Chapter 22 On Comparative Theology: A Confucian Case
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Abstract
Unlike the Catholic school of comparative theology, the method I espouse is characterized by the theological ideas of comparison rather than the “faith,” which will mean very different things to different comparativists. We do look at the different traditions to be compared, but these are always in a dialectical relationship to the comparative categories. However, the comparative categories are the more essential subject of comparison than the traditions or “faiths” being compared. I apply this approach to the subject of ultimacy ontologically speaking. A variety of approaches to ultimacy appear in both Christian and Confucian traditions, and these can be compared. The understanding of ultimacy as creative act unifies them, as well as other traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The comparison foregrounds the non-personalistic metaphorical system with regard to ultimacy in the Confucian and other East Asian traditions and the personalistic metaphorical system of Christianity and other West Asian traditions.