CS115: Comparative Analysis of Christian and Hindu Worldviews

This assignment, identified as CS115, delves into a comparative analysis of Christian and Hindu worldviews. The student begins by defining a worldview and explores the core tenets of the Christian worldview, also known as the Biblical worldview, emphasizing beliefs in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible as the foundation of faith. The assignment then transitions to the student's personal Hindu worldview, categorizing it within the framework of Monotheism and highlighting key Hindu concepts such as Ultimate Reality, the importance of the female gender, Karma, and the belief in the interconnectedness of all things. A significant portion of the assignment is dedicated to identifying the similarities between the two religions, including Monotheism, the concept of reincarnation, the use of sacred tools, and shared moral values. The assignment concludes by exploring the concept of Dharma and duty and suggesting ways for people from both worldviews to better understand one another through education, government support, and the celebration of festivals together, to promote harmony and reduce communal conflict.

Running head: CS115
Cs115
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

1CS115
1. What does somebody with a Christian worldview believe?
A worldview can be defined as the way an individual looks at the world and interprets his
place in the world. Each and every Indian has a worldview however not every person believes in
the same worldview. Considering the fact that the region of an individual impose a high impact
on this believes and worldview, individuals who believe in a certain religion are considered to
have similar worldviews (Esqueda, 2014). The christen overview is also known as a Biblical
worldview. However, there are several different opinions and interpretation of the Bible which in
turn have given birth to the two major branches of Christianity, namely Catholics and
Protestants. Majority of Christians are found to be Catholics. The biblical of worldview is based
on the infallible Word of God. People who have biblical worldview believes that every quote of
the Bible, the sacred book of Christian, is entirely true and is the foundation of every act
performed or every word pronounced by that individual. People with biblical worldview believes
that lack of belief in God can make the characteristic of an individual misleading. The base of the
biblical belief lies in the Concise doctrinal statements of religious beliefs are known as Creeds.
The chief points of the Creeds are as follows:
1. ‘Belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit’
2. ‘The death, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension of Christ’(Quinn, Foote &
Williams, 2012)
3. ‘The holiness of the Church and the communion of saints’
4. ‘Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgment and salvation of the faithful’
2. What is my personal worldview, and what do I believe?

2CS115
Being a part of a Hindu Family, I believe in Hinduism. The Hindu religion is known as “Santana
Dharma” and Hinduism overview can be categorized into three major worldview categories
namely, Monotheism, pantheism and polytheism. While Monotheism can be defined as the belief
or doctrine that there exists only one God, pantheism identifies God with the universe and
regards the Universe as the manifestation of God. Hindus who believe in polytheism believes
that there are several numbers of gods. I personally believe in Monotheism. Irrespective of the
categories of Hinduism worldviews, each and every individual believes in the following
concepts:
 Ultimate Reality: Hindus believes that there exist one omnipresent, omnipotent,
omniscient Ultimate Reality (Pattanaik, 2014).
 Gender: Priority is given to the Female gender as the creator of the world or “Shakti” in
Hinduism.
 Humanity's Access to the Supreme: Hindus believe that supremacy can only be achieved
through meditation and every individual has the potential to obtain it.
 The Individual: A Hindu believes in Karma, which is the ethical framework of reality.
 Nature of Good and Evil: Hinduism I based on original purity’ rather than ’original sin'.
It is believed that evil forces are a part of cosmos an thus cannot be separated from
reality.
 Diversity and Choice of practices: Hinduism organizes the pursuit of life into four
categories, namely, Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha (Edelmann, 2012)
 Ecology and Nature: Hindus believes that God Exists in Nature and hence worship the
earth, rivers, Cows and other elements of nature.

3CS115
2. What are some areas of common beliefs?
Several similarities can be pointed out when it comes to similarities between Hinduism and
Christianity. The followings are some of the major similarities between the two mentioned
religions:
1. Monotheism: both Hinduism and Christianity are a monotheistic religion. It may sound
odd since Hindus worship multiple numbers of god and goddesses, according to the
Geeta, there exists only one and ultimate power. As known by all, Christian believes in
One God and consider Jesus Christ to be the son of the God (Lipner, 2012).
2. Reincarnation: Both Christians and Hindus believe in the concept of reincarnation.
According to De Principal, one of the early church fathers , Origen, “Each soul enters the
world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defects of its past lives. Its place
in this world is determined by past virtues and shortcomings.”
3. Sacred Tools: The exists a drastic similarity between the elements or tools that are
considered to be sacred in the mythology of both Hinduism and Christianity. For
instance, Rosary of Christianity has taken the form of Malas in Hinduism and Prasadam
of Hindus is considered to be the Sacred bread of Christians.
4. Morals and Values: Both Christianity and Hinduism has emphasized virtues like
honesty, character, reliability, compassion, peace, respect and faith. What is Dharma in
Hinduism, in Christianity it is called 'duty'.
3. How can people from both worldview better understand one another?
As discussed earlier it can be clearly understood that several similarities exist between Hinduism
and Christianity. However, a majority of individual suffers from an invisible barrier when it

4CS115
comes to establishing a connection between the two traditions. In order to establish a better
connection between the two religion, one of the most crucial steps is to educate people about the
similarities between the two religion. People need to be educated about the importance of
harmony of religion and how harmony can impose a positive impact on the Society. Even in this
era, a huge number of people lost their lives in communal conflict and religious riots. This needs
to be stopped immediately in order to make this world safe place to leave in. Thus people from
both Christian and Hindu communities need to educate about the impact of harmony and how it
can save a million of life. In order to establish an effective bond between the Christian and Hindu
community, a major role can be played by the government (Hale-Smith et al., 2012). If the
government of the countries with Christian minority extends their hands in developing the
condition of the Christian community, an international bond will be created among countries
with Hindu and Christian Minorities. Apart from that, celebration o festivals together can also
enhance the bond between the two religions. Individuals should be encouraged by the
government to celebrate both Hindu as well as Christian festivals to develop a better
understanding of each other.

5CS115
Reference List
Edelmann, J. B. (2012). Hindu Theology and Biology: The Bhagavata Purana and Contemporary
Theory.
Esqueda, O. J. (2014). Biblical worldview: The Christian higher education foundation for
learning. Christian Higher Education, 13(2), 91-100.
Hale-Smith, A., Park, C. L., & Edmondson, D. (2012). Measuring beliefs about suffering:
Development of the Views of Suffering Scale. Psychological Assessment, 24(4), 855.
Lipner, J. (2012). Hindus: Their religious beliefs and practices. Routledge.
Pattanaik, D. (2014). The man who was a woman and other queer tales from Hindu lore.
Routledge.
Quinn, M. E., Foote, L. S., & Williams, M. L. (2012). Integrating a biblical worldview and
developing online courses for the adult learner. Christian Scholar's Review, 41(2), 163.