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be used as they see fit; this reduction would fundamentally distort the other, by depriving it of its imposing structures, its transformative power and its claims to universalitythe very features which should most interest the theologian. But there can be no plan by which the theologian can relocate the comparison and the compared religious texts in an arena where the operative principle is a universal, exceptionless respect for all religions as equally true; even were such a relocation possible, it would be likely to devalue from the start one's own community's beliefs about itselffor the sake of comparison, the comparative venture would be shorn of its properly theological character. |
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2. Calling Theology "Comparative" |
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We need also to admit from the start that this project begins with a particular, peculiar, kind of theological confidence, the view that a faith tradition can claim the world entirely and universally, leaving no part of it unaccounted for, while yet simultaneously and effectively confronting itself uncompromisingly with the particular and stubborn demands that a world rich in particular and irreducible traditions and their beliefs places on the theologian. |
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In choosing to label Theology after Vedanta an experiment in "comparative theology," I therefore use the word "theology" advisedly, endowing it with an attentiveness to what is often unaccounted for or entirely marginalized in a tradition's theology, the fact of its serious theological competitors in other religions. Though I must distinguish the project undertaken here from theology as it is generally understood in the Christian context, I am tempted to call it simply "an experiment in theology," leaving aside the marker "comparative." "Comparative theology'' is not meant merely to mark another specialization within theology, nor is it merely heir to the older "theology of religions" and missiology disciplines. It is a project which, though begun modestly and with small examples, intends a rethinking of every theological issue and a rereading of every theological text. But as long as comparative study is not the norm, it would |
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