The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Comparative Theology
A Festschrift in Honor of Francis X. Clooney, SJ
Blackwell Companions to Religion
1. Edition September 2023
560 Pages, Hardcover
Handbook/Reference Book
An incisive and original collection of the most engaging issues in contemporary comparative theology
In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Comparative Theology, a team of distinguished scholars delivers a one-of-a-kind collection of essays on comparative theology. Honoring the groundbreaking work of Francis X. Clooney, S.J.--whose contributions to theology and religion will endure for generations--the included works explore seven key subjects in comparative theology, including its theory, method, history, influential contemporary developments, and potentially fruitful avenues for future discussion.
The editors provide essays that reflect on the critical, theoretical, and methodological aspects of comparative theology, as well as constructive and critical appraisals of Francis Clooney's scholarship. Over forty original contributions from internationally recognized scholars and insightful newcomers to the field are included within. Readers will also find:
* Insightful discussions of the larger implications of comparative theology beyond the discipline itself, especially as it relates to educational programs, institutions, and post-carceral life
* Robust promotion of the research methods and critical thinking present in Francis Clooney's work
* Practical discussions of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing theological researchers today
* Papers from leading contributors located around the globe, including emerging voices from the global south
Perfect for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of theology and religious studies, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Comparative Theology will also benefit scholars with an interest in comparative religion, interreligious studies, and interreligious theology.
Preface xiv
John B. Carman and William A. Graham
Acknowledgments xvi
Introduction xvii
Axel M. Oaks Takacs and Joseph L. Kimmel
Part I Theories and Methods in Comparative Theology 1
1 Five Insights on Method from Comparative Theology 3
Jason W. Smith
2 Imagining Religion, Intuiting Comparison: Comparing the Roles of Inner Sense in the Scholarship of Jonathan Z. Smith and Francis X. Clooney, SJ 13
Joseph L. Kimmel
3 Resisting Religious Relativism in Comparative Theology 21
Catherine Cornille
4 Grounding Theology of Religions in Comparative Theology: A Fulfillment Model in Reverse 32
Ruben L.F. Habito
5 Beyond the Text: Comparative Theology and Oral Cultures 43
Nougoutna Norbert Litoing
6 Faith Seeking Understanding or Understanding Seeking Faith? 51
Bennett DiDente Comerford
7 Kinesics, Proxemics, and Haptics: A Sakta Method for Comparative Theology 63
Pravina Rodrigues
Part II The Spirituality, Vocation, and Formation of the Comparative Theologian 77
8 "The One Who Prays Is a (Comparative) Theologian": The Spirituality of Francis X. Clooney's Comparative Method 79
Christopher Conway
9 Settling the Seer: "Deep Learning" and the Yoga of Slowness 89
Michelle Bentsman
10 Comparative Theology Embodied: The Mentorship, Methodology, and Ministry of Francis X. Clooney 95
Katie Mahowski Mylroie
11 Performance and Engagement: Reconsidering Religious Experience in Contemporary Comparative Theology 104
Reid B. Locklin
12 A Fowlerian Perspective on the Faith of the Comparativist 115
Erik Ranstrom
13 Comparative Theology as Process Not Conclusion: Francis Clooney on the Proper Formation of Comparative Theological Readers 129
John J. Thatamanil
Part III Comparative Theology and the Society of Jesus 139
14 Comparing Jesuits: Roberto de Nobili, Henri de Lubac, and Francis X. Clooney 141
James Fredericks
15 Francis X. Clooney, SJ: Jesuit, Scholar, Missionary 151
Christian S. Krokus
16 The Ignatian Tradition and the Intellectual Virtues of a Comparative Theologian 162
Peng Yin
17 Wonder Grasps Anything: Punctuation and Patristic Theology in the Early Colonial Philippines 173
Maria Cecilia Holt
Part IV E xpanding on Francis X. Clooney's Corpus 185
18 The Interpretation of Scripture in the Comparative Theology of Francis X. Clooney 187
Leo D. Lefebure
19 "Good Dark Love Birds, Will You Help?": Comparative Reflections on Clooney's His Hiding Place Is Darkness 198
Kimberley C. Patton
20 "Paradoxology": The Srivaisnava Art of Praising Visnu 209
Vasudha Narayanan
21 Hymns on Mary in Hindu--Muslim--Christian Dialogue 225
Klaus von Stosch
22 Mary and Motherhood -- A Comparatively Informed Reconsideration 235
Mara Brecht
Part V E xercises in Comparative Theology 247
23 Transformational Liberation in the Age of COVID-19: A Comparative Theology of "the Good Woman" 249
Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier
24 And the Angels Wept: How Jewish and Hindu Narratives May Enrich Each Other 260
Arvind Sharma
25 Modification, Emanation, and Parinama-Vada in Medieval Theistic Vedanta and Kabbalah 268
Ithamar Theodor
26 Advancing the Ritual-Liturgical Turn in Comparative Theology: Good Friday as a Case Study 280
Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski
27 Creative Fidelity in Expanding the Canon 291
Scott Steinkerchner, OP and Martin Badenhorst, OP
28 Slow Reading of Beautiful Writing: Calligraphy as Vehicle for Comparative Theology 302
Lucinda Mosher
29 Joy in the Earth: A Christian Cosmology Based on Agapic Nondualism 313
Jon Paul Sydnor
30 Perceiving Divinity, Cultivating Wonder: A Christian--Islamic Comparative Theological Essay on Balthasar's Gestalt 326
Axel M. Oaks Takacs
31 Paradoxes of Desire in St John of the Cross and Solomon ibn Gabirol: Thinking with Poetry in Comparative Theology 345
Luis Manuel Giron-Negron
Part VI Comparative Theology Beyond the Discipline 371
32 Locating the Self in the Study of Religion: Francis Clooney and the Experiment of Hindu--Christian Studies 373
Jonathan Edelmann
33 Learning Interreligiously as Public Theology: Limits and Possibilities for Institutional Leaders 389
Michelle Voss Roberts
34 Comparative Theology and Public Theology: In Search of a Responsible Theology Today 400
Albertus Bagus Laksana
35 God Meets Us There: Prison as True Home for the Christian Comparative Theologian 411
Mark J. Edwards
Part VII The Past, Present, and Future of Comparative Theology 419
36 Comparative Theology Beyond Religionization 421
Marianne Moyaert
37 Asking an Unusual Question of Kabir and Kazi Nazrul Islam 431
Rachel Fell McDermott
38 Comparative Theology avant la lettre? A Muslim "Deep Reading" of the Ramayana in Early Modern South Asia 442
Shankar Nair
39 Creativity and Resistance in Comparative Theology: Lessons from Eighteenth-Century Korea 449
Won-Jae Hur
40 In Praise of Artisans: Ramon Marti, Georges Anawati, and the Importance of Languages 460
Wilhelmus Valkenberg
41 Lectio Divina and Comparative Reading in the History of Christian--Muslim Encounters 470
Rita George-Tvrtkovici
42 Vicarious Voyage: What Difference Does Comparative Theology Make for Theology? 480
S. Mark Heim
43 Is There or Shall We Need a "Home" for Comparative Theologies? A Ru (Confucian) Response to Francis X. Clooney 491
Bin Song
44 Comparative Theology After Clooney 501
Hugh Nicholson
Author Index 510
Subject Index 513
Joseph L. Kimmel recently completed his PhD in the Study of Religion at Harvard. He teaches part-time at Boston College and serves as an Episcopal priest. In addition to a forthcoming article in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, he has been published in journals including Biblical Interpretation, the Journal of Interreligious Studies, the International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, and the Graduate Journal of Harvard Divinity School.
