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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theology and Non-western Philosophy Conclusion: Theological Engagement with Non-Western Philosophy At the beginning of this chapter we noted a number of objections to contemporary comparative theology and to the engagement with non-Western philosophy it promotes. Part of our response has been to point to the continuity between Scholastic theology and such contemporary engagements.

In itself theological engagement with non-Western philosophy has for long been an accepted and valued part of the work of Western Christian theology. Contemporary comparative theology may be viewed just a modern application of this, widening the scope of such engagement to include further non-Western philosophies such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

Thus to object to Western Christian engagement with non-Western philosophy in principle is to object to the whole history of encounter with non-Christian philosophy and culture, including Greek philosophy. However, even if the continuity of contemporary comparative theology with longstanding traditions of Christian theology is granted, this still leaves some major challenges that contemporary comparative theology must meet if it is to become a component of mainstream theology in the future.

A sine qua non is that the particular Christian community to which the comparative theologian belongs receives his or her work as a legitimate and useful part of its own theological reflection. This depends on what the scope and task of theology are perceived to be within that community, and also on the exercise of an ecclesial responsibility on the part of a theologian who belongs to that community.

In the case of Clooney and Ward, they work in different Christian traditions and the divergence of their comparative theology reflects this. Nonetheless, they do show a concern to locate their theology within the tradition to which they belong. Yet the accountability of contemporary comparative theology in general to Christian communities is often weak because of the academic context in which comparative theology is done.