World Parliament of Religions

Meeting in Chicago in 1893 to which
representatives from major world religions were invited, including Asian religions. It marks a watershed in the
Euro-American conception of nonChristian religions, in which they were
no longer seen as simple idolatry but
taken seriously as genuine religious
paths. It is also notable that many mainline Christian churches were not represented there, and that the main
Christian presence came from historically black churches. One of the
Parliament’s highlights was the address
by Swami Vivekananda, in which
Hinduism—in its rational, Vedantic
form—was first seriously received by his
Western hearers. Vivekananda’s presence was charismatic enough that he
spent the next four years living in
America and in 1897 founded the
Vedanta Society.