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Comparative theology involves systematic dialogue with another religion aimed at deepening and expanding one’s own tradition. The process of interreligious learning may take various forms which I have identified as: intensification, rediscovery, reinterpretation, appropriation, or reaffirmation. This article explores these types of learning through a focus on the topic of discipleship in Christianity and Hinduism. Though the notion of church may be less central to Hinduism, Christianity has much to gain from a systematic theological engagement with Hindu notions of discipleship and with their anthropological and philosophical underpinnings.

[The intercessory role of the saints often is ignored today in favor of the saints' role as models of holiness. This can obscure the theological truth communicated profoundly in invocation and intercession, namely that Christ's work is victorious in all times and places and unites all in one eschatological communion of response to his offer of salvation. The philosophical concept of intentionality appropriated theologically can direct attention to the dynamic of nature and grace involved in invocation and intercession, for a reinterpretation of this tradition that upholds properly both a past attentiveness to the symbolic capacity of the saints and a present attentiveness to the creative function of religious acts.]