Research Profile
Theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, comparative theology, Jesuit missionary tradition (particularly in India), dynamics of interreligious dialogue in the contemporary world
Teaching Profile
Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary, Reading Hindu Texts Interreligiously, Tamil Love: Tiruvaymoli, Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion
Selected Publications
Seeing through Texts: Doing Theology among the Srivaisnavas of South India. State University of New York, 1996 (Indian edition published by Indian Book Centre, New Delhi)
Hindu Wisdom for All God’s Children. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998. (French translation: Sagesse Hindoue pour qui cherche Dieu. Brussels: Editions Lessius, 2004)
ed. and transl. with A. Amadalass, S.J.: Preaching Wisdom to the Wise: Three Treatises by Roberto de Nobili in Dialogue with the Learned Hindus of South India. St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2000; Indian edition, 2005.
Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions. New York: Oxford University Press. 2001
Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005
Fr. Bouchet’s India: An 18th Century Jesuit’s Encounter with Hinduism. Chennai: Satya Nilayam Publications, 2006.
Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2006. (Editor, and author of “Introduction” and “On the Jesuit Tradition of Encountering Other Religions,” and “This Jesuit’s Encounter with Hinduism Today”)
Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008.
The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus. Leuven: Peeters Publishing, 2008.
Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Contact
Center for the Study of World Religions 209
42 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Phone: (617) 384-9396
Email: fclooney@hds.harvard.edu
Homepage: https://hds.harvard.edu/people/francis-x-clooney