Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God

Beyond Compare is a remarkable work that offers a commentary on spiritual learning for the twenty-first century rooted in two classic texts from the Hindu and Christian traditions: the Essence of the Three Auspicious Mysteries by r Ved nta De ika and Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales. In his commentary, Clooney achieves multiple goals-the book is a contribution to Christian spiritual theology, highlighting for today the beautiful insights into love by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1623), Doctor of the Church. At the same time it points out how even in our world of many religious paths, we can recover and deepen the ancient tradition of loving surrender into God's hands by opening ourselves to the wisdom of India and one of Hindu India's most famous traditions of loving God, explained to us by the south Indian Hindu theologian r Ved nta De ika (1268-1369). Clooney goes further, offering a comparative study of these classic works in which he self-consciously writes about the process of reading the two works and the impact this approach has on the reader. The good advice found through this deep engagement with these texts offers a deeper insight into how we can most fruitfully and spiritually think about religious pluralism in the 21st century, remaining open in heart and mind while loyal still to our own tradition. Not merely a book about loving surrender to God, Beyond Compare offers us the opportunity to advance along that path ourselves, learning from the wisdom of St. Francis de Sales and r Ved nta De ika, meditating on their two paths together, deepening our own love and willingness to surrender in love to God.

Table of Contents:
Preface Chapter 1Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present I. On Writing as a Scholar Beyond Himself:1996 II. Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 1. Ved nta De ika, His r vaisnava Tradition, and the Essence 2. Francis de Sales, His Catholic Tradition, and His Treatise 3. Ved nta De ika and Francis de Sales, Brought into Conversation 4. "Loving Surrender" as the Key in This Double Reading III. Some Cautions as We Look Ahead Chapter 2 Thinking, Writing, Reading: Finding a Path to Loving Surrender I. The Problem of Reason in Interpreting Religious Truths 1. Reason's Limits and Potential in the Treatise a. De Sales on Pagan and Christian Learning 2. Reason's Limits and Potential in the Essence a. The Ascent of the Mind and Heart to God II. Conversion: Reason and the Leap Beyond 1. De ika on Conversion 2. De Sales on Conversion III. The Self-Understanding and Intentions of De ika and de Sales as Writers 1. Why de Sales Writes, and with What Authority 2. Why De ika Writes, and with What Authority IV. From Writer to Reader: On the Exercise of Religious Reading 1. Paul Griffiths 2. Pierre Hadot Chapter 3 Awakening: Reading and Learning on the Way to God 1. Scripture, Inscribed in the Treatise and Essence 1. De Sales' Use of Scripture a. Appropriating Scripture's Wisdom b. An Example: The Liquefaction of the Soul 2. De ika's Use of Scripture a. "Five Things to be Known": First, God's Nature b. The Self and the Obstacles to Attaining God II. Engaging the Reader: Person to Person 1. De Sales Makes It Personal: Learning by Example a. Reports of Heroic Persons b. Addressing the Reader: O, Theotimus 2. De ika's Sparer, More Traditional Approach a. Hearing Great Persons of the r vaisnava Tradition b. Shifting the Way We Read: From Prose to Poetry c. A Lineage of Verses, A Lineage of Teachers III. Reading More Intensely to Discover a Destiny 1. The Particulars of Rapture: Advice from Charles Altieri 2. The Complex Text and the Complex ReaderChapter 4Loving Surrender: Insight, Drama, and Ecstasy I. The Theological Presuppositions of Self-Abandonment 1. De Sales: Freely Choosing to Let God Be All in All 2. De ika: From Devotion to Human ReadinessII. De ika's Exegesis of the Dvaya Mantra 1. The First Clause: I approach for refuge the feet of N r yana with r a. I approach N r yana: N r yanam prapadye b. I approach N r yana with r : r man-N r yanam prapadye c. I approach the feet of N r yana with r : r mannn r yana-caranau prapadye d. For refuge I approach the feet of N r yana with r : r mann r yana-caranau aranam prapadye e. I approach: prapadye 2. The Second Clause:Obeisance to N r yana with r a. With r : r mate b. For N r yana: N r yana- ya c. Obeisance: namah 3. The Whole Dvaya Mantra III. De Sales on Love and Loving Surrender 1. The Foundations of Love 2. A Note on Deep Pleasure (Complaisance) 3. Deep Pleasure, Conformity, and Obedience 4. The Role of the Indifferent Heart 5. De Sales' Mantra?IV. Loving Surrender-Intensified Chapter 5 As We Become Ourselves: On the Ethics of Loving Surrender and of Persistence in ReadingI. Life after Loving Surrender to God 1. De ika on Life after Refuge 2. De Sales on Life after Loving SurrenderII. On Being a Religious Reader and Writer after the Essence and Treatise 1. On Becoming the Right Person 2. Reason Humbled and Restored (Chapter 2) 3. The Grounded, Liberated, Passionate Reader (Chapter 3) 4. The Vulnerability and Safe Haven of the (Inter)Religious Reader (Chapter 4)III. A Final Word NotesBibliographyIndex

About the Author :
Francis X. Clooney, SJ is Parkman Professor of Divinity and Comparative Theology in the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University.

Review :
An extremely thoughtful and well-informed work that merits the attention of all those interested in issues of interreligious theology. Theological Studies A remarkable commentary on spiritual learning, this book provides a deeper insight into how we can most fruitfully and spiritually think about religious pluralism in the twenty-first century, being open in heart and mind and at the same time remaining loyal to one's own tradition. Dialogue & Alliance This is not a shallow or introductory analysis of comparative spirituality but a solid, methodical, and critical examination of the subject. The text is respectful of Hindu spirituality and loyal to Christian doctrines. It is philosophical, theological, and practical. Catholic Library World This excellent and fascinating study of two important devotional texts ... is much more than an interfaith commentary. The Way It is very rare to say of an academic book that it might become a spiritual classic, but this may well be one of them. Reviews in Religion and Theology