In Search of the Hidden God in Bhagavad-Gītā and Deutero-Isaiah: Comparative Theology and Cognitive Metaphor Theory

Religious plurality is an increasingly important characteristic of our time. In the face of this diversity, several attitudes are possible, from completely denying the truth claims of other traditions, to considering all religions as expressions of the same common human experience. Attempts to reduce all religions to a common denominator have often proven unsuccessful. Aspects of a religion that are regarded as accidental or historically determined in these attempts, may be very essential to believers themselves. A more fruitful approach is offered by a recent approach called comparative theology (CT). Rather than searching for commonalities across different religions, it reads together (inter-texting) particular texts of different traditions in their own right, and allow these texts to question the reader's presuppositions about the religious other and about his or her own position. Fruitful though it is, the CT approach still lacks a clear methodology. In this project, we therefore aim to develop a methodological framework for inter-texting by integrating historical research on the texts' context and semantic analysis of its content in the CT procedures. The project will not limit itself to methodology, but will itself be an exercise in inter-texting two texts, namely the Gītā from the Hindu and the prophet Deutero-Isaiah from the Judeo-Christian tradition. These texts are chosen because they both deal with a central theological issue, namely if and how the divine/ultimate reality can be represented in images and in words, a question that has often divided the two traditions. Reading these texts together, following the methodology we will develop, will allow for a deeper and well-founded understanding of how the divine is conceptualized in both traditions.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

Toegankelijkheid:Open