Comparing Faithfully: Insights for Systematic Theological Reflection (Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions, 1) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0823274675 ISBN 13: 9780823274673

Publisher: Fordham University Press, 2016

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Michelle Voss Roberts is Principal and Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. Her book, Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion (Fordham, 2014), received the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in Constructive/Reflective Studies.

Review

"Marking her position as one of the foremost comparative theologians among the generation following pioneers such as Francis Clooney, Keith Ward, and Robert Neville, Michelle Voss Roberts has provided us with a significant landmark work." -- Paul Hedges

Edition details

• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0823274675
• ISBN 13: 9780823274673
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Voss Michelle