Michelle Voss (Afterword By) Michelle Voss is Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology. She is a scholar of comparative theology, with a particular focus on Christian and Hindu contexts, and has also written widely about aesthetics, gender, and embodiment. Recent works include Body Parts: A Theological Anthropology (Fortress, 2017) and The Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations, which she edited with Chad Bauman (Routledge, 2020).Daniel Soars (Edited By) Daniel Soars teaches in the Divinity Department at Eton College and is book reviews editor for the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Recent publications include a co-edited volume titled Hindu-Christian Dual Belonging (Routledge, 2022) and a monograph titled The World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu Christian Conversation (Fordham, 2023).

• Introduction: God at Play: Līlā in Hindu and Christian Traditions 1Daniel SoarsPart I: Līlā as Divine Will and Divine Creativity1 Play in East and West 21Douglas Hedley2 Creating without a "Why": Divine Play as Metaphorfor Creation in John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, and Meister Eckhart 43Bernard McGinn3 God's Willand the Creative Act:Origen on Divine Volition and the Intelligibility of the Cosmos 63Daniel J. TolanPart II: Grace, Compassion, and Suffering: Some Pastoral Connotations of Līlā4 Creation, Vision, Bliss: Līlā as Grace according to Rāmānuja, withReference Also to Thomas Aquinas and Gregory Palamas 89Francis X. Clooney, SJ5 Līlā and Divine Mercy in the Hundred Verses to Compassion of Vedānta Deśika 109Sucharita Adluri6 What Does It Mean for the Goddess to Play?Līlā (or Its Absence) in the Śākta Traditions 135Rachel Fell McDermottPart III: Some Aesthetic and Dramatic Dimensions of Līlā7 "You have made me endless, such is thy pleasure":The Līlā of Love in the Metaphysical Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore 153Ankur Barua8 The Metaphysics of Emotion: Divine Play in Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy 178Jessica Frazier9 The Making of the Sacred City: Līlā as God's Violence in a Tamil Śaiva Talapurāṇam 197Srilata RamanPart IV: Human Playfulness as Imitation of Divine Līlā10 Looking to the Leader: The Divine Dance in Neoplatonism 221Stephen R.L. Clark11 Serio Ludere! Divine Lessons from Tricksters and Holy Fools 244Peter Tyler12 The Serious Subject of Play: Play in Dance and Music 264Dominic White, OPAfterword: Divine Līlā and Human Play 289Michelle VossContributors 299Index 303

Michelle Voss (Afterword By) Michelle Voss is Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology. She is a scholar of comparative theology, with a particular focus on Christian and Hindu contexts, and has also written widely about aesthetics, gender, and embodiment. Recent works include Body Parts: A Theological Anthropology (Fortress, 2017) and The Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations, which she edited with Chad Bauman (Routledge, 2020).Daniel Soars (Edited By) Daniel Soars teaches in the Divinity Department at Eton College and is book reviews editor for the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Recent publications include a co-edited volume titled Hindu-Christian Dual Belonging (Routledge, 2022) and a monograph titled The World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu Christian Conversation (Fordham, 2023).

• Introduction: God at Play: Līlā in Hindu and Christian Traditions 1Daniel SoarsPart I: Līlā as Divine Will and Divine Creativity1 Play in East and West 21Douglas Hedley2 Creating without a "Why": Divine Play as Metaphorfor Creation in John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, and Meister Eckhart 43Bernard McGinn3 God's Willand the Creative Act:Origen on Divine Volition and the Intelligibility of the Cosmos 63Daniel J. TolanPart II: Grace, Compassion, and Suffering: Some Pastoral Connotations of Līlā4 Creation, Vision, Bliss: Līlā as Grace according to Rāmānuja, withReference Also to Thomas Aquinas and Gregory Palamas 89Francis X. Clooney, SJ5 Līlā and Divine Mercy in the Hundred Verses to Compassion of Vedānta Deśika 109Sucharita Adluri6 What Does It Mean for the Goddess to Play?Līlā (or Its Absence) in the Śākta Traditions 135Rachel Fell McDermottPart III: Some Aesthetic and Dramatic Dimensions of Līlā7 "You have made me endless, such is thy pleasure":The Līlā of Love in the Metaphysical Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore 153Ankur Barua8 The Metaphysics of Emotion: Divine Play in Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy 178Jessica Frazier9 The Making of the Sacred City: Līlā as God's Violence in a Tamil Śaiva Talapurāṇam 197Srilata RamanPart IV: Human Playfulness as Imitation of Divine Līlā10 Looking to the Leader: The Divine Dance in Neoplatonism 221Stephen R.L. Clark11 Serio Ludere! Divine Lessons from Tricksters and Holy Fools 244Peter Tyler12 The Serious Subject of Play: Play in Dance and Music 264Dominic White, OPAfterword: Divine Līlā and Human Play 289Michelle VossContributors 299Index 303

Michelle Voss (Afterword By) Michelle Voss is Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology. She is a scholar of comparative theology, with a particular focus on Christian and Hindu contexts, and has also written widely about aesthetics, gender, and embodiment. Recent works include Body Parts: A Theological Anthropology (Fortress, 2017) and The Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations, which she edited with Chad Bauman (Routledge, 2020).Daniel Soars (Edited By) Daniel Soars teaches in the Divinity Department at Eton College and is book reviews editor for the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Recent publications include a co-edited volume titled Hindu-Christian Dual Belonging (Routledge, 2022) and a monograph titled The World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu Christian Conversation (Fordham, 2023).

• Introduction: God at Play: Līlā in Hindu and Christian Traditions 1Daniel SoarsPart I: Līlā as Divine Will and Divine Creativity1 Play in East and West 21Douglas Hedley2 Creating without a "Why": Divine Play as Metaphorfor Creation in John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, and Meister Eckhart 43Bernard McGinn3 God's Willand the Creative Act:Origen on Divine Volition and the Intelligibility of the Cosmos 63Daniel J. TolanPart II: Grace, Compassion, and Suffering: Some Pastoral Connotations of Līlā4 Creation, Vision, Bliss: Līlā as Grace according to Rāmānuja, withReference Also to Thomas Aquinas and Gregory Palamas 89Francis X. Clooney, SJ5 Līlā and Divine Mercy in the Hundred Verses to Compassion of Vedānta Deśika 109Sucharita Adluri6 What Does It Mean for the Goddess to Play?Līlā (or Its Absence) in the Śākta Traditions 135Rachel Fell McDermottPart III: Some Aesthetic and Dramatic Dimensions of Līlā7 "You have made me endless, such is thy pleasure":The Līlā of Love in the Metaphysical Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore 153Ankur Barua8 The Metaphysics of Emotion: Divine Play in Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy 178Jessica Frazier9 The Making of the Sacred City: Līlā as God's Violence in a Tamil Śaiva Talapurāṇam 197Srilata RamanPart IV: Human Playfulness as Imitation of Divine Līlā10 Looking to the Leader: The Divine Dance in Neoplatonism 221Stephen R.L. Clark11 Serio Ludere! Divine Lessons from Tricksters and Holy Fools 244Peter Tyler12 The Serious Subject of Play: Play in Dance and Music 264Dominic White, OPAfterword: Divine Līlā and Human Play 289Michelle VossContributors 299Index 303