Surya Prasad Acharya

A Dialogical Hermeneutic of a Hindu-christian: is Meaning Making Possible in This World of Diversity? Surya Prasad Acharya

One of the most significant features of theory of dialogical self is that it is devised in the conviction that insight into the workings of the human self requires cross-fertilization between different fields. This study therefore employs social-psychology, religious studies, inter-cultural studies, theology and philosophy to study the phenomenon of religious diversity. Within this theoretical framework, this work includes an empirical study conducted among Hindu Nepalis in Toronto, analyzing their encounter with people of other religious traditions and their attitudes towards them. Complementing the empirical analysis is Panikkar?s Cosmotheandric vision which functions on the premise that the whole of reality is integrated ? cosmos, theos and anthropos. This paradigm helps to explain religious diversity and combined with the insights learned from the empirical research illustrates how the other is indispensible in dialogue. This book concludes with an elaboration of a dialogical hermeneutic of a Hindu-Christian.