Hindu View of Christianity and Islam

by Ram Swarup

Hitherto, scholars have looked at Hinduism through the eyes of Christianity and Islam, but here an attempt has been made to discuss them from the viewpoint of Hindu spirituality. The two prophetic religions have a long history of conflict but they also share a common spiritual perspective. Almost from their birth, they have been systematic persecutors of pagan religions, cultures and nations. In the heyday of their domination, they acquired great prestige and their viewpoint prevailed also in judging the victims. In this book, the author questions the victors' standard of judgement and looks at their religious premises afresh. He discusses monotheism and prophetism - the ideology of a god who has a chosen people (and also chosen enemies), but whom they know only indirectly through a favoured intermediary; he discusses the doctrines of a single life and a single judgement; he discusses the dogmas of iconoclasm, jihad, Missions and conversion. He looks at all these basic concepts and practices of prophetic religions from the viewpoint of the Yoga, and finds that they have little spiritual merit. The author also discusses yogic and non-yogic samadhis, and how the two project their own respective revelations, gods and ethical codes. He holds that the god of prophetic religions is not a spiritual being but he embodies a fanatic and intolerant idea.

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Hinduism, India, Islam, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Ram Swarup (राम स्वरूप)(1920 – 26 December 1998), born Ram Swarup Agarwal, was an independent Hindu thinker and prolific author. His works took a critical stance against Christianity, Islam and Communism. His work has influenced other Indian writers.

Reviews

[Shikhar Sumeru Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there ever was a GAGAR MEIN SAGAR, this is it!

How much information can you fit in less than 100 pages? Shri Ram Swarup has done us a great favour by writing this book, essays, more like. They are crisp, concise, and to-the-point. Some of the salient points Swarup ponders over are:

1 Fundamentals of Abrahmic religions. Similarities among them; Differences therein; How they appropriated the trends and traditions of paganism (e.g. Jesus's birth story)
2 Fundamentals of Paganism (Hinduism including. Hindusim is sort of a super-evolved form of paganism. These are the native religions of the world)
3 Strategies adopted by Abrahmic religions to systematically proselytise and eradicate the world's native religions
4 Were Abrahmic religions a product of misinterpretations of non-yogic Samadhis? i.e. Samadhis generated out of the Mudha, Sankshipta, Vikshita planes.
5 Commonalities between the world's native religions. Can Hinduism -- the only large scale surviving native religion -- help revive the old religions of Africa, Europe, Americas?

This is one book, wherein the references are so strong that reader learns significantly just by going through the references. At the end, in appendices, the author shares papers on how Christianity expands in terms of numbers (expenditure, strength, recruitment, covert measures etc.).

If you want to read just one book to get an overview of Hinduism, Paganism, and Abrahmic religions, THIS SHOULD BE IT!

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Go for it.

[Jay Mehta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across the recommendation for this book when I was reading "The Hindutva Paradigm" by Ram Madhav ji. The concept of the book interested me and being one of its kind, a very rare one - Christianity and Islam reviewed from the Hindu perspective -, I definitely wanted to make sure to read it.
Ram Swarup ji has written a gem and is definitely recommended for a read.
At the onset, the author explains why the Hindu perspective on the two monotheistic and proselytizing religions was needed. The author delves into the limitations of the studies, thus far, of these two religions. It goes deep into which aspects of the Hindu faith are different, and superior in some places if I may say, to the two proselytizing religions - prophetism, tolerance, spirituality, iconoclasm, ethical code, scriptures, and other aspects. The book also talks about Judaism even though the title doesn't include it.
There were many eye-opening facts. It was also amazing that some of the predictions, given the book was written in the 90s, have actually come true - suggesting the kind of understanding and future vision the author had.
In the end, Ram ji has beautifully ties it all together and gives a message of what role the Hindu faith and Hindus around the world can, and should, play.
Definitely recommended.

[Deepanshu Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due to several centuries of colonial rule - Islamic & British, India’s Sanatan Dharma (or Hinduism for want of a better word) was analysed using Western or Abrahamic lens. What this book does is to reverse the tide, by viewing the theology of Christianity & Islam through a Hindu lens. The analytical output is interesting & eye-opening.

[Subham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very useful book to understand current behaviour of Muslims and Christians in todays world and it traces back to History, both their behaviour and the ideologies giving air to that behaviour. People in India should read it carefully and understand the ideology that they are surrounded by.

[Mayur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theological scrutinizing of Abrahamic religions through the eyes of an Indic scholar using Indic concepts.