Who Can Stop the Wind?: Travels in the Borderland Between East and West

by Notto R Thelle

Overview

Buddhism and Christianity, two religions with distinct worldviews, are sometimes thought to be irreconcilable. Notto R. Thelle holds a different view. His life and work have been divided between the East and the West, which has given him the privilege of having to live on the boundary," in a continual inner dialogue between his basic Christian commitment and the challenges and inspirations from the East. In Who Can Stop the Wind? he shares the thoughts and experiences generated by these encounters. With him, we come to realize that the border zone is not just "out there"; it also exists in our minds. By asking questions that engage both the Eastern and Western religious traditions, Thelle urges us to seek a larger faith.

Notto R. Thelle is a senior professor of theology at the University of Oslo, Norway. He formerly spent sixteen years in Japan, where he was involved in research, dialogue, and pastoral work. Thelle has published several Norwegian textbooks on and translations of Buddhist and Eastern traditions. But his deepest commitment is the existential search for meaning, which has primarily been expressed in preaching and teaching, various types of dialogues, and particularly in writing.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814633298
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Series:	Monastic Interreligi
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Notto R. Thelle is a senior professor of theology at the University of Oslo, Norway. He formerly spent sixteen years in Japan, where he was involved in research, dialogue, and pastoral work. Thelle has published several Norwegian textbooks on and translations of Buddhist and Eastern traditions. But his deepest commitment is the existential search for meaning, which has primarily been expressed in preaching and teaching, various types of dialogues, and particularly in writing.

Table of Contents

Faith in the Border Zone vii

Setting Out on the Journey 2

Who Can Stop the Wind" 4

Faith's Companion 6

Faith as Fate and as Choice 7

The Death and Resurrection of Our Words 10

Adversaries-and Allies 18

En Route 20

Where Do You Stay" 23

The Human Person in the Cosmos 24

Buddha's Path-Between Otherworldliness and Presence 31

Zen Meditation and the Sacrament of Simple Things 36

"…An Open Space in Each Person's Life" 44

The Priest's "Gift to His Bride" 47

The Wide Perspective 49

"The Flower Opens in the Sheer Drop" 52

"Melt, My Heart! Weep, My Eye! " 56

Hallesby and Zen 61

Diamond and Lotus 63

"…Until the Morning Star Rises in Your Hearts" 65

It Is Dark at the Foot of the Candlestick 67

Reactions to a Message 70

What a Friend We Have in Jesus… 72

Mission and Roots 80

Disciples and Hangers-on 83

The Spark 84

Fidelity 86

"I Want to Be a Japanese" 88

A Larger Pattern 90

The Outward Path and the Homeward Path-Toward a Greater Faith 92

A Modern Pilgrim 94

When the Borders Become Too Narrow 96

Theological Addresses 98

Toward a Larger Faith 100

Editorial Reviews

In today’s global village, where religions can no longer live in ‘innocent’ and ‘safe’ ignorance of one another, thoughtful Christians are trying to understand other faiths as never before in our history. Most of us, alas, have too little opportunity for profound exposure to these others. But some there are who can help us—because they have left the familiar homeland of the once-Christian West and lived in the ‘borderland’ between Christianity and another sincere faith. Among the latter, Notto Thelle seems to me an extraordinarily insightful guide and pioneer. His very readable book is not a theoretical study of the relation between Buddhism and Christianity, but a lived experience and dialogue. It should be required reading for students of theology—and indeed for all serious Christians.
Douglas John Hall, CM, ThD Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology McGill University, Montreal, Canada


Notto Thelle's Who Can Stop the Wind? is a Christian’s theological engagement with the truth and power of religious pluralism. He dialogically engages with this pluralism, mostly in Japanese Zen Buddhist forms, that both affirms the depth of non-Christian Ways as he 'passes beyond dialogue' to a renewed understanding and appreciation of the depth of the Christian Way. In the process, he becomes a model for the possibilities of creative transformation in a religious world that is true to the deepest insights and experiences of Christian faith as well as non-Christian faith and experience.
Paul O. Ingram
Professor Emeritus
Pacific Lutheran University

From the Publisher