The Problem of Choice in Comparative Theology

Catherine Cornille lays out the challenges inherent in developing a unified focus and method for comparative theology. While the possibilities for comparison between religions are almost unlimited, the approaches to the discipline range along a continuum from explicitly confessional to what she calls meta-confessional. In this open situation, some moderate constraints are of great value. Focusing primarily on the confessional grounding of the discipline, Cornille develops a typology of the different ways in which the exercise of comparative theology may lead to new theological insight and growth. She proposes addressing the problem of choice and fragmentation in the field by focusing on certain pressing theological questions or problems within one’s religion and exploring how another religion might shed light on those problems. She points also to the continued importance of the theology of religions as integral to comparative theology.