‘To Read in an Indian Way’ (Johann Gottfried Herder): Pre-Emergent Colonial Epistemologies in Indian–German Entanglements, Showcased in Protestant Theology c.1800

Abstract

In this chapter, Simon Wiesgickl shows how, by the end of the eighteenth century, new epistemologies and a new Wissenschaftlichkeit were forming part of the colonial set-up in Germany. He discusses German identity by drawing comparisons between German and foreign cultures, with a focus on the theological discussions that were so central to many debates on German identity. He explains how Johann Gottfried Herder extolled the beauty and value of the Hebrew language and used new ideas and notions of India in his innovative interpretation of the Hebrew Bible as an introduction to the Orient. Herder identified the spirit of poetry and the ‘childhood of mankind’ with the Orient, especially India. By ‘reading in an Indian way’, Herder inspired the German debate about its origin and paved the way for a new ethnographic understanding of the Hebrew Bible. Eventually, he also helped to craft a picture of Indians as noble savages who were mild, close to nature, and fully sensuous.