How should the dialogue between Hinduism and Catholicism be framed? As the encounter of two great philosophical and theological streams? By considering the ascetic traditions both religions embody, or the sense of ritual and celebration honored in both traditions? Can there be a close rapport between religions with such different views of social order and change?
Francis X. Clooney, a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School. He has written widely on Hindu religious traditions and their implications for Christian theology. He taught in the Theology Department at Boston College for more than 20 years, and from 2002 to 2004 he was academic director of the Centre for Hindu Studies at Oxford University.
First president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, Clooney is the author of numerous books, including Seeing the Texts (1996), winner of the Best Book Award in Hindu-Christian Studies; Hindu God, Christian God (Oxford University Press, 2001); Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary (Oxford University Press, 2005); and Father Bouchet’s India (2006). Most recently, he was editor of Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century (Lexington Books, 2006). He has just completed two books, Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Desika on Surrender and The Truth, the Way, and the Life: A Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnavas.
About the Series
Organized by USC's Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, this event is part of an annual public lecture series exploring the rich and varied dimensions of Catholicism, examining its history and development, its current condition and possibilities, and the multiple ways in which it has, can and ought to interact with society, governments and other religions.
The institute is a research-oriented institution that supports ecumenical and interfaith explorations of Catholic intellectual traditions. Other lectures in the 2007-2008 series are:
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