What has Asia to do with Australia: Reflections on the theology of Aloysius Pieris

Abstract

Aloysius Pieris has recently published two collections of articles written over the last ten years: An Asian Theology of Liberation and Love meets Wisdom.¹ Pieris focuses on dialogue between Christianity and other religions, and in particular with Buddhism of which he is a scholar. In this article I discuss the dominant themes of Pieris’ work as they are revealed in these two collections. Then, after putting some general questions to his theological conclusions, I ask how his theology illuminates issues which face the Australian church. In my reflections I shall refer to Australian attitudes to the relationship between church and politics, which have similarities to those developed by Richard Neuhaus in the United States.