Comparative Theology Seminar

An introduction to comparative theology and comparative theologies, with special attention to their close interrelation and emergence with comparative religion and religious studies in the modern period. Our study will begin with a genealogical examination of the early modern discipline of "comparative theology", a liberal Christian project designed to overcome the prejudices and limitations of "dogmatic theology" through its engagement with the claims of other religious traditions. In a second major unit of the course, we will examine the mutual self-definition of neo-Orthodox theology and the field of comparative religious studies in the mid-twentieth centuries including the efforts to build bridges between these disciplines by prominent theologians in North America. Finally, we will turn our attention to contemporary critiques of comparative religion itself and the emergence of a "new" comparative theology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.