Faculty

Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, joined the Divinity School in 2005. He was previously Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where he taught since 1984, after earning his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago. His primary areas of scholarship have been theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and the developing field of comparative theology, a discipline distinguished by attentiveness to the dynamics of theological reading and writing in light of traditions other than one's own. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, and is interested in the dynamics of dialogue in a postcolonial world. He is on numerous editorial boards; was the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies; and, from 1998 to 2004, was coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Society of Jesus. Professor Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including Fr. Bouchet's India: An 18th-Century Jesuit's Encounter With Hinduism (Satyam Nilayam Publications, 2005); Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary (Oxford University Press, 2005); and, most recently, Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century (Lexington Books, 2006). He has just completed two books: Beyond Compare: A Hindu, Christian Insight Into Radical Surrender (forthcoming, Georgetown University Press), and The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus (forthcoming, Peeters Press).