Tradition with a New Identity Thomist Engagement with Non-Christian Thought as a Model for the New Comparative Theology in Europe 英文参考文献.docVIP

Religions 2012, 3, 1054–1074; doi:10.3390/rel3041054 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 /journal/religions Article Tradition with a New Identity: Thomist Engagement with Non-Christian Thought as a Model for the New Comparative Theology in Europe Martin Ganeri Heythrop College, University of London, Kensington Square, London W8 5HQ, UK; E-Mail: m.ganeri@heythrop.ac.uk Received: 26 September 2012; in revised form: 13 October 2012 / Accepted: 16 October 2012 / Published: 6 November 2012 Abstract: British theologians have criticised contemporary comparative theology for privileging learning from other religions to the exclusion of challenge and transformation in the Christian encounter with the thought of other religions. Moreover, a wider concern in Britain about contemporary expressions of theology in the academy, including comparative theology, is about their accountability to the ecclesial communities to which theologians belong. This paper aims to retrieve the Thomist engagement with non-Christian thought as a model for contemporary comparative theology that also addresses these concerns. The paper outlines Aquinas‘ understanding of Christian theology‘s engagement with non-Christian thought as being one of transformation, using the Biblical image of water changing into wine to illustrate what is involved. The paper points to historical examples of Thomist encounters with Indian thought and suggests some new applications. Using the Thomist model for contemporary comparative theology is a case of tradition coming to have a new identity, one that balances learning with challenge and transformation, one that bridges the divide between the academic and the ecclesial exercise of theology. Keywords: comparative theology; Thomas Aquinas; Catholic Church 1. Introduction This article emerges out of my own experience as a British Catholic theologian and D