 3,500 BCE, the Sumerians began writing about supernatural matters; in a sense, this marks the origin of what most people today understand as “religion.” This relatively modern and provincially Western understanding of religion is on full display in Paul Raushenbush’s article introducing HuffPo Religion’s new series on religious texts [...]
Tags:Bhagavad Gita·books·Buddhist·category of religion·Christian presuppositions·doctrinal·Edward Said·essentializing·Harvey Whitehouse·Hindu·imagistic·Jonathan Z. Smith·non-written traditions·orientalism·Paul Raushenbush·religion as academic creation·religion as text·religion as writing·religions of the book·religious writings·scriptures·shamanisms·shamanist·shamans·Sumeria·Sumerians·texts·The Word·theologians·theology·transcendence·transcendent·Vedic·word·writing
In yesterday’s post, I discussed Philip Goldberg’s contention that “Eastern religions” (i.e., Hinduism and Buddhism) are science friendly. To support his argument, Goldberg relies on a very specific — and Westernized — understanding of these traditions. Yesterday’s post was devoted to the Western construction and consumption of Buddhism; today’s post will cover the highly problematic [...]
Tags:consciousness·Constructions of Hinduism·David Lorenzen·eastern religions·Edward Said·energy·essentializing·Hindu·Hinduism·India·Indian nationalism·invention of Hinduism·official Hinduism·Philip Goldberg·Robert Frykenberg·social construction·South Asia·syncretism·Vedic·Western consumption·Who Invented Hinduism·Yoga
This is the question asked by Philip Goldberg in a recent article in which he boldly answers yes: “Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws. The same can be said for Buddhism, which derives from the same Vedic roots.”
Setting aside for a [...]
Tags:ahistorical·Buddhism·C.W. Huntington·critique·eastern religions·elites·empiricism·enlightenment·essentializing·Gregory Schopen·Hinduism·intellectuals·Jonathan Z. Smith·Philip Goldberg·reconstructed Buddhism·Religion and Other Products of Empire·Richard Horsley·Robert Sharf·science·social construction·The Zen of Japanese Nationalism·Vedic·Western consumption·Zen Buddhism
