Triggered to Thinking

Jeremy Holtom has written a fascinating essay in The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible relating to Mohandas K. Gandhi’s view of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Holtom begins his article by quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and his reverence for Gandhi. King states, “Just with a little love and understanding and goodwill and a refusal to cooperate with an evil law he was able to break the backbone of the British Empire. This, I think, is one of the most significant things that has ever happened in the history of the world. More than 390 million people achieved their freedom and they achieved it non-violently” (Holtom, 2011, p. 542). Gandhi is seen as a pioneer of the idea of peaceful, nonviolent protest. This kind of thinking about nonviolent protest would influence Martin Luther King Jr. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he wrote, “For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest” (King, 1963/2017, p. 164).

A key aspect of Gandhi’s view of Christianity was indebted to his analysis and thought on Matthew 5–7. Holtom is keen to mention that for Gandhi, “Gandhi’s particular responses to the concepts contained in the Sermon on the Mount must therefore be understood not only in the context of his dialogue with Christianity but in the terms of his own Hindu faith as he understood and lived it” (Holtom, 2011, p. 543).

Gandhi had a complicated relationship with Christianity. He was originally repulsed by the ideas of missionaries pushing conversion. He was also put off by converts eating beef and drinking brandy (Holtom, 2011, p. 544). Gandhi was a believer in the unity of all religions, and his upbringing could have contributed to his belief that no one religion was the sole true religion. Thus, for Gandhi, it was not seen as a contradiction to appreciate and respect Jesus’s words, as he believed that Jesus was a manifestation of God. He even had a close Christian friend, Charles Freer Andrews, who wrote about Gandhi’s life and ideas. Holtom notes, “It was, in part at least, through Andrews’s influence that worship at Gandhi’s ashrams made use of Christian hymns and Christian scriptures, of which unquestionably the most important was the Sermon on the Mount” (Holtom, 2011, pp. 545–546).

The Bhagavad Gita held a special place in Gandhi’s mind, but he placed equal importance on the Sermon on the Mount. He didn’t accept the Bible as a whole, but he did revere the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). He stated, “‘The message of Jesus is contained in the Sermon on the Mount, unadulterated and taken as a whole… If I had to face only the Sermon on the Mount and my own interpretation of it I should not hesitate to say, “Oh yes I am a Christian”’” (as cited in Holtom, 2011, p. 546).

Gandhi disliked much of the Hebrew Bible, but for him, “The New Testament produced a different impression, especially the Sermon on the Mount which went straight to my heart. I compared it with the Gita” (as cited in Holtom, 2011, p. 547). Whether one is a serious student of the New Testament, reading it for personal or theological reasons, or casually reading the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount can be a fascinating read. Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (New American Standard Bible, 2020, Matthew 5:9). He also condemns striking back against a person who struck you first (Matthew 5:38–40). Next, Jesus speaks about charitable giving to the poor and shows his disciples how to pray in chapter six. He concludes the Sermon on the Mount by speaking against judging, discussing the narrow and wide gates, and following his teaching in chapter seven. It is easy to see how this sermon can appeal even to non-Christians. Dale C. Allison notes, “All too often in the modern world the Sermon on the Mount has been divorced not only from its larger literary context but from the person of its speaker, as though it contains an ethic that can be separated from christology” (Allison, 1999, p. 15).

Allison explains the parallels between Jesus’ teaching and messages from prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures in his work The Sermon on the Mount. R. T. France, when writing on this sermon, addresses the significance of this message for the kingdom of heaven. He writes, “The essence of life in the kingdom of heaven is in fact the antithesis of a legalistic code, as 5:20 will state and 5:21–48 will repeatedly illustrate. The discourse is indeed intended as a guide to life, but only for those who are committed to the kingdom of heaven, and even they will always find that its reach exceeds their grasp” (France, 2007, p. 154).

Holtom makes the argument that by Gandhi focusing on the Sermon on the Mount, he is “open to the charge that he has taken a ‘pick-and-choose’ approach to the Christian Bible, embracing what appealed to him and dismissing what did not” (Holtom, 2011, p. 547). If Gandhi did take this approach—and I won’t accuse him of doing so—he would not be unique among readers from the past or present. Dale Allison notes, “The erroneous conviction comes from the unfortunate habit of viewing the Sermon in isolation. Readers, especially modern readers, have again and again interpreted Matthew 5–7 as though the chapters were complete unto themselves, as though they constituted a book rather than a portion of a book” (Allison, 1999, p. xi).

A Christian scholar named Marcus Borg, who was a member of the Jesus Seminar, promoted forms of Christianity that moved away from extremely literalistic views. He was seen by some as a member of a religious movement known as “progressive Christianity.” Thomas Long notes, “Borg was a textbook example of embodying a religious predicament shared by many” (Long, 2017). Long explains that Borg emphasized a view of Jesus concerned with mercy, love, compassion, and social justice while moving away from some traditional understandings of Christian theology (Long, 2017). This provides a more modern example of how different readers can emphasize particular aspects of Jesus’ teachings.

Other portions of the Gospel of Matthew display Jesus’ teaching related to eschatological punishment and punishing wrong and rewarding good actions. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (New American Standard Bible, 2020). Gehenna is the place of final punishment for the wicked (Harrington, 1991, p. 150).In another part of Matthew’s Gospel, there is a judgment scene about the end of the world in Matthew 25:31–46. This passage entails a division of those who will be punished and those who will be rewarded for their actions, and the terms eternal punishment and eternal life are used. It is important to note that this passage does contain a wide array of interpretations. Some believe that this passage could mean that one’s destiny after death could be related to their actions and philanthropic actions (France, 2007, p. 957). John Claeys notes, “Also, count Brian McLaren among this majority assemblage, a prominent Christian pastor, author, activist, speaker, and leading figure in the emerging church movement who believes that one’s eternal destiny hinges on performing works of love and mercy toward others” (Claeys, 2017, pp. 55–56).

The Sermon on the Mount thus appealed to Gandhi because it emphasizes individual responsibility for moral actions. Gandhi, at an address in Colombo, stated, “‘By all means drink deep of the fountains that are given to you in the Sermon on the Mount; but then you will have to put on sackcloth and ashes with regard to your failure to perform that which is taught in Christ’s Sermon. For the teaching of the Sermon was meant for each and every one of us’” (as cited in Holtom, 2011, p. 550). In the movie Gandhi, in response to a group of racist teenagers, he replies to his clergyman friend Charles Freer Andrews, “Doesn’t the New Testament say if your enemy strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the left?” (Attenborough, 1982). Gandhi believed this passage meant you must show courage.

Gandhi was also influenced by the ethical Russian novelist and radical religious thinker Count Leo Tolstoy, who had an influence on Gandhi’s thought. Tolstoy’s book The Kingdom of God Is Within You applied Matthew 5:39, “‘Resist not evil by force,’ and uses it as a basis for a polemic against church and state and a call to return to Christ’s teaching” (Holtom, 2011, p. 550). Gandhi began to use the term satyagraha to relate to a new form of civil disobedience that started among the Indians of South Africa. Satyagraha emerged as a new political and civil concept to oppose unjust laws. While this was not a Christian concept, it had parallels in Christian teaching. Satyagraha’s primary roots were in the Indian concept of ahimsa, or nonviolence, which is central to Jainism. Gandhi had grown up in Gujarat, where the Jain faith was influential.

In a previous post, I compared how Jainism and Christianity have some similar concepts, and ahimsa and the Sermon on the Mount are key areas where these traditions have similarities. This can explain why Gandhi was especially interested in the Sermon on the Mount. Holtom notes, “Indeed, the comparison between ahimsa and the Christian concept of universal, unconditional love or agape is so easy to make that Gandhi at times seems to use the terms interchangeably in support of satyagraha: ‘If you express your love-ahimsa in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon your so called enemy, he must return that love’” (Holtom, 2011, p. 553).

Gandhi sought to implement aspects of the Sermon on the Mount into his own life. This was also an interesting example of a non-Christian examining the famous Sermon on the Mount. Any interested students of religion and the Bible should next examine The Jewish Annotated New Testament, second edition, edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, to see another example of non-Christians examining Christian scriptures. It can be useful to see how different people can read scripture and view and interpret it differently.

Works Cited

Allison, D. C. (1999). The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the moral imagination. Crossroad Publishing.

Attenborough, R. (Director). (1982). Gandhi [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

Claeys, J. (2017). Matthew 25:31–46: Salvation by works? Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, 30(59), 55–70. https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/matthew-2531-46-salvation-by-works/

France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Harrington, D. J. (1991). The Gospel of Matthew. Liturgical Press.

Holtom, J. (2011). Gandhi’s interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. In M. Lieb, E. Mason, J. Roberts, & C. Rowland (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the reception history of the Bible (pp. 542–556). Oxford University Press.

King, M. L., Jr. (2017). Letter from Birmingham Jail. In J. K. Kosek (Ed.), American religion, American politics: An anthology (pp. 159–169). Yale University Press. (Original work published 1963)

Levine, A.-J., & Brettler, M. Z. (Eds.). (2017). The Jewish annotated New Testament (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Long, T. G. (2017). The binary Christianity of Marcus Borg. The Christian Century. https://www.christiancentury.org/review/binary-christianity-of-marcus-borg

New American Standard Bible. (2020). The Lockman Foundation.