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Document Details :

Title: Troeltsch, Comparative Theology, and the Conversation with Hinduism
Subtitle: Toward a Comparative Systematic Theology
Author(s): MOLLEUR, Joseph
Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
Volume: 11    Issue: 2   Date: 2001   
Pages: 133-147
DOI: 10.2143/SID.11.2.519021

Abstract :
The two questions that underlie this article are questions concerning the relation between the doctrines of Christianity and the doctrines of other religions. First, what, if any, influence should the doctrines of other religions have on contemporary systematic theologians, as they go about their task of articulating formulations of Christian doctrine for our own day? And second, if it be concluded that the doctrines of other religions should be taken into consideration by Christian systematicians, how precisely might such a consideration be undertaken? Thus, the concern of this article is primarily methodological; it has to do with how the project of systematic theology might best or most suitably or most meaningfully be carried out in our contemporary situation. The systematic work of Ernst Troeltsch has been chosen as a springboard for exploring the relation between Christian systematic theology and the doctrines of other religions because, in his own attempt to articulate a systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in his Glaubenslehre lectures, he alluded repeatedly to the beliefs of non-Christian religions. To my knowledge, Troeltsch was the first important Christian thinker whose systematic theology took the beliefs of other religions seriously.

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