Avatar and Incarnation by Geoffrey Parrinder (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 859 Avatar and Incarnation. By GEOFFREY PARRINDER. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1970. Pp. 296. $9.50. In India there are approximately 580,000,000 people and 98% of them are non-Christians. These figures tell how important is the whole question of the relationship of the Church to the non-Christian world. Fortunately the Second Vatican Council has supplied us with magnificent guidelines for the evangelization of these peoples. " For Christians fruitfully to give testimony to Christ, they must be united to the others in mutual esteem and love. They must regard themselves as real members of the groups in which they live. They must take part in the cultural and social life through the various contacts and occupations of human life. They must be familiar with their national and religious traditions; with joy and reverence they must discover the seeds of the Word hidden in these traditions." (Ad Gentes Divinitus, n.ll) In the Declaration on non-Christian religions the Council says: "And so the Church exhorts her sons, with prudence and love to meet the followers of other religions in dialogue and collaboration; while bearing witness to the Christian faith and Christian life they should recognise, preserve and pronwte the spiritual and moral and socio-cultural values found among these people." (Nostra Aetate, n. 2) The Church in India is becoming more and more alive to her role among her non-Christian brethren. But the task is difficult and slow and full of dangers, and yet full of hope. Those of us who are involved in the formation of Indian missionary priests are acutely aware of the problems; the task is so easily stated and so difficult to execute. The Council says: " The minds of the students must be so opened and sharpened that they may be able to have a clear knowledge and judgement of the culture of their own people. In their study of philosophy and theology they should thoroughly examine the relationship between the Christian religion and the traditions and religion of their own country." (Ad Gentes Divinitus, n. 16) It is in this context that the present book is seen to have outstanding value and provides great help to the professor in a Missionary Seminary. If one has to teach the tract on the Incarnation in an Indian context one is forced to study the doctrine of Avatar. Yet, there is no other work on the subject in English, that I am aware of, comparable to this one. Without Parrinder's book the Professor either has to do a great deal of research himself or give only the briefest of comparisons between Avatar and Incarnation. This work is comprehensive, accurate and, most of, all balanced. I began this book with a prejudice against it. During my first five years in India I studied Indian religiuos with Christian experts, but when I started formally to study under non-Christian pro- 360 BOOK REVIEWS fessors and gurus I discovered there was a big difference between Hinduism as taught by Hindus and Hinduism as taught by Christians. I stopped reading Christian authors because I felt in our work of dialogue we must know non-Christian teaching firsthand. Of course, not everyone has the time, the opportunity, the gifts or the qualifications to undertake this original study. If not, I strongly recommend Parrinder as a guide. He succeeds in presenting the various doctrines of Avatar as the adherents to these doctrines understand them. In these days of extreme irenicism, especially among some foreign missionaries, it is heartening to find a balanced judgment. He sees the riches and the dross of the Indian religiocultural heritage. Above all, he makes no attempt to read into these various doctrines of other religions truths which are not there. Many Hindu scholars object to this tendency of Christian scholars of reading Christianity into Hindu religious literature. Parrinder shares one defect in common with many experts on comparative religion. He is inadequate on Christianity! I would be very surprised if Parrinder is a Catholic. What he says is correct, but he leaves unsaid many important aspects of the Christian theology of the Incarnation . Here in India one frequently meets Indologists who...