Does Comparative Theology have an Advantage over Religious Studies?

In this essay, I assess the prospects for Comparative Theology as some scholars proffered towards building a general theory of religion. I first acknowledge the relationship between the two disciplines; second, I examine the relationship between faith and religion which I believe is crucial to enter the discussion on Comparative Theology and Religious Studies; third I come to the crux of the matter by assessing the influence of theology on the study of religion; fourth, having problematized the method of Comparative Theology, I underscore the limits of theological method for comparative analysis in the study of religion. This above outline is consciously intended to take the general reader as well as specialists toward my conclusion, which is to suggest that Comparative Theology can only serve an internal theological purpose of one religious tradition but not for the purpose of a general theory of religion

Geography and Law

The central questions of comparative law are still unsolved: Which legal institutions in what legal cultures can be compared with each other in a meaningful way? What can we learn from comparative law for the solution of our own problems? This Article will discuss the relations between geography and law. I have already discussed the subject of language and law elsewhere; with regard to religion and law, I refer the reader to the extensive writings of Harold Berman

A Comparative Analysis of Women\u27s Issues: Toward a Contextualized Approach

This Article proposes a methodology for comparative analysis of women\u27s rights using insights from critical race theory and feminism. Comparative analysis by a Western scholar must reconcile a perspective developed in the United States with respect for another culture. In discussing women\u27s rights, lawyers, judges, students and sociologists have justified certain women\u27s situations as an inherent aspect of culture. For example, traditional female genital surgery has been defended as a mere bodily mutilation that is the sine qua non of the whole teaching of tribal law, religion, and morality. In Mexico, machismo has been justified as an immutable characteristic of Mexican culture that should be respected. Cultural relativists maintain that criticizing cultural norms is akin to advocating cultural genocide. Thus, comparative analysis faces the challenge of respecting cultural differences. Reprinted in Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader, ed. Adrien Katherine Wing (2000)

Book Review: Theology After Vedanta: An Experiment in Comparative Theology

A review of Theology After Vedanta: An Experiment in Comparative Theology by Francis X. Clooney

Reconnecting the Philosophy of Religion and Engaged Religious Reasoning

It is no surprise that the philosophy of religion, the many disciplines counted within the study of religion and theology, and religion-specific studies, all have their own methods and interests, and often proceed necessarily as conversations among small groups of experts. But the intellectual cogency and credibility of such studies also entails a problematization of the boundaries that divide them. While disciplinary distinctions are necessary and valuable, a freer flow of ideas and questions across boundaries is to the benefit of all concerned. In particular, the philosophy of religion proceeds more fruitfully if, among its several dimensions, it is also intentionally comparative and inter-religious, vulnerable to the questions raised by insiders to traditions, and open to the implications of ideas for religious practic

Book Review: Spiritual But Not Religious? An Oar Stroke Closer to the Farther Shore

A review of Spiritual But Not Religious? An Oar Stroke Closer to the Farther Shore by Reid B. Locklin

Constitutions for the 21st Century: Emerging Patterns-The EU, Iraq, Afghanistan…

Professor Mallat delivered the Third Annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Comparative Law in 2004 and this article is based on his remarks. The article is included in the inaugural volume of CICLOPs that collects the first six Bernstein lectures. Strong moments in constitution-making often result from traumas; the breakthroughs by the European Union and constitutional achievements by both Iraq and Afghanistan stand as modern examples. The traumas of Europe, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been typified by violent conflict over the past century, including two World Wars, the Cold War, and the ‘war on terrorism’. Efforts and successes at constructing 21st Century constitutions can largely be seen as a response to these 20th Century traumas. Looking beyond the black-letter law of the European, Afghani, and Iraqi constitutions, emerging patterns in constitution making are to be found, including the recent international drive behind constitutions and the classical Montesquieuian separation of powers. Though these are two major driving forces in constitutional design, three ‘acid tests’ are not only heavily considered in the creation of these constitutions, but they are also heavily determinative in the success of any given constitution: religion, federalism, and, most importantly, the presidency. By analyzing these considerations and the acid tests in the context of the European Union, Iraq, and Afghanistan, their overwhelming importance and the difficulties in negotiating each within varied political climates becomes apparent. The hope is that these attempts and successes at constitutional design can serve as examples for other regions suffering from intense and prolonged violent turmoil, such as the successful resolution of the Northern Ireland problem or the as yet resolved Arab-Israeli conflict concerning Palestine. Further, these shifts in constitutional design over the past century act as signposts, pointing in the direction of change as the process and needs of constitutional design evolves from old concerns of self-contained internal affairs to a new modern concern of internationalism and, eventually, to a state of depoliticisation of constitutions

Book Review: Women of Power and Grace: Nine Astonishing, Inspiring Luminaries of our Time

A review of Timothy Conway\u27s Women of Power and Grace: Nine Astonishing, Inspiring Luminaries of Our Time

[Review of] H. David Brumble III. American Indian Autobiography

American Indian Autobiography provides significant insight into the nature and production of Indian autobiographies, past and present. Aware of the heterogeneity of native cultures, H. David Brumble perceptively demonstrates the continuity of these works with both their cultural and literary roots -- oral narrative. He elucidates six genera of oral narrative, convincingly establishing their continuity from the earliest to contemporary works. Stressing the bicultural nature of Indian autobiography, Brumble carefully analyzes both the effect of white editors working within the cultural assumptions of their eras in eliciting and shaping Indian autobiographies and the ramifications of culture contact and adaptation on the part of the Indians in shaping their narratives. Brumble fruitfully contrasts the Indian self as tribal and kin enmeshed with the modern Western self, independent and individualistic. He sees the essence of preliterate autobiography as the reciting of one\u27s adult deeds rather than the contemporary (since Rousseau) project of explaining how the author came to be who he/she is

Book Review: Monastic Life in the Christian and Hindu Traditions: A Comparative Study

A review of Monastic Life in the Christian and Hindu Traditions: A Comparative Study, edited by Austin B. Creel and Vasudha Narayanan