In Jewish Approaches to Hinduism: An Introduction to the Material Study of Religions, Richard Marks has brought together ten portraits of Jewish thinkers, translators, and travelers who offer perspectives on Hinduism. These portraits are studied from a history of ideas perspective. Marks’ scholarship is impressive. This volume requires mastery of sources from several fields, including philosophical, exegetical, literary, and geographic works. Marks contextualizes the authors in their respective historical environment and traces a variety of influences—Muslim, Renaissance, Protestant, and more. Marks studies each of the ten figures in terms of his specific position, contributions, and historical influences; in dialogue with the most current scholarship on the person; and with reference to the very notion of religion and how it is implicitly or explicitly constructed, as a basis for considering the comparison of religions. That the essays are as thorough and as well written as they are is a tribute to first-rate scholarship. A consistent method of intellectual history is applied throughout, pushing beyond a descriptive history of ideas to the constructive exercise of imagining religion, how it is understood, and how one religion—Hinduism—is imagined from within the framework of another—Judaism.
The refreshing news is that Marks’ prose is simple, coherent and communicates clearly to the non-specialist. Thus, a book that focuses on a narrow subject and that could have turned out to be dry reading for a limited market of history professors actually holds the promise of offering an exciting journey into the minds of peoples across religions over a span of over 700 years. While the focus is on Jewish views of Hinduism, in fact Islam and Christianity are strongly present, inasmuch as they are mediators of knowledge and shape the perceptions of our Jewish authors. This is rich reading not only for the historian of ideas, but also for the contemporary student of interreligious studies. I consider myself a representative case in point - a reader whose interests are contemporary and governed by interreligious concerns who finds in Marks’ work rich resources for present day reflections on relations between religions, and specifically on the Jewish-Hindu encounter.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section reviews medieval authors who operated in a Muslim environment and who held varying views on Hinduism. These include Judah Halevi and his view of idolatry and magic in Hindu practice; Abraham Ibn Ezra and his positive views of Hindu sages, as well as his appreciative view of astrological wisdom; Benjamin of Tudela’s travel reports to two places in India and his fundamentally negative view of Hindu worship; and the works of two translators who brought into Hebrew the Indian Panchatantra (an Indian collection of animal fables), from its Persian and Arabic sources and the Medieval Alexander Romance, and who both offer very positive views of Hindu wisdom teaching. The second part is a history of the interpretation of one biblical verse, Genesis 25: 6, which has come to represent Indian wisdom as derivative of Abraham’s wisdom, given to his children from his concubines, before he sent them to the East. One figure in particular, the 17th-century Menasseh ben Israel, plays an important role in identifying “East” in this biblical verse with “India,” leading to some contemporary views of Hindu wisdom and its relation to Jewish wisdom. The third and final part of the book covers the 18th and 19th centuries and examines cases of Jewish geographic and cultural interest, either in the form of Enlightenment literature or of travelogues of Jewish travelers to India.
As Marks notes, each of the figures has been studied previously. His own contribution is an in-depth study of each of the personalities, devoting a chapter-length discussion to all ten. importantly, what makes this book more than a collection of previously published essays is the attempt to put forth several generalizations that provide characterizations of how Jewish authors have approached Hinduism Thus, one salient feature is the repeated attempt to interpret what one finds in Hindu sources, whether these are transmitted through second-hand sources or witnessed first-hand, in terms of Torah and tradition. The Jewish authors are, for the most part, engaged in a project of reading one religion through the lens of another. This in turn raises important questions relating to the comparison of religions. What is it that one compares, and what is the basis for juxtaposing two traditions? Here we find a range of points of comparison that are in fact indicative of what different authors consider to be the most salient feature of a religion. This could be morality, philosophy, worship, an understanding of God, etc. In fact, this amounts to a challenge and an invitation to consider what it is that we compare and what perspective we bring to the view of another religion. A final point of note is the recognition that some Jewish views of Hinduism relate to philosophy while others focus on worship. Different appreciations of Hinduism emerge accordingly. A cultic orientation will typically yield a negative view of Hinduism as idolatrous. A philosophical orientation will typically lead to an appreciation of the wisdom of India or Hinduism.
In his introduction, Marks distinguishes his work from that of several other scholars who are interested in the contemporary Jewish encounter with and appreciation of Hinduism. His is a project of history of ideas, and he seeks to avoid entering the space of present-day theology of religions. However, the benefit of Marks’ work is far greater than the specific studies he brings together. It is, in my view, a book that is of great potential benefit to comparative religion and theology of religions, and specifically to the contemporary goal of developing a Jewish view of Hinduism. Marks’ intentional avoidance of this area is only half successful, as demonstrated by his study of the history of interpretation of Genesis 25: 6. Marks notes how late 20th century rabbinical personalities—such as Aryeh Kaplan and Matityahu Glazerson—both of whom articulate a contemporary Jewish view of Hinduism, rely on this older interpretive tradition. Marks’ entire book is pregnant with possibilities to enhance understanding between religions.
While these possibilities are at times alluded to briefly by Marks, they are never developed intentionally. I find this a wasted opportunity, where first-rate scholarship and engaging analyses stop short of addressing contemporary concerns. Marks’ book is better and more important than he himself is aware of. It remains to other readers to draw out the contemporary implications of his scholarship. It is regrettable that the bibliography is listed per chapter rather than for the entire book, thereby limiting its usefulness. Even more regrettable is the skimpy index, which stands in tension with the generous price tag of this book.
I recommend this book for a broad range of advanced courses in history of ideas, Jewish theology, theology of religions, comparative religion, and interfaith relations. The clear prose, comfortable reading, and broad range of topics make it a wonderful series of case studies for a variety of advanced graduate courses. The book is thus of far greater significance than its narrower methodological framing.
Alon Goshen-Gottstein is the founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute.
Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Date Of Review:
May 19, 2023