Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Structures and Patterns of Religious Diversity

Identifying internal structures and recurrent patterns of religious diversity can give us a better understanding of the internal dynamics of religious life and is of particular significance for inter-faith encounter / interreligious theology.

The project builds on the working hypothesis that such patterns exhibit a fractal structure, that is, they are recursive ( “scaling”) over the three levels of interreligious, intrareligious and intrasubjective diversity—a hypothesis first presented in the project leader’s Gifford Lectures (Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology, Orbis 2017) and discussed in the volume New Paths for Interreligious Theology: Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s Fractal Interpretation of Religious Diversity, ed. by P. Knitter and A. Race (Orbis 2019).  The elaboration of the hypothesis of a fractal structure of religious diversity is developed further in a larger monograph published in 2022 as Das himmlische Geflecht. Buddhismus und Christentum- ein anderer Vergleich. An English editions will be published by Orbis Books (New York) in 2024. The project is part of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”.

Religious pluralism in discourse – Buddhists and Christians in Myanmar coping with religious plurality.

(In cooperation with Hans-Peter Großhans)

DFG-funded project.

Madlen Krüger

Religious pluralism in discourse – Buddhists and Christians in Myanmar coping with religious plurality

This habilitation project incorporates an empirical study within a DFG funded project.

Melanie Barbato

Dialogue and Diplomacy: A Study of the Vatican’s and World Council of Churches’ Involvement in Hindu-Christian Relations

DFG number 411280951

Using examples from Hindu-Christian dialogue, the project examines how two major religious organizations deal with the challenge of bridging political and religious elements in their official communications. "Dialogue and Diplomacy" will provide a discourse analysis of Vatican and World Council of Churches involvement in Hindu-Christian dialogue, including a content analysis of official Catholic and ecumenical documents.

Achim Riggert

Liberating Diversity. Theology of Religion and the Concept of Interreligious Dialogue by Paul F. Knitter.

Catholic theologian Paul F. Knitter is one of the foremost pioneers of interreligious dialogue and one of the "fathers" of a Pluralist Theology of Religion, which he has enhanced and profiled in his own innovative way. The dissertation examines Knitter's dialogical and theological approach to religion from a systematic-theological perspective, including its (1) biographical background, its (2) theological justification and development, and its (3) practical application in Christian-Buddhist dialogue and Christian-Buddhist dual belonging. In this way, Knitter's approach to the theology of religions will be comprehensively reconstructed and evaluated in terms of its viability for current theological challenges and issues.

Ihsan Altintas

Attitudes Towards Religious Diversity in Islam and Hinduism. A Comparative Study of the Nur Community and the Ramakrishna Mission

The dissertation project compares the (Islamic) Nur Community and the (Hindu) Ramakrishna Mission with a particular focus on their attitude to religious diversity. Both emerged in the 20th century as revivalist movements in their home countries (i.e. Turkey and India) and spread to the West (US, UK, Germany, etc.), now running centers worldwide. Both movements are faith-oriented, text-based (their founder’s writings), have devotees who renounce the world (saṃnyāsins and waqfs), revivalist discourses (mujaddid and avatāra), and the mission of spreading their faith in the diaspora. They take a strong stance against atheism and irreligiosity, have established studies in academia (i.e. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Studies and Nursi Studies), organize national and international events in the public sphere, and participate in interreligious activities. This study will explore and compare the position of the Nur Community and the Ramakrishna Mission on religious diversity, based on their writings and sociological investigations by means of in-depth interviews with the adherents and key figures of both movements.

Elif Emirahmetoglu

The Concept of Human Being in Ibn al-Arabi and Shinran

The dissertation project compares the teaching of Ibn al-Arabi and Shinran on the nature of human beings within the broader context of the Sufi tradition and Pure Land Buddhism.

Mathias Schneider

Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus. A Religious-Historical and Theological Study

The monograph is exploring the global spectrum of Buddhist perceptions of Jesus, ranging from his demonization as an anti-Buddhist impostor to more appreciative depictions of Jesus as a Bodhisattva or a Buddha. To construct their respective interpretation, Buddhists in Asia and in the West draw on a wide range of doctrinal resources from their own religious backgrounds, located in the Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna strands of the Buddhist tradition, respectively. However, the study demonstrates that this plurality of views did not arise in a vacuum, but was rather shaped by external influences, that is, the quality of Buddhist-Christian encounter (e.g., in the context of colonialism or dialogue) and the interpreters’ own socio-cultural, political, and biographical contexts. In this way, Buddhist interpretations of Jesus also mirror the variegated history of Buddhist-Christian relations in general.

“Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus” is also a case study in the fields of theological comparative studies and the theology of religions. Christian theologians in the East, and now in the West, become increasingly aware of the Christological challenges raised by their Buddhist neighbors. While some Christian apologists have perceived these challenges as a threat and therefore insisted on clear-cut boundaries between Buddhism and Christianity, other appreciative voices have argued that Jesus does not belong to Christians alone and that Buddhists should have a say in his interpretation. However, the Christian apologists’ claim on “hermeneutical ownership” of Jesus cannot stand up to critical theological scrutiny. As a consequence, Christology can be conceived as a “faith seeking understanding” in collaboration with Buddhist (and also Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, …) voices, open for the constructive transformation of one’s own tradition. In this way, the study advocates the interreligious opening of systematic theology that considers dialogue as one of its core resources of insight.

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Buddha Mind- Christ Mind. A Christian Commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara

The Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva (7th or 8th century CE) is one of the most influential classical expositions of the bodhisattva ideal in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. This English-language commentary was published in the series "Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts" (Leuven: Peeters - Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; General editor: Catherine Cornille). In addition to an extensive introduction, a detailed theological discussion of the text, and a systematic conclusion, the book also contains a new English translation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra prepared by Ernst Steinkellner and Cynthia Peck-Kubaczek. This project was part of the cluster project Interreligious Theology .

 Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology

In the first part, this English-language monography presents an overview and critical analysis of pluralist approaches (as distinct from exclusivist and inclusivist approaches) to understanding religious diversity as they are currently developing within Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Chinese religon. On this basis, the second part outlines a concept of theology in terms of an interreligious, colloquial practice.

Part one includes results of the cluster project pluralism capacities of religions / inter-faith theology (add link); part 2 includes the Gifford Lectures of 2015.

Buddhist-Christian Relations in Asia

In cooperation with the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies

11th conference of the European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies. International conference in St. Ottilien (near Munich), June 25-29, 2015, sponsored by DFG, Spalding Trust, Lund Mission, EMW, Ev. Kirche von Hessen Nassau. Publication of conference papers following the conference.

Comparative Religion Reconsidered

In cooperation with Andreas Nehring, University Erlangen

This jointly edited volume offers a discussion of the widespread critique of comparative methodology within religious studies in recent decades and presents attempts at different reconceptualizations and reestablishments of comparative religious studies. The volume emerged from a specialists consultation of the section "Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology" of the WGTh (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie).

Fabian Völker

Philosophies of Nonduality - Historical Classification of Religion and Philosophical Critique of the Interpretation of Buddhism David R. Loys

David R. Loy is currently one of the most renowned Buddhist thinkers with a Western background. With his philosophy of nonduality linked to different religious traditions, Loy claims an interreligious foundation on which he simultaneously establishes a social and environmental ethics aimed at the concrete challenges of the present. In addition to a chronological introduction to Loy's life and work, the book offers not only a comprehensive systematic analysis of his thought, but at the same time an introduction to the movement of socially engaged Buddhism as well as the discourse fields of mysticism, transpersonal psychology, psychohistory, deep ecology, and Buddhist economics addressed by Loy.