Author: Rose Drew
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136673261
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332
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Book Description
The last century witnessed a gradual but profound transformation of the West's religious landscape. In today's context of diversity, people are often influenced by, and sometimes even claim to belong to, more than one religious tradition. Buddhism and Christianity is a particularly prevalent and fascinating combination. This book is the first detailed exploration of Buddhist Christian dual belonging, engaging - from both Buddhist and Christian perspectives - the questions that arise, and drawing on extensive interviews with well-known individuals in the vanguard of this important and growing phenomenon. The book looks at whether it is possible to be authentically Buddhist and authentically Christian given the differences in beliefs and practices. It asks whether Buddhist Christians are irrational, religiously schizophrenic or spiritually superficial; or whether the thought and practice of Buddhism and Christianity can be reconciled in a way that makes possible deep commitment to both. Finally, the book considers whether the influence of Buddhist Christians on each of these traditions is something to be regretted or celebrated.
Author: Gavin D'Costa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1134801386
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
A growing number of people describe themselves as both Buddhist and Christian; but does such a self-description really make sense? Many people involved in inter-faith dialogue argue that this dialogue leads to a mutually transformative process, but what if the transformation reaches the point where the Buddhist or Christian becomes a Buddhist Christian? Does this represent a fulfilment of or the undermining of dialogue? Exploring the growing phenomenon of Buddhist-Christian dual belonging, a wide variety of authors including advocates, sympathisers and opponents from both faiths, focus on three key questions: Can Christian and Buddhist accounts and practices of salvation or liberation be reconciled? Are Christian theism and Buddhist non-theism compatible? And does dual belonging inevitably distort the essence of these faiths, or merely change its cultural expression? Clarifying different ways of justifying dual belonging, contributors offer criticisms of dual belonging from different religious perspectives (Theravada Buddhist, Evangelical Reformed and Roman Catholic) and from different methodological approaches. Four chapters then carry the discussion forward suggesting ways in which dual belonging might make sense from Catholic, Theravada Buddhist, Pure-land Buddhist and Anglican perspectives. The conclusion clarifies the main challenges emerging for dual belongers, and the implications for interreligious dialogue.
Author: Rose Drew
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113667327X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
"This is a detailed exploration of Buddhist Christian dual belonging, engaging - from both Buddhist and Christian perspectives - the questions that arise, and drawing on extensive interviews with well-known individuals in the vanguard of this important and growing phenomenon. The issue is pressing insofar the last century has witnessed a gradual but profound transformation of the West's religious landscape. In today's context of diversity, people are often influenced by more than one religion. Multireligious identities are consequently on the rise. At one end of the spectrum are those who identify themselves as fully belonging to more than one tradition. One of the most prevalent combinations is Christianity and Buddhism This book addresses central and fundamental questions. How is it possible to be authentically Buddhist and authentically Christian when, for example, God is central to Christianity yet absent from Buddhism; when Christians have faith in Jesus Christ while Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha; when Christians hope for heaven and Buddhists hope for nirvana; and when Buddhists and Christians engage in different practices? Are those who identify themselves as belonging to both traditions profoundly irrational, religiously schizophrenic, or perhaps just spiritually superficial? Or is it possible somehow to reconcile the thought and practice of Buddhism and Christianity in such a way that one can be deeply committed to both? And if it is possible, will the influence of Buddhist Christians on each of these traditions be something to be regretted or celebrated?"--
Author: Paul F. Knitter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1780742487
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
An honest, unflinching tale of re-finding one's faith, from one of the world's most famous theologians Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian narrates how esteemed theologian, Paul F. Knitter overcame a crisis of faith by looking to Buddhism for inspiration. From prayer to how Christianity views life after death, Knitter argues that a Buddhist standpoint can encourage a more person-centred conception of Christianity, where individual religious experience comes first, and liturgy and tradition second. Moving and revolutionary, this book will inspire Christians everywhere.
Author: Ross Thompson
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1846943361
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
It is possible to be a Christian Buddhist in the context of a universal belief that sits fairly lightly on both traditions. Ross Thompson takes especially seriously the aspects of each faith that seem incompatible with the other, no God and no soul in Buddhism, for example, and the need for grace and the historical atonement on the cross in Christianity. Buddhist Christianity can be no bland blend of the tamer aspects of both faiths, but must result from a wrestling of the seeming incompatibles, allowing each faith to shake the other to its very foundations. The author traces his personal journey through which his need for both faiths became painfully apparent. He explores the Buddha and Jesus through their teachings and the varied communities that flow from them, investigating their different understandings of suffering and wrong, self and liberation, meditation and prayer, cosmology and God or not? He concludes with a bold commitment to both faiths.
Author: Paul Knitter
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608336174
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 174
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Book Description
Author: Anthony E. Clark
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498243525
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162
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Book Description
The recent tide of books comparing Christianity and Buddhism has centered mostly on similarities. The Dalai Lama, for example, provided his opinions on Christianity in a popular book, The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus (1996). Other writers have equally sought to describe these two traditions as "two paths to the same place." Finding these approaches overly simplified, Anthony Clark confronts the distinctions between Buddhism and Catholic Christianity, acknowledging areas of confluence, but also discerning areas of abiding difference. Clark provides here a Catholic view of Buddhism that avoids obfuscations, seeking clarity for the sake of more productive dialogue.
Author: Laity, Sister Annabel
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608338797
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 155
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Book Description
"Introduction to the principles of mindfulness, as taught by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, and "double belonging," the identification with more than one religious path"--
Author: S. Mark Heim
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823281256
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
This work provides the first systematic discussion of the Bodhisattva path and its importance for constructive Christian theology. Crucified Wisdom examines specific Buddhist traditions, texts, and practices not as phenomena whose existence requires an apologetic justification but as wells of tested wisdom that invite theological insight. With the increasing participation of Christians in Buddhist practice, many are seeking a deeper understanding of the way the teachings of the two traditions might interface. Christ and the Bodhisattva are often compared superficially in Buddhist–Christian discussion. This text combines a rich exposition of the Bodhisattva path, using Śāntideva’s classic work the Bodicaryāvatāra and subsequent Tibetan commentators, with detailed reflection on its implications for Christian faith and practice. Author S. Mark Heim lays out root tensions constituted by basic Buddhist teachings on the one hand, and Christian teachings on the other, and the ways in which the Bodhisattva or Christ embody and resolve the resulting paradoxes in their respective traditions. An important contribution to the field of comparative theology in general and to the area of Buddhist–Christian studies in particular, Crucified Wisdom proposes that Christian theology can take direct instruction from Mahāyāna Buddhism in two respects: deepening its understanding of our creaturely nature through no-self insights, and revising its vision of divine immanence in dialogue with teachings of emptiness. Heim argues that Christians may affirm the importance of novelty in history, the enduring significance of human persons, and the Trinitarian reality of God, even as they learn to value less familiar, nondual dimensions of Christ’s incarnation, human redemption, and the divine life. Crucified Wisdom focuses on questions of reconciliation and atonement in Christian theology and explores the varying interpretations of the crucifixion of Jesus in Buddhist–Christian discussion. The Bodhisattva path is central for major contemporary Buddhist voices such as the Dalai Lama and Thích Nhât Hanh, who figure prominently as conversation partners in the text. This work will be of particular value for those interested in “dual belonging” in connection to these traditions.
Author: Jan Willis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861715489
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 382
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Book Description
When this book first came out, Publishers Weekly's glowing review ended with the following statement: "With a whisper to Oprah, Jan Willis could be the first African-American Buddhist feminist guru to be embraced by reading groups across America". PW wasn't the only one who noticed. Time magazine named her one of the top spiritual innovators of the new millennium. Newsweek wrote her up, too. Really, the list goes on and on. Luckily, Dreaming Me is now coming out in a new, revised and updated edition. The subtitle should give you an idea of what's in this modern favourite, and you'll notice that it's not a matter of either/or. Willis is not Baptist "or" Buddhist. She's both. Dreaming Me is a book about reconciling what's made us, so that we can be at peace with what we are. Willis came up Baptist in the segregated South, went to Cornell, and got involved with the Black Panther Party. What happens next seems like a disconnect, but it's not: she went to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, met the great teacher Lama Yeshe and with his guidance, found the real Jan Willis, the one who could recognize the best of what life gave her and make something lasting and transformative from it. Willis would become the first African American scholar-practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism in America. Today, she's a professor of religion at Wesleyan, and a truly esteemed member of the Buddhist teaching community. Dreaming Me is the story of how she got there, and got there whole.
