Fr. Francis X. Clooney S.J. Harvard Divinity School “The Gift and Challenge of Hinduism: What We Can Learn, and How It Can Change Catholicism” Friday, October 26, 2007 at 7:30 PM UK Newman Center 320 Rose Lane, Lexington Free and open to the public Refreshments follow presentation

Abstract: The Hindu religious traditions of India teach us in old, varied, and endless ways. They show us Gods, Goddesses and the Supreme Reality; sacrifice and meditation; action in the world and liberation from it; yogic practice, non-violence, and life in union with all creatures; ancient social structures and ever new ways of behaving; popular beliefs and refined theological formulations; the value of learning what is new, and the greater value of knowing ourselves more deeply. As we learn from Hinduism, we are challenged to think anew about how we relate to other religions in the 21st century, how much we can learn and where we stop learning, and what in turn we have to say to people of the Hindu and other faith traditions.

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School. He has written widely on Hindu religious traditions and their implications for Christian theology. He taught in the Theology Department at Boston College for over 20 years, and from 2002 to 2004 was Academic Director of the Centre for Hindu Studies at Oxford University. First president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, he has visited India and Nepal many times for research and teaching. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Seeing the Texts (1996), winner of the Best Book Award in Hindu-Christian Studies, Hindu God, Christian God (Oxford University Press, 2001), Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary (Oxford University Press, 2005), Father Bouchet’s India (2006), and most recently, editor of Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century (Lexington Books, 2006). He has just completed two forthcoming books, Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Desika on Surrender to God, and The Truth, the Way, and the Life: A Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnavas.