Discussion of Pathways to Hindu-Christian Dialogue by Anantanand Rambachan, winner of the 2024 Best Book Award in Hindu-Christian Studies (Theology/Philosophy)

Anantanand Rambachan’s Pathways to Hindu-Christian Dialogue (Fortress Press, 2022) sets forth a cogent understanding of the dynamics and pitfalls of dialogue, played out over seven chapters. Four are thematic — “Starting Points,” “Theological Resources and Challenges,” “Hindu Nationalism and Dialogue,” and “Caste.” Three others pose open-ended questions that today demand direct and honest answers: “What Can Hindus Learn from Christianity?” “What Can Christians Learn from Hinduism?” And, in today’s fraught political and theological context, the very basic “Why Hindu-Christian Dialogue?” Such themes and questions are rarely posed with such acute attentiveness to the times in which we live; and they are rarely answered so eloquently by someone as thoughtful, experienced and honest as Rambachan. This wise volume also offers an unpresuming and moving witness to the author’s lifetime of learning and reflection, from his beginnings in Trinidad, as a student in the UK, as a professor for 40 years at St. Olaf College, and as a valued leader in large and small dialogues across the United States, India and the wider world.