Doing the Work of Comparative Theology: A Primer for Christians, by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

Micael Grenholm

doi:10.1163/15700747-04303008

Using Hevruta to Do and Teach Comparative Theology

10.1093/oso/9780190677565.003.0012 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Devorah Schoenfeld ◽

Jeanine Diller

Keyword(s):

Traditional Method ◽

Learning Objectives ◽

Comparative Theology ◽

Religious Difference ◽

Scriptural Reasoning ◽

Methods Of Learning ◽

Classroom Use

The traditional method of study known as hevruta is the foundation of traditional Jewish methods of learning as practiced in the yeshiva. This method has been articulated as Scriptural Reasoning in a way that emphasizes the practice of engaged reflection on a text. In this chapter, the authors will attempt a different articulation based on the use of this method in their classrooms, an approach that emphasizes disagreement. When disagreement is placed at the center of the process, the hevruta method becomes a tool for encountering and learning from religious difference. The chapter provides an overview of and rationale for using hevruta, a treatment of learning objectives, suggested steps for classroom use, sample questions, and a discussion of hevruta and comparative theology.

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Teaching Interreligious Encounter

10.1093/oso/9780190677565.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Hans Gustafson

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Service Learning ◽

Community Engagement ◽

Case Studies ◽

Course Design ◽

Comparative Theology ◽

Guest Speakers

This chapter offers instructors in higher education some basic tools and elements of course design for interreligious encounter in the undergraduate classroom. Aiming at practice over theory, it provides practical suggestions for fostering interreligious understanding from the first day of class through the end of the semester. These suggestions include the use of guest speakers, interdisciplinary case studies, in-class reflections, and interreligious community engagement (i.e., “service learning”), among others. Further, it provides a concise bibliography of basic introductory texts for both students and instructors in the areas of comparative theology, theologies of religions and religious pluralisms, and interreligious studies and dialogue.

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Masao Abe and Comparative Theology

10.1093/oso/9780190677565.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Leo D. Lefebure

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Jesus Christ ◽

Religious Tradition ◽

Christian Theology ◽

Western Philosophy ◽

Comparative Theology ◽

Graduate Course ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Faith Tradition ◽

Mahayana Buddhist

A leading form of comparative theology entails commitment to one religious tradition but ventures out to encounter another tradition, with the goal of generating fresh insights into familiar beliefs and practices reliant upon both the tradition of origin and the newly encountered faith tradition. This chapter, based on a graduate course at Georgetown University, examines how Zen Buddhist thinker Masao Abe engages in a dialogue with Western philosophy and Christian theology. Abe interpreted the meaning of the kenosis (emptying) of God in Jesus Christ in Christian theology in light of Mahayana Buddhist perspectives on Sunyata (emptying) and the logic of negation. The chapter includes responses to Abe from various Christian theologians, including Georgetown graduate students.

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Teaching Interreligious Encounters

10.1093/oso/9780190677565.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Religious Pluralism ◽

Comparative Theology ◽

Religiously Affiliated ◽

Religious Traditions ◽

Multidisciplinary Group ◽

And Migration

Teaching Interreligious Encounters is a volume of essays that explores various issues related to practical and theoretical facets of teaching across multiple religious traditions, including comparative theology and theologies of religious pluralism. This volume brings together an international, multireligious, and multidisciplinary group of scholars who address teaching interreligious encounters in a variety of teaching contexts: undergraduate and graduate, divinity schools and seminaries, secular and religiously affiliated, and traditional and online settings. This volume will be a unique and useful resource for those who encounter religious pluralism in their courses, a topic of pressing importance in our age of globalization and migration.

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