Buddhist Christianity: A Passionate Openness

by Ross Thompson

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780990859
Publisher:	Collective Ink
Publication date:	08/27/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	313
File size:	785 KB

About the Author

Ross Thompson has served for 20 years as an Anglican priest and lectured in theology and spirituality. He is the author of several well-acclaimed books on Christian spirituality.

Table of Contents

All You Need to Know 1

Autobiographical Prelude: The Twice-Shattered Pot 3

Introduction: Ways of Being a Buddhist Christian 20

Chapter 1 Dharma Embodied? The Buddha and the Christ 40

Chapter 2 Was Jesus a Buddhist? The Teachers and Their Teachings 59

Chapter 3 Everything on Fire: Suffering, Sin and Their Causes 77

Chapter 4 Webs of Desire: The Politics of the Self 95

Chapter 5 Faith for Fools: Liberation and Atonement 129

Chapter 6 Butter Sculptures: The Arts of Transformation 157

Chapter 7 The Hollow Flute: Life, Time, the Universe and Everything 193

Chapter 8 Grasping the Nettle: God - or Emptiness? 231

Chapter 9 A Buddhist Way to Follow Christ? 271

Bibliography 288

Index 302