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
