Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / The Christian ecological tradition rejects problematic dualisms that separate and hierarchically value the body and soul, humans and creation, man and woman, etc. Ecofeminist theology seeks to provide alternatives that better recognize the interconnectedness of life overall, yet it has not fully responded to the dualism of life and death. This is evident in the work of Ivone Gebara, a leading ecofeminist theologian who addresses life, death, and resurrection within a more immanent understanding of the Trinity. Though she argues for a more ambiguous understanding of good and evil, creation and destruction, life and death, the tensions between these categories are never fully resolved. This is where the Hindu tradition, and in particular the Kali tradition of Hinduism, may shed new light on the Christian understanding of death as part of creation and of its interconnection with all life. The goddess Kali in particular is often referred to as the mistress of death, or death itself, and as such she does not protect her devotees from the inevitability of life, suffering, and death. Instead, Kali reveals the mortality of all life and frees devotees to embody their own fate and accept their own death as she grants them liberation from samsara (the continuous cycle of dying and rebirth into the world of materiality). Gebara advocates against hierarchical dualisms of good and evil, creation and destruction, life and death, where Kali already embodies the tension of these polarities, even the transcendence of them altogether. Even though there are fundamental differences between Hindu and Christian worldviews and conceptions of the divine, the figure of Kali addresses traditional tensions between life and death and between creation and salvation, and thus inspires a more integral liberation for all creation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This thesis deals with "empathic panentheisim". Precisely, we look into a comparative study between the panentheism of John B. Cobb Jr.'s idea of God and Nonmun Im Seong-Ju's idea of Ultimate Reality. By doing so, we can find out that the relationship between God and the world shows us an "empathic" relationship. However, we can identify many problems in Korean churches. The core problem is "the dualistic view of God and the world." Most churches teach the divide of "the holy and the secular" or "things of God and things of the world." This dichotomy causes indifference and apathy toward the social justice or social problems. For solving this problem, we should deal with the panentheistic vision of God in Process Theology. In Alfred North Whitehead and John B. Cobb Jr.'s idea of God, actual occasions transit to the final concrescence through the mutual correspondence of God and the world. In this point, this relationship and correspondence between God and the world can be the empathic vision. Also, we should look into Nongmun Im Seong-Ju's idea of Ultimate Reality in the Neo-Confucian tradition. Nongmun Im Seong-Ju argues that li and qi are equally real. Under this major premise, Nongmun establishes his theory of li-qi unlike other Neo-Confucian scholars who separate li with qi and consider the li-qi dichotomy. In this point, Nongmun Im Seong-Ju considers the correspondence between li and qi as life-giving intention (生意, Saeng-ui). Nongmun Im Seong-Ju regards the life-giving intention as the heart-mind of empathy. The life-giving intention is an ontological and cosmic creativity to connect the human heart-mind and the Great Ultimate. For overcoming the dichotomy of Ultimate Reality (or God) and the world, both John B. Cobb Jr. and Nongmun Im Seong-Ju focus on the relationship and the correspondence. After all, both two scholars try to establish the empathic relationship between Ultimate Reality (or God) and the world.

Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / One of the enduring legacies supersessionism has imparted to Christianity in general, and evangelical Christianity in particular, is a complicated relationship with the legal material of the Hebrew Bible. There is a common belief that since Christians follow the New Covenant, these laws are deemed null or fulfilled by Christ, and therefore do not require attention, or at least not the same level one would grant other biblical texts. The issue with this belief is that the legal material is part of the Christian canon, and therefore—doctrinally speaking—deserves serious attention. In seeking a robust and enduring reason to engage the legal material, I propose that evangelicals adopt a rabbinic concept that interrogates and develops one’s disposition toward Torah. This rabbinic concept is תורה לשמה (Torah lishmah), or “Torah for its own sake.” In this rabbinic understanding, when one studies Torah, one should study it lishmah, “for its own sake”—and no other. I argue that Torah lishmah for a Christian can mean to study Torah—especially the legal material—not simply because it might be personally or communally beneficial, but because it is divine teaching, because it is given to be studied and known intimately in all its detail, in both its theological and embodied aspects, because studying it is an act of lovingkindness toward God, a giving of oneself out of love and loyalty. How do evangelicals learn how to adopt Torah lishmah? I suggest that we have the rabbis to guide us: a vast array of texts from late antiquity onward, documenting the attempts of numerous rabbis to engage Torah lishmah. I propose that we read these texts alongside our own biblical commentaries, so that we might learn what Torah lishmah is and how it might positively affect our approach to the legal material. To begin this process and to help illustrate my proposal, I start at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Words—that is, the Decalogue, as it appears in Exod 20:2-17. The rabbinic midrashic commentary I use to engage the Decalogue is known as the Mekhilta d’Rabbi Ishmael, a tannaitic halakhic commentary on the Book of Exodus. To help contextualize and ground my explication, I compare the Mekhilta’s interpretations with those of Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), one of the most influential theologians and exegetes among the Church Fathers, and certainly one of the most important progenitors of evangelical Christianity. Together, the Mekhilta and Augustine’s interpretations are then brought into conversation with contemporary evangelical commentaries on the Decalogue. I compare especially each genre’s presuppositions, contexts, interests, insights, and methods. Through these comparisons, I underscore key insights Christians might learn from the rabbinic interpretations. Most importantly, through these comparisons, I determine the meaning and significance of Torah lishmah for an evangelical. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Margaret E. Guider / Thesis advisor: Francis X Clooney / In ‘geo-religious’ contexts throughout the world, the Church faces two crucial imperatives. Called to participate in the Missio Dei, it must engage other religions through inter-religious encounters and dialogue. Called to immerse itself within multi-religious realities, it also must deal with the epistemic arrogance that has accelerated religious extremism and contributed to the social construction, domination, and vilification of the religious ‘other.’ In response to these imperatives, Church leaders have issued a substantial number of ecclesial documents inviting Christians to enter into dialogue with adherents of other religions and philosophies of life. Ecclesial ministers have been called to reflect upon the 'clash of religions' and offer adequate responses to religious conflicts in various regions of the world. Unfortunately, however, our reliance on the comparative study of religion and the theology of religions, while informative, has not proven to be sufficiently formative. If Christian communities of faith are to respond to the adverse consequences of religious extremism, violence, and conflict, a new way of doing theological education is needed. Formation for ministry must include learning how to approach the religious other in a 'dialogue of life' through 'epistemic humility' that acknowledges, our need for the religious other. It must include cultivating the dialogical virtues of humility, hospitality, empathy, and interconnectedness necessary for promoting a ‘culture of encounter.’ In the processes of encounter and dialogue, learning by listening deeply can be transformative both for aspiring ministers and for adherents of other religions as they develop relationships of trust and mutual concern, thereby opening themselves to creating a heart for the other. In this dissertation, I propose that within the context of India, where religious violence is exacerbated by extremism and the marginalization of non-Hindus, the mission of interreligious dialogue entrusted to the Church by the Holy Spirit can be enhanced by encounters and relationships that provide for a deeper engagement with religious texts, rituals, and performative aspects of various faith traditions. I use the method of Comparative Theology articulated by Francis X. Clooney, S.J., that aims at deepening and expanding one’s own tradition through interreligious learning. In doing so, I advance the conviction, drawing from my own experiences through immersion, that the popular Hindu devotional text, Rāmcaritmānas, from the 16th century, with its textual, ritual, and performative dimensions, offers an instructive model for fostering a ‘culture of encounter’ and practicing dialogical virtues for the sake of the Reign of God.¹ As a consequence, I argue that ecclesial ministers who are formed and transformed by such experiences will be better prepared to accompany Indian Christians in ‘creating a heart for the other.’ Furthermore, by introducing aesthetical approaches to the proclamation, communication, and reception of Gospel narratives that deal with the life of Jesus Christ, the fruit and application of their interreligious learning, they also will be more skilled at helping Indian Christians to rediscover and intensify their devotion to Christ. Ideally, it is my hope that these learnings from the Mānas will foster ‘bandhuthā’ (fraternity) among Christians and Hindus and ultimately promote and sustain genuine encounters and dialogue. ¹ Abbreviated form Mānas / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Religious diversity largely defines the present religious situation; comparative theology adaptively responds to this situation by comparing influential theological hypotheses from different contexts and developing theological hypotheses from that inquiry. The popularity and sophistication of the Bhagavad-Gītā and Fourth Gospel make these scriptures excellent comparative candidates. This dissertation situates these scriptures, interprets them, compares them, and constructs a philosophical theology from the comparison. Part I follows J.A.B. van Buitenen, Angelika Malinar, and Emily Hudson by situating the Bhagavad-Gītā in its original epic context, the Mahābhārata, and philosophical context: Sāṅkhya and Vedānta darśanas. It follows Robert Hill and George MacRae by situating “John” against its dual first-century backgrounds: Judaism and Hellenism. Part II provides an original interpretation of the scriptures. With Śaṅkara, Abhinavagupta, and Hudson, the dissertation interprets the Bhagavad-Gītā as reorienting Arjuna to see the subtlety of karma and dharma and to realize non-duality with Kṛṣṇa/Ātman/Brahman in the devotee’s heart. With Bultmann, Eckhart, Hill, and Neville, the dissertation interprets John as anti-gnostically affirming the cosmos as God’s Logos expression, which elicits love as the appropriate response to the Logos. Part III compares the scriptures in respect to ultimate reality and human existence, the main comparative categories. Ultimate reality comprises four subcategories: (1) cosmic scope and nature, (2) cosmological metaphysics, (3) ontology, and (4) avatāra/incarnation. Despite notable differences, both scriptures emphasize the non- duality of the cosmos with its indeterminate (nirguṇa/ἀόρατος) ontological ground. Existence comprises four subcategories: obligation, comportment, engagement, and life’s meaning. Realizing nonduality with Brahman, seeing everything as the expression of the Logos, provides ecstatic freedom, and the courage to be. Part IV develops a philosophical theology from the comparison. Einstein’s relativity theories weigh the probability that the cosmos pulsates or dies. Evolutionary theory shows that consciousness emerges as an adaptation to environments, not environments for consciousness’s pleasure. After distinguishing physical cosmology from cosmological metaphysics, the dissertation dialectically argues that the cosmos is real, but contingent on the ontological one, which is indeterminate (empty/nothing) apart from its shining forth in the cosmological many. Although this theological hypothesis requires greater breadth for stabilization, it remains tentatively viable for today’s religious situation. / 2024-09-06T00:00:00Z

Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / In the last decade, virtue ethics has steadily grown as a viable and useful framework for addressing the problems and challenges of climate change. Interest in broader concerns of environmental virtue ethics has intensified in the study of particularly “ecological” character traits that reveal how human flourishing is embedded in ecological relations, and that promote practices of restoration ecology. As an exercise in Muslim-Christian comparative theological ethics, cumulatively, this dissertation attempts to contribute to this ongoing discourse. More specifically, its principal task becomes clarified by the central methodological question of how virtue is acquired, cultivated, and may become developed. From a Catholic standpoint, the critical aim concerns developing the proper hermeneutic to both shape and inform virtue responses to climate change. In this regard, the ethical perspective continues to emphasize three crucial implications that must be kept at the forefront of any effective, systematic response to the urgent struggle of climate justice, namely, radical inequality that disproportionately affects the poor and most vulnerable, basic commitments to protect creation and care for non-human creatures, and solidarity with future generations. To this end, proposing practical means and key conditions for the pursuit of ecological conversion, this comparative theological approach is developed to cultivate a more suitable response. Building solidarity and practicing hospitality, this virtue-rooted approach proposes lessons in developing sobriety, attunement, and resilience in accord with hope.A core concern that I address is the lack of engagement with both concrete problems and shared challenges that transcend religious boundaries. In The Future of Ethics, Willis Jenkins contributes key focus toward “reform projects,” that is, actual cases of cultural change and religious creativity. In a pragmatic way, he suggests that these social movements offer vital lessons that demonstrate how to become better managers of humanity’s planetary powers. In a “prophetic” spirit, furthermore, he claims these lessons should enable and may inspire persons as moral agents to resist and overcome how conditions of “moral pluralism and cultural conflict” alienate ethical responses. From a comparative theological perspective, I critique his understanding of hospitality, how his strategy systematically ignores contributions of religious others and his relative lack of engagement with non-Christian sources. I argue that the discipline of comparative theology functions to make a particularly important contribution to this issue, pointing to the usefulness of virtue ethics that highlight the types of people we should become, the capabilities and distinct contributions of religious perspectives, and the methods of virtue cultivation that might serve climate ethics in understanding the complex goal of “reinhabitation.” I define this aspirational concept of reinhabitation as threefold, providing an altered sense of place, “spiritual landscape,” and practice of everyday life. In response to climate change, therefore, this dissertation attempts to forward a possible method of ethical reasoning as much as a discrete role for the discipline of comparative theology. As virtue ethics is supplemented dialectically with the use of case-based reasoning, the dialogical method allows a back-and-forth style of reasoning that enables judgments to be challenged and revised and even allows the possibility to listen and learn from others. The current literature of climate ethics tends to fall short of how theoretical work on virtue must be guided toward concretely affecting how flourishing becomes understood, implicating both the practice of everyday life and moral formation. While highlighting friendship as a possible basis for shaping ecological agency, I argue that the virtue ethics of Thomas Aquinas continues to provide important lessons in “broadening” justice to include those who are excluded from their “due” share, and encompasses the “community of the universe.” However, in Thomas’s understanding of ecological agency, Christian theology must confront, rehabilitate, and seek to reconcile limitations and inherited problems. In particular, I shall address habitual tendencies to either dominate or exclude other, non-human creatures in Christian visions of flourishing. In common, Islamic approaches seem to be developing the question of ecological agency with a more acute consciousness toward habits and virtues that integrate ecological concerns. In the virtue ethics of Abū Hamid al-Ghazālī, I turn to an alternative model of virtue cultivation that emphasizes bodily practices in its development perspective, with a more corporeal and therapeutic way to practice temperance, enact justice in accord with law, and perhaps fostering hope. In this dissertation, as a result of this dialogical engagement, I argue for the incorporation of both case-based reasoning and development of virtue ethics. Taken together, this method of reasoning can draw inquiry into cooperative habits of solidarity and may create conditions for practicing hospitality. In sum, what kind of justice is necessary? In the concluding chapter, based on the case of the Niger Delta, I begin to sketch the outlines for a model of restorative justice with the promising basis of Muslim-Christian dialogue, the key role of climate change witnesses, and building possible pathways toward building resilience in the name of the greater common good. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This dissertation analyzes the shape and scope of the virtuous life as it is made possible by and oriented toward God in the thought of two of the most consequential philosophical and theological thinkers in Christianity and Islam, Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) and Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111), respectively. My analysis reveals that they share a commitment to the importance and reality of divine agency in shaping human moral action but sharply diverge in their vision of what constitutes a good human life. I argue that attending to these convergences and divergences in their ethics presents contemporary scholars and practitioners with a wide set of resources to theorize or navigate questions and challenges related to loving God, living well, and making moral decisions. This dissertation is a work of comparative theological ethics and engages in historical and rational reconstruction alike. I analyze Aquinas’s and al-Ghazālī’s central arguments on their own terms before extending them into contemporary conversations about divine agency, human happiness, and love. I clarify ongoing disputes about virtue in Aquinas scholarship by arguing for the compatibility of the acquired and infused moral virtues through a more robust appreciation of his account of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the beatitudes. I also contribute to burgeoning analyses of al-Ghazālī’s neglected account of virtue by arguing that his varied use of terms like good character traits (khulq), states of the soul (aḥwāl), and stations (maqāmāt) are united by his commitments to habituation and to his conception of happiness as grounded in the love of God alone. I argue that al-Ghazālī’s insights regarding eternal happiness can inform ongoing debates about the compatibility of acquired and infused moral virtues in Aquinas scholarship and can help Christian theologians and practitioners better appreciate the necessity of the presence of both kinds of virtue in the Christian moral life. I utilize Aquinas’s well-developed account of the infused theological virtue of charity (caritas) to illumine al-Ghazālī’s station of love (maḥabba) as a virtuous activity that can structure a moral way of life oriented toward the end of knowing and loving God. Aside from its contributions to our understanding of these figures and these dimensions of moral thought and life, this dissertation also demonstrates the value of comparison more generally as a tool to clarify debated and neglected concepts in moral philosophy and theology, to enrich ethical deliberation, and to deepen love of God and neighbor. / 2026-05-16T00:00:00Z

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Between February 1st and March 16th 2023 sixteen qualitative research interviews wereconducted with deans, vicars and priests of both the Catholic Church in Sweden and theEvangelical-Lutheran Church of Sweden with the aim to compare how they look at their religiousleadership, and what their answers might say about their respective theological traditions using asuggested theory called Comparative Lived Theology. The main research findings rendered fromthese interviews may be divided into the following three sections: firstly, top-down and bottom-upleadership approaches in a religious setting is descriptive of the structure of the religiousorganisations. Secondly, the fact that Evangelical-Lutheranism is a majority religious tradition inSweden sets it apart from minority traditions such as Catholicism, and this affects the religiousleadership. Thirdly, the interviews generated a notion that party politics plays a different role in thestructure of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Sweden than it does in the Catholic Church in Sweden.

Summaries in German, English and Afrikaans / Text in German / Die vorliegende Masterarbeit untersucht mittels empirisch-theologischer Forschung, inwiefern ‚Offene Jugendarbeit‘ einen Ort interreligiöser Lernprozesse darstellt. Aufbauend auf theologischer und sozialwissenschaftlicher Grundlegung wurden Mitarbeitende von ‚Offenen Jugendarbeiten‘ in und um Dillenburg in Form von qualitativen Experteninterviews nach ihrer Einschätzung bezüglich der Religiosität der Jugendlichen und der Chancen, Grenzen und Anknüpfungspunkte für interreligiöse Lernprozesse befragt. Dabei dient der empirisch-theologische-Praxiszyklus nach Faix als methodologischer Rahmen. Als Ergebnis der Untersuchung können fünf Aspekte für gelingende interreligiöse Lernprozesse in ‚Offenen Jugendarbeiten‘ festgehalten werden: Offenheit, Orientierung an den Jugendlichen, Religionssensibilität, Miteinander und Austausch. Unter Berücksichtigung dieser und der theologischen und sozialwissenschaftlichen Vorüberlegungen werden sowohl Konsequenzen für die Praxis Sozialer Arbeit als auch für die Missionswissenschaft als theologische Disziplin gezogen. Die Studie will zudem einen Beitrag zur Diskussion um die Verhältnisbestimmung von Theologie und Sozialer Arbeit leisten und Handlungsoptionen für ‚Offene Jugendarbeit‘ aufzeigen. / Based on the empirical-theological research approach, this thesis examines how “open youth work” can be seen as a place for interreligious learning. Referring to theological and socio-scientific foundations, employees of open youth work in Dillenburg (Germany) were asked to give an assessment of the youth’s religiousness and opportunities, limitations, and contact points for interreligious learning in open youth work. The empirical-theological practical cycle serves as methodological framework. In summary, five aspects of successful interreligious learning were identified: openness, youth orientation, religious sensitivity, togetherness and exchange. Taking into account the given results and the theological and socio-scientific preliminary considerations, the consequences for missiology and the practice of social work will be drawn together. The study aims to contribute to the discussion about the relationship between theology and social work, identifying courses of action for open youth work. / Op grond van die empiries-teologiese navorsingsbenadering ondersoek hierdie tesis hoe “oop jeugwerk” beskou kan word as 'n geleentheid vir interreligieuse leer. Met verwysing na teologiese en sosiaal-wetenskaplike grondslae is jeugwerkers in Dillenburg (Duitsland) versoek om die godsdienstigheid van jongmense asook die geleenthede, beperkings en kontakpunte vir interreligieuse leer in oop jeugwerk te beoordeel. Die empiries-teologiese praktiese siklus dien as metodologiese raamwerk. Vyf aspekte van geslaagde interreligieuse leer is aangedui: oopheid, jeugoriëntasie, godsdiensgevoeligheid, samehorigheid en uitruiling. Met inagneming van die uitslag en die teologiese en sosiaal-wetenskaplike voorlopige beskouings word afleidings gemaak oor die gevolge vir die missiologie en die praktyk van maatskaplike werk, en word 'n handelswyse vir oop jeugwerk aangetoon. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)