Georges Dandoy was a Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary in India, theologian and Indologist. He is included in the so-called ‘Calcutta School of Indology’.
Education
After a year of philosophical studies at Namur, he was sent to Stonyhurst, England to complete his philosophy, and to begin studying Sanskrit at Oxford University. Sent to Kolkata, he began teaching at St Xavier’s College before beginning his theological studies at St Mary’s, Kurseong, near Darjeeling. He was ordained priest in November 1914.
Work
His theological thinking was influenced by William Wallace SJ, a former Anglican priest who had become a Roman Catholic following his study of Hinduism. Dandoy was, above all, very close to the missiology of Pierre Charles, who encouraged an approach that was both respectful of the religions and open to the cultures of the East. After some years of teaching theology at Kurseong, Dandoy returned to Kolkata where he passed the rest of his life. While in Kurseong, in 1919, he published An Essay in the Doctrine of the Unreality of the World in the Advaita. In 1932 he published L'ontologie du Vedanta: Essai sur l'acosmisme de l'Advaita; Jacques Maritain and Olivier Lacombe both contributed commentaries at the end of the work. While being rector of a house of formation, he devoted himself totally to research and wrote articles and books in the field of the encounter between Catholic theology and Hinduism. With Pierre Johanns he founded and edited the monthly The Light of the East.
Primary
"The Philosophy of Rāmānuja as compared with that of Śaṅkara". Doctoral dissertation, Oxford University.
An Essay in the Doctrine of the Unreality of the World in the Advaita. Calcutta: Catholic Orphan Press, 1919 ; translated into French as L'ontologie du Vedânta. Essai sur l'acosmisme de l'Advaita, with additional commentaries by Jacques Maritain and Olivier Lacombe, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1932.
"What is Catholicism?" Light of the East 4; 3–4; 4; 3; 4–5.
"Catholicism and National Customs". Light of the East 1; 1; 1.
"Who was Jesus of Nazareth?" Light of the East 23; 2; 2–3; 2–3.
"Mystic Experience". Light of the East 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2.
"The Vedantic Theory of Reaching God by Stages of Perfection". Light of the East 65–66.
"The Mystic Experiences". Light of the East 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2.
"Were All Our Ancestors Condemned to Hell". Light of the East 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2; 1–2.
"Religious Experience and Religion". Light of the East 1–2.
"Religions and Religion". Light of the East 1–2.
"Hindu Semi-Pessimism and its Consequences". Light of the East 37–38.
"Scholasticism and Advaita". Light of the East 109–112.
"Catholicism and Hinduism". Light of the East 97–99; 109–110; 121–123; 135–137; 1–4; 13–17; 37–40; 73–78; 85–89; 133–137; 1–5; 37–40; 49–52; 61–64; 73–76; 97–100; 25–28.
"Is One Religion as Good as Another?" Light of the East 121–123.
"Are All Religions Good?" Light of the East 133–136.
"Religions and Religion". Light of the East 13–15.
"Mukti according to Madhva." Light of the East 14.
"Why Gandhiji Blames Us". Light of the East 225–227; 5–8; 25–28.
"The Indwelling God". Light of the East 22–24.
"Asceticism". Light of the East 44–48.
"Vivarta and Creation". Light of the East 205–209.
"Creation and Mystical Union". Light of the East 118–122; 135–138.
"Creation as a Religious Doctrine". Light of the East 149–152.
"Objection to Creation". Light of the East 69–71; 85–87; 102–106; 118–121.
"Prolegomena to Our Theological Task". Light of the East 122–123; 155–158.
"Living Christ". Light of the East 2–6.
"Religion versus Religions." Light of the East 17.
