Customer Reviews

Seeing Through Texts: Doing Theology Among the Srivaisnavas of South India (SUNY Series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religions)

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Francis Clooney's work remains controversial, but this reader thinks it is well worth peoples' time to listen to what he has to say. He writes as a devout Christian, and as a scholar. His work focuses on the religions and cultures of South Asia, and he offers students of Hinduism a number of relevant insights regarding this system of beliefs and practices. But the true strength and contribution he makes to the field is in his methodology. He believes that it is both imperative AND possible for scholars who study other cultures to open themselves to the essential humanity of their subjects. He asserts that, on some level, all humans share a basic drive toward meaning-making; and the scholar who is aware of this drive within herself is in a position to actually encounter the meaning-making moments of others, as expressed in both religious text and practice. Rather than studying others' religions as distant objects, Clooney maintains that it is possible for the honest and self-aware scholar to appreciate these religious systems from a position that integrates both: 1)critical-rational thought and 2)personal affinity and understanding.