Aloysius Pieris

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Marian Aloysius Pieris SJ (born April 9, 1934 Ampitiya in Sri Lanka ) is a Sri Lankan Catholic priest, Jesuit, religious scholar, theologian, university professor and representative of a pluralism of religion theology .

Live and act

Pieris was born in Ceylon , today's Sri Lanka, his father was Walter John Pieris (1887–1966), the second son of Dajahetti Muhamdiramge Don David Pieris and a headmaster by profession, his mother was Setunga Mudalige Dona Anselmina, the daughter of Setunga Mudalige Don Jusey Appuhamy.

In 1953 he took his Jesuit vow. Pieris obtained three theological degrees, an LPh (= Licentiate of Philosophy ) from 1959 from Sacred Heart College in Shembaganur , India , an STL (= Licentiate of Sacred Theology ) from 1966 from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples , where he studied from 1962 to 1966, and his doctorate in 1987 as a ThD (= Doctor of Theology ) from the University of Tilburg (1987). Pieris also earned a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London in 1961 and a PhD in Buddhist philosophy from the University of Sri Lanka in 1972.

With his academic qualifications, he was appointed to a Chair in Mission Studies at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC and a Henry Luce Chair in World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He later held the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Visiting Chair in Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School , Nashville, Tennessee . On July 4, 1965 Pieris was a Catholic priest ordained .

In June 1974 Pieris founded the Tulana Research Center for Encounter and Dialogue for cultural and religious encounters and dialogue in Sri Lanka and has been its director ever since. Tulana was created as a retreat for Jesuits, but also as a space for Buddhist-Christian interreligious dialogue. For Christian religiosity , Pieris sees the closest points of contact with Buddhism , especially in its monastic traditions, Christianity has preserved a form of gnosis .

One of Pieris' best-known writings, An Asian Theology of Liberation (1988), attempts to go beyond the boundaries of Latin American liberation theology and to engage with the specific situation in Asia, which is marked by severe poverty and deeply religious. Pieris was associated with the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) very early on .

A large number of people in Asia are poor and Pieris sees that their necessary concerns and their 'liberation struggle' are articulated in non-Christian symbols and languages. Therefore, a 'theology' must be able to relate to non-Christians, otherwise it would only be effective for a small group of Christians. That is why a theology of religion is required that goes beyond Christian orthodoxy to other religious traditions and cultures.

Publications (selection)

  • Asian Theology of Liberation. T&T Clark, London 1988, ISBN 978-0-56764-027-7 .
  • Love meets wisdom: a Christian experience of Buddhism. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 1988, ISBN 978-0-88344-372-9 .
  • Fire and Water: Basic Issues in Asian Buddhism and Christianity. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 1996, ISBN 978-1-57075-055-7 .
  • Thomistic Critique of Buddhist Epistemology. Dissertation, philosophiae doctor.

literature

Web links

  • Bibliography [9]
  • Photography by Aloysius Pieris, SJ [10]
  • Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi: To Epochal trendsetter Fr. Aloysius Pieris SJ. Daily mirror, November 30, 2015 ( [11] on dailymirror.lk)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Book review by Perry Schmidt-Leukel Aloysius Pieris: Love and Wisdom. Encounter between Christianity and Buddhism. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1989; Biographical data ( [1] on mthz.ub.uni-muenchen.de)
  2. ↑ Biographical data [2]
  3. ^ WF Romesh Lowe, OMI: The World-Crucified in the Theology of Aloysius Pieris, SJ Pieris' Contribution to the Development of a Christian Theology of Religions in the Context of Sri Lanka. Dissertation, Ottawa, Canada 2012 ( [3] on ruor.uottawa.ca) here p. 48 f.
  4. ↑ Official website of the Tulana Research Center [4]
  5. ^ Book review by Perry Schmidt-Leukel Aloysius Pieris: Love and Wisdom. Encounter between Christianity and Buddhism. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1989; Biographical data ( [5] on mthz.ub.uni-muenchen.de)
  6. ↑ Aloysius Pieris SJ, on Forum Weltkirche by Georg Evers , missiologist [6]
personal data
SURNAME Pieris, Aloysius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marian Aloysius Pieris (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sri Lankan religious scholar, university professor, philosopher and author
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Ampitiya , Sri Lanka