Comparative theology beyond religionization?

Throughout history, Christian claims to the uniqueness and finality have been formulated by means of religionized processes of selfing and othering, with the result that the religious other (Jew, Muslim, etc.) was reduced to a hermeneutical or rhetorical figure that exists only in the Christian imagination (Nirenberg, 2014). Where such imaginary constructs are institutionalized and thus acquire power, symbolic violence can lead to real violence (Moyaert, 2016b). A tradition in which God appears among people in a vulnerable form has to interact with this past. Christian theologians who, following Nostra Aetate, invest in amicable relations with those of other faiths, are tasked with understanding how the mechanisms of selfing and othering have developed historically and still determine today interreligious encounter and possibly limit it.The central question for this research project is: How do normative Christian theological views on religious difference shift unintentionally with respect to how (1) Christian identity; (2) other religious traditions; and (3) the relation between Christianity and other religions are thought about?This project builds on recent theological insights in three areas of research in which I have expertise and creatively combines these in an innovative way. These are, in particular, the critical theory of religion, (comparative) theology of religions, and the hermeneutics of interreligious dialogue.

Keywords:religionization, comparative theology, interreligious dialogue

Disciplines:Fundamental and systematic theology