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Ancient commentators began their treatises by evoking gods and gurus near and far. Less eloquently and solemnly, but no less sincerely, I begin by expressing gratitude to those who helped make this book possible. I am grateful to the Henry Luce Foundation for a Luce Fellowship in Comparative Religious Studies, which enabled me to begin work on this book at the University of Chicago Divinity School during 1989-90, and to the Divinity School for welcoming me as a visiting professor and member of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion. Many conversations there, including those from 1986-89 in the colloquia on "Religions in History and Culture," and in a seminar on comparative theology in the winter of 1990, enriched my writing. Discussions with colleagues at Boston College and in the Boston Theological Society have likewise stimulated my thinking at crucial points. |
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To name but a few of the friends and colleagues who helped me in special ways: Frans Josef van Beeck, S.J., Loyola University, Chicago; David Burrell, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame; Richard DeSmet, S.J., Pune, India; Sister Vrajaprana, the Sarada Convent, Montecito; David Gitomer, Paul Griffiths and Sheldon Pollock, the University of Chicago; Lois Malcolm, currently completing the Ph.D. in Theology at the University of Chicago; Joshua Mitchell, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.; Laurie Patton, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Louis Roy, O.P., Boston College; John Taber, University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. My fellow Jesuits, at Barat House, Boston College, and at Hopkins Hall, Chicago, have helped me in |
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