How to Do Comparative Theology

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Spiritual But Not Religious ◽  
Younger Generation

How To Do Comparative Theology contributes to the maturation of method in the field of comparative theological studies, learning across religious borders, by bringing together essays drawing on different Christian traditions of learning, Judaism and Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, the wisdom of senior scholars, and also insights from a younger generation of scholars who have studied theology and religion in new ways, and are more attuned to the language of the “spiritual but not religious.” The essays in this volume show great diversity in method, and also—over and again and from many angles—coherence in intent, a commitment to one learning from the other, and a confidence that one’s home tradition benefits from fair and unhampered learning from other and very different spiritual and religious traditions. It therefore shows the diversity and coherence of comparative theology as an emerging discipline today.

scholarly journals Interreligious Dialogue, Comparative Theology and the Alterity of Hindu Thought

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankur Barua
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
British India ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
The One

A key question at the heart of contemporary debates over interreligious dialogue is whether the Christian partner in such conversations should view her interlocutors through the lens of Christian descriptions or whether any such imaging amounts to a form of Christian imperialism. We look at the responses to this question from certain contemporary forms of ‘particularism’ which regard religious universes as densely knit, and sometimes incommensurable, systems of meanings, so that they usually deny the significance, or even the possibility, of modes of bible preaching such as apologetics. While these concerns over the alterity of other religious traditions are often viewed as specifically postmodern, two Scotsmen in British India, J. N. Farquhar (1861–1929) and A. G. Hogg (1875–1954), struggled exactly a hundred years ago with a version of this question vis-à-vis the religious universe of Vedāntic Hinduism and responded to it in a manner that has striking resemblances to ‘particularism’. We shall argue that Hogg can be seen as an early practitioner of a form of ‘comparative theology’ which emerges in his case, on the one hand, through a textual engagement with specific problems thrown up in interreligious spaces but, on the other hand, also seeks to present a reasoned defence of Christian doctrinal statements. We shall note a crucial difference between his comparative theological encounters and contemporary practitioners of the same – while the latter are usually wary of speaking of any ‘common ground’ in interreligious encounters, Hogg regarded the presuppositions of the Christian faith as the basis of such encounters. The writings of both groups of theologians are structured by certain ‘dilemmas of difference’ that we explore.

Theologizing for the Yoga Community?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Corigliano
Keyword(s):  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Natural Criterion ◽  
Religious Others ◽  
Younger Generation

Stephanie Corigliano addresses the issues of religious belonging and commitment by comparing and contrasting “rooted” and “aerial” modes of comparative theology. Corigliano first examines the “rooted” comparative theological methods of four founding scholar-practitioners and then attends to the differently configured experiences and theological potentials of a younger generation that is “aerial,” more agile, and fluid in its instincts. Even if initially religious commitment or “rootedness” sensibly formed a natural criterion for comparative theology, nevertheless, as the scope of the field expands, this criterion must cede some space to the fact of less rooted, more fluid realities in one’s own community and life, and in those of our religious others. Testing comparative theology in the classroom and using it as a tool for examining new religious and spiritual movements suggests that it can no longer be limited to exchanges between persons from established religious traditions.

Comparative Theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis X. Clooney, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Religious Other

This chapter focuses on comparative theology, a form of tradition-grounded theological practice that learns deeply and effectively from other religious traditions. Even solidly textual work—translations, the study of scholastic systems, the tracing of lines of thought in commentaries, the decipherment of ritual and moral codes—proceeds as transformative learning indebted to the religious Other. Such engaged, empathetic learning allows one to see inside that other tradition, even while the learning, its fruits, and the person of the comparativist remain grounded in a home tradition. For interreligious learning to flourish, certain virtues are essential: humility, conviction, interconnection, empathy, generosity, imagination, risk-taking, and patience with ambiguity. Although comparative theological learning exists in the liminal space between traditions, the comparative theologian still intends to return home, even if irrevocably changed by the journey abroad. Comparative theology thus cultivates virtues operative in anthropological research distinguished by empathetic dwelling in and with the Other.

Sacrifice and Its Spiritualization In The Christian and Hindu Traditions: A Study In Comparative Theology

1985 ◽  
Vol 78 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 361-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis X. Clooney
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Theology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Liturgical Theology ◽  
Religious Traditions

The following exposition of a certain pattern of the spiritualization of sacrifice in the Christian and Hindu traditions is an experiment in “comparative theology”: that discipline within theology which seeks to reflect upon data from two (diverse) religious traditions taken together, for the sake of the new light thereby shed upon the two sets of data and on related issues, particularly in one's own “home” tradition. In particular, I will juxtapose a certain understanding of the development of the Biblical theology of sacrifice with one line of development in orthodox Vedic liturgical theology and its heirs: the Pūrva (or “prior”) Mīmāṃsā of Jaimini (ca. 200 BCE), the Vedānta (Uttara or “latter” Mīṃāmsā) of Rāmānuja (ca. 1000 CE), and the Śrīvaiṣṇava theology of Vedānta Deśika. It is not my intention to break new ground in the study of either the Biblical or Mīmāṃsā traditions, but rather to show how certain information that is already available regarding each of these traditions might be used in a comparative fashion in order to illuminate the other, and to ask about the value of the method herein employed.

Teaching Interreligious Encounters

2017 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Japanese Concepts of Angels: Analyzing Depictions of Celestial Beings in the shōjo Manga Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunja Sharbat Dar
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Hermeneutic Approach ◽  
Shojo Manga ◽  
Insight Into

White wings, long hair, 'pure' faces: the appearance of angels frequently follows similar aesthetics connected to Christian imagery. Angels and Christian religion also are popular themes in manga, Japanese comics, often intermingled with Buddhist or Shinto notions. Since imagery in popular culture resonates and shapes vernacular and cultural perspectives, manga like Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne (KKJ) provide an important insight into the conceptualization of angels in Japan. This article therefore analyzes the contrary role of angels in KKJ as the Other, the mysterious, serene one, while simultaneously angels are depicted as part of the circle of life every creature undergoes in Buddhist cosmology. Based on a visual hermeneutic approach, this article demonstrates how the intermix of both visual and religious traditions in Japan shape the depiction of angels in Japanese popcultural media.

scholarly journals Prophetic Leadership Mahasiswa

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Aliya Izzet ◽  
Tobroni Tobroni ◽  
Abdul Hari ◽  
Dina Mardiana
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Strong Principle ◽  
National Leadership ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
The University

The decline of national leadership integrity in recent years is something that we should underline and must be addressed. So that the younger generation does not follow a bad example from existing leaders. As a Muslim, we have an exemplary figure who is always a good role model in speaking, acting and holding a strong principle of life. He was the Prophet Muhammad who had great leadership and what we know as the term Prophetic Leadership.The aim of this study was to find out how the concept of prophetic leadership developed in P2KK and its implementation in forming student prophetic leadership at University of Muhammadiyah Malang. This research was conducted at the UPT. P2KK University of Muhammadiyah Malang in May to June 2019. The approach used is explorative case study research. From the results of the study it was found that there were several concepts of prophetic leadership developed in P2KK, including Aqidah (faith) that was strong, trustworthy and responsible, fair, firmness, noble character , deliberation and proactive. While the implementation is done through simulations, discussions and activities outside the other classes (outbound) which are indirectly able to form the prophetic leadership of the students of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

scholarly journals Comparative Theology and Scriptural Reasoning: A Muslim’s Approach to Interreligious Learning

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Betül Avcı
Keyword(s):  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Scriptural Reasoning ◽  
Transformative Journeys ◽  
Initial Results

In this paper, I examine Comparative Theology (CT) and Scriptural Reasoning (SR), two distinctive interreligious learning practices, in relation to each other. I propose that these practices, with respect to their dialogical features and transformative power, represent two of the most noteworthy current modes of interreligious dialogue. They achieve this by their ability to explicitly understand the “other.” This is also because they serve not only as tools in service of understanding in academic circles, but also as existentially/spiritually transformative journeys in the exotic/familiar land of the “other.” In respect to religious particularity and (un)translatability, I argue that both CT and SR have certain liberal and postliberal features, as neither of them yields to such standard taxonomies. Finally, I deal with Muslim engagement with CT and SR and present some initial results of my current comparative questioning/learning project. Consequently, I plan for this descriptive work to stand as a preliminary to, first, an SR session that focuses on some Qur’anic verses and biblical accounts with a probable progressivist view of history and, second, an in-depth study of the Islamic tradition in that light.

The Music of Magnus Lindberg

Tempo ◽  
1992 ◽  
pp. 25-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Warnaby
Keyword(s):  
Computer Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Orchestral Music ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One

Among composers born in the 1950s, who witnessed the decline of the post-war avant-garde – together with its most cherished principle, integral serialism – the Finn Magnus Lindberg has produced some of the most challenging responses. It is tempting to attach considerable significance to Lindberg's national origins. Born in 1958, he belongs to a particularly vital generation of Finnish composers whose output extends from traditional symphonic forms to experimental creations involving electroacoustic and computer technology. On the one hand, they have benefitted from the example of composers (such as Aulis Sallinen) who emerged from Sibelius's shadow not only by founding a strong operatic tradition, but also by generating their own brand of orchestral music. On the other, several of the younger generation have continued the practice of studying abroad, though without sacrificing their independence from the European mainstream.

Religie als bron van zingeving en sociale binding. Godsdienstpsychologische reflecties bij Gijs Dingemans’ In vredesnaam

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Hetty Zock
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Stereotyped Behaviour ◽  
Existential Meaning ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
The One

The author argues that individual usage and appropriation of religious traditions has become increasingly important. Therefore, church leaders and pastors should pay more attention to the psychological functions of religion. On the one hand religion serves as a source of existential meaning-making and on the other hand as a powerful glue of group identities. By discussing the psychological theories of Erik H. Erikson, Hubert Hermans and James W. Jones, the Janus face of religion is highlighted. Religion may lead to intolerance and stereotyped behaviour (when it is only used to reduce identity anxiety and narcissistic problems), but it may also stimulate empathy and dialogical capacities.

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