Criticism
Criticism wasn't too far. Sunand Sumithra in his doctoral dissertation defended at the University of Tübingen, Germany in 1981 criticised (page 217) the work of Samartha arguing that Samartha failed to project Christ's distinctness in a pluralistic context. However, Samartha responded that Sunand Sumithra was not aware of the beliefs of other faiths. Kirsteen Kim believed that Sunand Sumithra was indeed aware of the beliefs of others and only wanted to distinguish Christ from others.
Further, Sunand Sumithra in a book on Christian Theology from an Indian Perspective evaluated Samartha's writings. He summarized that Samartha resorted to Advaitic system not on theological grounds but on mere empirical enquiry.
Similarly, Ken Gnanakan of the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies, Bangaluru argued that Samartha's writings failed to uphold the Biblical Text in a setting of theology of religions.
Sunand Sumithra and Ken Gnanakan may have been right in their argument if one looks into a recent doctoral work by Dirk Griffioen submitted to the Utrecht University where Dirk brings to light the fact that Samartha rejected the Dutch Reformed Theologian Hendrik Kraemer's version of Christology stating that it was Christomonistic and not theocentric.
Samartha first met Hendrik Kraemer in Bossey during his sabbatical in Basel.
Read more about this topic: Stanley Jedidiah Samartha, Contribution
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