Theological Study in Germany
THEOLOGICAL STUDY IN GERMANY
Baron F. Von Hugel was always willing to help. .He knew many scholars in Europe and kept in close touch with them.
In 1921 I said to him: 'I am anxious to spend six months in Germany.
Where should I go?' He said: 'Marburg will be a good place for you. Two fine men, Rudolf Otto and Friedrich Heiler, are teaching there.
I know them and will give you letters of introduction.'
So with these letters, which I knew carried much weight in scholarly circles, I went to Marburg.
Following a general practice in German universities, many students had come to Marburg mainly to hear Prof. Otto.
Over one hundred and fifty students were enrolled in his classes.
_My knowledge of German was elementary and:I could not understand the lectures.
But Dr Otto took me as a private student.
He was in frail health.
On one occasion I could not meet him for some weeks.
Whenever he was well I went to his home and had talks with him in English on the subject of my _ thesis,
Mysticism of the Fourth Gospel and Hindu Bhakti Literature.
He answered patiently and fully the many questions I asked him.
He told me what to read in German.
He gave me of his time generously.
Prof. Otto was a most interesting man.
His subject was Theology.
After an illness his doctor forbade him to do any work on this subject for some time but advised him -to take up some other interest, quite unconnected with his usual work.
He had been attracted by India and its thought.
He decided to study Sanskrit.
He told me that reading Valmiki's Ramayana in the original Sanskrit text was one of the great experiences of his life.
This led to further study of Sanskrit, two visits to India and the writing of such books about India as Vishnu-Narayana—Selections from Bhakti Literature, Christianity and the Indian Religion of Grace and Mysticism, East and West.
In his earlier years Prof. Otto devoted much study to the theistic literature of India.
He was greatly attracted by Ramanuja whom he regarded as coming nearest to St John in the intensity
THEOLOGICAL STUDY IN GERMANY
of his faith, in the depth of his thought and in the restraint of his emotions.
The Bhakti religions of India are followed by about two hundred millions of Hindus, nearly half the total population of India.
Most of their literature is in the form of hymns which are sung in temples and homes daily by devout worshippers.
Books like Bhagavad Gita and Sri Bashya deal with the philosophic aspects of the Bhakti religion.
The legends of the Bhakti Saints have been put into immortal verse.
Otto read widely in all this literature in Sanskrit and translated the more distinctive passages into German.
But his last book, Mysticism, East and West is.a. painstaking study of two monists, Sankara of India and Eckhart of Germany.
_ Otto's book Das Heilege (The Idea of the Holy) aroused immense interest in the world of Theology.
It is still being studied.
I am informed that more than fifty editions of that book have now appeared.
This in spite of the popularity of Barthian.
Theology, expounding a doctrine of Revelation quite different from that of Otto.
I found in Otto a fertile and active mind.
Unlike most Western scholars who study only the Sanskrit texts he was interested in the living roots of religion in India and was constantly comparing them in his mind and in his books with Christian thought and experience.
When he visited India he found a kindred spirit in Dr Johnson, a C.M.S. missionary in Benares who had made a prolonged study of Sanskrit.
The two friends visited Hindu shrines and had dialogue with Hindu scholars, some of whom were also devout and saintly men.
'I read popular didactic and homiletic literature and_biographies of Hindu saints to find out what effect the various dogmatics produced on the people,' Otto said.
'I tried to find out while in India how the four schools of Vaishnavite thought—
Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka and Vishnu Swamin—affected life and conduct.'
During his second visit to India he collected interesting specimens of Indian Art for a German museum.
Otto was a diligent student of the science of religions.
He made a minute and careful study of the teachings and experiences of religious men of many lands and in many ages, particularly in India.
He used this wide and deep knowledge constantly for
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purposes of illustration, comparison and evaluation.
He held that there is a fundamental oneness in all religious experience and that it is our duty to understand that unity.
At the same time he fully believed that there are many vital differences, that these differences cannot be ignored and that some experiences. are far more valuable than others.
His approach was fresh, often original and always stimulating.
One day our conversation turned on the subject of Monism in St Paul's writings.
Prof, Otto agreed that 1 Corinthians 15:28
'(God all in all) teaches Monism but pointed out that this teaching is marginal in St Paul's Epistles and not central.
The modern reader will be aware that in recent years Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit thinker, has made this emphasis a pivotal point of his teaching.
Here in India Christian scholars like Brahmabandav Upadhyaya, P. Chenchiah and today Raymond Panikker have come under the spell of Sankara and have interpreted the Christian religion accordingly.
In Mysticism, East and West, Otto shows that the experience of Sankara, however difficult it may be to understand and however opposed it may be to orthodox Christian doctrine, is of great importance.
With philosophical acumen and spiritual insight Otto points out both the weakness as well as the strength of these two stalwart thinkers, Sankara and Eckhart. As a scientific student of religion Otto feels that the experience of these two men has to be studied carefully in any effort we may make to understand the religious development of man.
Friedrich Heiler was Professor of the History of Religions in Marburg.
My acquaintance with him, which began at that time, ripened through the years into friendship.
I found him always ready to give whatever help he could.
He reviewed The Sadhu.
He was attracted by it but felt that it was inadequate in its treatment of the message of Sundar Singh.
So he set out to write a book himself which was published in German in 1924 with the title. Sadhu Sundar Singh: Ein Apostel des Ostens und
Westens. This had a wide circulation in Germany (20,000 copies).
Its English translation, The Gospel of Sundar Singh, unfortunately never went beyond its first edition and was out of print for many years until I persuaded the Lucknow Buble House in 1968 to reprint it.
THEOLOGICAL STUDY IN GERMANY
For many years this book, both in German and in English, was a favourite with me.
Again and again I turned to its pages . for guidance.
The German text was much fuller and longer than its*translation.
In 1956 I spent my month's holiday alone at Kodaikanal.
My only interests were long walks and the study of this book.
There were four reasons why I was so eager to study the book intensively.
Heiler has given an exceptionally good account of Sundar 'Singh's teaching about prayer.
He had himself written a book about prayer in which he had studied with sympathy and understanding the theory as well as the practice of prayer in all the religions of the world.
'This book had won for him a place among the front-line historians of prayer in the world.
What he said about the teaching of Sundar Singh on prayer came with a singular authority.
He held that Sundar Singh gave a central place to prayer in his sermons.
He made it a point to preach at least one sermon on prayer in every city or town he visited. Like many of the great mystics of the world he regarded prayer for God as the highest type of prayer.
He illustrated this with numerous parables.
Heiler quotes a prayer of Sundar Singh as an example.
'Lord, to sit at Thy Feet is many times better and grander than sitting before any royal throne on earth; indeed, it means to be enthroned for ever in the eternal kingdom.
Now I offer myself as a burnt-offering on the altar of those holy Feet.
Accept it as and where Thou wishest; use me according;to Thy pleasure. For Thou art mine and I am Thine.
Thou didst make me in Thine image out of this handful of dust, and grant me the right of becoming Thy child. May all honour and glory and praise be Thine for ever and ever.
Amen.'
With his wide knowledge of the religions of India Heiler was able to show how the ancient ideals and traditions of India influenced Sundar Singh.
It is good to be able to understand some of the roots of Sundar Singh's teaching which are found in the ancient scriptures of India.
Heiler says that training in the Jewish Law led St Paul to a deep consciousness of his sinfulness; the rigorous discipline of a monastery taught Luther the depth of his sinful nature; so the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita (which
LY)
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Sundar Singh knew by heart even as a child of seven) made him clearly aware of his sinfulness.
Heiler has also a happy way of studying Sundar Singh against the background of the great religious teachers of the Christian Church.
When I began to write a new biography ot Sundar Singh many important letters which Sundar Singh had received during his last years and which were found in his home at Subathu were sent to me.
I studied them with great care and interest.. I think the most important letter among them was the first letter which Heiler wrote to Sundar Singh in February 1924.He had already written The Gospel of Sundar Singh.
But until that time he had had no personal contact with, him; In that letter he says:
'Since coming to know your life and your preaching, I read the New Testament with new eyes.
But the problem of the true 'and pure Church, which has troubled me since my youth, you do not clear up.
Indeed J think I am able to understand especially your position beyond all particular Christian churches, because
I have not been satisfied either by Catholicism or by Protestantism.
But, on the other hand, I see the great saints of Christianity from the Apostolic Fathers to the mystics of the Middle Ages in the communion of the Church.
St Ignatius of Antioch, St Cyprian, St Augustine, St Chrysostom, St Thomas Aquinas, St Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Genoa, St Teresa of Jesus—they all were devoted in fervent love and truth to their Church; they all could say: "Christian is my name, Catholic my surname."'. They all subordinated themselves to the authority and tradition of the Church; they all lived continually in liturgical and sacramental communion with the Church.
In this synthesis between a living personal communion with Jesus Christ and a complete subordination to the great communion of the Church lay their strength' Guages Singh,
A Biography, p. 199).
This approach of Heiler is quite characteristic of him. ae doctrine of Sundar Singh is examined in the light of the teaching of the great Christian saints, sometimes by way of contrast and sometimes by way of comparison.
It is necessary to study Sundar Singh for the theological insight he gives us.
We know him as a great evangelist who travelled far and wide to preach the Gospel 'of Christ and had
THEOLOGICAL 'STUDY. IN'.GERMANY
33. many adventures.» He walked barefoot) on the heights of the Himalayas and boldly faced:dangers from the political authorities of Tibet and Nepal which were at that! time closed: to the Gospel:
But Heiler made a serious attempt to study the theological aspects of Sundar Singh's teaching. I realized that this was a task that had to be done.
In September 1958 I gave a course of four lectures in the United Theological College, Bangalore on a theological estimate of Sundar Singh.
But they were a very inadequate attempt at a large task.
I hope many men will take up that line of study and write along those lines.
Between 1957 and 1959 Professor and Mrs Htiler spent several months in India.
For a long time Heiler had wanted to visit India; he regarded it as his spiritual home; but it was only towards the end of his life that he was able to realise this ambition.
I was very anxious:to meet him.
But the hot weather had begun in India and I had gone to Kodaikanal with my wife for a holiday.
He and his wife very kindly travelled up to Kodaikanal and we spent a full day together, talking over many things—Sundar Singh, the study of religions and the work the Christian Church has to do in India.
I thought it would be good for him to meet the missionaries at Kodaikanal.
It would be equally good for them to meet a man of learning who had done much independent thinking on many of the subjects which were occupying their minds.
I arranged a meeting in the Kodaikanal Missionary Union.
Over a hundred missionaries attended it.
Prof. Heiler explained with his usual friendliness and understanding the nature of the work which the Church had to do in countries like India. But I am afraid his conception of the missionary task was not acceptable to the people who had gathered there.
They felt that the distinguished scholar had not understood the real situation in India.
Heiler's sermons and lectures gave fascinating glimpses of a lovable personality who had striven hard for many years for Christian fellowship and unity. He has been distressed by the many
Churches of Christendom and their endless debates, discussions and feuds.
Instead of the followers of Christ living together as a family in peace and love there has been much strife and controversy.
In his own life he had bitter experience of such conflicts which have raged among the Churches, particularly with
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regard to Freedom and Authority.
To these troubles pressure from political authorities was added during Hitler's regime. Heiler was strictly warned that he should be careful about every word he spoke, every letter he wrote and every tour he undertook.
He was watched closely, especially his contacts with peopte. outside Germany.
Such restrictions were a burden to a deeply sensitive soul like Heiler's.
So pained was he by these many conflicts. that he described his own life as a fulfilment of St Paul's words:
I 'now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the Church' (Colossians 1:24).
This was the text of one of his 75th birthday sermons.
Slowly it became clear to Heiler that such conflicts would cease only when a new day of renewal and fellowship dawned for the whole Church.
Essentially he was a lover of peace.
He therefore took an active share in the plans which Dr Nathan Soderblom, the Archbishop of Uppsala, set on foot for the union of the Churches.
~ Heiler's friendship with the Archbishop was a close and enduring one.
Again and again he paid generous tribute to: the Archbishop's understanding, sympathy and love.
Heiler also: rejoiced at the new age in the Christian Church which began with the appearance of Pope John XXIII on the ecumenical horizon.
In fact, Heiler began to dream of fellowship among men of all religions and taught that that was the meaning of the prayer of Jesus 'that they may all be one' (John 17:21).
I heard with deep sorrow that Prof. Heiler passed away on April 28, 1967.
His death removed from our midst a great. scholar and:a loyal friend.