Jan 7

Jan 7 Francis Clooney Became A Scholar Of Hindu Scriptures By Accident

Photo: Francis Clooney, center, in India, 2023

January 7, 2024

A Global Indian Times Interview

By Cherian Samuel* and Ignatius Chithelen**

In 2010, Francis Xavier Clooney, an American, was elected a Fellow of the British Academy for his “classical Hindu Scriptural interpretation…comparative theology, grounded in Hindu-Christian studies; (and study of) Catholic missionary traditions in India.”

Clooney, 73-years-old, has a good reading knowledge of Sanskrit and Tamil. He studied in some depth darshanas (Sanskrit Hindu texts) such as Purva Mimamsa, Advaita and Vishistadvaita Vedanta, and the Tamil tradition of the alvars. He has extensively researched the common features of Christianity and Hinduism.

He is the author of 24 books including Hindu God, Christian God (2001); A Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Shrivaisnava Hindus, (2008); and recently, Reading the Hindu and Christian Classics: Why and How It Matters, (2019); Western Jesuit Scholars in India (2020); and St. Joseph in South India, (2022).

A vegetarian since 1974, Clooney’s early articles include “Vegetarianism and Religion” and “The Social Spirituality of Mohandas K. Gandhi.”

An American Roman Catholic priest, he is a member of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order, since 1968.

Clooney is a Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at the Harvard Divinity School. His courses include “Hinduism-Introduction to Upanishads”, “Krishna and Christ”, and courses on the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and other classical texts.

He joined Harvard University in 2005, following 21 years of teaching at Boston College. He earned his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago, 1984; an MDiv, from the Weston School of Theology, Boston,1978; and a BA in Philosophy and Classics from Fordham University, New York, 1973.

Fifty years after his first visit there, he traveled to India in the summer of 2023, visiting New Delhi, Varanasi, Chennai, Madurai, and Mumbai, giving lectures in each city. There is growing prosperity and confidence in India, writes Clooney in a post on his blog The Inner Edge, about his trip to India in July-August 2023. Yet, “Terrible poverty still plagues people all over the country,” he adds. “Sadly, we still hear news about instances of inexcusable violence, most often against minorities and oppressed communities, sometimes sudden eruptions but sometimes too as parts of campaigns of intimidation.”

Clooney notes that “The wisdom of India is a multifaith wisdom, inclusive of the Hindu traditions, of course, but also the heritage of Buddhist, Jaina, and Parsee faiths, of old Jewish communities, of Muslim sufis, and of the many Christian communities that have deep and old roots in India. My sense — based on my limited experience on this trip – is that the vast majority of Indians want India to celebrate its large Hindu majority heritage without neglecting or being hostile toward the many other faiths that have flourished here.”

Clooney’s memoir, Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story, will be published in July.

Last month, in a video conversation with Cherian Samuel and Ignatius Chithelen, Clooney spoke about his memoir, his interest in Hinduism and India, common aspects of Christianity and Hinduism and current religious tensions in India.

Global Indian Times: How many visits to India?

Francis Clooney: Nineteen so far, over the past fifty years, trips ranging from one week to two years. Indians are friendly and welcoming; they often welcome me into their homes, inviting me to join them for chai.

I like idli, dosa and other Indian food. I attend Carnatic music concerts and Bharat Natyam performances. I visit temples admiring their architecture, and their living religious spirit.

GIT: What first attracted you to India?

Clooney: I was required to spend a couple of years teaching, as part of the training for the Jesuit order. I decided to teach overseas, instead of staying in the U.S. Philippines, Ecuador, Nigeria, and India were potential choices. I chose India because of my interest in Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa and wanting to be like them.

After I finished a BA from Fordham University, in 1973, I spent two years in Nepal, teaching at St. Xavier’s, a Jesuit-run boy’s boarding school in Kathmandu.

GIT: Why Nepal and not India?

Clooney: There was tension between the U.S. and India, following the 1971 India Pakistan war and the independence of Bangladesh. I was advised against going to India, simply because it might take a long time to get a visa. I decided to go to Nepal, where I became enchanted by the rituals, practices, and festivals of Hinduism as well as Buddhism. Luckily, even while in Kathmandu I was able to visit north Indian sites, such as Patna in Bihar, and Calcutta.

GIT: What was it like teaching at St. Xavier’s? Presumably among the top schools in Nepal, similar in status to Jesuit schools and colleges in India.

Clooney: Yes, it was the number one or number two school in Nepal.

It was my first teaching experience. I taught students in grades 8 to 12. I taught English: grammar, spelling, reading skills. We also studied books including Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities.

I also taught Moral Science to Hindu and Buddhist students, who were the vast majority at the school. Topics like the value of money, telling the truth, non-violence. To illustrate the ethical issues, I discussed tales from the Bhagavad Gita and from Buddhist Jataka texts. Ethical issues, after all, are usually deeply spiritual as well.

Teaching teenagers was challenging though, just like in the US, and I had to learn to teach. I like students who do the assigned reading and listen to me, but also those who raise difficult questions. I like those who are not passive, but eager to learn and challenge teachers.

GIT: What is common between Christianity and Hinduism?

Clooney: There are strong parallels between the practices of Roman Catholicism and Hinduism, especially the Vaishnavite Hindu tradition, anchored in faith in the Hindu God Vishnu. You get a broadly similar religious feel in a Hindu temple and a Catholic church. In terms of rituals, sacraments, offering of holy communion and prasad, images and statues in churches and temples. Protestant Christians will foster a different relation to Hinduism, with different points of similarity and difference.

While there are broad similarities between the Catholic God and the Hindu Gods, there are no Catholic parallels for the Hindu Goddesses, but the closest parallel is with Virgin Mary. Learning about the Goddesses has enhanced my appreciation for the Virgin Mary.

GIT: How is your work on Hinduism regarded by other Jesuits?

Clooney: The Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order founded in 1540), has long been active in India. Francis Xavier (1506-42) traveled to Goa, India, in 1542, as the very first Jesuit to travel overseas. He was followed by many others, including the pioneering Roberto Nobili (1577–1656) and brilliant Tamil scholar Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-1747).

So, the Jesuits have been working in India for almost 500 years. They have made significant contributions in education, healthcare, agriculture, and social programs.

I am very careful and academic in my approach and I remain a Catholic. While I teach at Harvard, I am also a priest at a nearby church in Sharon (near Boston) and serve parishioners and say Mass on Sundays.

GIT: Did you work as a Catholic priest in India?

Clooney: Yes, while I was doing research for my PhD thesis. I assisted Father Arputhasamy in Madras (Chennai), offering the English Mass at Kodambakkam and in Tambaram, and once in a while, Mass in Tamil.

GIT: How did you become interested in Tamil literature?

Clooney: It was accidental. At the Jesuit seminary, I learned Latin and Greek, which I had started learning in high school, and German and French. In 1979, as a newly ordained priest, I was permitted to pursue a PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. I had planned to study Sanskrit. But I was required to learn a second language. I chose Tamil, rather than Urdu or Bengali, because of Professor A. K. Ramanujan (1929-1993) and other professors who recommended Tamil to me. They said the study of Tamil would be very different than learning Sanskrit, and of interest to me religiously too.

As part of my research, and as a Fulbright Fellow, I spent two years (at the Kuppuswami Shastri Research Institute) in Mylapore, Madras (Chennai). In a first year (1982-83) studying Sanskrit texts of Purva Mimamsa, about Hindu ritual interpretation. I finished my thesis in 1984. It was later published as my first book. In a second year (1992-93) I studied Tamil poetry, the songs of the Vaishnava Saints. That too became a book.

I can read Tamil reasonably well. Though it is never easy. I do not get many chances to speak in Tamil. Even when I am in Tamil Nadu, people speak to me in English. But, after spending a few weeks there, my spoken Tamil improves a bit; I would need really to spend some months in a completely Tamil environment, but I never have had the chance to do so.

GIT: You have written 24 books. Which has been the most challenging?

Clooney: Yes, I write a lot and am always working on something. As a professor, I am also expected to publish papers and books, though being a tenured professor there is no pressure.

I am motivated by a desire to share knowledge with a wider audience. This underpins my approach to teaching as well.

All my books are intellectually challenging, because I try not to repeat myself. My books have different themes. Luckily, I do not experience writer’s block while I am writing, though I revise a lot, improving my texts slowly, patiently.

GIT: What were the most common questions asked during your last visit to India?

Clooney: I was in India during the summer (2023), for five weeks, in part to mark my first visit to the country fifty years ago. I traveled to Delhi, Varanasi, Chennai, Madurai, and Mumbai, delivering at least 17 lectures and presentations.

At that time, the bloody clashes between the Hindus and Christians in Manipur were front page news. But, while being very concerned, I am not an expert in politics or current events. I am an academic, and I do not live in India. I try not to give public statements on topics where I lack expertise.

The most common question: “Professor/Father, why are you so interested in Hindu traditions as a Catholic priest? We are living in a time of significant majority-minority divide based on religions. After all, we are increasingly living in a world of intolerance. A worrisome time, including in the US.”

I explained many times that when there are divisions and lack of interest in learning, we need to be able to show the value of interfaith learning. Being a good Christian does not at all mean that I cannot learn deeply from Hinduism and other religions. I believe it is important for people to know other traditions. Know your religion but also learn something about other religions.

GIT: Are you advising students in India?

Clooney: For several years, I have served as an external advisor for PhD students at the University of Madras. Over the decades, I have worked with about 30 doctoral students in India, though usually only in an informal, advisory manner. Even now, I get emails from students in India seeking advice on applying to the Divinity School at Harvard and other matters. I respond to them, trying to help in any way I can give back.

GIT: What are your current projects?

Clooney: I am translating Tamil Vaishnava literature probably for the Murty Classical Library of India series. I am working on an essay on Ethics and Hinduism, and other small projects. I have just finished a memoir which will be published in a few months: Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story. Please read it!

GIT: Why a memoir?

Clooney: As discussed, I have been a Catholic all my life and in the Jesuit order for 56 years. I also have a strong interest in Hindu scriptures and traditions. My memoir is an attempt to make sense of it all, and to encourage young people to do the same, being rooted in their faith, but open to other faiths.

GIT: Why did you become a priest?

Clooney: I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in an Irish American Catholic family. We moved to Staten Island, New York, when I was one month old. From an early age, I felt the call of God. I wanted to do something that was intellectually stimulating yet spiritually sincere and honest too. I entered the Jesuit seminary days after my 18th birthday, after attending the Regis School (a Jesuit Catholic high school in New York City.)

GIT: Are your books translated into Tamil and other Indian languages?

Clooney: No. Some of my books have been translated into German and French, and once into Chinese, once Korean, and once Hungarian. But nothing yet in Indian languages. I welcome collaboration with scholars in India who want to translate my books into Tamil or other Indian languages.