Buddhist-Christian Dual Belonging: Affirmations, Objections, Explorations

Gavin D'Costa · Ross Thompson

May 2017 · Routledge

Ebook

240

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

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.

About the author

Gavin D'Costa is author of seven books, most recently: Christianity and the World Religions. Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions; and Vatican II and the World Religions. He is an advisor to the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Bishops in England and Wales, and to the Church of England, Board of Mission on matters related to other religions. His interests lie in systematic and dogmatic theology, gender and psychoanalysis, and the Christian theology of interreligious dialogue.

Ross Thompson served for 20 years as a parish priest in Bristol, and taught doctrine and ethics at St Michael's, Llandaff and Cardiff University. His recent works include Buddhist Christianity: A Passionate Openness and A Wounded Wisdom: A Buddhist and Christian Response to Evil, Hurt and Harm. His main research interests are exploration of the interface between Christianity, Buddhism and science, and the development of a spirituality drawing on all three.

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