{"title":"The Celestial Web: Buddhism and Christianity – A Different Comparison (Das Himmlische Geflecht: Buddhismus Und Christentum: Ein Anderer Vergleich) by Perry Schmidt-Leukel (review)","authors":"Thomas Cattoi","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2022.0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2022.0030","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"409 - 413"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72903143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:A desideratum for Buddhist-Christian exchange is more first-order philosophical engagement—engagement that brings our traditions into direct conversation on genuinely shared first-order questions. To converse in that way, we have to identify shared philosophical loci, areas where our systems are—as much as this is possible—reflecting on the same problem, or the same data. This essay identifies one such shared locus, so that the Christian philosopher Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984) can philosophize together with the broadly Yogācārin authors Dignāga (ca. 480–540 ce) and Dharmakīrti (mid-sixth–mid-seventh century). That shared locus is, as Lonergan describes it, the fact that what is "primary" in our knowing is the identity of knowing and known. Nondual cognition plays, for both parties, a constitutive and primary role in our knowing. But Lonergan and the Yogācārins draw divergent conclusions from the shared phenomenological insights. For the Yogācārins, this observation motivates their distinctive mind-only idealism—the conclusion that nothing but mere nondual experiencing can be established as real. For Lonergan, this same identity is the basis for affirming that our knowing attains to objective knowledge of an intelligible order whose actuality is distinct from our knowing it. Those divergent conclusions are grounded in divergent accounts of what the real is, and how it is to be known. What Lonergan shares with the Buddhists, though, makes him the rare Christian philosopher whose technical cognitional theory is quietly pervaded by the notion of cognition's "primary" nonduality. Lonergan, then, can provide the technical philosophical basis for wider ranging Christian receptions of Indian accounts of nondual cognition—including theological receptions which enshrine nondual cognition in accounts of the Trinity, and of human consciousness as a created image of the Trinity.
{"title":"Knowing the Real: Nonduality and Idealism in Dignāga, Dharmakīrti, and Lonergan","authors":"Matthew Vale","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2022.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2022.0012","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:A desideratum for Buddhist-Christian exchange is more first-order philosophical engagement—engagement that brings our traditions into direct conversation on genuinely shared first-order questions. To converse in that way, we have to identify shared philosophical loci, areas where our systems are—as much as this is possible—reflecting on the same problem, or the same data. This essay identifies one such shared locus, so that the Christian philosopher Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984) can philosophize together with the broadly Yogācārin authors Dignāga (ca. 480–540 ce) and Dharmakīrti (mid-sixth–mid-seventh century). That shared locus is, as Lonergan describes it, the fact that what is \"primary\" in our knowing is the identity of knowing and known. Nondual cognition plays, for both parties, a constitutive and primary role in our knowing. But Lonergan and the Yogācārins draw divergent conclusions from the shared phenomenological insights. For the Yogācārins, this observation motivates their distinctive mind-only idealism—the conclusion that nothing but mere nondual experiencing can be established as real. For Lonergan, this same identity is the basis for affirming that our knowing attains to objective knowledge of an intelligible order whose actuality is distinct from our knowing it. Those divergent conclusions are grounded in divergent accounts of what the real is, and how it is to be known. What Lonergan shares with the Buddhists, though, makes him the rare Christian philosopher whose technical cognitional theory is quietly pervaded by the notion of cognition's \"primary\" nonduality. Lonergan, then, can provide the technical philosophical basis for wider ranging Christian receptions of Indian accounts of nondual cognition—including theological receptions which enshrine nondual cognition in accounts of the Trinity, and of human consciousness as a created image of the Trinity.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"51 1","pages":"217 - 236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73090680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:This article explores the specific profiles of the understanding of ultimate reality in Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism to ask whether there are points of contact between the Christian-Muslim and the Christian-Buddhist conception of divine reality. Thereby, the soteriological interest of Christian trinitarian thinking and the differences to the apophatic thinking in Islam but also the personal understanding of divine reality and the transnumeric unity of God come into view. Moreover, there are Muslim positions that assign the instances of divine Word and divine Spirit as eternal prestige and attributive to the essence of God, whereby a new basis for discussion could be gained. On the other hand, the differences between Buddhist thinking of emptiness and Christian apophatism boil down to the question of whether nirvāṇa as the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) of transcendent reality (lokottara) as a notborn (ajātaṁ), a not-brought-to-being (abhūtaṁ), a not-conditioned (asaṇkhataṁ) may be understood as a reality that is not separate from, but distinct from saṃsāra. Then emptiness or "śūnyatā is non-śūnyatā (aśūnyatā); therefore, it is ultimate śūnyatā (atyanta-śūnyatā)" (Abe). In this way, Buddhist thinking of emptiness can come into conversation with Christian thinking of self-emptying (kenosis). Muslim and Buddhist thinking on the subject of transcendence invite Christians to accentuate the apophatic side of the divine, and to locate the Trinitarian differentiation both within the divine and in the history of salvation in a cataphatic movement. With these indications, the difference between the Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist galaxies of thinking ultimate reality is not abolished, but points of contact and possible mutual suggestions become visible, which allow a further and deepening conversation.
{"title":"God: An Adventure in Comparative Theology","authors":"B. Nitsche","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2022.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2022.0019","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This article explores the specific profiles of the understanding of ultimate reality in Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism to ask whether there are points of contact between the Christian-Muslim and the Christian-Buddhist conception of divine reality. Thereby, the soteriological interest of Christian trinitarian thinking and the differences to the apophatic thinking in Islam but also the personal understanding of divine reality and the transnumeric unity of God come into view. Moreover, there are Muslim positions that assign the instances of divine Word and divine Spirit as eternal prestige and attributive to the essence of God, whereby a new basis for discussion could be gained. On the other hand, the differences between Buddhist thinking of emptiness and Christian apophatism boil down to the question of whether nirvāṇa as the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) of transcendent reality (lokottara) as a notborn (ajātaṁ), a not-brought-to-being (abhūtaṁ), a not-conditioned (asaṇkhataṁ) may be understood as a reality that is not separate from, but distinct from saṃsāra. Then emptiness or \"śūnyatā is non-śūnyatā (aśūnyatā); therefore, it is ultimate śūnyatā (atyanta-śūnyatā)\" (Abe). In this way, Buddhist thinking of emptiness can come into conversation with Christian thinking of self-emptying (kenosis). Muslim and Buddhist thinking on the subject of transcendence invite Christians to accentuate the apophatic side of the divine, and to locate the Trinitarian differentiation both within the divine and in the history of salvation in a cataphatic movement. With these indications, the difference between the Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist galaxies of thinking ultimate reality is not abolished, but points of contact and possible mutual suggestions become visible, which allow a further and deepening conversation.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"114 1","pages":"329 - 345"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77588049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:This essay is a work of comparative theology regarding the sociopolitical and moral dimensions of the idea of spiritual friendship. It specifically analyzes the points of connection between the spiritali amicitia of twelfth Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx with the Kalyāṇa-mittatā of select Suttas from the Buddhist Pali canon. Both texts argue for the importance of friendship, particularly what they each call spiritual friendship, the highest form of friendship, for the holy and moral life. Such friendship subverts oppressive power structures, particularly legalistic static hierarchies, by catalyzing a new and just "relational hierarchy" in which spiritual friends serve one another as moral exemplars. The essay especially focuses on the way in which those with a higher station in life—socially, economically, politically, spiritually—invite into friendship those who are marginalized, which disrupts social orders intended to protect the wealthy and powerful that benefit by maintaining class distinctions. When these distinctions are undermined through spiritual friendship, the friends can find freedom, salvation, and enlightenment.
{"title":"Spiritual Friendship in Christian Monk Aelred of Rievaulx and the Pali Canon of Buddhism","authors":"Justin Bronson Barringer","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0023","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This essay is a work of comparative theology regarding the sociopolitical and moral dimensions of the idea of spiritual friendship. It specifically analyzes the points of connection between the spiritali amicitia of twelfth Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx with the Kalyāṇa-mittatā of select Suttas from the Buddhist Pali canon. Both texts argue for the importance of friendship, particularly what they each call spiritual friendship, the highest form of friendship, for the holy and moral life. Such friendship subverts oppressive power structures, particularly legalistic static hierarchies, by catalyzing a new and just \"relational hierarchy\" in which spiritual friends serve one another as moral exemplars. The essay especially focuses on the way in which those with a higher station in life—socially, economically, politically, spiritually—invite into friendship those who are marginalized, which disrupts social orders intended to protect the wealthy and powerful that benefit by maintaining class distinctions. When these distinctions are undermined through spiritual friendship, the friends can find freedom, salvation, and enlightenment.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":"233 - 244"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88495219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most influential contemporary Buddhist protagonists, and also a famous interpreter of Christianity. In this paper, I will focus on Thich Nhat Hanh's reading of the Holy Spirit. Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology is mainly informed by the cornerstone of his teaching, mindfulness, which in turn closely connects with the doctrine of Buddha-nature. The doctrinal framework of Nhat Hanh's conception of mindfulness is grounded in the psychology of the Yogācāra school, particularly in its eight aspects of consciousness and the notion of seeds. According to Nhat Hanh, the transformation of unwholesome and the nourishing of wholesome seeds via mindfulness practice is crucial to overcome the hindrances to enlightenment. This is possible because the seed of awakening or Buddha-nature is already ingrained in sentient beings. Nhat Hanh discerns the Holy Spirit as a functional equivalent to the Buddha-nature. I will argue that his reading of the Spirit can be described by three mutually interconnected main characteristics: as an innate, salvific potential, an all-embracing, dynamic force, and further as a foundation for ethical conduct. Finally, I will reflect on a crucial hermeneutical issue emerging from Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology: Does the right to interpret the Holy Spirit belong to Christians alone?
{"title":"Mindfulness, Buddha-Nature, and the Holy Spirit: On Thich Nhat Hanh's Interpretation of Christianity","authors":"Mathias Schneider","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0026","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most influential contemporary Buddhist protagonists, and also a famous interpreter of Christianity. In this paper, I will focus on Thich Nhat Hanh's reading of the Holy Spirit. Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology is mainly informed by the cornerstone of his teaching, mindfulness, which in turn closely connects with the doctrine of Buddha-nature. The doctrinal framework of Nhat Hanh's conception of mindfulness is grounded in the psychology of the Yogācāra school, particularly in its eight aspects of consciousness and the notion of seeds. According to Nhat Hanh, the transformation of unwholesome and the nourishing of wholesome seeds via mindfulness practice is crucial to overcome the hindrances to enlightenment. This is possible because the seed of awakening or Buddha-nature is already ingrained in sentient beings. Nhat Hanh discerns the Holy Spirit as a functional equivalent to the Buddha-nature. I will argue that his reading of the Spirit can be described by three mutually interconnected main characteristics: as an innate, salvific potential, an all-embracing, dynamic force, and further as a foundation for ethical conduct. Finally, I will reflect on a crucial hermeneutical issue emerging from Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology: Does the right to interpret the Holy Spirit belong to Christians alone?","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"35 1","pages":"279 - 293"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77745894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:As we white Buddhists begin to deeply examine the sources of white supremacy in our practice, teachings, and communities, the foundational Four Noble Truths provide a powerful contemplative method. With racism deeply embedded in our culture as an emblem of our fundamental suffering, the invitation of the Second Truth is to deeply contemplate how this suffering has arisen historically, presently, personally, and societally. The social craving of white supremacy constructed systems of oppression to preserve power and wealth, and strategic coverup of these systems pervade our culture. The Third Truth recognizes that these systems have been constructed, and they can be dismantled and must. The Fourth Truth reminds us that we all play a role, but explores especially what we individually can do guided by the three trainings—discipline, meditation, and wisdom—to dedicate ourselves to actions that undo racism.
{"title":"\"The Four Noble Truths: A Buddhist Theology for Undoing Racism\"","authors":"J. Simmer-Brown","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0022","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:As we white Buddhists begin to deeply examine the sources of white supremacy in our practice, teachings, and communities, the foundational Four Noble Truths provide a powerful contemplative method. With racism deeply embedded in our culture as an emblem of our fundamental suffering, the invitation of the Second Truth is to deeply contemplate how this suffering has arisen historically, presently, personally, and societally. The social craving of white supremacy constructed systems of oppression to preserve power and wealth, and strategic coverup of these systems pervade our culture. The Third Truth recognizes that these systems have been constructed, and they can be dismantled and must. The Fourth Truth reminds us that we all play a role, but explores especially what we individually can do guided by the three trainings—discipline, meditation, and wisdom—to dedicate ourselves to actions that undo racism.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"439 1","pages":"221 - 231"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79629782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:The possibilities and challenges of combining Christian and Buddhist belonging, both of the natal and the convert variety, have been discussed most often within the paradigm of dual or multiple religious belonging. In the first section of this article, I will critically discuss the usefulness of this paradigm, especially with regard to the appropriateness of the term "belonging," compared to other terms such as "identity" or "participation." In the second section, I will survey some of the approaches within Buddhist-Christian Studies that have been put forward to make sense of Buddhist-Christian dual belonging. Finally, I will discuss some recent trends in the development of Buddhism in the West that suggest that the category of convert Buddhist belonging, which has mostly been used to describe Western Buddhist practitioners, is being superseded for many members of the younger millennial generation by new and unknown forms of engaging with Buddhist practices that even call the Buddhist tradition into question. The notion of Buddhist belonging (or should we say, post-Buddhist belonging?) may be in need of further reimagining, beyond the categories of natal and convert.
{"title":"Buddhist-Christian Belonging and the Reimagining of Buddhist Belonging: Natal, Convert, and Post-Buddhist Belonging","authors":"A. V. D. Braak","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0008","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The possibilities and challenges of combining Christian and Buddhist belonging, both of the natal and the convert variety, have been discussed most often within the paradigm of dual or multiple religious belonging. In the first section of this article, I will critically discuss the usefulness of this paradigm, especially with regard to the appropriateness of the term \"belonging,\" compared to other terms such as \"identity\" or \"participation.\" In the second section, I will survey some of the approaches within Buddhist-Christian Studies that have been put forward to make sense of Buddhist-Christian dual belonging. Finally, I will discuss some recent trends in the development of Buddhism in the West that suggest that the category of convert Buddhist belonging, which has mostly been used to describe Western Buddhist practitioners, is being superseded for many members of the younger millennial generation by new and unknown forms of engaging with Buddhist practices that even call the Buddhist tradition into question. The notion of Buddhist belonging (or should we say, post-Buddhist belonging?) may be in need of further reimagining, beyond the categories of natal and convert.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"21 - 32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83640759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:This essay will focus on three kinds of practice that help structure Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA): (1) practices of faith and devotion, (2) practices for cultivating compassion, and (3) practices for cultivating the nondual wisdom of emptiness. We will explore how these three types of practice, as explained in the BCA text, function synergistically to inform and empower each other on the path of a bodhisattva. I will draw on selected verses of the BCA to illustrate this point, and then relate it to recent writings on Śāntideva by Christian theologians Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Mark Heim.
{"title":"Synergies of Devotion, Compassion, and Wisdom in Śāntideva for Buddhists and Christians","authors":"John Makransky","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0017","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This essay will focus on three kinds of practice that help structure Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA): (1) practices of faith and devotion, (2) practices for cultivating compassion, and (3) practices for cultivating the nondual wisdom of emptiness. We will explore how these three types of practice, as explained in the BCA text, function synergistically to inform and empower each other on the path of a bodhisattva. I will draw on selected verses of the BCA to illustrate this point, and then relate it to recent writings on Śāntideva by Christian theologians Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Mark Heim.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"169 - 175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75997694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
abstract:As people with complex religious bonds become more visible in US congregations and in public life, their presence promises to shape worship, ritual, teaching, preaching, fellowship, and spiritual care across religious traditions. Spiritual care providers, especially chaplains and pastoral counselors working in pluralistic institutional contexts, need new practices and theologies to engage more effectively and faithfully with the gifts and sufferings of religiously multiple people. Yet scant literature addresses practical, pastoral questions about complex religious bonds. Using John J. Thatamanil's framing of religion as both an interpretive scheme and a therapeutic regimen, this paper illustrates the value of intersectional analysis in understanding and responding to complex religious bonds. It does so by documenting the effects of religious multiplicity, culture, family crises, migration, and relational dynamics on a Buddhist-Muslim-Christian man. It then considers his experience in light of the comparative theologies of Thatamanil and James L. Fredericks to suggest that Buddhist emptiness and the Christian doctrine of God's incomprehensibility could function as useful resources for care. Finally, it identifies resource needs of spiritually fluid people that could be addressed by scholars of Buddhist-Christian studies.
随着具有复杂宗教关系的人在美国教会和公共生活中越来越多地出现，他们的存在有望塑造跨宗教传统的崇拜、仪式、教学、讲道、团契和精神关怀。精神关怀提供者，特别是在多元化机构环境中工作的牧师和教牧顾问，需要新的实践和神学，以更有效和忠实地参与宗教多元化人群的恩赐和痛苦。然而，关于复杂的宗教纽带的实际的、牧养的问题，却很少有文献提出。本文利用John J. thatamil的宗教框架作为一种解释方案和治疗方案，说明了交叉分析在理解和回应复杂的宗教纽带方面的价值。它通过记录宗教多样性、文化、家庭危机、移民和关系动态对一个佛教徒-穆斯林-基督徒男人的影响来做到这一点。然后将他的经历与Thatamanil和James L. Fredericks的比较神学相结合，提出佛教的空性和基督教关于上帝不可理解的教义可以作为治疗的有用资源。最后，它确定了精神上流动的人的资源需求，这些需求可以由佛教-基督教研究学者来解决。
{"title":"The Human Is Not Bound: Buddhist-Christian Thought, Spiritual Care, and Complex Religious Bonds","authors":"Duane Bidwell","doi":"10.1353/bcs.2021.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2021.0015","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:As people with complex religious bonds become more visible in US congregations and in public life, their presence promises to shape worship, ritual, teaching, preaching, fellowship, and spiritual care across religious traditions. Spiritual care providers, especially chaplains and pastoral counselors working in pluralistic institutional contexts, need new practices and theologies to engage more effectively and faithfully with the gifts and sufferings of religiously multiple people. Yet scant literature addresses practical, pastoral questions about complex religious bonds. Using John J. Thatamanil's framing of religion as both an interpretive scheme and a therapeutic regimen, this paper illustrates the value of intersectional analysis in understanding and responding to complex religious bonds. It does so by documenting the effects of religious multiplicity, culture, family crises, migration, and relational dynamics on a Buddhist-Muslim-Christian man. It then considers his experience in light of the comparative theologies of Thatamanil and James L. Fredericks to suggest that Buddhist emptiness and the Christian doctrine of God's incomprehensibility could function as useful resources for care. Finally, it identifies resource needs of spiritually fluid people that could be addressed by scholars of Buddhist-Christian studies.","PeriodicalId":41170,"journal":{"name":"Buddhist-Christian Studies","volume":"59 1","pages":"151 - 161"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86490898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：