Abstract
In this, the last chapter of the book, we shall be concerned primarily with drawing the strands together, so far as this is possible, of Rāmānuja’s multi-faceted theology. To do this we shall have to consider, in some detail, Rāmānuja’s theological method. We have seen that it is characteristic of Rāmānuja’s theology to be concerned with the relationship between Braham and the world/individual and that he expresses this relationship as a distinctive identity-in-difference (viŚistādvaita). Further, as the book progressed we noted, on various occasions, that it is characteristic of Rāmānuja’s mode of theologising to view Brahman’s relationship with the world/individual simultaneously from more than one standpoint. Now, we may ask, is there a central theme or model1 in terms of which Rāmānuja understands this pivotal theological relationship in his characteristic multi-perspectival way? Earlier it was intimated that there is such a theme: the ensouler-body (Śarῑra-Śarῑrin) or self-body (ātmā-Śarῑra) model. In this chapter it will be our main task to examine how the ensouler-body model can be seen to function, methodologically, to draw together the various strands of Rāmānuja’s thought. It should be noted at the outset that here we are concerned to examine Rāmānuja’s theological method, i.e. the ensouler-body model in its body-of-God application.2 Above all, Rāmānuja was a theologian (no doubt in different ways, the philosophical included) and the model in question was intended to have primarily a theological application.
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© 1986 Julius J. Lipner
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Lipner, J.J. (1986). The One and the Many: Observations on Rāmānuja’s Theological Method. In: The Face Of Truth. Library of Philosophy and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07915-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07915-5_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-07917-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07915-5
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