Post-Christian Interreligious Liberation Theology

223 Pages·2019·2.643 MB·English

by  Hussam S. Timani, Loye Sekihata Ashton

Post-Christian
Interreligious
Liberation Theology
Edited by
Hussam S. Timani
Loye Sekihata Ashton
Post-Christian Interreligious Liberation Theology
Hussam S. Timani · Loye Sekihata Ashton
Editors
Post-Christian
Interreligious
Liberation Theology
Editors
Hussam S. Timani Loye Sekihata Ashton
Christopher Newport University Aoyama Gakuin University
Newport News, VA, USA Tokyo, Japan
ISBN 978-3-030-27307-1 ISBN 978-3-030-27308-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27308-8
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A
cknowledgements
The idea of this book was conceived during the American Academy of
Religion (AAR)/Luce Summer Seminar in Theologies of Religious
Pluralism and Comparative Theology Cohort II at the Georgia Tech
Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia in 2010. The seminar was
attended by a group of scholars who discussed and explored the emerg-
ing fields of theologies of religious pluralism and comparative theol-
ogy. When the group met again a year later for part II of the seminar
at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, further discussion of
the topic ensued and a handful of the seminar fellows expressed inter-
est in producing a volume on interreligious theology of liberation. The
proposal of the book finally came to fruition during the AAR/Luce
Summer Writing Workshop at Emory University in 2016. We would
like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the seminars’ instruc-
tors Francis X. Clooney, S. Mark Heim, Anantanand Rambachan, John
Makransky, John J. Thatamanil, Peter Ochs, Marcia Hermansen, and
Jeannine Hill Fletcher. Their guidance and mentorship were instrumen-
tal to the launching and success of this project. Special thanks also go to
the volume contributors for dedicating their time to write their chapters
and for working with us diligently and professionally. We are also grateful
to the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their suggestions and
feedback that helped us immensely improve and strengthen the proposal.
Palgrave editor Amy Invernizzi and her team were very supportive,
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
courteous, and utterly professional in handling this project throughout
the publishing stages. We thank them for their help and support. Last
but not least, special thanks go to our families for being patient and
understanding during the writing and editing process of the manuscript.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Hussam S. Timani and Loye Sekihata Ashton
2 Confessing Tawhid and the Trinity: Towards
a Christian–Muslim Theology of Liberation 9
Hussam S. Timani
3 The Politics of Paradigms: Liberation and Difference
in Islam and Christianity 29
Shadaab Rahemtulla
4 Human Rights as “Law of Nations” in Conversation
with Contemporary Christian and Islamic Liberation
Theologies 47
Laura E. Alexander
5 Fixing a God’s Mess: Jewish Tikkun Olam
and Interreligious Action 69
James E. Bowley
6 “Work Is Worship” Swami Vivekananda’s Philosophy
of Seva and Its Contribution to the Gandhian Ethos 81
Jeffery D. Long
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 “Looking Upon All Beings as One’s Self”: Insights
from Advaita Hinduism for Racial Justice Within
Christian Theology and Liberative Praxis 99
Marc A. Pugliese
8 Envisioning a Dharmic Society: Retelling a Traditional
Buddhist Tale 127
John M. Thompson
9 Decolonizing and Indigenizing Liberation Theology 159
Allen G. Jorgenson
10 Mississippi’s Voices Against Extremism Project:
A Case Study in Inclusive Interfaith Leadership 185
Hatice Gonul, Fatih Ozcan and Loye Sekihata Ashton
11 Afterword 207
Anantanand Rambachan
Index 211
n c
otes on ontributors
Laura E. Alexander is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and
holds the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is a scholar of religion and human
rights, especially around issues of sovereignty, war and peace, borders,
and human migration. She is co-editor of The Meaning of My Neighbor’s
Faith: Interreligious Reflections on Immigration (2018). Her most recent
articles include a discussion of Jewish thought on sovereignty and war
in the Journal of Religion and Society and a forthcoming examination of
Sikh and Christian ethical thought and practice about hospitality in light
of the global refugee crisis.
Loye Sekihata Ashton is Visiting Associate Professor at Aoyama Gakuin
University in Tokyo, Japan, where his research with the Singularity
Institute focuses on developing a comparative religious ethics for arti-
ficial general intelligence. He is also Associate Professor of Religious
Studies and the former Director of the Center for International Studies
and Global Change at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, where
his teaching and research areas include religious studies and compara-
tive theology, transversal ethics, as well as global philosophies of engage-
ment with exponential technology. He is a commentary contributor to
Feasting on the Word (Westminster John Knox, 2009), chapter contrib-
utor to The Meaning of My Neighbor’s Faith: Interreligious Reflections on
Immigration (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019), chapter con-
tributor to Why Tillich? Why Now? The Continuing Cultural Relevance of
ix
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Paul Tillich (Mercer University Press, 2020), and series co-editor (with
John Thatamanil) of Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions,
published by Fordham University Press, with seven volumes now com-
pleted. As an ordained clergy person (Deacon in Full Connection) in
the United Methodist Church, Dr. Ashton seeks to bring wider global
awareness and deeper spiritual reflection to his work of fostering inter-
religious cooperation and respect for human dignity among people from
every walk of life.
James E. Bowley earned his Ph.D. in Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is Professor of Religion and
Department Chair of Religious Studies at Millsaps College in Jackson,
Mississippi, teaching broadly in the field. He has published books and
articles on ancient Jewish literature, including co-editing the five-volume
Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance (Brill) and writing the Introduction to
Hebrew Bible: A Guided Tour of Israel’s Sacred Library (Pearson, 2007).
He is an active member of Congregation Beth Israel in Jackson.
Hatice Gonul received her B.A. degree in Chemistry from Istanbul
University in Turkey. After working as Project Manager, she came to the
United States to earn her M.B.A. degree in Mississippi State University.
Since 2010, Ms. Gonul has been working for the Dialogue Institute of
Southwest as Vice President of the Institute. In addition, she was one of
the members of the Mississippi Voices Against Extremism Project to serve
the community through a series of activities in order to increase aware-
ness against religious extremism. Ms. Gonul is also the founder of the
Commission of Women for Humanity (CWH) organization that now has
7 chapters throughout the State of Texas.
Allen G. Jorgenson is Professor of Systematic Theology and Assistant
Dean at Martin Luther University College at Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo, Ontario, where he holds the William D. Huras Chair in
Ecclesiology and Church History. In addition to his work on thought
of Martin Luther and Friedrich Schleiermacher, he has published in the
areas of immigration and religion, especially as it relates to Indigenous
Peoples and Settler in North America. He co-edited Strangers in This
World: Multireligious Reflections on Immigration (2015).
Jeffery D. Long is Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at
Elizabethtown College, in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, where he has
taught since receiving his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago