Manilal C. Parekh

Manilal Chhotalal Parekh (1885–1967), a Gujarati convert to Anglican church, was an Indian Christian theologian, and the founder of Hindu Church of Christ - free from Western influence - opposing Western and institutional nature of Christianity in India.

He developed a new syncretistic Jesus-Yogi model, identifying himself as a Hindu disciple of Jesus Christ - although, Jesus never knew of Yoga, Parekh credited him with being a Yogi by birth. He authored several books, especially A Hindu's Portrait of Christ that constructed a portrait of Christ from a Hindu point of view.

Biography

Early life Parekh was born in 1885 at Rajkot of western Gujarat, India, in a family already following Jainism and Vaishnavism, specifically followed by his father. consciously Christian, but in Hindu surroundings like Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, Narayan Vaman Tilak, and Pandita Ramabai - all these were said to be Hindus by birth, but claimed to remain Christians. He denounced the Westernized church, as he felt it had become more communal body that was more political and social, rather than spiritual; furthermore, he felt culturally Church was "anti-national," and lost its identity as Christian. He did not believe that the Christian Church as set up in Europe would be able to adapt to the Indian way of life, eg, with the culture of vegetarianism being a normal way of life in India.

Hindu Church of Christ Having studied the Bible, he interpreted the victory of Jesus in accepting the Cross in a non-violent way; he considered the Christian church as the invention of Europeans and denounced the Christian church to had become a civil community, instead of a spiritual fellowship.

Gandhi, being a non-Christian, acknowledged the moral excellence of Jesus Christ and the relevance of his teachings, with or without a personal commitment to him - however Gandhi did not convert to Christianity. Parekh, a convert from non-Christian religion to Christianity, personally committed to Christ with conversion by retaining his former religious identity - therefore seeing himself as belonging to multiple religions. Gandhi directed his apologetic against the claims that Christianity is a superior religion, while Parekh tried to fuse together Christianity and all other theistic religions retaining Hindu identity.

Works

Sri Swami Narayana : (a gospel of Bhagwat-dharma, or, God in redemptive action). Rajarshi Ram Mohan Roy (1927) Keshub Chunder Sen: His Relation to Christianity. A Hindu's Portrait of Christ: A Gospel of God's Free Gift of His Sonship (1953)