|
March 2005
Francis X. Clooney
Named Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology
Contact: Wendy
McDowell, 617.496.6004
Francis X. Clooney, one of the world's leading comparative-theology scholars, will become the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School, effective July 1, 2005, Dean William A. Graham has announced.
Clooney, a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, is
currently Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where he has
taught since 1984. His primary area of scholarship has been Hindu-Christian
studies, and he is the author of many articles and books in that area, as well as
in comparative theology more generally. His book Divine Mother, Blessed Mother:
Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary has just been published by Oxford University Press, and
Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions was published by Oxford in 2001.
"The Parkman Professorship was established in 1814 and is one of the Divinity
School's most venerable chairs," Graham said in announcing the appointment.
"The last incumbent was John Braisted Carman, and it is gratifying that HDS has
been able to attract yet another acclaimed scholar whose work naturally flows
between theology and the comparative history of religion."
Clooney earned a doctorate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the
University of Chicago in 1984. He holds a master of divinity degree from Weston
School of Theology and a bachelor of arts degree from Fordham University. He is
on numerous editorial boards; was the first president of the International Society
for Hindu-Christian Studies; and from 1998-2004 was Coordinator for Interreligious Dialogue for the Society of Jesus.
"I am grateful for this appointment as the Parkman Professor of Divinity, and I
look forward to joining the Divinity School and Harvard University," said Clooney.
"Today's world is witnessing great changes in the study of religion and religions,
as the great faith traditions revive and renew themselves, while contemporary
pluralism creates unprecedented challenges and possibilities for all believers.
Needed more than ever are theologians who are conversant in their own traditions, yet willing to cross boundaries and learn from the faith and practice of
people of diverse faiths.
"Harvard Divinity School, in conjunction with its Center for the Study of World
Religions, and the University's Committee on the Study of Religion and related
departments, offers unparalleled resources for the study of classical and living
traditions, and it will be exciting to work in so diverse and creative a community
of colleagues and students. As a Roman Catholic comparative theologian who
studies Hindu religious traditions, I look forward to sharing in a great conversation that
will shape theologies, the study of religions, and ministerial practice, in
the decades to come."
(top)
|
