European Perspectives on the New Comparative Theology Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Religions, with a Summary by Perry Schmidt-Leukel Edited by Francis X. Clooney & John Berthrong www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Francis X. Clooney and John Berthrong (Eds.) European Perspectives on the New Comparative Theology This book is, with exception of the concluding chapter by Perry Schmidt-Leukel, a reprint of the special issue that appeared in the online open access journal Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) in 2012 (available at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/new_comparative). Guest Editors Francis X. Clooney Harvard Divinity School Cambridge, MA, USA John Berthrong School of Theology, Boston University Boston, MA, USA Editorial Offices MDPI AG Basel, Switzerland Beijing, China Wuhan, China Publisher Shu-Kun Lin Production Editor Martyn Rittman 1. Edition 2014 MDPI • Basel ISBN 978-3-906980-45-4 © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland. All articles in this volume are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/3.0/), which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited. This ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact for our publications. The dissemination and distribution of copies of this book as a whole, however, is restricted to MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland. Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... ix John Berthrong and Francis X. Clooney Editors’ Introduction to “European Perspectives on the New Comparative Theology” .......................... 1 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1195-1197; doi:10.3390/rel3041195 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1195 Ulrich Winkler Reasons for and Contexts of Deep Theological Engagement with Other Religious Traditions in Europe: Toward a Comparative Theology .............................................................................................. 5 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1180-1194; doi:10.3390/rel3041180 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1180 Reinhold Bernhardt Comparative Theology: Between Theology and Religious Studies...................................................... 21 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 964-972; doi:10.3390/rel3040964 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/964 Klaus von Stosch Comparative Theology as Liberal and Confessional Theology ............................................................. 31 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 983-992; doi:10.3390/rel3040983 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/983 Ulrich Dehn A European (German) View on Comparative Theology: Dialogue with My Own Past........................ 42 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1085-1093; doi:10.3390/rel3041085 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1085 Paul Hedges The Old and New Comparative Theologies: Discourses on Religion, the Theology of Religions, Orientalism and the Boundaries of Traditions........................................................................................ 52 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1120-1137; doi:10.3390/rel3041120 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1120 iv Rose Drew Challenging Truths: Reflections on the Theological Dimension of Comparative Theology................. 71 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1041-1053; doi:10.3390/rel3041041 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1041 Claudia Bickmann The Idea of a Highest Divine Principle—Founding Reason and Spirituality. A Necessary Concept of a Comparative Philosophy?....................................................................................................................... 85 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1025-1040; doi:10.3390/rel3041025 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1025 Marianne Moyaert On Vulnerability: Probing the Ethical Dimensions of Comparative Theology.................................... 102 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1144-1161; doi:10.3390/rel3041144 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1144 Jacques Scheuer Comparative Theology and Religious Studies in a Non-religious Environment ................................ 121 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 973-982; doi:10.3390/rel3040973 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/973 Martin Ganeri Tradition with a New Identity: Thomist Engagement with Non-Christian Thought as a Model for the New Comparative Theology in Europe................................................................................................ 131 Reprinted from Religions 3 (2012): 1054-1074; doi:10.3390/rel3041054 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/3/4/1054 Mouhanad Khorchide and Ufuk Topkara A Contribution to Comparative Theology: Probing the Depth of Islamic Thought............................. 153 Reprinted from Religions 4 (2013): 67-76; doi:10.3390/rel4010067 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/4/1/67 Perry Schmidt-Leukel Scholars in Europe on the New Comparative Theology. A Pluralist’s Rejoinder .............................. 163 List of Contributors Reinhold Bernhardt is Professor for Systematic Theology/Dogmatics at the University of Basel, Switzerland. His publications include Der Absolutheitsanspruch des Christentums. Von der Aufklärung bis zur Pluralistischen Religionstheologie (Gütersloher Verlagshaus 1990) and Was heisst „Handeln Gottes“? Eine Rekonstruktion der Lehre von der Vorsehung (Gütersloher Verlagshaus/Chr. Kaiser 1999 / LIT 2008). He is the editor of the series Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen and of the periodical Theologische Zeitschrift. He is also the co-editor of the series Scientia & Religio and Studien zur systematischen Theologie und Ethik. His research interests are the theology of religions, divine action, and the relation of theology and science. John Berthrong, educated in Sinology at the University of Chicago, has taught comparative philosophy and theology at Boston University since 1989. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing, China. His teaching and research interests include interreligious dialogue, Chinese religions and philosophy, and comparative philosophy and theology. His publications comprise All under Heaven: Transforming Paradigms in Confucian-Christian Dialogue (SUNY Press 1994) and Expanding Process: Exploring Philosophical and Theological Transformations in China and the West (SUNY Press 2008). Claudia Bickmann is Professor of Philosophy at Cologne University, Germany. Her areas of research and publications are aimed at Transcendental Philosophy, Classical Philosophy from Kant to Heidegger with regard to Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and Comparative Philosophy. She is the founding editor and editor-in-chief (with Markus Wirtz) of the cross-cultural book-series World-Philosophies in a dialogue (Weltphilosophien im Gespräch,Verlag Traugott Bautz). She is also president of the international Society of Intercultural Philosophy (GIP). Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology and Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions. After earning his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations (University of Chicago, 1984), he taught at Boston College for 21 years, until coming to Harvard. His primary areas of scholarship are theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and the developing field of comparative theology. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, and the dynamics of dialogue in the contemporary world. Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including Comparative Theology: Deep Learning across Religious Borders (Wiley-Blackwell 2010). In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. vi Ulrich Dehn was born in 1954 in Duesseldorf (at that time, West-Germany). He studied Protestant Theology at several German universities and at the UTC Bangalore (South India) and worked eight years (1986–1994) at the Tomisaka Christian Center in Tokyo. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on (Christian) theology of liberation in India (1985). His post-doc research (habilitation) focused on Nichiren Buddhism in Japan (1992). Since 2006 he holds the Chair of World Christianity and Religious Studies at the University of Hamburg. He published several monographs and articles and is editor of the periodical Interkulturelle Theologie. Martin Ganeri, O.P., is Vice Regent of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford and Director of the Centre for Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue at Heythrop College, University of London. His special area of interest is the Christian theological engagement with classical Hindu thought. His research has focused especially on the theology His recent publications include “Two Pedagogies for Happiness: healing goals and healing methods in the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas and the U ̠ P in: Philosophy as Therapeia (Cambridge University Press 2010), “Theology and Non-Western Philosophy” in: Theology and Philosophie: Faith and Reason (Bloomsbury 2012). He is currently working on a monograph, Indian for Routledge. Rose Drew completed her doctorate in 2008. She has since lectured in interfaith studies and Buddhism at the University of Glasgow, UK, and in 2011 held a research scholarship at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests are predominantly