Chris Boesel - Divine Multiplicity: Trinities, Diversities, and the Nature of Relation

DIVINE MULTIPLICITY

TRANSDISCIPLINARY THEOLOGICAL COLLOQUIA

Theology has hovered for two millennia between scriptural metaphor and philosophical thinking; it takes flesh in its symbolic, communal, and ethical practices. With the gift of this history and in the spirit of its unrealized potential, the Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquia intensify movement between and beyond the fields of religion. A multivocal discourse of theology takes place in the interstices, at once self-deconstructive in its pluralism and constructive in its affirmations.

Hosted annually by Drew Universitys Theological School, the colloquia provide a matrix for such conversations, while Fordham University Press serves as the midwife for their publication. Committed to the slow transformation of religio-cultural symbolism, the colloquia continue Drews long history of engaging historical, biblical, and philosophical hermeneutics, practices of social justice, and experiments in theopoetics.

Catherine Keller, Director

DIVINE MULTIPLICITY

Trinities, Diversities, and the Nature of Relation

EDITED BY CHRIS BOESEL AND S. WESLEY ARIARAJAH

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS

NEW YORK

2014

Copyright 2014 Fordham University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Divine multiplicity : trinities, diversities, and the nature of relation/edited by Chris Boesel and S. Wesley Ariarajah.

pages cm.(Transdisciplinary theological colloquia)

Summary: By putting religious pluralists, comparative theologians, and scholars of religious studies into conversation with theologians doing doctrinal work within the Christian trinitarian tradition, this volume generates critical and imaginative visions of divine and creaturely relations that can inform future theological, philosophical and ethical work in interdisciplinary, inter-religious and intra-religious contextsProvided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8232-5395-1 (hardback)ISBN 978-0-8232-5396-8 (paper) 1. Trinity. 2. Christianity and other religions. I. Boesel, Chris. II. Ariarajah, S. Wesley.

BT111.3.D58 2014

231dc23

2013006703

Printed in the United States of America

16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1

First edition

CONTENTS

Chris Boesel and S. Wesley Ariarajah

Philip Clayton

Eric Trozzo

Roland Faber and Catherine Keller

Loriliai Biernacki

S. Wesley Ariarajah

S. Mark Heim

Holly Hillgardner

Sara Rosenau

Jacob J. Erickson

Sam Laurent

Kathryn Tanner

John F. Hoffmeyer

Chris Boesel

Cynthia L. Rigby

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Given that this collection of essays emerged out of Drew Theological Schools tenth annual Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium, our acknowledgment of and thanks to those who have contributed to bringing this book to publication must begin with the Theological Schools incomparable team of administrative assistants, Michelle Campbell, Maria Iannuzzi, Alma Tuitt, and Meghan Harnois, together with the very capable staff in Drew Universitys offices for housing, hospitality, and catering with whom they worked closely to ensure the success of the colloquium for which these essays were originally written. The amazing graduate student members of our planning committee, Holly Hillgardner and Sara Rosenau, were at the front lines of planning and organization from the conception of the colloquiums theme through to the last of the participants being safely delivered to the airport to catch their return flights home. The director of the series, Catherine Keller, was again at the helm of the entire process.

The Drew colloquium of 2010 was blessed with a rich table of thoughtful, adventurous minds and distinctive, creative voices. As with every colloquium in the series, invited participants were not limited to those who are asked to write and present essays for discussion. We also invited scholars, teachers, and activists working in pertinent fields of discourse to respond to the essays and contribute in various ways to the conversation. These included two scholars from Drews College of Liberal Arts, Karen Pechilis, specializing in Hinduism and Asian religions, and Christopher Taylor, specializing in Islam and Islamic mysticism. Drew Theological Schools comparative theologian, Hyo-Dong Lee, was joined by colleagues in the field, John Thatamanil and Michelle Voss Roberts. Also gathered around the table were theologians Serene Jones, Laurel Schneider, Peter Heltzel, and Jason Mahn, together with Rabbi Lawrence Troster, rabbinic scholar in residence for an interfaith coalition addressing environmental issues, and Callid Keefe-Perry, a graduate student at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. This table of conversation partners constituted the original audience for these essays, and the conversation that ensued in response to the essays no doubt contributed to their final versions which we have gathered into this book. And that process of gatheringand proofreading, and formatting, and proofreading againwas ably assisted by another team of Drew graduate students: Beatrice Marovich, Jacob Erickson, and Michael Oliver.

Finally, we want to thank our friends at Fordham University Press for their continuing partnership in the TTC series. A special thanks is reserved for Helen Tartar, for her inspired vision for and leadership in that partnership. We are also indebted to Thomas C. Lay, for his particular editorial guidance of this volumes journey to publication.

DIVINE MULTIPLICITY

Introduction: The Whence and the Whither of Divine Multiplicity

CHRIS BOESEL AND S. WESLEY ARIARAJAH

This collection of essays is the result of work undertaken on the occasion of Drew Theological Schools tenth annual Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium. Each fall, since the turn of the millennium, a relatively small cohort of scholars working in and around the fields of religion and theology have been invited to engage a specific theological theme of current interest. The object of the series is to bring together thinkers from a variety of disciplines who share a cluster of interests: a commitment to interrogating the ethical impulses and material effects of theological and religious discourse; an appreciation for the always surprising complexity of theological and religious traditions; and an interest in contemporary theoretical approaches to scholarship (such as postmodern, postcolonial and liberationist methodologies). This introductory chapter outlines the issues and questions that the scholars invited to Drew for the tenth annual colloquium were asked to reflect on and engage from their own concerns and commitments within their various disciplinary locations. Our hope is to provide sufficient context for the theological, ethical, and disciplinary issues and stakes involved in these essays to emerge in all their dicey yet promising complexity.