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Abstract
Against the background of differing opinions about Gandhi’s views on the relationship between political action and religious inspiration, this paper examines his use of scriptures, if he made hermeneutical decisions and if so, what they were. The starting point is a letter from Gandhi in which he pleaded against reading the scriptures literally and named truth, ahiṃsā, and a living faith as criteria. Reason is most important, but with limitations; ahiṃsā, nonviolence, is never at stake, but the definition of what may be called hiṃsā, or ahiṃsā, is dependent on place, time, and situation. Faith-based truth as Faith = God enabled the use of religious language and definitively bridged the religious and the secular. For an understanding of Gandhi’s personal faith, his statements on Rama and Ramarajya as the Kingdom of God on earth are important. Gandhi found a leading principle in 2 Cor 3:6: “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life,” comparing it often with a literal vs. figurative reading. The connecting factor between Gandhi and Paul was their situation, which is more fully explained for Paul. Both tried from a different perspective to reformulate their religious heritages in a new way by claiming that their now-defended truth was already present in the scriptures. Both needed a hermeneutical key and found it in the killing letter and the life-giving Spirit. For Gandhi, it meant the right to expand the original meaning of texts to realise ahiṃsā hic et nunc. The last section of this paper offers examples of Gandhi’s use of this principle in changing contexts: the opening of the temples of Travancore, his approaches to the Gita, his exegesis of Galatians, and his readings of the Hebrew Bible.
Highlights
Published: 10 February 2022Veena Howard’s complaint that many studies tend to compartmentalise Gandhi’s life and work by describing him as either an excellent politician, a nonviolent revolutionary, or a spiritual leader (Howard 2007, pp. 380, 394) is still relevant today
The connecting factor between Gandhi and Paul was their situation, which is more fully explained for Paul
The last section of this paper offers examples of Gandhi’s use of this principle in changing contexts: the opening of the temples of Travancore, his approaches to the Gita, his exegesis of Galatians, and his readings of the Hebrew Bible
Summary
Veena Howard’s complaint that many studies tend to compartmentalise Gandhi’s life and work by describing him as either an excellent politician, a nonviolent revolutionary, or a spiritual leader (Howard 2007, pp. 380, 394) is still relevant today. There is a need for approaches that do not frame Gandhi in advance, thereby strengthening the above-mentioned compartmentalisation These discussions underlie this paper’s focus on Gandhi’s use of religious scriptures, that is, his hermeneutics reading authoritative texts. This scriptural use is a relatively minor part in the literature on his life and work, authoritative texts play a major role in defining religious identity in bonam and in malem partem In most religions, they function as “’Holy Writ’, as sacred books, as spoken word, in public ritual, in devotional and spiritual life” Gandhi’s allegorical reading of the Gita is “right,” but why and in which situation Gandhi preferred the allegorical meaning rather than the literal or historical one
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