An Ethnographic Turn in Comparative Theology?

Abstract

Abstract This review essay analyses three books of comparative theology between Christian and Hindu traditions in South Asia in order to address two interrelated questions: 1) do they hint at an ‘ethnographic turn’ in comparative theology? And 2) if so, what might that mean for both ethnographic theology and comparative theology as they continue to develop as disciplines? Through an interpretive, exegetical review of these works, the article observes how an evolving appreciation for ethnography in comparative theology – and an attendant and analogous turn toward comparison in ethnographic theology – could bring more texture and critical reflection to the comparison of theologies across religious traditions, a more expansive capacity to ethnographic theology, and bring both fields into more fruitful dialogue. It argues that such developments are needed in a world where the lived navigation of hyper-diversity and multiplying difference are increasingly the norm.