How to Do Comparative Theology

by Francis X. Clooney (Editor), Klaus von Stosch (Editor)

Overview

How To Do Comparative Theology clarifies method in comparative theology, dialogical learning, showcasing scholars doing theological work interreligiously. The group is diverse by age and stage of career, gender, religions studied, location in the United States and Europe. Yet the essays manifest coherence in intent, commitment to learning from the other, and confidence regarding the benefits of the questions and challenges arising.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823278404
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	12/12/2017
Series:	Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions , #2
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francis X. Clooney, SJ, is Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School.

Klaus von Stosch is Professor of Systematic Theology and head of the Centre of Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies at the University of Paderborn, Germany.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Francis X. Clooney, SJ, and Klaus von Stosch
I Doing Comparative Theology - As Theology
1. Catherine Cornille: The Problem of Choice in Comparative Theology
2. Klaus von Stosch: Reflecting on Approaches to Jesus in the Qur'an from the Perspective of Comparative Theology
3. Aaron Langenfeld: The Moment of Truth: Comparative and Dogmatic Theology
4. Hugh Nicholson: Rhetorics of Theological One-Upsmanship in Christianity and Buddhism: Athanasius' Polemic against the Arians and Vasubandhu's Refutation of Pudgalavda Buddhism
5. Axel Marc Takács: “An Interpreter and Not a Judge:” Insights into a Christian-Islamic Comparative Theology
6. Glenn Willis: Necessary Imperfection: Notes for the Cultured Despisers of Comparison
II Comparative Theology Is What Comparative Theology Does
7. Michelle Voss-Roberts: Embodiment, Anthropology, and Comparison: Thinking-Feeling with Non-Dual Saivism
8. Marianne Moyaert: Comparative Theology after the Shoah: Risks, pivots and opportunities of Comparing traditions
9. Muna Tatari: Justice and Mercy: Using Comparative Insights for Developing Kalam
10. Francis X. Clooney, SJ: Difficult Remainders: Seeking Comparative Theology's Really Difficult Other
11. Shoshana Razel: Sagi Nahor-Enough Light: Dialectic Tension Between Luminescent Resonance and Blind Assumption in Comparative Theology
III Recognizing Comparative Theology by Its Fruits
12. Emma O'Donnell: Methodological Considerations on the Role of Experience in Comparative Theology
13. Brad Bannon: Incarnational Speech: Comparative Theology as Learning to Hear and Preach
14. Michael Barnes, SJ: Living Interreligiously: On the 'pastoral style' of Comparative Theology
15. Stephanie Corigliano: Theologizing for the Yoga Community? Commitment and Hybridity in Comparative Theology

Editorial Reviews

This excellent collection will give ample food for thought to scholars and practitioners of comparative theology... Indeed, the authors give us good reasons to believe that comparative theology, as a discipline, will continue to grow and give much fruit in the years to come.

Reviews in Religion and Theology

...How to Do Comparative Theology provides many useful insights and proposals in pursuit of the categorical imperative of engaging in productive interreligious dialogue, where “faith promotes interfaith understanding” in a transconfessional, mutually transformative way.

Reading Religion

"Clooney and von Stosch have produced a truly excellent collection of papers in comparative theology. They and a few others with papers in this volume are seasoned, senior scholars. The volume is remarkable, however, for introducing the work of mid-career and very new scholars. Some of the papers do actual comparisons and some apply comparative theology to practices of religious life. Among the most interesting are those dealing with methodological differences regarding comparative theology. They all defend the view that comparative theology is “faith seeking understanding,” and they explore some of the very different ways this approach can be interpreted. This volume is a vital and distinctive contribution to the larger field of comparative theology." —Robert Cummings Neville, Boston University

From the Publisher

This volume, born out of a conference in Paderborn, is an extremely rich conversation by pioneering practitioners in the field as well as by a younger generation of comparative theologians. The plurality of the contributors is a reflection of the expansion of comparative theology among theologians and scholars of different religious backgrounds.

Theologische Revue

Clooney and von Stosch have produced a truly excellent collection of papers in comparative theology. They and a few others with papers in this volume are seasoned, senior scholars. The volume is remarkable, however, for introducing the work of mid-career and very new scholars. Some of the papers do actual comparisons and some apply comparative theology to practices of religious life. Among the most interesting are those dealing with methodological differences regarding comparative theology. They all defend the view that comparative theology is “faith seeking understanding,” and they explore some of the very different ways this approach can be interpreted. This volume is a vital and distinctive contribution to the larger field of comparative theology.

Boston University - Robert Cummings Neville