Reflections on Five Years of Vaishnava-Christian Dialogue: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Growing up in a small town in Wisconsin in the 1960s and 70s, in a religiously conservative family, it was not on my horizon to join with
“Hindus” in dialogue and worship. “They” were people “we” sent missionaries to convert. I knew from age 7 that I wanted to be a Lutheran pastor, and sometimes I even imagined traveling to an exotic place like India where I might convert “heathens” to the one, true faith in Jesus Christ. Being such a missionary seemed to me at the time like the highest adventure a human could have. My engagement with the Vaishnava tradition has, I am happy to report, expanded my horizons about adventure.