Editing Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (section)

====Perennialism====
{{Main|Perennial philosophy}}

According to Radhakrishnan, there is not only an underlying "divine unity"{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=180}} from the seers of the Upanishads up to modern Hindus like Tagore and Gandhi,{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=180}} but also "an essential commonality between philosophical and religious traditions from widely disparate cultures."{{sfn|King|2001}} This is also a major theme in the works of [[Rene Guenon]], the [[Theosophical Society]], and the contemporary popularity of eastern religions in modern [[spirituality]].{{sfn|King|2001}}<ref name=sharf1998/> Since the 1970s, the Perennialist position has been criticised for its essentialism. Social-constructionists give an alternative approach to religious experience, in which such "experiences" are seen as being determined and mediated by cultural determinants:<ref name=sharf1998/><ref name=sharf2000/>{{refn|group=note|See, especially, [[Steven T. Katz]]:
* ''Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis'' (Oxford University Press, 1978)
* ''Mysticism and Religious Traditions'' (Oxford University Press, 1983)
* ''Mysticism and Language'' (Oxford University Press, 1992)
* ''Mysticism and Sacred Scripture'' (Oxford University Press, 2000)}}

As Michaels notes:
{{blockquote|Religions, too, rely not so much on individual experiences or on innate feelings – like a ''sensus numinosus'' (Rudolf Otto) – but rather on behavioral patterns acquired and learned in childhood.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michaels, Axel|title=Hinduism: Past and Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOU9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-08953-9|page=100|access-date=6 December 2018|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418170724/https://books.google.com/books?id=iOU9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Rinehart also points out that "perennialist claims notwithstanding, modern Hindu thought is a product of history",{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=180}} which "has been worked out and expressed in a variety of historical contexts over the preceding two hundreds years."{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=180}} This is also true for Radhakrishan, who was educated by missionaries{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=195}} and, like other neo-Vedantins, used the prevalent western understanding of India and its culture to present an alternative to the western critique.{{sfn|King|2001}}{{sfn|Rinehart|2004}}