Reid B. Locklin is Associate Professor of Christianity and the Intellectual Tradition at the University of Toronto, a joint appointment with the St. Michael’s College Christianity and Culture Programme and the Centre for the Study of Religion. His research focuses on a range of issues in Comparative Theology and Hindu-Christian Studies, particularly the engagement between Christian thought and the Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedanta. His scholarly work has primarily addressed community formation, renunciation and soteriology in the work of the eighth century Advaita teacher Adi Sankaracarya, as well as broader questions of comparative method and—in a rather different register—the use of service learning and other experiential pedagogies in the undergraduate classroom. His current project explores mission and mission theology in movements founded by Swami Chinmayananda and other Advaita teachers in the modern period. Dr. Locklin grew up in Athens, Georgia, completed a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Master of Theological Studies from Boston University, and a Ph.D. In Theology from Boston College in 2003, and has taught at the University of Toronto since 2004. He is past-president of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, co-chair of the Comparative Theology Group of the American Academy of Religion, and co-editor of the AAR publication Spotlight on Teaching.
Academic Interests
- Interreligious and Comparative Theologies
- Hindu-Christian Studies
- Advaita Vedanta
Primary Teaching
Undergraduate courses in Catholicism, Christian theology and social justice for the SMC Christianity and Culture Programme; graduate courses in Christian theologies of religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue, comparative theology, and Christianities of South Asia.
Selected Publications
2005. Spiritual but Not Religious? An Oar Stroke Closer to the Farther Shore. Collegeville: Liturgical Press.
2011 forthcoming. Liturgy of Liberation: A Christian Commentary on Shankara’s Upadeśasāhasrī. Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts. Leuven: Peeters; Dudley: Eeerdmans.
2008. Toward an Interreligious Theology of Church: Revisiting Bernard Lonergan’s Contribution to the ‘Dialogue of Religions. Journal of Ecumenical Studies 43(3): 383-410.
2008. A More Comparative Ecclesiology? Bringing Comparative Theology to the Ecclesiological Table. In Comparative Ecclesiology: Critical Investigations, ed. Gerard Mannion. London and New York: Continuum. 125-48.
2008. Divine Election as Adhikara and Atma-sva-bhava: Re-Reading the Reply to Simplicianus in Light of a Hindu Text. In Augustine and World Religions, ed. Brian Edward Brown, John Doody and Kim Paffenroth, Augustine in Conversation: Tradition and Innovation. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008. 199-226.
2009. With J. Lauwers. Rewriting the Sacred Geography of Advaita: Swami Chinmayānanda and the Śaṅkara-dig-vijaya. The Journal of Hindu Studies 2(2): 179-208.
2010. Weakness, Belonging and the ‘Intercordia Experience’: The Logic and Limits of Dissonance as a Transformative Learning Tool. Teaching Theology and Religion 13(1): 3-13.
2010. With H. Nicholson. The Return of Comparative Theology. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78(2): 477-514.
2010. Review Essay: The Many Windows of the Wall. Journal of Law and Religion 25(2): 101-25.
2011 forthcoming. With T. Tiemeier and J. Vento. Teaching World Religions without Teaching ‘World Religions.’ Teaching Theology and Religion.
Recent Grants and Fellowships
2010. Senior Research Fellowship, Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School (2010-2011).
2010. Wabash Center Colloquy on Writing the Scholarship of Teaching in Theology and Religion, Lilly Endowment, Inc.
2008. With F. Clingerman, C. Chilson, E. Runions. Wabash Centre Project Grant: “Pedagogies for Civic Engagement” (2008-2009), Lilly Endowment, Inc.,
2007. Wabash Centre Summer Fellowship, Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Christianity and Culture, St Michael’s College
BA (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), MTS (Boston University), PhD (Boston College)
Odette Hall, Rm. 130
tel:416-926-1300 x3317
email: reid.locklin@utoronto.ca