Bloomsbury Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology: Comparison Revisited

Can religions be compared? For decades the discipline of religious studies was based on the assumption that they can. Postmodern and postcolonial reflections, however, raised significant doubts. In social and cultural studies the investigation of the particular often took precedence over a comparative perspective. Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology questions whether religious studies can survive if it ceases to be comparative religion. Can it do justice to a globalized world if it is limited on the specific and turns a blind eye on the general? While comparative approaches have come under strong pressure in religious studies, they have started flourishing in Theology. Comparative theology practices interfaith dialogue by means of comparative research. This volume asks whether theology and religious studies are able to mutually benefit from their critical and constructive reflections. Can postcolonial criticism of neutrality and objectivity in religious studies create new links with the decidedly perspectival approach of comparative theology? In this collection scholars from theology and religious studies discuss the methodology of interreligious comparison in the light of recent doubts and current objections. Together with the contributors, Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Andreas Nehring argue that after decades of critique, interreligious comparison deserves to be reconsidered, reconstructed and reintroduced. Review To the many critics of religion as a universal phenomenon and of comparative theology as a valid academic project, this collection offers a needed and a multi-faceted response. The contributors make their diverse cases that the complexity and dangers of comparison do not outweigh the possibility, the promise and indeed the urgency of reciprocal illumination (Arvind Sharma). This book not only revisits, it revitalizes comparative studies and the promise of real learning from real differences. --Paul F. Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor Emeritus of Theology, World Religions and Culture, Union Theological Seminary, USAInterreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology: Comparison Revisited edited by Andreas Nehring, Perry Schmidt-Leukel is an important and timely contribution to renewed discussions of comparative method in religious studies and in theology. Its twelve chapters provide us with thoughtful and probing analyses of comparative method and its role in the study of religions. The essays range across the field, addressing comparison from historical, phenomenological, cognitive, and theological perspectives. Interreligious Comparisons is a signal contribution to the study of religion, and its essays both build on and challenge current methodological orthodoxies. It will be the go-to resource for those seeking a renewed role for comparative method in the study of religion and in comparative theology. --Charles D. Orzech, Reader in Religion, Conflict, and Transition Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow, UK About the Author Perry Schmidt-Leukel is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the University of Muenster, Germany.Andreas Nehring is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the University of Erlangen, Germany.