Comparative Religions
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Celestial Web : Buddhism And Christianity – A Different Comparison
$55.00Add to cartA leading scholar of religion applies a new method of interfaith understanding to Buddhist-Christian comparative theology providing rich new insights for students and scholars alike.
In his ground-breaking Gifford Lectures, published as Religious Pluralism & Interreligious Dialogue, Perry Schmidt-Leukel introduced his “fractal” theory of religions, challenging the tendency to distinguish religious traditions as discrete entities without acknowledging the wide variety within them, varieties essentially reproduced in different religious traditions.
After offering an introduction to this new methodology to comparative religion, Schmidt-Leukel, in The Celestial Web, applies this method to a comparison between Buddhism and Christianity. Some of the points of comparison include their respective approaches to the world, ultimate reality, the “dark side” of human existence, and salvation/liberation in terms of the figures mediating it.
Stereotypical approaches often treat these traditions as opposites, for instance, positing that Buddhism embraces an impersonal absolute, whereas Christianity affirms the primacy of one’s relationship with a personal God. Yet the fractal approach, which examines “intra-religious” varieties within the two traditions, reveals surprising points of congruence.
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Return To The Center
$28.00Add to cartA new edition of a classic work of spiritual discovery.
“I sit here on the veranda of my cell, watching the sun set behind the trees, and recall the day, nearly fifty years ago, when I watched the same suns setting over the playing-fields at school. My cell is a thatched hut surrounded by trees. I can listen to the birds singing as I did then, and watch the trees making dark patterns against the sky as the light fades, but I have travelled a long way both in space and time since then. . . .”
Bede Griffiths (1907-1993), a British-born Benedictine monk, moved to India in 1955, adopted the appearance of a Hindu sannyasi–one whose whole life is focused on the search for God–and became one of the great pioneers of East-West dialogue.
In Return to the Center Griffiths offers the fruits of a lifetime spent in prayer and meditation. He believes that modern humans have lost touch with the center of their own life, and therefore with life itself. This center is “the place of meeting where the different religious traditions of the world have their source, and the ultimate meaning of human existence is to be found. . . . For a Christian this is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ.” Griffiths illuminates the way for us each to find our own way back to the center by looking at the truths of Hinduism and Buddhism through a Christian lens. In these short reflections he reflects “on what India has done to me, on how my mind has developed, on the changes which have taken place in my way of life and in the depths of my soul.”
This edition is augmented by an additional chapter that narrates his move from England to India, describing what he was seeking and what he found. In addition, a lengthy introduction by Cyprian Consiglio, former prior of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, offers a biographical profile of Griffiths and assesses his significance as a “Christocentric perrenialist.”
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Mindfulness : Walking With Jesus And Buddha
$16.00Add to cartHere is an introduction to the principles and practice of mindfulness for a western, Christian audience, by Sister Anabel Laity, an English-born Buddhist nun in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh. The book presents parallels between Zen and the teachings of Jesus and then outlines principles of “double-belonging,” how it is possible to be at home in more than one spiritual practice.
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Finding Beauty In The Other
$39.95Add to cartFinding Beauty in the Other explores how beauty can be found in religions and cultures. It also views how the beauty of the Christian gospel should be communicated in different religious and cultural settings. This valuable collection of essays features a host of highly respected scholars, presenting a unique treatment of the concept of beauty as seen in a variety of religions and cultures. These include Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. In addition, beauty as seen in various African cultures is discussed.
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Welcoming Other Religions
$15.95Add to cartThe Benedictine monk Pierre-Francois de Bethune has dedicated his life to following the lead of the great pioneers of interreligious dialogue at the level of spiritual experience. Having practiced zazen and “Way of tea” assiduously for decades, he now leads readers along the path of spiritual hospitality, describing how welcoming other religions transformed him and brought him to rediscover the Gospel. In this volume, he evokes the spiritual journeys of some of the pioneers of interreligious dialogue, among them, Thomas Merton, Henri Le Saux, Raimon Panikkar, and Christian de Cherge and the monks of Tibhirine. In doing so, he proposes that their commitment to dialogue, hospitality, and welcoming the other corresponds to what the Gospel requires of the followers of Jesus.”
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Interfaith Dialogue : A Catholic View
$27.00Add to cartAn inside look at the dialogue among Catholicism and world religions.
When the Second Vatican Council published its teaching on Christianity in relation to other religious traditions (Nostra Aetate) forty years ago, everyone knew a threshold had been crossed. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald and Dr. John Borelli have been participating in the crossing of that threshold for many years. This book tells the tale of what it has been like to have been engaged in inter-religious dialogue and what has been accomplished since Nostra Aetate was promulgated.
The reader finds in this work a sober assessment of today’s difficult situation and the inspiring story of a church that has tried to open itself to honest conversation with representatives of all the world’s great faiths.
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Myth Of Religious Superiority
$35.00Add to cartIn this challenging book, the leading exponents of the idea that all religions are a refraction of a truth no single tradition can exclusively reveal discuss what to make of that conviction in today’s world of interreligious strife.
For nearly twenty years the views of pluralists on the fundamental equality of all religions seemed to hold sway in academia. As many attacked that view as mistaken, its proponents listened to their critics. The seventeen contributors to this volume argue from a variety of perspectives for the continued soundness and relevance of the pluralist paradigm.
Overall these essays try to make the case that the next step in interreligious interchange ought to be the development of a multifaith, pluralistic theology of religion. -
We Walk The Path Together
$24.00Add to cartThrough reflections on the Vietnamese Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the medieval Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, writer Brian Pierce reveals the benefits of openness as a spiritual practice. By drawing analogies between Christian and Buddhist teachings, he identifies the common ground on which to grow in compassionate understanding and interfaith dialogue.
Blending Christian tradition with the concrete spiritual practices of Buddhism, this work emphasizes the importance of seeing with a contemplative and compassionate vision. By sharing accounts of individuals who transcended their own suffering to embrace a more compassionate and understanding view of others, Pierce celebrates the moments of harmonious communion that draw us together.
This beautifully written book is a model for respectful listening and a spiritual resource for prayerful meditation and scholarly study.
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Lost Soul Of American Protestantism
$50.00Add to cartForeword
R. Laurence Moore
The American Way Of FaithConfessional Protestantism
Defining Conservatism Down
The Intolerance Of Presbyterian Creeds
The Sectarianism Of Reformed Polity
The Irrelevance Of Luthern Liturgy
Conclusion: Confessional Protestantism And The Making Of Hyphenated Americans
Additional Info
In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism–confessionalism–as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith’s role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity’s significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church.Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social.
Clear and engaging, D. G Hart’s groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life.
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Lost Soul Of American Protestantism
$79.00Add to cartForeword
R. Laurence Moore
The American Way Of FaithConfessional Protestantism
Defining Conservatism Down
The Intolerance Of Presbyterian Creeds
The Sectarianism Of Reformed Polity
The Irrelevance Of Luthern Liturgy
Conclusion: Confessional Protestantism And The Making Of Hyphenated Americans
Additional Info
In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism–confessionalism–as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith’s role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity’s significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church.Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social.
Clear and engaging, D. G Hart’s groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life.
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Raft Is Not The Shore
$19.00Add to cartMeeting for long, midnight conversations in Paris, two poets and prophetic peacemakers explore together the farthest reaches of truth. East and West flow together in this remarkable book as Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh and Jesuit Daniel Berrigan discuss war and peace, Jesus and Buddha, life and death.
