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A Companion to Comparative Theology offers a unique survey of a rapidly developing field of modern theology in 32 chapters coordinated by five editors. Its first part discusses some of the main historical developments in theology and religious studies before 1985 that are relevant for understanding contemporary approaches in comparative theology. The main part of the companion traces developments in five specific areas of comparative research, starting with classical approaches by Christian comparative theologians, and continuing with responses by scholars from Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese religious comparative perspectives. The final part of the companion highlights a number of new avenues in comparative theology, discussing new methods, new forms of awareness, new partnerships with other fields of study, and finally some preliminary conclusions.
Contributors are: Nadeen Mustafa A Alsulaimi, María Enid Barga, Bede Benjamin Bidlack, André van der Braak, Francis X. Clooney, Catherine Cornille, Jonathan Edelmann, Marianne Farina, James L. Fredericks, Rouyan Gu, Paul Hedges, Holly Hilgardner, Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Louis Komjathy, Christian S. Krokus, LAI, Pan-chiu, Kristin Johnston Largen, John Makransky, Jerry L. Martin, Vahid Mahdavi Mehr, Marianne Moyaert, Emmanuel Nathan, Robert Cummings Neville, Hugh Nicholson, Jerusha Tanner Rhodes, Devorah Schoenfeld, Klaus von Stosch, Axel Marc Oaks Takacs, Pim Valkenberg, Maureen L. Walsh, Kijin James Wu
Contributors are: Nadeen Mustafa A Alsulaimi, María Enid Barga, Bede Benjamin Bidlack, André van der Braak, Francis X. Clooney, Catherine Cornille, Jonathan Edelmann, Marianne Farina, James L. Fredericks, Rouyan Gu, Paul Hedges, Holly Hilgardner, Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Louis Komjathy, Christian S. Krokus, LAI, Pan-chiu, Kristin Johnston Largen, John Makransky, Jerry L. Martin, Vahid Mahdavi Mehr, Marianne Moyaert, Emmanuel Nathan, Robert Cummings Neville, Hugh Nicholson, Jerusha Tanner Rhodes, Devorah Schoenfeld, Klaus von Stosch, Axel Marc Oaks Takacs, Pim Valkenberg, Maureen L. Walsh, Kijin James Wu
Volume Editor:
A Companion to Comparative Theology offers a unique survey of a rapidly developing field of modern theology in 32 chapters coordinated by five editors. Its first part discusses some of the main historical developments in theology and religious studies before 1985 that are relevant for understanding contemporary approaches in comparative theology. The main part of the companion traces developments in five specific areas of comparative research, starting with classical approaches by Christian comparative theologians, and continuing with responses by scholars from Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese religious comparative perspectives. The final part of the companion highlights a number of new avenues in comparative theology, discussing new methods, new forms of awareness, new partnerships with other fields of study, and finally some preliminary conclusions.
Contributors are: Nadeen Mustafa A Alsulaimi, María Enid Barga, Bede Benjamin Bidlack, André van der Braak, Francis X. Clooney, Catherine Cornille, Jonathan Edelmann, Marianne Farina, James L. Fredericks, Rouyan Gu, Paul Hedges, Holly Hilgardner, Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Louis Komjathy, Christian S. Krokus, LAI, Pan-chiu, Kristin Johnston Largen, John Makransky, Jerry L. Martin, Vahid Mahdavi Mehr, Marianne Moyaert, Emmanuel Nathan, Robert Cummings Neville, Hugh Nicholson, Jerusha Tanner Rhodes, Devorah Schoenfeld, Klaus von Stosch, Axel Marc Oaks Takacs, Pim Valkenberg, Maureen L. Walsh, Kijin James Wu
Contributors are: Nadeen Mustafa A Alsulaimi, María Enid Barga, Bede Benjamin Bidlack, André van der Braak, Francis X. Clooney, Catherine Cornille, Jonathan Edelmann, Marianne Farina, James L. Fredericks, Rouyan Gu, Paul Hedges, Holly Hilgardner, Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Louis Komjathy, Christian S. Krokus, LAI, Pan-chiu, Kristin Johnston Largen, John Makransky, Jerry L. Martin, Vahid Mahdavi Mehr, Marianne Moyaert, Emmanuel Nathan, Robert Cummings Neville, Hugh Nicholson, Jerusha Tanner Rhodes, Devorah Schoenfeld, Klaus von Stosch, Axel Marc Oaks Takacs, Pim Valkenberg, Maureen L. Walsh, Kijin James Wu
A Comparative Theology of Divine Possessions
Author:
In Untouchable Bodies, Resistance, and Liberation, Joshua Samuel constructs an embodied comparative theology of liberation by comparing divine possessions among Hindu and Christian Dalits in South India. Critiquing the problems inherent in prioritizing texts when studying religious traditions, Samuel calls for the need to engage in body and people centered interreligious learning. This comparative theological reading of ecstatic experiences of the divine in Dalit bodies in Hinduism and Christianity brings out the powerful liberative potential inherent in the bodies of the oppressed, enabling us to identify alternative modes of resistance and new avenues of liberation among those who are dehumanized and discriminated, and to find deeper and meaningful ways of speaking about God in the context of oppression.
A Comparative Theology of Divine Possessions
Author:
In Untouchable Bodies, Resistance, and Liberation, Joshua Samuel constructs an embodied comparative theology of liberation by comparing divine possessions among Hindu and Christian Dalits in South India. Critiquing the problems inherent in prioritizing texts when studying religious traditions, Samuel calls for the need to engage in body and people centered interreligious learning. This comparative theological reading of ecstatic experiences of the divine in Dalit bodies in Hinduism and Christianity brings out the powerful liberative potential inherent in the bodies of the oppressed, enabling us to identify alternative modes of resistance and new avenues of liberation among those who are dehumanized and discriminated, and to find deeper and meaningful ways of speaking about God in the context of oppression.
The Rites Controversies in the Early Modern World is a collection of fourteen articles focusing on debates concerning the nature of “rites” raging in intellectual circles of Europe, Asia and America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The controversy started in Jesuit Asian missions where the method of accommodation, based on translation of Christianity into Asian cultural idioms, created a distinction between civic and religious customs. Civic customs were defined as those that could be included into Christianity and permitted to the new converts. However, there was no universal consensus among the various actors in these controversies as to how to establish criteria for distinguishing civility from religion. The controversy had not been resolved, but opened the way to radical religious scepticism.
Contributors are: Claudia Brosseder, Michela Catto, Gita Dharampal-Frick, Pierre Antoine Fabre, Ana Carolina Hosne, Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, Giuseppe Marcocci, Ovidiu Olar, Sabina Pavone, István Perczel, Nicholas Standaert, Margherita Trento, Guillermo Wilde and Ines G. Županov.
Contributors are: Claudia Brosseder, Michela Catto, Gita Dharampal-Frick, Pierre Antoine Fabre, Ana Carolina Hosne, Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, Giuseppe Marcocci, Ovidiu Olar, Sabina Pavone, István Perczel, Nicholas Standaert, Margherita Trento, Guillermo Wilde and Ines G. Županov.
The Rites Controversies in the Early Modern World is a collection of fourteen articles focusing on debates concerning the nature of “rites” raging in intellectual circles of Europe, Asia and America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The controversy started in Jesuit Asian missions where the method of accommodation, based on translation of Christianity into Asian cultural idioms, created a distinction between civic and religious customs. Civic customs were defined as those that could be included into Christianity and permitted to the new converts. However, there was no universal consensus among the various actors in these controversies as to how to establish criteria for distinguishing civility from religion. The controversy had not been resolved, but opened the way to radical religious scepticism.
Contributors are: Claudia Brosseder, Michela Catto, Gita Dharampal-Frick, Pierre Antoine Fabre, Ana Carolina Hosne, Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, Giuseppe Marcocci, Ovidiu Olar, Sabina Pavone, István Perczel, Nicholas Standaert, Margherita Trento, Guillermo Wilde and Ines G. Županov.
Contributors are: Claudia Brosseder, Michela Catto, Gita Dharampal-Frick, Pierre Antoine Fabre, Ana Carolina Hosne, Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, Giuseppe Marcocci, Ovidiu Olar, Sabina Pavone, István Perczel, Nicholas Standaert, Margherita Trento, Guillermo Wilde and Ines G. Županov.
Constructions of an Emerging Discourse
Author:
Studying Christianity in China introduces an emerging academic trend in contemporary Chinese scholarship. Through qualitative interviews with leading experts in Chinese Christian studies, Naomi Thurston has investigated the ongoing conversation between China and Christianity. Since the 1980s, this conversation has given rise to an interdisciplinary academic field that is quickly gaining traction as a cutting-edge, cross-cultural discourse. The Chinese intellectuals driving this field are encountered as unique transmitters of cultural knowledge: they are cultural mediators working in a range of humanities and social science disciplines who are not only re-interpreting Western theology, but are also lending a new voice to Chinese expressions of the Christian faith. As such, they are at the forefront of a novel force in World Christianity.
Constructions of an Emerging Discourse
Author:
Studying Christianity in China introduces an emerging academic trend in contemporary Chinese scholarship. Through qualitative interviews with leading experts in Chinese Christian studies, Naomi Thurston has investigated the ongoing conversation between China and Christianity. Since the 1980s, this conversation has given rise to an interdisciplinary academic field that is quickly gaining traction as a cutting-edge, cross-cultural discourse. The Chinese intellectuals driving this field are encountered as unique transmitters of cultural knowledge: they are cultural mediators working in a range of humanities and social science disciplines who are not only re-interpreting Western theology, but are also lending a new voice to Chinese expressions of the Christian faith. As such, they are at the forefront of a novel force in World Christianity.
Author:
In Jain Approaches to Plurality Melanie Barbato offers a new perspective on the Jain teaching of plurality (anekāntavāda) and how it allowed Jains to engage with other discourses from Indian inter-school philosophy to global interreligious dialogue. Jainism, one of the world’s oldest religions, has managed to both adapt and preserve its identity across time through its inherently dialogical outlook. Drawing on a wide range of textual sources and original research in India, Barbato analyses the encounters between Jains and non-Jains in the classical, colonial and global context. Jain Approaches to Plurality offers a comprehensive introduction to anekāntavāda as a non-Western resource for understanding plurality and engaging in dialogue.
“Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (…) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.”
— Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.
“Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (…) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.”
— Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.
Identity as Dialogue
Author:
In Jain Approaches to Plurality Melanie Barbato offers a new perspective on the Jain teaching of plurality (anekāntavāda) and how it allowed Jains to engage with other discourses from Indian inter-school philosophy to global interreligious dialogue. Jainism, one of the world’s oldest religions, has managed to both adapt and preserve its identity across time through its inherently dialogical outlook. Drawing on a wide range of textual sources and original research in India, Barbato analyses the encounters between Jains and non-Jains in the classical, colonial and global context. Jain Approaches to Plurality offers a comprehensive introduction to anekāntavāda as a non-Western resource for understanding plurality and engaging in dialogue.
“Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (…) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.”
— Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.
“Building upon earlier work in this field without simply reduplicating it, Melanie Barbato’s work delves deeply into the question of the relevance of Jain approaches to religious and philosophical diversity to contemporary issues of inter-religious dialogue, and dialogues across worldviews more generally. (…) This work is a most welcome contribution to the conversation.”
— Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College. April 2017. Author of Jainism: An Introduction.
A Critical and Methodological Perspective
Author:
In this first volume of Brill Research Perspectives in Theology, the field of comparative theology is mapped with particular attention to the tradition associated with Francis Clooney but noting the global and wider context of theology in a comparative mode. There are four parts. In the first section the current field is mapped and its methodological and theological aspects are explored. The second part considers what the deconstruction of religion means for comparative theology. It also takes into consideration turns to lived and material religion. In the third part, issues of power, representation, and the subaltern are considered, including the place of feminist and queer theory in comparative theology. Finally, the contribution of philosophical hermeneutics is considered. The text notes key trends, develops original models of practice and method, and picks out and discusses critical issues within the field.
A Critical and Methodological Perspective
Author:
In this first volume of Brill Research Perspectives in Theology, the field of comparative theology is mapped with particular attention to the tradition associated with Francis Clooney but noting the global and wider context of theology in a comparative mode. There are four parts. In the first section the current field is mapped and its methodological and theological aspects are explored. The second part considers what the deconstruction of religion means for comparative theology. It also takes into consideration turns to lived and material religion. In the third part, issues of power, representation, and the subaltern are considered, including the place of feminist and queer theory in comparative theology. Finally, the contribution of philosophical hermeneutics is considered. The text notes key trends, develops original models of practice and method, and picks out and discusses critical issues within the field.
The Expansion of Catholicism in the Early Modern World
Translating Catechisms, Translating Cultures explores the dimensions of early modern transcultural Christianities; the leeway of religious negotiation in and outside of Europe by comparing catechisms and their translation in the context of several Jesuit missionary strategies. The volume challenges the often assumed paramount Europeanness of Western Christianity. In the early modern period the idea of Tridentine Catholicism was translated into many different regions where it was appropriated and adopted to local conditions. Missionary work always entails translation, linguistic as well as cultural, which results in a modification of the content. Catechisms were central instruments to communicate Christian belief and, therefore, they are central media for all kinds of translation processes. The comparative approach (including China, India, Japan, Ethiopia, Northern America and England) enables the evaluation of different factors like power relations, social differentiation, cultural patterns, gender roles etc.
Contributors are: Takao Abé, Anand Amaladass, Leonhard Cohen, Renate Dürr, Antje Flüchter, Ana Hosne, Giulia Nardini, John Ødemark, John Steckley, Alexandra Walsham, Rouven Wirbser.
Contributors are: Takao Abé, Anand Amaladass, Leonhard Cohen, Renate Dürr, Antje Flüchter, Ana Hosne, Giulia Nardini, John Ødemark, John Steckley, Alexandra Walsham, Rouven Wirbser.
The Expansion of Catholicism in the Early Modern World
Translating Catechisms, Translating Cultures explores the dimensions of early modern transcultural Christianities; the leeway of religious negotiation in and outside of Europe by comparing catechisms and their translation in the context of several Jesuit missionary strategies. The volume challenges the often assumed paramount Europeanness of Western Christianity. In the early modern period the idea of Tridentine Catholicism was translated into many different regions where it was appropriated and adopted to local conditions. Missionary work always entails translation, linguistic as well as cultural, which results in a modification of the content. Catechisms were central instruments to communicate Christian belief and, therefore, they are central media for all kinds of translation processes. The comparative approach (including China, India, Japan, Ethiopia, Northern America and England) enables the evaluation of different factors like power relations, social differentiation, cultural patterns, gender roles etc.
Contributors are: Takao Abé, Anand Amaladass, Leonhard Cohen, Renate Dürr, Antje Flüchter, Ana Hosne, Giulia Nardini, John Ødemark, John Steckley, Alexandra Walsham, Rouven Wirbser.
Contributors are: Takao Abé, Anand Amaladass, Leonhard Cohen, Renate Dürr, Antje Flüchter, Ana Hosne, Giulia Nardini, John Ødemark, John Steckley, Alexandra Walsham, Rouven Wirbser.
Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way?
Author:
Recent thinking in Christian theology of religions has taken a “pneumatological turn” which asks how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit can contribute to the interreligious dialogue and to the emerging discourse of comparative theology. Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue. Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way? tests the viability of this approach as applied to the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. Various Christian and Buddhist traditions are compared and contrasted within a pneumatological framework. Is the Holy Spirit to be found along the Buddha’s middle way? Some Christians say yes, while others demur. The thesis of this volume is that such a pneumatological perspective opens up possibilities for the deepening and transformation of Christian theology in the religiously plural world of the twenty-first century.
Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way?
Author:
Recent thinking in Christian theology of religions has taken a “pneumatological turn” which asks how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit can contribute to the interreligious dialogue and to the emerging discourse of comparative theology. Pneumatology and the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue. Does the Spirit Blow through the Middle Way? tests the viability of this approach as applied to the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. Various Christian and Buddhist traditions are compared and contrasted within a pneumatological framework. Is the Holy Spirit to be found along the Buddha’s middle way? Some Christians say yes, while others demur. The thesis of this volume is that such a pneumatological perspective opens up possibilities for the deepening and transformation of Christian theology in the religiously plural world of the twenty-first century.
The World Christian Database (WCD) provides comprehensive statistical information on global Christianity, other world religions, and Christian activities in all 237 countries. Extensive data are available on thousands of Christian denominations, ethnolinguistic people groups, cities, and provinces.
The WCD transforms current statistics on religion into a real-time analysis tool that takes just minutes to perform even detailed research. This comprehensive database brings together a fully updated and cohesive religious data set with a world-class database architecture. The result is a simple, yet powerful database tool that enables users to customize reports and download data for in use in charts, tables, and graphs
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WCD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Sources
- A large majority of the data collected for the WCD comes from published and unpublished sources, field work, interviews, and questionnaires - Around 5,000 statistical questionnaires returned by churches and national collaborators over the period 1982-present
- Field surveys and interviews on the spot in over 200 countries
- A mass of unpublished documentation on all countries, collected on the field, including reports, memoranda, photographs, maps, statistical summaries, and historical documents
- Around 4,500 printed contemporary descriptions of churches, describing denominations, movements, countries and confessions
- Officially-published reports of 500 government-organized national censuses of population
- A series of in-depth interviews with bishops, church leaders, and theologians
Detailed Religious and Demographic Statistics include:
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
- Population and Adherents (for 1900, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2025, 2050)
- Demographics (birth rate, adult percentage, life expectancy)
- Health (HIV rates, access to water, mortality)
- Education (literacy percentage, schools, universities)
- Communication (scripture access, religious freedom)
- Christian personnel
- Evangelism rates
- Status of missions work
- Lists of Christian denominations in every country
- Country, regional, and global estimates of Pentecostals and Charismatics
- Status of Bible translation
Features and Benefits
- 9,000 Denominations
- 13,000 Ethnolinguistic Peoples
- 5,000 Cities
- 3,000 Provinces
- 238 Countries
- Quarterly updates
- Unique reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, news media
A demo is available here.
There is also a demo available for Denomination searches in the WCD.
The WCD transforms current statistics on religion into a real-time analysis tool that takes just minutes to perform even detailed research. This comprehensive database brings together a fully updated and cohesive religious data set with a world-class database architecture. The result is a simple, yet powerful database tool that enables users to customize reports and download data for in use in charts, tables, and graphs
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WCD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Sources
- A large majority of the data collected for the WCD comes from published and unpublished sources, field work, interviews, and questionnaires - Around 5,000 statistical questionnaires returned by churches and national collaborators over the period 1982-present
- Field surveys and interviews on the spot in over 200 countries
- A mass of unpublished documentation on all countries, collected on the field, including reports, memoranda, photographs, maps, statistical summaries, and historical documents
- Around 4,500 printed contemporary descriptions of churches, describing denominations, movements, countries and confessions
- Officially-published reports of 500 government-organized national censuses of population
- A series of in-depth interviews with bishops, church leaders, and theologians
Detailed Religious and Demographic Statistics include:
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
- Population and Adherents (for 1900, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2025, 2050)
- Demographics (birth rate, adult percentage, life expectancy)
- Health (HIV rates, access to water, mortality)
- Education (literacy percentage, schools, universities)
- Communication (scripture access, religious freedom)
- Christian personnel
- Evangelism rates
- Status of missions work
- Lists of Christian denominations in every country
- Country, regional, and global estimates of Pentecostals and Charismatics
- Status of Bible translation
Features and Benefits
- 9,000 Denominations
- 13,000 Ethnolinguistic Peoples
- 5,000 Cities
- 3,000 Provinces
- 238 Countries
- Quarterly updates
- Unique reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, news media
A demo is available here.
There is also a demo available for Denomination searches in the WCD.