Professor Clooney on a recent trip to Jerusalem
HDS's Clooney Receives Honorary Doctorate

Francis Cloooney was one of five recipients of an honorary doctorate degree from Heythrop College (Univ. London), Dec 12, 2017.
A message from the pope in the life of a saint

Canonization of Archbishop Óscar Romero seen as reflection of Francis’ focus on people in need
Professor Clooney and Jiyar Swami

India, August 2018

ABOUT

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., joined the Harvard Divinity School faculty in 2005. He is Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology. After earning his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations (University of Chicago, 1984), he taught at Boston College for 21 years before coming to Harvard.

His primary areas of Indological scholarship are theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India. He is also a leading figure globally in the developing field of comparative theology, a discipline distinguished by attentiveness to the dynamics of theological learning deepened through the study of traditions other than one’s own. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, on the early Jesuit pan-Asian discourse on reincarnation, and on the dynamics of dialogue and interreligious learning in the contemporary world.

BIO

Latest Blog Posts

Pope Francis' Sinful and Prophetic Church

Pope and Imam

Cambridge, MA. Last week Pope Francis made two remarkable statements. The first was a striking joint statement Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar,...

Epiphany in a Dark Time

Mem Church Poster for FX Clooney When I was a child, our family would always set up a Christmas scene under the tree: the angels and shepherds, Joseph and Mary, and there in the manger in the stable, the newborn Jesus. Our set included the wise men too, but we put them somewhere else in...

In Jerusalem

In Jerusalem Cambridge, MA. I often go to India, and it was a special privilege to travel last week to Jerusalem for an academic visit that was also a kind of retreat experience amid elemental realities of human and sacred life in today’s world. I stayed at the Jesuit community at the...

Featured Books

books

Learning Interreligiously: In the Text, In the World

Learning Interreliously offers a series of about one hundred short pieces, written online between 2008 and 2016.

His Hiding Place is Darkness His Hiding Place is Darkness explores the uncertainties of faith and love in a pluralistic age.

The Future of Hindu-Christian Studies Based on the Westcott-Teape Lectures given in India and at the University of Cambridge.

The New Comparative Theology So-called Local Color Literature emerged in the mid nineteenth century, both in the United States and Europe.

How We Do Comparative Theology The field of Hindu-Christian studies revives theology as a particularly useful interreligious discipline.

Comparative Theology Drawing upon the author’s three decades of work in comparative theology, it offers a clear guide to the reader, enabling them to engage in comparative study.

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