Comparative Theology: A Critical and Methodological Perspective

97 Pages·2017·0.494 MB·English

by  Paul Michael Hedges

Comparative Theology
Theology
Editor-in-Chief
Stephan van Erp (KU Leuven, Belgium)
Associate Editors
Christian Bauer (University of Innsbruck)
David Grumett (University of Edinburgh)
Paul Hedges (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Kristien Justaert (KU Leuven)
Vincent Lloyd (Villanova University)
Amos Yong (Fuller Theological Seminary)
Volumes published in this Brill Research Perspectives title are listed at brill.com/rpth
Comparative Theology
A Critical and Methodological Perspective
By
Paul Hedges
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Originally published as Volume 1.1 (2017) in Brill Research Perspectives in Theology,
DOI 10.1163/24683493-12340001
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017956157
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ISBN 978-90-04-35845-4 (paperback)
ISBN 978-90-04-35846-1 (e-book)
Copyright 2017 by Paul Hedges. Published by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Comparative Theology
A Critical and Methodological Perspective 1
Paul Hedges
Abstract 1
Keywords 1
Introduction 2
Part 1: Defining, Exploring, and Mapping a Field 5
The Old, the New, the Historical, and the Global 5
Key Figures: Comparative Theology and Comparative Religion 10
Comparative Theology and the Theology of Religions 15
Comparative Theology as Theology and Method 19
Comparative Theology and Ecclesial and Academic Structures 24
Conclusion 26
Part 2: Comparative Theology after Religion 27
Introduction 27
Deconstructing Religion 28
Material and Lived Religion 36
Rethinking Comparative Theology after Religion 38
Part 3: Discourses on Power and Representation 40
Power and the Subaltern 40
Whose Tradition? Whose Voices? 42
Gender in Comparative Theology 47
Comparative Theology as Subversive 50
Queer Religious Identity and the Comparative Project 53
Conclusion 58
Part 4: Comparative Theology, Hermeneutics, and Interpretation 58
Introduction 58
Grounding Comparative Theology in Philosophical Hermeneutics 62
Hermeneutics: Methods and Lenses 66
Conclusion 72
Concluding Reflections 73
Critical Bibliography 75

Comparative Theology
A Critical and Methodological Perspective
Paul Hedges
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore
[email protected]
Abstract
The nature and 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 main parts. Firstly, mapping the current
field and exploring its methodological and theological aspects, with particular attention
to global and intercultural theologies, comparative religion, and the theology of reli-
gions. Secondly, considering what the deconstruction of religion means for compara-
tive theology and how the term “religion” may be deployed and understood after this. It
also takes into consideration turns to lived and material religion. Thirdly, issues of
power, representation, and the subaltern are considered, including the place of feminist
and queer theory in comparative theology. Finally, an original and constructive discus-
sion on philosophical hermeneutics, as well as the way certain hermeneutical lenses
can bring issues into focus for the comparative theologian, is offered. The text notes key
trends, develops original models of practice and method, and picks out and discusses
critical issues and lacunae within the field.
Keywords
hermeneutics – postcolonialism – gender – Francis Clooney – religion – methodology –
lived religion – subaltern – liberation – Hans-Georg Gadamer
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2 hedges
Introduction1
In 1995 Francis X. Clooney published an overview of the field where he noted
that “Comparative theology is an exciting and quickly developing field, and
a relatively uncharted one” (Clooney 1995: 521). His paper could be said to
mark the emergence of the contemporary discipline and practice of com-
parative theology onto the academic stage. A further step was taken in 2006
when Clooney introduced the Comparative Theology Group at the American
Academy of Religion, while the Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology in-
cludes a chapter on comparative theology marking its recognition in wider
theological reflections (Clooney 2007).
Of course, comparative theology is not new and has precedents that extend
back into the nineteenth century and before. In this essay I do not intend to
pursue historical questions, and so the focus shall be on the contemporary
practice, except in as far as the latter can help shed light on contemporary and
future trends and practices. As such, it is addressed briefly in Part 1. Further,
I also do not intend to replicate Clooney’s monumental literature review; in
about thirty pages he covered six years of books, articles, conferences, and
blogs, etc. Writings on comparative theology have multiplied exponentially
since then making such a mapping task impossible. Further, Clooney’s aim in
writing then was to help map and plot an essentially new field of exploration
that stood very much at the fringes of theology, and was perhaps viewed with
considerable suspicion. In contrast, the intervening twenty plus years have
seen comparative theology becoming, I would suggest, an accepted (even if
not mainstream) part of theology. Its concerns with the religious Other, and
intercultural dialogue more broadly, have become matters of central focus not
just in theology but in other areas of the academy, and in the world at large.
My approach, therefore, will be more thematic and also attempt to pick up la-
cunae in comparative theology as it stands and look at likely future directions
and prospects. Further, I cannot hope to engage the entire range of practices
nor survey every type of work undertaken, therefore the focus here will primar-
ily be questions of methodology. Before outlining the text I will address a set of
critical issues around the way that comparative theology is represented here;
many of these are addressed through the text but need highlighting here.
I should note that certain limits or assumptions may be said to lie behind
this work. Firstly, given the limitations of space, and also its role as part of the
1  I would like to thank a number of colleagues who have commented on the whole or parts of
this project as it has been in preparation, in particular Francis Clooney, Marion Grau, Hugh
Nicholson, Michelle Voss Roberts, Klaus von Stoch, Jon Paul Sydnor, and John Thatamanil.
comparative theology 3
Brill Research Perspectives in Theology series to provide a critical overview of
a field, I am limiting the range of what I take to be comparative theology for
the purposes of this text. That is to say, I will focus upon what has become
the mainstream academic discipline which may be said to be centred largely
around Clooney, but including other major figures such as James Fredericks,
and relating to a somewhat wider field that also takes in David Burrell, Robert
Neville, Keith Ward, and others. This recognises that when most people em-
ploy the term comparative theology these days, either in their own practice or
as a descriptive term, they are speaking about these figures and their way of
doing comparative theology. However, this may paint the discipline as primar-
ily a modern, Western, elite, academic discourse exemplified by certain foun-
dational patriarchs. It is certainly not my intention to delimit or prescribe such
a field. Therefore as I proceed I will show the limits of seeing comparative the-
ology in this way. While having partly used the first part to set up this picture
of the field the subsequent parts will look beyond it, asking questions about
the way it represents religious traditions, subaltern voices, gender issues, how
queer theory may be employed, and looking at liberative narratives that would
displace any notion of a “central tradition”. Another limit to the work is that I
will mainly engage the English speaking traditions of comparative theology,
which partly reflects a strong American, and to a lesser extent British, involve-
ment in writing comparative theology. There is also a very strong mainland
European comparative theological tradition, especially in the German speak-
ing world and in the Low Countries. This tradition is not neglected though,
and many leading voices in it have texts written in English which are engaged,
and so such figures as Martien Brinkmann, Marianne Moyaert, Perry Schmidt-
Leukel, Klaus von Stosch, and Ulrich Winkler are also part of the discussion.
Related to the concern just raised is where we draw the limits of what is and
is not comparative theology. There are certainly a range of terms for related
work for instance intercultural theology, theology of religions, inculturation,
contextual theology, cross-cultural theologies, or Multiple Religious Belonging.
If we look, for instance, at a book like M. Thomas Thangaraj’s The Crucified
Guru: An Experiment in Cross-Cultural Christology (Thangaraj 1994) are we
looking at a work of comparative theology? Thangaraj places his work in re-
lation to Indian Christian theologies that have arisen to locate the Christian
tradition within India where native Indian traditions may inform the way that
Christianity is understood and practiced (Thangaraj 1994: 21), whereas Clooney
works as a Western Christian reading Hindu texts to cross over and return to
inform his own Western tradition and readings of Christianity. I will not at-
tempt to provide any clear cut or hard and fast rules about what distinguishes
one theological category from another. I believe any such attempt would be