Seeing through Texts: Doing Theology among the Srivaisnavas of South India
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Seeing through Texts invites us into the world of south Indian Hinduism through a study of 100 songs of the Tiruvaymoli, the great masterpiece of the ninth-century Hindu saint Satkopan. These unique songs, dedicated to the Hindu god Visnu/Krsna, lead us through poetic and imaginative, philosophical and moral reflections on the nature of the self and the world, ancient myths and temple worship, and the mystical moods of longing, desire, and love in which one seeks, loses, and finds again the God who loves us first. The book is also a study of the interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli in the traditional Hindu Srivaisnava commentaries of the twelfth-fourteenth centuries, as well as a comparative theological study which explores the implication of the songs and their commentaries for readers from outside the Srivaisnava tradition. Booknews An analysis of the Tamil language songs of Satakopan in the 9th century and the commentaries by teachers in the 12th to 14th century Hindu tradition, combined with a considerate appraisal of comparative theology at the end of the 20th century. And though that description of the volume is accurate it does not convey the fascinating meditation on which Clooney embarks in the process of his writing; that is, what does an American, Roman Catholic priest have in common with the ecstatic poetry of India's 9th century. The journey to discovery is as interesting as the fine scholarship. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
