MNLU-Mumbai Course on Faith, Pandemic and Reason: Texts and Contexts

In both popular and academic thinking, reason and faith appear as absolute binaries. We often see our own age as one inspired and guided by reason and rational order. Our institutions of governance, judiciary, and research advance a spirit of critique and inquiry over adherence to dogma. And yet, as public behaviour during the pandemic has shown, the tension between the two is far from settled. In both waves of the pandemic in India, religious gatherings proceeded despite rising infections and protests by healthcare workers, medical experts and the civil society. That said, India of course is no stranger to this tenuous relation between faith and reason. A sizeable body of colonial literature from the country displays, for instance, the mix of horror, fascination and disgust underlining the western gaze of ‘native’ rituals and pilgrimages despite the spread of infectious, life-threatening diseases. Responses from the emerging Indian intelligentsia ranged likewise from measured support for the western, rational standpoint to outright resistance against attempts of interference in matters of faith.

In this context, it might prove especially interesting to revisit some of these past and current debates and events from the lens of justice, interfaith relations as well as the reason v/s religion binary. The legal system in India today and attendant notions of justice draw heavily from western notions of fairness, rationality and public order while also translating these into idioms and notions more rooted in Indian contexts. The course uses this as a point of departure to further explore intercultural encounters, engagements between faiths, and implications of the religion v/s reason debate in public health interventions, especially in times of crises like a pandemic. Readings for the course are cross-disciplinary and cater to multiple interests including literature, cultural studies, philosophy and law.