CHAPTER 21
Restoring “Hindu Theology”
as a Category in Indian
Intellectual Discourse
Francis Clooney, SJ
Setting the Framework
The opening question: should there be such a thing as
Hindu theology?
Two questions guide this chapter. First, can we identify a mode of discourse
which can justly be called “Hindu theology”? Second, if we can, is it worthwhile
to do so? In this introductory section I consider both questions.^1
In general, theology, philosophy, religious literature, and a wider range of
value-oriented cultural studies resist neat division from one another. Both the
intersections and overlaps are of value, and usually one need not fuss over fixed
separations. In particular, the relationships and differences between philosophy
and theology are rich and important, and it is difficult to distinguish them
without caricaturing one or the other as if to postulate a philosophy devoid of
spiritual values, or a theology bereft of intellectual credibility. Both are theoreti-
cal discourses which edge into more practical and moral concerns, or indeed
derive from such concerns. Both theology and philosophy prize the cultivation
of insight and the achievement of wisdom through disciplined practice; in turn,
both quests, once properly defined, can be broadened again in relation to a yet
wider range of popular resources in mythology, narrative, poetry, ritual practice,
imagery, etc., all of which can flourish in numerous forms which resist neat
definition according to particular academic terminologies. When these rich pos-
sibilities are recognized, we are still left with the question: what merits the title
“theology,” or, indeed, which schools of Hindu thought are not “theological”?
The project of identifying theology as distinct from other religious or intel-
lectual discourses involves challenges which for the most part are not peculiar
to the Indian context. To understand the presuppositions of a search for “Hindu