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College of Arts and Sciences

Catherine Cornille

theology department

Catherine Cornille

Professor, Chairperson
Newton College Alumnae Chair of Western Culture

Stokes N333
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Phone: 617-552-3896
Fax: 617-552-0794
Email: catherine.cornille@bc.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Office Hours

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Religious Studies, K. U. Leuven, Belgium
MA in Asian Religions, University of Hawaii
BA in Philosophy, K. U. Leuven, Belgium
Licentiate in Theology, K. U. Leuven, Belgium

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Prior to joining the faculty at Boston College, Cornille taught for ten years in the Department of Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She has been a visiting professor at Kandai University, Japan; at the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and at King's College, London. She has also taught courses at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester and at Weston School of Theology.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Her research interests focus on the Theology of Religions, the theory of Interreligious Dialogue, concrete questions in the Hindu-Christian and Buddhist-Christian dialogues, and the phenomenon of inculturation and intercultural theology. Her more purely historical or phenomenological research focuses on theories and methods in the comparative study of religions, women in world religions, and Asian new religious movements.

TEACHING

The Religious Quest: Hinduism and Christianity
Theory and Methods in Comparative Religion
Religious Pluralism and Christian Faith
Women in World Religions
Religion and Globalization
Dialogue and Apologetics

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS

Cornille was head of the Center for Women’s Studies Theology from 1996-2000. She served on the international commission for evaluation of theological research at Dutch Universities in 1999. She is founding editor-in-chief of the series “Christian Commentaries on non-Christian Sacred Texts.”

publications since 2005

(ed.) The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-religious Dialogue. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

(ed. with Jillian Maxey) Women and Interreligious Dialogue.  Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2013.

“Multiple Religious Belonging and Interreligious Dialogue” in (David Thomas, David Cheetham and Douglas Pratt, eds.) Understanding Inter-Religious Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

“Interreligöse Theologie und die Bescheidenheit des Ortes” in (Reinhold Bernhardt and Perry Schmidt-Leukel, eds.) Chancen und Probleme einer interreligiösen Theologie.”  Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 2013.

“Religious Pluralism and Christian Faith: A Case for Soteriological Agnosticism” in Actualidade Teologica vols. 40-41, 2012, pp. 50-71.

"Meaning and Truth in the Dialogue between Religions" in The Question of Theological Truth. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012, pp. 137-156.

"The Role of Witness in Interreligious Dialogue“ in Concilium 1, 2011, pp. 61-70.

The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue.  New York: Crossroads, 2008.

(ed.) The Song Divine: Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita. Leuven and Grand Rapids: Peeters Press and W.B. Eerdmans Publishers, 2006.

Song Divine. Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gītā. Leuven: Peeters and Eerdmans, 2006.

“Fundamentalism and the Ethic of Narrative Flexibility“ in Journal of Interdisciplinary Crossroads 2/1, 2006, pp. 39-44.

“Humilité et dialogue“ in Voies de l’Orient 100, 2006, pp. 3-11.

“Conditions for the Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue on God” in The Concept of God in Global Dialogue (Jeanrond and Lande, eds.) Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2005, pp. 3-18.

“Mother Meera“ in Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (Peter Clarke, ed.) London: Routledge, 2005.

“Women between Fundamentalism and Interreligious Dialogue“ in How to Conquer the Barriers to Intercultural Dialogue (C. Timmerman and B. Segaert, eds.) Berlin: Peter Lang, 2005, pp. 197-213.

“Guru“ in the revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005.

“Conditions for the Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue on God.“ In The Concept of God in Global Dialogue (W. Jeanrond and A Lande, eds.) Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2005, pp. 3-18.