This study examines what occurs theologically in the space in which two religions meet in
an immersive experience of encounter with an attitude of interreligious learning.
Abhishiktananda and Bede Griffiths are examined as examples of such religious meeting
and cultural interplay. Postcolonial theory, particularly Third Space Theory, supported by
comparative theology, is used to analyze their texts in detail and to identify the
conceptual movements taking place in this meeting between Christianity and Advaita. In
their work they develop hybrid theologies which lie between the two traditions, but
which change the respective theological imaginaries and raise questions relating to
multiple religious belonging. The Third Space Theory of Homi Bhabha, modified for the
purpose of this analysis, exposes mimicry, enunciation of difference, anxiety, and
hybridity, while the work of Edward Said is employed to identify constructions of the
Other which do not have a genuine referent. Comparative theology supports this analysis
by providing an appreciation of how Abhishiktananda and Griffiths approach another
religious tradition, and how they handle religious concepts and comparisons between the
two traditions. The hybridities they develop in the Third Space of encounter challenge
both traditions to reflect on the experience of the Other and question exclusivist
theology. However, it is apparent that to maintain the integrity and coherence of each
tradition a strong sense of particularism is essential, and where this is lost interreligious
learning suffers. In providing tools to identify conceptual movements in the meeting of
traditions, Third Space Theory acknowledges the alterity of religions, and gives a deep
understanding of the ‘same but different’ nature of such encounters. Hybridity, properly
understood, then becomes a step in the process of interreligious learning, a step which
leads to new insights for the home tradition.