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A Critical and Methodological Perspective
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
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.
Abstract
This paper advances some ways in which Asian perspectives challenge the regnant discourse of comparative theology. It sets out some key aspects of the postcolonial critique of comparative theology, and shows how conceptions of “religion” in the discipline are often based in problematic Western paradigms. However, it also challenges any reified distinction of “Orient” and “Occident”. It is argued that if Asian comparative theology is to fulfil its potential it must not operate within existing dominant Western frames. The author suggests that a hermeneutical basis for comparative theology may be rethought through Asian lenses, and draws on the philosophy of Nāgārjuna to provide an example of this.
Abstract
This chapter attempts not so much an early history of comparative theology, focusing mainly on the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, but more of a contextualization of it. Key issues will be addressed that suggest the contemporary practice may benefit from an exploration of this history. It will address connections between the burgeoning science of religion and both comparative religion and comparative theology. Particular attention will be given to two scholars, one from the nineteenth century and the other from the twentieth century, Rowland Williams and Burnett Hillman Streeter, respectively. Alongside briefer cameos of other figures from what is often termed the Old Comparative Theology, I will draw out some wider dynamics. Given the limits of space, this chapter focuses on British scholars working in the UK and writing in English, though not to the complete neglect of other contexts, and in ways that hopefully elucidate wider concerns past and present.