Comparing Faithfully

Comparing Faithfully

Insights for Systematic Theological Reflection

Every generation of theologians must respond to its context by rearticulating the central tenets of the faith. Interreligious comparison has been integral to this process from the start of the Christian tradition and is especially salient today. The emerging field of comparative theology, in which close study of another religious tradition yields new questions and categories for theological reflection in the scholar’s home tradition, embodies the ecumenical spirit of this moment. This discipline has the potential to enrich systematic theology and, by extension, theological education, at its foundations.

The essays in Comparing Faithfully demonstrate that engagement with religious diversity need not be an afterthought in the study of Christian systematic theology; rather, it can be a way into systematic theological thinking. Each section invites students to test theological categories, to consider Christian doctrine in relation to specific comparisons, and to take up comparative study in their own contexts.

This resource for pastors and theology students reconsiders five central doctrines of the Christian faith in light of focused interreligious investigations. The dialogical format of the book builds conversation about the doctrine of God, theodicy, humanity, Christology, and soteriology. Its comparative essays span examples from Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Jain, and Confucian traditions as well as indigenous Aztec theology, and contemporary “spiritual but not religious” thought to offer exciting new perspectives on Christian doctrine.

  • Cover
  • Half title
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Contents
  • Introduction: A Place for Comparative Theology in Christian Systematic Reflection
  • I: Divinity
    • 1 The Dance of Emptiness: A Constructive Comparative Theology of the Social Trinity
    • 2 Flower and Song: A Comparative Study on Teotlizing in Aztec Theology and Karl Rahner’s View of Divine Self-Disclosure
    • 3 Comparative Theology and the Postmodern God of “Perhaps”: A Response to Sydnor and Padilla
  • II: Theodicy
    • 4 Developing Christian Theodicy in Conversation with Navid Kermani
    • 5 Like a Dog’s Curly Tail: Finding Perfection in a World of Imperfection: A Hindu Theodicy in the Tradition of Sri Ramakrishna
    • 6 “Only Goodness Matters”: Reflections on Theodicy with Klaus von Stosch and Jeffery Long
  • III: Humanity
    • 7 Longing and Letting Go: Lessons in Being Human from Hadewijch and Mirabai
    • 8 Women’s Virtue, Church Leadership, and the Problem of Gender Complementarity
    • 9 Longing and Gender: A Response to Holly Hillgardner and Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier
  • IV: Christology
    • 10 What Child Is This? Jesus, Lord Lao, and Divine Identity
    • 11 Who Is the Suffering Servant? A Comparative Theological Reading of Isaiah 53 after the Shoah
    • 12 Response: Christology in Comparative Perspective
  • V: Soteriology
    • 13 The Way(s) of Salvation: The Function of the Law in John Calvin and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
    • 14 Sleeper, Awake: Considering the Soteriological Promise of Popular Spiritual Gurus
    • 15 Salvation in the After-Living: Reflections on Salvation with Joshua Ralston and Sharon Betcher
  • List of Contributors
  • Index
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
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    • W
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