What if the problem isn't that religions disagree, but that we invented the idea that you can only belong to one?
In this Silk Road Seminar, John Vervaeke sits down with theologian John J. Thatamanil, author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity. Thatamanil traces his path from the ancient Mar Thoma Christian tradition of South India to comparative theology, and makes the case that our modern idea of "religion" is a recent invention, born alongside the secular, entangled with colonialism and racialization, and built to sort people into single, sealed boxes. Together, they explore:
- Why religion is not a natural kind, and why the village atheist and the fundamentalist mirror each other
- Tillich, participation, and God as the ground of being rather than a being
- Religion as comprehensive qualitative orientation: interpretive schemes and therapeutic regimes that "true" our desires
- Semiotic symbiosis, process perennialism, and horizontal vs. vertical non-dualism
- Pilgrims, not tourists: how deep practice across traditions renews faith
- Why capitalism functions as a religion, and where hope lives now
John J. Thatamanil is Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in New York. His work in comparative theology focuses on Hindu and Buddhist non-dualism and the possibility of a Christian non-dualism. He is the author of Circling the Elephant and The Immanent Divine.
Books mentioned: Circling the Elephant (John J. Thatamanil), In Praise of Mixed Religion (Victoria S. Harrison), Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian (Paul Knitter), The Invention of Religion in Japan (Jason Ānanda Josephson).
00:00 Welcome to the Silk Road Seminar
01:41 From Mar Thoma Christianity to comparative theology
07:37 Religion and its "Siamese twin," the secular
12:36 Why religion isn't a natural kind
22:24 The village atheist and facile theism
29:07 Tillich, participation, and the ground of being
36:11 Religion as comprehensive qualitative orientation
43:08 Interpretive schemes and therapeutic regimes
47:09 Jesus, the Buddha, and truth as a person
48:37 Dialogos and semiotic symbiosis
56:55 "Multiplicity is life, and singularity is almost always death."
01:00:51 Perennialism vs. process perennialism
01:08:32 Love, knowledge, and the post-truth condition
01:12:40 Q&A: Traditionalism, perennialism, and Eliade
01:19:27 Horizontal and vertical non-dualism
01:25:13 Narrative archetypes and "Protestant Buddhism"
01:32:19 Is capitalism a religion?
01:38:01 What gives you hope?
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