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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theology and Non-western Philosophy Contemporary Comparative Theology ==================================== Contemporary comparative theology, as a self-conscious commitment to do theology in a positive encounter with other religious traditions, might seem the least likely of all modern theological disciplines to present as the heir of mediaeval Scholasticism.

Yet contemporary comparative theology has considerable common ground with the approach found in Aquinas. Christian comparative theologians also see theology as the reasoned exploration of faith, in which their perspectives and commitments are shaped by their being members of their Christian communities. Moreover, their engagement with other religious traditions is remarkably similar to Aquinas’ account of the probative science of sacra doctrina .

Other religious traditions function as authorities, which along with human reasoning become the resources out of which the theological account is constructed. The work of Francis Clooney and Keith Ward helps us grasp something of the character and variety of contemporary comparative theology and to consider its relationship to Scholastic theology.

These two theologians differ markedly in terms of the scope of their engagement with non-Western philosophy and in their understanding of the task of Christian theology and of central Christian doctrines.

Nonetheless, they share a commitment to theological engagement with non-Western philosophy that has much in common with the approach of Aquinas, while their work also reflects and addresses contemporary concerns about Western engagement with non-Western culture in a way that cannot be expected of Aquinas.

Francis Clooney For Francis Clooney comparative theology takes the form of a Christian theological engagement with particular texts from different Hindu traditions.[^24] Clooney is an accomplished and recognised Indologist, fully competent in Sanskrit and Tamil. He undertakes detailed and precise studies of Hindu texts, which are then set in comparison with other texts from the Christian tradition.

This manifests his own preference that comparative theology should resist the temptation to make grand statements about religions in general and instead proceed by way of individual case studies.