Christianity's Similarities with Hinduism

Everyone knows that Christianity grew out of Judaism and, therefore, naturally has a lot of similarities to it. Less well known are the similarities that Christianity has to other religions. The question is, are these similarities simply coincidences or are they indications of a closer relationship - perhaps evidence that Christianity has borrowed from these other religions?

Hinduism Guide Subhamoy Das posts an excerpt from “Proof of Vedic Culture’s Global Existence” by Stephen Knapp:

French historian Alain Danielou had noticed as early as 1950 that “a great number of events which surround the birth of Christ - as it is related in the Gospels - strangely reminded us of Buddha’s and Krishna’s legends.” Danielou quotes as examples the structure of the Christian Church, which resembles that of the Buddhist Chaitya; the rigorous asceticism of certain early Christian sects, which reminds one of the asceticism of Jain and Buddhist saints; the veneration of relics, the usage of holy water, which is an Indian practice, and the word “Amen,” which comes from the Hindu (Sanskrit) “OM.” [...]

There are many other similarities between Hinduism and Christianity, including the use of incense, sacred bread (prasadam), the different altars around churches (which recall the manifold deities in their niches inside Hindu temples), reciting prayers on the rosary (Vedic japamala), the Christian Trinity (the ancient Vedic trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as the creator, maintainer and destroyer respectively, as well as Lord Krishna as the Supreme Lord, the all-pervading Brahman as the holy ghost, and Paramatma as the expansion or son of the Lord), Christian processions, and the use of the sign of the cross (anganyasa), and so many others.

The Burning Cross is a site designed to explore the connections between Christianity and Hinduism:

Christianity has borrowed all its theology from other much older religious traditions. This has been done to such an extent that it can hardly be said that Christianity has anything original in the field of theology save and except the dogma of the ‘one and only Savior.’ [...]

Archaeology has also been a slow but yielding science in the search for a better understanding of the great past of the human race. Recent archaeological findings in India and Pakistan are revealing that the Indus civilization and the Sanskrit Vedic literature written in that time period are the basis and origin of all philosophical and religious thought in the world.

Personally, I think that the claims of Christianity borrowing from other religions go much farther than the evidence warrants. There are some very interesting possibilities here, but before we insist that Christianity has borrowed from other religions, we have to be able to exclude the possibility that these are coincidences.

Religions are human creations and humans are far more similar than they are different. Human languages and human cultures all have similarities that weren’t borrowed, but developed independently. Is it really so difficult to imagine that the same would be true with religions? There isn’t an infinite number of possible variations of beliefs. It’s completely implausible that there would be any religion in the world that didn’t have any similarities with other religions.

It’s not implausible that a couple of elements of Christianity were derived in some fashion from Hindu influences, but the very strong and positive claims of extensive borrowing need to be backed up by far more evidence that the claims’ defenders have thus far managed.

 

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