History of Hindu-Christian Encounters (AD 304 to 1996) is Sita Ram Goel’s comprehensive chronological survey of how Hindu thinkers, saints, and sages have viewed Christianity and its exclusive claims, from the early Christian attack on Hindu temples in the Roman Empire to contemporary encounters.

Structure

The second edition (1996) contains 25 chapters organised in five chronological phases:

  1. Portuguese Era — Christianity in its true colours: crude language and cruel methods; temple destruction and Inquisition in Goa
  2. British Consolidation — Missions restrained from physical violence but crude in language; rise of Hindu reform movements (Arya Samaj) that set Christianity back
  3. Gandhian Era — Mahatma Gandhi’s sarva-dharma-samabhava (equal regard for all religions) forced Christianity onto the defensive; the Tambram Conference (1938)
  4. Post-Independence — Constitutional right to convert; Nehru’s patronage of anti-Hindu ideologies; multiplication of missionary apparatus; new theologies of fulfilment, indigenisation, liberation, and dialogue
  5. Contemporary Hindu Awakening — Meenakshipuram conversions, renewed Muslim aggression, the Ramajanmabhumi Movement, and Western media outcry

Key Arguments

  • Christianity has never been a religion but a predatory imperialism par excellence
  • The encounter should be viewed as a battle between daivī (divine) and āsurī (demonic) propensities—war between the Vedic and Biblical traditions
  • The Christian missionary apparatus aims to ruin Hindu society and culture and take over the Hindu homeland
  • Christian “dialogue” is a strategy for survival, not sincere reconciliation
  • Dogma was never meant for discussion—it is a subterfuge for organisational weaponry for aggression

Notable Figures

The book covers responses from 17th-century Tamil Nadu Pandits, Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Keshub Chander Sen, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Mahatma Gandhi, and others.

See Also