Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity
2012 Santa Clara Lecture
February 15, 2012 | 7:30-9:00 PM
Williman Room, Benson Memorial Center
In a world of ready access to the teachings and practices of different religious traditions, the phenomenon of multiple religious belonging or hyphenated religious identities is becoming more widespread. However, the idea of multiple religious belonging seems at odds with traditional conceptions of religious identity and belonging. In this lecture, we discussed the different types of multiple religious belonging, while also attempting to understand the logic of single and exclusive religious belonging which remains the ideal for most religious traditions, Christianity included. While certain forms of multiple religious belonging may be incompatible with Christian identity, we will see that others may in fact serve to both challenge and enrich the Christian tradition.
Catherine Cornille is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology and chair of the Department of Theology at Boston College. Her teaching and research focus mainly on methodological questions in the study of religions, inculturation and interreligious dialogue. Her more recent books include (ed.) Many Mansions: Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity (2002); (ed.) Song Divine: Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavadgita (2006); The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue (2008); (ed.) Criteria of Discernment in Interreligious Dialogue (2009); (ed.) Interreligious Hermeneutics (2010), and (ed.) The World Market and Interreligious Dialogue (2011). She is managing editor of the series “Christian Commentaries on non-Christian Sacred Texts.”