Comparative Theology

Deep Learning Across Religious Borders
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4051-7974-4
Verlag: Wiley

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 141 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 256 g

Drawing upon the author’s three decades of work in comparative theology, this is a pertinent and comprehensive introduction to the field, which offers a clear guide to the reader, enabling them to engage in comparative study. - The author has three decades of experience of work in the field of comparative theology and is ideally placed to write this book
- Today’s increasing religious diversity makes this a pertinent and timely publication
- Unique in the depth of its introduction and explanation of the discipline of ‘comparative theology’
- Provides examples of how comparative theology works in the new global context of human religiosity
- Draws on examples specific to Hindu-Christian studies to show how it is possible to understand more deeply the wider diversity around us.
- Clearly guides the reader, enabling them to engage in comparative study

Autoren/Hrsg.

Clooney, Francis X

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Part I Starting Points 1

1 Religious Diversity and Comparative Theology 3

Diversity around Us 4

Diversity within Us 6

Comparative Theology as a Response to Twenty-first-Century Religious Diversity 8

Distinguishing Comparative Theology from Related Disciplines 9

Comparative Theology and the Academic Study of Religions 12

Comparative Theology and Interreligious Dialogue 13

Comparative Theology and the Theology of Religions 14

Comparative Theology Autobiographically Grounded 16

On the Limits of This Book 19

Looking Ahead 22

2 In Generations Past: Some Ancestors to Today’s Comparative Theology 24

Comparative Theology and the Long History of Christian Interreligious Reflection 24

Western Jesuit Scholars in India 27

Comparative Theology as a Discipline (1699–) 30

A Moderate Criticism of Missionary Scholarship and the Older Comparative Theology 35

At the End of the Era 37

3 Comparative Theology Today 41

 David Tracy 42

 Keith Ward 43

 Robert C. Neville 45

 A Note on Raimon Panikkar 47

 James Fredericks 49

 New Directions 50

 From Theory (Back) to Practice 52

Part II Doing Theology Comparatively 55

4 From Theory to Practice 57

 The Practice of (Comparative) Religious Reading 57

 Intelligent Reading 59

 Commentary as a Religious Practice 60

 Interreligious Commentary 63

 Leaving Room for Other Readers and Their Readings 66

 Necessarily Elite Choices 67

5 Getting Particular: A Christian Studies Hinduism 69

 The Importance of Focus 69

 (Self)Identifying This Particular Comparative Theologian 70

 Making a Map, Marking the Field:

 Hinduism in Brief 70

 Getting Particular: Mimamsa, Vedanta, and Srivaisnavism 74

 Appreciating Similarities 75

 Theistic Hinduism as a Useful and Comfortable Focus 77

 Theology as a Hindu Discipline 78

 Comparative Theology in Hinduism and Other Traditions 80

My Comparative Theology, Indebted to Hindu Theologies 83

6 “Learning to See”: Comparative Practice and the Widening of Theological Vision 87

 Plenary Address at the Catholic Theology Society of America, 2003 88

 Near a Goddess 88

 Devi’s Beauty, Devi’s Pleasure 90

 Rediscovering Mary 93

 Mary and Her Son Jesus, through Muslim Eyes 96

 Sojourner Truth’s Liberating God 99

 All in Christ, but Still All 103

 Vocation 105

 After “Learning to See” 106

Part III The Fruits of Comparison 109

7 Theology After Comparison 111

 Comparative Theology and the Larger Work of Theology 111

 The Multiple Responsibilities of the Comparative Theologian 113

 Some Theological Presuppositions Implicit in Comparative Theology 114

 Comparative Theological Learning, in Particular 117

 The Imago Dei and Our Destiny in Bliss 118

 What “Narayana” Might Mean for the Christian 121

 Encountering Goddesses 123

 Comparative Theology and the Intensification of Devotion 125

 Theology on a Smaller Scale 127

8 “God for Us” 128

“God for Us”: An Essay 128

 A Verse, a Clue 129

 What Hindus Thought about the Verse 130

 Living the Verse 132

The Verse and Its Wider Context 133

 An Aside on How to See God and on How God Wills to Be Seen 135

 Noticing One’s First Citizenship: Reflection on Ignatian Insight and My Home Citizenship 139

 What Ignatius Had to Say 140

 Some Contemporary Views of the Intensification and Emptying of the Imagination in the Spiritual Exercises 143

 Multiple Religious Belonging, Human but Also Divine 146

 “God for Us” as Comparative Theology 151

9 Comparative Writer, Comparative Reader 154

 The Comparative Theologian Transformed 155

 The Comparative Theologian as Marginal Person 157

 The Comparative Theologian’s New Community 160

 Tasks and Opportunities for the Reader 162

 Beyond This Book 164

Notes 166

Select Bibliography 172

Index 177

Über Autor(innen)

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is Parkman Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. His primary areas of scholarship are theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and the developing field of comparative theology. He was the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, and, from 1998 to 2004, was coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Jesuits of the United States. Professor Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including Hindu God, Christian God (2001), Divine Mother, Blessed Mother (2005), Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century (2006), Beyond Compare: St. Francis and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God (2008), and The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus (2008).