Autor: Ormerod, Neil

Buch: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Titel: Creation, Grace, and Redemption

Stichwort: Schöpfung, das Böse - Hinduismus; Brahman

Kurzinhalt: Many interpret Hindu teaching on creation as a form of monism whereby there is in fact only one reality, Brahman, the changeless, eternal ground of all being. The world that we experience is mere illusion, ...

Textausschnitt: Hinduism

20a Hinduism is a very complex religious phenomenon. It comprises deep mystical elements, profound philosophical thought, together with popular manifestations that strike many Western moderns as bordering on the bizarre. In seeking some point of comparison with Christianity I shall consider a particular school of Hindu thought, Advaita Vedanta, which offers a "nondualist" interpretation of creation.1 Many interpret Hindu teaching on creation as a form of monism whereby there is in fact only one reality, Brahman, the changeless, eternal ground of all being. The world that we experience is mere illusion, an appearance of being. The main "problem" of human existence is ignorance resulting in a dualistic consciousness that fails to see the fundamental oneness of all things. This stress on oneness is not just a philosophical position, but is also affirmed in the experience of Hindu mystics. Redemption is the overcoming of dualist consciousness and the realization that there is only one reality, that the higher self (atman) is Brahman. When the illusion of the world is stripped away, all that "remains is the impersonal, perfect Brahman-consciousness beyond relation, which is infinite, simple, eternal, joyous self-shining. Nothing remains to compromise the radiance, simplicity, fullness and transcendence of this One."2

20b A Christian response to this would want to say yes and no. On the one hand, terms such as "infinite," "simple," "eternal," and "transcendent" resonate with the Christian understanding of God. On the other hand, the Christian conception is of a personal God who exists in a loving relationship with creation. The Vedantan response to Christian belief is to view Christianity as an inferior religion, caught up in a dualistic understanding whereby "God and the world ... appear in relation to each other as limited parts of a larger whole."3 To them Christian belief in a personal God is little more than an anthropomorphic projection, particularly when they read biblical stories of God being angry, or destroying nations, or changing his mind. (Fs)

21a However, just as we must distinguish popular Hinduism from its more philosophical expressions, so too we must recognize the same distinction in Christianity. While many Christians may take biblical stories at face value, early church fathers were aware of the difficulty in taking such stories literally. Origen warned against anthropomorphism in reading biblical stories about God, and Thomas Aquinas presents an account of God as creator in which few would recognize the God of the biblical narrative. For Aquinas, while the world is really related to God, God is not really related to the world, in the sense that creation cannot change or impact God in any way (Summa Theolo-giae I q. 3 a. 7).4 God is wholly Other from creation, not limited by it in any way. God is not just another being, but Being itself (subsistens esse). (Fs)

21b In fact, some have argued that there are striking similarities between these two philosophical accounts of creation. The Vedantan position of the illusory character of the world is similar to the insistence of Aquinas on the radical contingency of creation. Creation is contingent not in terms of the chance and necessity we experience in creation but in terms of the more fundamental contingency of the very being of creation. Only God is necessary being, just as for the Hindu thinkers only Brahman is truly real. The insistence of the Vedantan position that Brahman is impersonal can act as an important corrective to Christians who too easily anthropomorphize God, reducing the reality of God to the same level as ourselves, only bigger!