The concept of “persona” in Hinduism and Christianity. A theological approach
The concept of “persona” in Hinduism and Christianity. A theological approach

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims at a comparing exposure between Christianity and classical Hinduism on the concept of person, analysed from theological point of view. In this plan, i.e.of the Divine and human understanding as a person, there is not only a distinction between these two great world religions, but also a level difference, qualitatively insurmountable,since Christianity rests on postulating and understanding of God as the Person par excellence, while in the current Asiatic religion, at the absolute level, divinity (Brahman)goes beyond the status of a person, that is endowed with only at a lower level (phenomenal). The postulation of a single ultimate Reality, in which souls return once they reached the state of liberation, can be understood but only through a monistic-pantheistic identification of the creaturely with the Absolute, Brahman. For despite the insistence on a personal relationship between man and divinity that we find at some classical thinkers, ultimately,what remains is the absolute and impersonal reality of Brahman. Man cannot be thought of in personal terms, rather than as a temporary manifestation, for once with the breakage of the causal chain: «avidya-karma-samsara», he gets dissolved in the impersonal Absolute of God. In Christianity, the problem of person and that of hypostasizing nature is expressed in such a way that excludes simultaneous emphasis on unity (One) or plurality (Multiple). Christian theology knows no abstract deity: God cannot be conceived outside the three Persons.

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