In Between Religions

CATHERINE CORNILLE is Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where she holds the Newton College Alumnae Chair of Western Culture. Her teaching and publications focus on methodological and theological questions in comparative theology, theology of religions, and interreligious dialogue.

Introduction 1

1 Religion and Belonging 8
Belonging through Initiation 9
Belonging to a Community 12
Believing and Belonging 14
Behaving and Belonging 17
Belonging to a Chain of Transmission 18
Belonging as Path to Freedom 21
Belonging as Shaping Identity 23
Belonging as a Means of Surrender 26
Belonging and Boundaries 28
Belonging or Affinity 31

2 Types of Hybridity 35
Voluntary versus Involuntary Religious Hybridity 37
Hybrid Religious Cultures 39
Inculturation 43
Hybrid Religious Families 47
Occasional and Permanent Religious Hybridity 49
Healing 51
Pilgrimage 53
Partial versus Full Religious Hybridity 55
Interreligious Dialogue 56
Comparative Theology 60
Spiritual but not Religious 61

3 Arguments for Religious Hybridity 64
All Religions Are Hybrid 65
We Are All Hybrids 69
Multiple Loves 72
Transcendent Unity of Religions 74
Common Mystical Experience 76
The Complementarity of Religions 78
Philosophical and Religious Hybridity 81
Hybrid Religious Practice 83
Religious Bilingualism 87
Multiple Selves 88
New Synthesis 90

4 Critiques of Religious Hybridity 93
Doctrinal Incompatibility 96
Practical Non-Compossibility 101
Syncretism 105
Appropriation 108
Spiritualization of Religion 111
Chasing Two Rabbits 113
Incomplete Conversion 115
Weakening of Traditions 118

5 Religious Hybridity as Inspiration 122
Liminality and Creativity 124
Embodiment of Interreligious Dialogue 127
Critical Mirror 130
Particularity and Surplus 133
Comparative Theological Learning 138
Sign of Abiding Religious Longing 142
Appeal of Exemplary Hybrids 144

CONCLUSION 149
BIBLIOGRAPHY 154
INDEX 167