Christians; how do you regard Hinduism?

[thucythucy]

310. Your link simply says that the majority of those polled,

Christians and non-Christians, believe in angels. Considering your depiction of Hinduism as inherently polytheistic, this would seem to provide yet another area where Christianity and Hinduism can be easily reconciled. "Angels" for one group of people can be transmogrified into divine avatars for another. So wherein is the conflict?

I haven't seen any recent polls on what the majority or even the plurality of Christians believe, re: the virgin birth, resurrection, etc. You asked "Christians" how they might reconcile their faith with Hinduism, and I gave you an answer. Basically, I can speak only for myself. Bear in mind that there are something like two billion Christians on the planet, which would seem to indicate a wide spectrum of belief in the literal truth of scriptures. Certainly, religious "leaders" can hardly be seen as representing the "faithful." Among American Catholics, for instance, the use of contraceptives is more or less on a level with the rate of use among non-Catholics, despite repeated edicts by the various Popes. And many of the Christians I know understand that the virgin birth is an accretion to Christ's teaching that derives from the attempt to make it more palletable to the Greek-Roman world of the first century ("virgin birth" was a popular Graeco-Roman theme). You might want to check out the work of Marcus J. Borg, for instance his book "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: the Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith" for some insight into all this. I would think the popularity of his work, which is a Christian analysis of historical Christian mythology, indicates that mine is not as much a minority view as you might think.

And how does a belief in the virgin birth, or for that matter in the literal resurrection, contradict the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita? Indeed, there is an (admittedly obscure) branch of Christian thought that believes Christ spent the "missing" years of his life--that is from age 12 to age 30 or so--traveling in India, sitting at the feet of Hindu teachers, thus explaining the similarities between certain aspects of Gnostic Christianity and Hindu spiritualism. Personally, I don't know enough about this to comment intelligently, but it's interesting--in light of your question--to know that this school of thought even exists.

And while I appreciate your appreciation of my "long and thoughtful post" the gist of it doesn't seem to have quite registered for you. You asked how "Christians" could reconcile their beliefs with the beliefs of Hinduism. I believe I answered your question, at least to the best of my admittedly limited ability. Do you have a reply to this? Are you intending to check out the work of Duraisingh on just this question? Duraisingh, btw, will no doubt lead you to other theolgians, Christian and otherwise, who explore the correlations--and divergences--of what are widely regarded as "western" vs. "eastern" religious thought. If you are truly interested in answers to your questions, he makes a really good start.

Whatever the case, I've made an honest if inadequate attempt to answer what I hope is a serious and honest question. Whether or how you choose to pursue this is of course your own affair.

Best wishes, and best of luck in your theological pursuits.

Thucy