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strategies of practical and reflective engagement in a religious tradition other than one's own, particularly by way of reading. The required rewriting of inclusivism and its alternatives is yet another important task which confronts the comparative theologians of the next generation. |
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Intention and method are important, as is the revision of the theology of religions. But such concerns are no more decisive in comparative theology than in other areas of theology; the comparative theologian is no more likely to make final decisions in these areas than are other theologians in their areas of specialization. Nevertheless, and again as in other areas of theology, the Christian comparativist needs at least to consider the possibility of a truth more basic than those of the practical and theoretical kinds already considered, one urgent enough that a consideration of it cannot be postponed until all lesser issues are resolved: the possibility that through comparison one does, or does not, learn more of God. The comparativist will have to consider not only the possibility that the other Text is reasonable, or comparable, but also the possibility that it actually speaks of Godin the way that Christian Texts doand so increases our understanding of Godin the way that Christian Texts do. |
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The question of whether or not the comparativist learns more of God has a pragmatic importance. The comparative theologian is making a large demand, that all of the home tradition be reread after engagement in another tradition; the probability of a positive response to this demand by other theologians and by the larger believing community will be greatly increased if they are able to perceive that the theologian is bringing home something worthwhileas would be the case, for example, if the Christian community finds that it learns something about God by a study of the Uttara Mimamsa Sutras or some particular Advaita commentary, at least in a way analogous to how that community learns something about God by studying the Summa Theologiae or Cardinal Cajetan's commentary. |
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