David Ananda Hart (1954 – 1 March 2024) was a British radical theologian,

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest and a practising

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Life and career

Educated at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

and

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

, with a doctorate in Philosophy of Religion from the

University of Derby The University of Derby, formerly known as Derby College, is a public university in the city of Derby, England. It traces its history back to the establishment of the Derby Diocesan Institution for the training of schoolmistresses in 1851. It ...

, Hart was a prominent member of a group of non-realist theologians inspired by the work of

Don Cupitt Don Cupitt (22 May 1934 – 18 January 2025) was an English philosopher of religion and academic of Christian theology. He had been an Anglican priest and a lecturer in the University of Cambridge, though he was better known as a popular writer ...

. In the 1990s Hart worked as a chaplain at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

in the midlands. In 2006 Hart was the subject of some controversy after newspapers in India and the UK reported that he had converted to Hinduism, changing his middle name from Alan to Ananda, but without renouncing Christianity or his priestly orders. Hart was India Secretary of the

World Congress of Faiths The World Congress of Faiths was founded in 1936 by Francis Younghusband for promoting interfaith dialogue. The first event took place from 3-17 July, 1936. Created after Parliament of the World's Religions, the event was attended by Russell Barry ...

. He was also a Fellow of the

Jesus Seminar The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 biblical criticism scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 200 ...

(USA) and Samvada (India). His proposed book 'An Introduction to Hinduism' (London: Continuum 2009; Series Editor:

Clinton Bennett Clinton Bennett (born 7 October 1955, Staffordshire, England) is a British-American scholar of Religious studies and participant in interfaith dialogue, specializing in Islamic studies and the relations between Islam and other religions. He is ...

) was intended to examine the breadth of the Hindu faith as he discovered it living in India and show how he regards his position as a Hindu believer as entirely compatible with being an Anglican priest in good standing with his diocesan bishop back in England. In September 2014 David Ananda returned to his home in South India to take up a position as Consultant and Teacher for the Venad Education and Social Services, a registered NGO in India providing educational opportunities for the children of the marginalised Christian fishing communities in five centres in Kerala and one in Sri Lanka. He was also finalising his eighth book 'Study in Hinduism' which was due out early in 2015. Hart died in Sri Lanka on 1 March 2024, at the age of 69.

Publications

*''Faith in Doubt: Non-Realism and Christian Belief'' (Mowbray 1993) *''One Faith? Non-Realism and the World of Faiths'' (Mowbray 1995) *''Linking Up: Christianity and Sexuality'' (Arthur James 1997) *(co-editor) ''Time and Tide: Sea of Faith Beyond the Millennium'' (O Books 2001) *''Multi-Faith Britain: An Experiment in Worship'' (O Books 2002) *''Trading Faith: Global Religion in an Age of Rapid Change'' (O Books 2007) *''The Unification of World Faith: the Challenge of Sun Myung Moon'' (Om Books 2007) *''Study in Hinduism'' (Om Books 2015 forthcoming) "The Wide Gulf in the Gulf: the Religious Origins of the War in the Levant" (co-authored with His Grace Mar Aprem, Head of Church of the East"

References

External links

Christian priest converts to Hinduism

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, David Ananda 1954 births 2024 deaths Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Union Theological Seminary alumni Converts to Hinduism from Christianity Alumni of the University of Derby