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Christian theology) and are accordingly committed to the elaboration of full theological systems out of careful exegesis. Both hold that the key referent, God or Brahman, cannot be adequately known through words, or directly described, though words can train the reader for posttextual insights. They therefore build into their texts strategies which limit the further conclusions one might draw on the supposition that language is reliable, while yet inviting their readers to continue to be readers, immersed in texts. Both offer a long series of "case studies"to be argued vigorouslywhich help the student to become skilled in reading Texts correctly, with a gradually increased self-awareness and nuanced appreciation of their meanings. |
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Together, these Texts comprise an education which could not be afforded by either Text alonea difficult, demanding, and yet potentially wonderfully effective education rich in potential insights. It is all the more important then that the comparativist take advantage of these pedagogical resources by committing a great deal of time to the Texts, individually and together, in order to be educated by them and thereby to become the good comparative student, the insightful reader who alone can realize and articulate the Truth of the comparisons undertaken. |
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2. The Education of the Comparativist: Competence, Motivation and Limits |
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As we saw in Chapter IV, competence (adhikara) balances a recognition of innate ability with a set of specific internal and external preparations that one needs to undergo in order to be made into the kind of person who can read properly and learn the truth. The first prerequisite is the desire to know (jijñasa), as a pure desire and also as the motivation to engage in intensive reading. |
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Accordingly, we need to examine the desires of the theologian who bothers to undertake comparative work, the goals this theologian hopes to accomplish in reading and then in writing from that practice. Like the Advaita jijñasa, the contours of this desire/project must be mapped out simply and complexly: as a |
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