Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions, 8)

Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about "religion" and "religions," Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of "religion" and "race." He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other. Cover 1 CIRCLING THE ELEPHANT 2 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 CONTENTS 10 Preface: Autobiography and Comparative Theology 12 Note on Transliteration 20 Introduction: Revisiting an Old Tale 22 1 Religious Difference and Christian Theology: Thinking About, Thinking With, and Thinking Through 42 2 The Limits and Promise of Exclusivism and Inclusivism: Assessing Major Options in Theologies of Religious Diversity 62 3 No One Ascends Alone: Toward a Relational Pluralism 91 4 Comparative Theology after Religion? 129 5 Defining the Religious: Comprehensive Qualitative Orientation 173 6 The Hospitality of Receiving: Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Interreligious Learning 214 7 God as Ground, Singularity, and Relation: Trinity and Religious Diversity 234 8 This Is Not a Conclusion 270 Acknowledgments 280 Notes 284 Index 310 This book argues that Christian theology must be done in conversation with other religions. The book integrates theology of religious diversity, comparative theology, and constructive theology by moving beyond reified accounts of “religions” that make interreligious learning impossible. The author proposes a new theory of the religious that celebrates interreligious learning. This text argues that Christian theology must be done in conversation with other religions. The work integrates theology of religious diversity, comparative theology, and constructive theology by moving beyond reified accounts of 'religions' that make interreligious learning impossible. The author proposes a new theory of the religious that celebrates interreligious learning