(Editor’s Note: This is the first article of a limited series we at MARG Network are running to better display and organize the writings of important individuals who have made significant contributions to MARG Network and the Rethinking Forum. We start with a central figure of the Rethinking Forum since its founding over 25 years ago (although the history of the Rethinking Forum ideas date back more than 100 years earlier, as discussed in this article, and were mostly espoused by Indian followers of Jesus). H.L. Richard’s writings are worthy of serious study, and we hope this summary of his MARG Network posts proves useful. If you haven’t read them already, we suggest beginning with the first three articles under the “Foundational Articles” heading.)
H.L. Richard’s Biography:
H.L. Richard has been telling Christians about Hindus for 40+ years. He does so as an advocate for sincerely religious Hindus whom he passionately believes have every right to expect Christians to share the gospel using words, ideas, and experiences that resonate with their Hindu families and communities. He is qualified to do so. Richard has done virtually everything there is to do in the context of walking alongside Hindu people – evangelism, discipleship, teaching, and mentoring in both South Asia and among Hindu diaspora communities abroad. He is the founder of the current Rethinking Forum (the meeting around which the MARG Network was later formed) over twenty-five years ago and has mentored just about everyone involved with it. What he is most respected for by those in our network who know him best is his deep, faithful love of Jesus and his caring, warm heart of friendship for both Hindu disciples of Jesus and fellow Alongsiders like himself. He has written several books (Following Jesus in the Hindu Context, Hinduism, Rethinking Hindu Ministry, Cultural Gaps, and Exploring the Depths of the Mystery of Christ) and dozens of articles on the intersection of Jesus, Hindus, and Christianity, including sixteen articles (and counting!) on the MARG Network website.
Foundational Articles:
What is an Alongsider – Marg Network uses the term “alongsider” to describe people who engage Hindus with a gospel purpose. In this article, HL Richard fleshes out what is meant by that term. He alludes to the history of missionary engagement with Hindu communities as a reason to rethink the nature of that engagement. In a very helpful way, Richard delineates the different roles of an alongsider and a set of accompanying qualifications. Everyone can benefit from reading this very practical article.
Relational Dynamics with Hindus – In this article, HL Richard touches on the challenges and opportunities of relationships between Christians and Hindus. His main point is obvious, but not always easy to accept. Richard says “The biggest lesson of all is that there is no formula to develop a deep and meaningful relationship. When such a relationship does exist, you must recognize that something important, yet also quite fragile and transitory, has developed.” If you are relationally gifted, this article will help you to be a bit careful about negative interpersonal dynamics that frequently characterize relationships between Hindus and Christians. This article also encourages all of us to trust that God can give each of us meaningful relationships with Hindus.
Counting Hinduism – Hinduism is exceedingly difficult to systemize and categorize. Although HL Richard does not subscribe to the assumption that Hinduism can be accurately categorized or systemized, he knows that we need something organized and manageable to use as a starting point to try and understand what Hinduism is. In this article, he “counts” some essential ideas about Hinduism and delivers a description of Hinduism that Christians can wrap their head around. Even this article requires concentration and focus to try and take in because no matter how skillful the guide, Hinduism is an ancient and vast body of knowledge and practice about the human experience in relation to other people, God, and everything in between for its adherents. This article is required reading for people who want to learn about the essence of Hinduism.
Life as an Alongsider – Topics and Issues Along the Way:
Teaching Biblical Concepts in Hindu Contexts – In this article, HL Richard address the important topic of Bible study between Christians and Hindus. The article is an edited excerpt from Richard’s article Cultivating Reticence. It is helpful to read that article in concert with this one. A link is provided. Richard wants us to examine the often-unexamined assumption that Christians need to boldly and clearly teach the Bible to Hindus. He lists 4 Biblical doctrines that serve as good examples of the need to rethink how we teach the Bible to Hindus, “…the alongsider needs to learn as much as teach. People need to disciple Hindus into deep biblical knowledge through inductive Bible study sessions over hours and days and weeks on a regular basis, and if it is truly inductive Bible study, the “teacher” will learn a great deal in this process, both with and from Hindu friends.” This article represents reality and needs to be carefully considered.
Co-Existing Without Understanding – In this article, H.L. Richard points out that Christians simply don’t understand Hindus. He does not go into any detail about why. He simply wants us to inform us that this is indeed the case. He puts it this way: “Hindus and Christians have never really met. One could blame Hindus, but this is not their problem; they do not claim to have good news that we need to understand. They do not have any reason not to ignore Christianity.” Richard finishes with a glaringly obvious bit of advice that almost all of us have ignored again and again: “I wish there was a simple solution to the problems outlined, but I know none. I can only advise that we slow down, listen carefully, reflect deeply, and expect multiple expressions of “good news” and “church” to develop as Hindus and gospel messengers finally begin to meet.”
Hindu Cremation – If you spend enough time in relationship with some form of Hindu community, you will experience death within that community. Cremation is the central ceremony Hindu follow to deal with death. In this article, Richard explains the various practices and the thinking that informs cremation in the Hindu context. Cremation used to be a controversial practice among Christians, but it is much less so today. Even with cremation becoming a much more widely practiced phenomenon amongst Christians now, we need to understand what it means to Hindu people.
Book Reviews:
Disciple Making Among Hindus Book Review – In this article, HL Richard reviews Disciple Making Among Hindus (DMAH) by Tim Shultz. Richard gives the book a positive review. He points to the fact that while it is simply written, it is not trite. He summarizes his reaction to DMAH in this way, “This book is short and in simple and clear English directly makes its points; yet it carries a challenge that few will be able to digest in just one reading. A total change of paradigm for evangelism and discipleship is called for when Hindus are engaged with the message of Jesus, and though the content is not complex the application of it will be revolutionary.” Tim (the author of this anthology) likes that summary.
A Reading in Christ of the Bhagavad Gita – H.L. Richard begins this article about the Bhagavad Gita by telling us why we should read it. He says: “The Bhagavad Gita is a sacred text for Hindus. Yet this potentially domesticates, or at least makes parochial, one of the great compositions of human history. The Gita is a product of Indian civilization and has impacted and molded that civilization as well. Yet in a true sense it belongs to the world, and so needs to be read by the world.” This is a transformative point of view about the Gita. Believing this point of view to be true will transform our witness. What does it mean to read the Bhagavad Gita “in Christ?” Richard says, “To read the Gita in Christ, according to this reader, is to read under the direction of the pre-eminent over all things Jesus Christ of the New Testament, who modeled spiritual mindedness. It is to read with the spiritual-minded sensitivity of the ‘greater to serve than be served’ mindset of Jesus rather than that of the ‘kingdoms of this world’.” So, if you are in Christ, please read the Bhagavad Gita!
Gora Book Review – Gora is a novel written by the venerable Rabindranath Tagore. H.L. Richard reviews the book very favorably and recommends that Christians read it with a view to feeling what it can mean for Hindu people to grapple with issues surrounding Hindu community and how that impacts discipleship to Jesus.
Visa Wives Book Review – Visa Wives is a book about the transitions Indian immigrant women experience in America. In this article, HL Richard reviews the book. He states the central theme of the book this way, “The prime purpose of the book is to help new-to-America Indian women more successfully handle the transition.” Richard clearly applies the content in Visa Wives to the mission and vision of Marg Network, “Within the MARG Network this is a clarion call to reach out the hand of agenda-less friendship to thousands of Indian women in our midst. No training for this is needed, just a loving and willing heart. Reading this book will open many avenues of interaction, and it can be considered as a training manual for those who feel too overwhelmed to take a first step.”
Historical Surveys of Followers of Christ from Hindu Communities:
Narayan Vaman Tilak – This is an article about a Hindu man from western India named Narayan Vaman Tilak who surrendered to Christ, but as is so often the case, struggled mightily to live as a Hindu who is in Christ. What is so unique about Tilak was his incredible gift to create devotional music (bhajans) in the name of Christ. His talent was world class, and his music is still used by the Marathi church today. Tilak was an idealistic dreamer who believed that Hindu culture should and could influence the Church in India. HL Richard summarizes his life and gives us a bit of insight into the identity struggle that Hindu people in Christ can experience.
Kalagara Subbha Rao – This article is about the fascinating life of Subba Rao, a Telugu speaking follower of Jesus in the mid twentieth century. HL Richard summarizes the life of Subba Rao as a challenge to Christians. His ministry of healing, prophetic preaching about the problems of historical Christianity, and leadership of a legitimate movement of devotion to Jesus apart from the Church was completely different from what we expect to see the Holy Spirit doing in and through a believer. In the article, HL Richard fairly points out both the strengths and weaknesses of Subba Rao to provide a balanced review of the man and the movement he led.
Manilal C Parekh – HL Richard summarizes the fraught relationship of Manilal Parekh and the Christian church in India in this article. Parekh became a devotee of Jesus but struggled with his identity and with his spiritual associations. In other articles and presentations, Richard describes Hindus who try to inspire the Church in India to adopt a Hindu friendly posture as dreamers. Parekh is certainly someone like that. The following quote by Parekh is an example of the incompatibility of being Hindu and Christian, “To me, to be a true Hindu was to be a true disciple of Christ, and to be a true disciple of Christ meant to be more a Hindu and not less. This belief was woven into my being and it was the light of all my seeing and thinking. Thus, I had to fall back more or less on what I called the Hindu Church of Christ and I severed my connection with all organized Christianity.” This article is sobering.
Pandita Ramabai Saraswati – Pandita Ramabai is one of the most well-known Hindu converts to Christianity. She famously started the Mukti Mission which began as an orphanage. It still operates today and has a solid reputation in the Christian West. Ramabai was an incredibly talented and tireless discipleship entrepreneur, but she was not perfect. Like the other “Christians” from Hindu background which HL Richard writes about, it is very difficult for us to identify with the life of Ramabai. Ramabai’s story is “widely known but has also been surrounded with myths and exaggerations.” In this article, HL Richard “will try to clear some of the fog and raise some of the difficult questions related to her legacy.”
Kali Charan Banurji – In this article, HL Richard summarizes the life of Banurji, and as you might expect if you have read other articles by Richard about Hindus who want to be authentically connected to both Hindu and Christian communities, Banurji could not make it work. His life illustrates that same truth, displayed in his own story. Richard summarizes the life of Banurji in this way, “The lasting legacy of Kali Charan Banurji is his patriotism; he refused to accept that following Christ led to foreign ways.”
Five Twentieth Century Missionary Pioneers in Hindu Contexts – In this article, HL Richard introduces us to some of the brilliant missionaries who served the gospel among Hindu communities in India. These missionaries lived in the 20th century during the British Raj, when the nation of India included all of the countries which we now refer to as South Asia (excluding Nepal). In an unusual step, Richard chose to write about cross-cultural missionaries in this article. He explains himself in this way, “Despite a lot of reading and study on missionary contributions in Hindu contexts I have written very little on this topic. The main reason for this is that the most significant thought and action related to sharing Christ among Hindus has not come from outsiders, but from people born in Hindu families. Nonetheless, an impressive array of missionaries has served in India and some individuals creatively engaged with classical Hindu concerns. So this paper will introduce five pioneer missionaries who wrestled with issues in Hindu contexts in the twentieth century.” The five highlighted people will inspire you and encourage you.
