Research Interests
- Intercultural Theology and Global Christianity (in particular: Asian contextual theologies)
- Dynamics of Interreligious Relations (in particular: Buddhist-Christian)
- Intercultural and Interreligious Hermeneutics (in particular: mutual processes of perception, interpretation, and transformation)
- Religious History of the Buddhist Tradition (in particular: colonial and postcolonial developments)
- Interreligious Theology (in particular: Christology and Eschatology)
- Death and Afterlife (in particular: Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam)
- Interreligious Dialogue
- Theology of Religions
Habilitation/Post-Doc Project
Death and Afterlife in Dialogue: Toward an Intercultural and Interreligious Eschatology
In the last decades, the processes of globalization and the growing awareness of the contextual nature of global Christianity have presented a dual challenge for theology: first, recognizing the plurality of cultures within and outside Christianity (interculturality); second, acknowledging the historical and ongoing interactions with global religious diversity (interreligiosity). In response to this dual challenge, scholars in Intercultural Theology have often tended (a) to identify religion with culture and thus intercultural and interreligious issues, or (b) to segregate intercultural and interreligious analyses while prioritizing the former. However, approach (a) risks a one-dimensional interpretation of religion that is unable to link the close entanglements between culture and religion, on the one hand, with the causal efficacy of religion as a social reality, on the other hand. Approach (b) is at risk of overemphasizing the deconstructive potential of analytical methods inherited from Cultural Studies, while neglecting the reconstructive potential of critical reflection on systematic issues emerging from interreligious encounter.
Consequently, the project argues for an integrative approach that aims to combine intercultural and interreligious perspectives. First, it emphasizes that any adequate response to the dual challenge of cultural and religious plurality needs to be comprehensive, recognizing the dynamic interaction between theologies and their diverse cultural and religious contexts. Second, the project advocates for a decolonized theology. Informed by the paradigm shift from Mission Studies to Intercultural Theology, it includes voices usually neglected by Western theology not by exploiting them as mere informants, but by encouraging the collaborative inclusion of Western and non-Western, Christian and non-Christian thought in a global forum of critical-constructive dialogue.
Given the universality of death and its multiple, culturally conditioned interpretations found in religious traditions across the globe, eschatology is a topic par excellence for the application of an Intercultural and Interreligious Theology. However, theological reflection on death and afterlife has received insufficient consideration in intercultural and interreligious scholarship. It is crucial for global theological research to address this desideratum, not least because the meaning of human existence in the present is often established by anticipating its final goal, which has important ramifications for religious, social, and political life.
The aim of the project is to develop an explorative “map” for further proceedings in the field of Intercultural and Interreligious Eschatology. In order to demonstrate the significance of eschatology for Intercultural and Interreligious Theology, the project will present case studies from the areas of eschatological anthropology, individual pareschatology and eschatology, and collective eschatology, focussing on Christian eschatologians from Euro-American and Asian contexts in dialogue with Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese traditions.
Dissertation Project
Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus
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, my thesis 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.
In-depth knowledge of Buddhist views on Jesus is highly relevant for contemporary Christian theology across the globe. On the one hand, many Christians in Asia are living in socio-cultural contexts shaped and informed by the Buddhist tradition. To develop contextually relevant Christologies, Asian Christians are thus always referred to dialogue with their Buddhist neighbors. On the other hand, European and American Christians are encountering Buddhist views on Jesus, too, for example the widely read Christological reflections of spiritual influencers like the 14th Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh. Furthermore, in an age of globalization, Euro-American Christians are not only encountering Buddhist migrants from Asia, but also a growing number of “Western” Buddhists, each with their own perspective on Christianity and Jesus. Therefore, both Asian and Western contexts need a continuing Buddhist-Christian dialogue on Christology. However, this dialogue will only be successful if it is based on mutual understanding, including careful awareness of how the religious Other has perceived oneself and one’s own religious tradition. Better understanding can lead to the identification and correction of stereotypes, and finally to constructive processes of interreligious learning, which I explore in the second part of my thesis.
“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, as I argue in my analysis, the Christian apologists’ claim on “hermeneutical ownership” of Jesus cannot stand up to critical theological scrutiny. As a consequence, I suggest to conceive Christology 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, this study advocates the interreligious opening of systematic theology that considers dialogue as one of its core resources of insight.
Mathias Schneider: Buddhistische Interpretationen Jesu. Eine religionshistorische und theologische Studie. Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen 26 (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2023).
ISBN: 978-3-290-18569-5
Open Access DownloadCurriculum Vitae
2023-present
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center of Religion and Modernity, University of Münster2023-2024
Interim Chair (50%) winter semester Chair of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Münster2022-2023
Department Manager, Departmental Study Coordinator, Erasmus Coordinator, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Münster2020-2023
Research Associate and Lecturer at the Chair of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Münster2016-2020
Doctoral Research Fellow at the graduate school "Religious Plurality and its Regulation in the Region"(RePliR) at the Center for Religion and Modernity (CRM) of the University of Münster2016
First theological exam in Protestant theology2012-2013
Study of Islamic Studies in Münster2012
Student assistant at the Chair of Old Testament at the Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal2010-2012
Tutor for ancient Hebrew at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal2010-2016
Study of Protestant theology (pastorate) in Wuppertal and MünsterPublications
Monograph
- Schneider, Mathias: Buddhistische Interpretationen Jesu. Eine religionshistorische und theologische Studie. Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen 26 (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2023).
Open Access: https://www.tvz-verlag.ch/buch/1609-9783290185701/?page_id=1
Edited Book
- Barbato, Melanie/Schneider, Mathias/Völker, Fabian (eds.): Beyond Boundaries. Essays on Theology, Dialogue, and Religion in Honor of Perry Schmidt-Leukel. Religions in Dialogue 22 (Münster/New York: Waxmann, 2024).
Articles, Book Chapters
- Schneider, Mathias: Jesus aus buddhistischer Sicht, in Klöcker, Michael/Tworuschka, Udo/Rötting, Martin (eds.): Handbuch der Religionen (Hohenwarsleben: Westarp Science, EL 82, 2024) (forthcoming).
- Schneider, Mathias: Transparenz für das Unbedingte. Repräsentationschristologie und Buddhologie, in Merian, Katharina (ed.): Repräsentation – ein neues christologisches Modell im Kontext der Religionen. Beiträge zu einer Theologie der Religionen 29 (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2024) (forthcoming).
- Schneider, Mathias: Toward an Interreligious Eschatology. Hermeneutical, Methodological, and Systematic Considerations, in Barbato, Melanie/Schneider, Mathias/Völker, Fabian (eds.): Beyond Boundaries. Essays on Theology, Dialogue, and Religion in Honor of Perry Schmidt-Leukel. Religions in Dialogue 22 (Münster/New York: Waxmann, 2024), 87-97.
- Schneider, Mathias (& Ralf Lange-Sonntag/Achim Riggert): Praktischer Dialog oder diskursiver Dialog? Beobachtungen und Reflexionen zum interreligiösen Dialog in Birmingham und Leicester. CIBEDO-Beiträge 2/2024, 61-69.
Schneider, Mathias (& Ralf Lange-Sonntag/Achim Riggert): Practical Dialogue or Discursive Dialogue? Observations and Reflections on Interreligious Dialogue in Birmingham and Leicester. Interreligious Insight. A Journal of Dialogue and Engagement 22:1 (2024), 8-26.
- Schneider, Mathias: "A Buddha from Nazareth? Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus", in Race, Alan/Clatworthy, Jonathan (eds.): What Christ? Whose Christ? New Options for Old Theories (Durham: Sacristy Press, 2024), 126-149.
- Schneider, Mathias: "Crossing the Threshold. John Hick's Interreligious Eschatology and Its Hindu and Buddhist Influences", in Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 33:2 (2023), 155-182.
- Schneider, Mathias: "Who Owns Jesus? Reflections on Buddhist-Christian Dialogue on Christology", in Interreligious Insight. A Journal of Dialogue and Engagement 20:2 (2022), 36-43.
- Schneider, Mathias: "Mindfulness, Buddha Nature, and the Holy Spirit. On Thich Nhat Hanh’s Interpretation of Christianity", in Buddhist-Christian Studies 41 (2021), 1-15.
- Schneider, Mathias: "Die regulative Kraft des interreligiösen Dialogs am Beispiel buddhistisch-christlicher Begegnungen", in Jahn, Sarah J./Stander-Dulisch, Judith (eds.): Vielfalt der Religionen. Ein Praxishandbuch zur Regulierung religiöser Pluralität in Nordrhein-Westfalen (Frankfurt a.M.: Wochenschau-Verlag, 2020), 294-310.
- Schneider, Mathias: "Demonic or Divine? Theravāda Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus", in Buddhist-Christian Studies 39 (2019), 259-270
Public Outreach
- Interview: "Jesus im Buddhismus", in Zeitzeichen. Evangelische Kommentare zu Religion und Gesellschaft 11/2021.
Teaching
Winter Semester 2024/25
Introductory Course: The Idea of Rebirth
Winter Semester 2023/24
Introductory Course: Death and Liberation in Hinduism and Buddhism
Advanced Course: Interreligious Christology: Buddhist Perspectives on Jesus
Summer Semester 2023
Advanced Course: Religious Studies. History, Topics, Debates
Winter Semester 2022/23
Introductory Course: Introduction to Intercultural Theology
Summer Semester 2022
Introductory Course: Death and Afterlife in Religions
Winter Semester 2021/22
Introductory Course: Introduction to Theology of Religions
Summer Semester 2021Introductory Course: Introduction to Buddhism
Winter Semester 2020/21
Introductory Course: Introduction to Buddhist-Christian Dialogue
Papers (selected)
2024
"Transparence for Ultimacy: Christology and Buddhology in Dialogue", 15th Conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS), St Ottilien.
"Identity with the Absolute or Communion with the Divine? A Methodological Dilemma in the Eschatological Vision of John Hick", Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe), Palermo, IT.
2023
"Do not Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here: Towards a Buddhist-Christian Interpretation of Hell in Comparative Theological Perspective", Comparative Theology Unit, Annual Conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), San Antonio, TX.
"Towards an Eschatology Without Walls", Theology Without Walls Group, Annual Conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), San Antonio, TX.
"Igniting the Flames of Transformation: Thich Nhat Hanh as an Interpreter of Christianity", Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies, Annual Conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), San Antonio, TX.
"Eschatology as a Topic of Intercultural and Interreligious Theology: Crucial Issues and Systematic Considerations", Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religions (EuARe), St. Andrews, UK.
2022
"Buddhistische Interpretationen Jesu", Jahreskonferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Missionswissenschaft (DGMW), Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany.
"Who Owns Jesus? The Question of Hermeneutical Ownership and Its Implications for Buddhist-Christian Dialogue on Christology", 13th Conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS), Salzburg, Austria.
"Doing Eschatology Interreligiously: The Influence of Buddhism and Hinduism on John Hick's Eschatological Thought", Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe), Bologna, Italy.
2021
"Suffering Saviors: Jesus and the Bodhisattva", Annual Conference European Academy of Religion (EuARe), Münster, Germany.
2020
mit David Rüschenschmidt: "Grenzziehung, Grenzöffnung, Grenzüberschreitung: Interreligiöse Ritualpraxis im Dialog" [Closing, Opening, or Transgressing Borders: Ritual Participation in Interreligious Dialogue], Final Conference Forschungskolleg RePliR, Bochum, Germany.
2019
"Buddha Nature and Christianity: The Case of Thich Nhat Hanh", Annual Conference European Academy of Religion (EuARe), Bologna, Italy.
2018
"Mahayana,Maitreya and Messiah: D.T. Suzuki's Interpretation of Jesus in His Early Work", Annual Conference European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Berne, Switzerland.
"Interreligiöser Dialog und die Regulierung religiöser Pluralität" [Interreligious Dialogue and the Regulation of Religious Plurality], Öffentliche Forschungskolloquien, Seminar für Religionswissenschaft und Interkulturelle Theologie, Münster, Germany.
2017
"Encountering Jesus: Buddhist Interpretations of Jesus in Nineteenth-Century Sri Lanka", 12th Conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS), Montserrat/Barcelona, Spain.
Academic Memberships
European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS) (board member)
European Academy of Religion (EuARe)
European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies (ESITIS)
American Academy of Religion (AAR)
The Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies
INTR°A - Interreligiöse Arbeitsstelle und Netzwerk (board member, secretary)
Associated Researcher in the graduate school „Religiöse Pluralität und ihre Regulierung in der Region“ (RePliR)/„Regionale Regulierung religiöser Pluralität im Vergleich“ (RePliV)