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Karl Barth and Comparative Theology
Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions
Edited by Martha L. Moore-Keish and Christian T. Collins Winn
Contributions by Chris Boesel, Francis X. Clooney, Christian T. Collins Winn, Victor Ifeanyi Ezigbo, James W. Farwell, Tim Hartman, S. Mark Heim, Paul Knitter, Pan-chiu Lau, Martha L. Moore-Keish, Peter Ochs, Marc A. Pugliese, Joshua Ralston, Anantanand Rambachan, Randi Rashkover, Kurt Anders Richardson, John N. Sheveland, Mun'im Sirry and Nimi Wariboko
Published by: Fordham University Press
288 pages, 152.00 x 228.00 mm
Building on recent engagements with Barth in the area of theologies of religion, Karl Barth and Comparative Theology inaugurates a new conversation between Barth’s theology and comparative theology. Each essay brings Barth into conversation with theological claims from other religious traditions for the purpose of modeling deep learning across religious borders from a Barthian perspective. For each tradition, two Barth-influenced theologians offer focused engagements of Barth with the tradition’s respective themes and figures, and a response from a theologian from that tradition then follows. With these surprising and stirringly creative exchanges, Karl Barth and Comparative Theology promises to open up new trajectories for comparative theology.
Contributors: Chris Boesel, Francis X. Clooney, Christian T. Collins Winn, Victor Ezigbo, James Farwell, Tim Hartman, S. Mark Heim, Paul Knitter, Pan-chiu Lai, Martha L. Moore-Keish, Peter Ochs, Marc Pugliese, Joshua Ralston, Anantanand Rambachan, Randi Rashkover, Kurt Richardson, Mun’im Sirry, John Sheveland, Nimi Wariboko
Foreword: Some Reflections on Barth and Comparative Theology | ix
Francis X. Clooney
Introduction | 1
Christian T. Collins Winn and Martha L. Moore-Keish
I Barth and Judaism
1 Comparative Theology, Comparative Wisdom, and Covenantal Logic | 19
Randi Rashkover
2 Faith as Immunity to History? Rethinking Barth and Fackenheim | 36
Chris Boesel
Response to Part I | 57
Peter Ochs
II Barth and Buddhism
3 Barth’s Theology of Religion and Dōgen’s Nondualism | 67
James Farwell
4 Barth and Universal Salvation: A Mahayana Buddhist Perspective | 85
Pan-Chiu Lai
Response to Part II | 105
Paul Knitter
III Barth and Islam
5 Analogies across Faiths: Barth and Ghazali on Speaking after Revelation | 115
Joshua Ralston
6 Karl Barth and Parousia in Comparative Messianism | 137
Kurt Anders Richardson
Response to Part III | 155
Mun‘im Sirry
IV Barth and Hinduism
7 God as Subject and Never Object to Us: Reading Kena Upaniṣad with Karl Barth and Śaṅkara | 163
Marc A. Pugliese
8 “Do Not Grieve”: Reconciliation in Barth and Vedanta Desika | 184
John N. Sheveland
Response to Part IV | 203
Anantanand Rambachan
V Barth and African Traditional Religions
9 Speaking about the Unspeakable: Conversing with Barth and Ejizu on Mediated Divine Action | 211
Victor I. Ezigbo
10 Humanity and Destiny: A Theological Comparison of Karl Barth and African Traditional Religions | 228
Tim Hartman
Response to Part V | 249
Nimi Wariboko
Conclusion: Barth’s Dreams: Religions as Scandal and Parable | 257
S. Mark Heim
Acknowledgments | 265
List of Contributors | 267
Martha L. Moore-Keish is the J. B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.
Christian T. Collins Winn is Associate Professor of Theology and Chair of the Theology department at the Global Center for Advanced Studies College, Dublin.
Chris Boesel is associate professor of Christian theology at Drew Theological School in New Jersey. His work focuses on Kierkegaardian and Barthian approaches to confessional Christian faith and its relation to progressive ethical commitments to social justice in dialogue with liberation theologies and postmodern philosophies. He is the author of Risking Proclamation, Respecting Difference: Christian Faith, Imperialistic Discourse, and Abraham.
Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School. His primary areas of Indological scholarship are theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, on the early Jesuit pan-Asian discourse on reincarnation, and on the dynamics of dialogue and interreligious learning in the contemporary world. His most recent books are Reading the Hindu and Christian Classics: Why and How Deep Learning Still Matters (2019) and Western Jesuit Scholars in India: Tracing their Paths, Reassessing Their Goals (2020).
Christian T. Collins Winn is Associate Professor of Theology and Chair of the Theology department at the Global Center for Advanced Studies College, Dublin.
Victor Ifeanyi Ezigbo is professor of contextual theology and world Christianity at Bethel University. He is the author of Re-Imagining African Christologies and Introducing Christian Theologies: Voices from Global Christian Communities.
James Farwell is an Episcopal priest who teaches liturgical and sacramental theology, comparative theology, and the theology of religions at Virginia Theological Seminary. His research and writing focus on Holy Week, the Eucharistic prayer, and issues in Buddhist-Christian engagement and practice.
Tim Hartman is assistant professor of theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. He holds a PhD in theology, ethics, and culture from the University of Virginia and is currently completing a manuscript that constructively engages Karl Barth and Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako.
S. Mark Heim is the Samuel Abbot Professor of Christian Theology at Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School. He has written extensively on issues of religious pluralism, atonement, and Christian ecumenism. His books include Salvations: Truth and Difference in Theology (1995), The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends (2001), Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross (2006), and most recently, Crucified Wisdom: Christ and the Bodhisattva in Theological Reflection (2018).
Paul Knitter is the Emeritus Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, New York, as well as emeritus professor of theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati. His long theological career has been devoted to promoting interreligious dialogue and a Christian theology that would support such dialogue.
Pan-Chiu Lai is associate dean of arts and professor of religious studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research areas include Chinese Christian theology, interreligious dialogue, systematic theology, and environmental ethics.
Martha L. Moore-Keish is the J. B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.
Peter Ochs is Edgar Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia. His most recent books are Another Reformation: Postliberal Christianity and the Jews and The Free Church and Israel’s Covenant.
Marc A. Pugliese is associate professor of theology at Saint Leo University, where he teaches primarily in the graduate theology program. His research areas include philosophical theology, doctrine of God and Trinity, science and religion, and comparative theology.
Joshua Ralston is Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Edinburgh and founder and director of the Christian-Muslim Studies Network. He is the author of Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Shari‘a and co-editor of Church in the Age of Global Migration: A Moving Body (2015). He has published numerous essays and book chapters on Protestant theology, Christian Muslim dialogue, and political theology.
Anantanand Rambachan is professor of religion at Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. His most recent book is A Hindu Theology of Liberation.
Randi Rashkover is associate professor of religious studies at George Mason University. She is the author of Freedom and Law: A Jewish-Christian Apologetics and Revelation and Theopolitics: Barth, Rosenzweig and the Politics of Praise.
Kurt Anders Richardson is associate professor of Abrahamic studies at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. One of the founders of Society for Scriptural Reasoning and Comparative Theology study groups in the American Academy of Religion, Richardson’s research focus is in the comparative theology of the Abrahamic traditions with a forthcoming volume in comparative messianism.
John N. Sheveland is professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University. He is the author of Piety and Responsibility: Patterns of Unity in Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, and Vedanta Desika and a number of articles on various themes in comparative and interreligious theology.
Mun’im Sirry is assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He is the author of Scriptural Polemics: The Qur’an and Other Religions.
Nimi Wariboko is Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics at Boston University and the author of Nigerian Pentecostalism.