From Apologetics to Indology: A Case Study in the Scholarship of Roberto de Nobili, SJ

Abstract

Abstract: Roberto de Nobili (1579–1656), Jesuit missionary to India, was a pioneering scholar in Christianity's encounter with Hinduism, distinguished by personal adaptation, study of Indian religious traditions, and the composition of treatises in Tamil as well as Latin. But this incipient Indology, motivated by apologetic purposes, not only objectified Hinduism but also conferred expert status on the outside observer. This essay compares two treatises: Inquiry into the Meaning of “God” (ca. 1612) and Dispelling Ignorance (ca. 1640). They are similar in shape (an understanding of “God” elaborated in accord with various perfections), purpose (demonstrating the untenable nature of Hindu conceptions of deity), and in the deployment of locally adduced examples showing the implausibility of Hindu beliefs. Dispelling Ignorance more thoroughly objectifies India, reserving superior knowledge to the observer. It marks the path from missionary apologetics to the religiously neutral but still hegemonic Indology that followed. Today, Christian theology requires expert scholarship that is also empathetic, less prone to objectifications of other religions that disregard the self-understanding of their believers.