Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Our Faith Needs Another Faith
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Based on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the book "Without Buddha I would not be a Christian" by Paul Knitter. I started reading it this morning while I waited for an oil change on my car. In the preface, he makes a bold statement:
In an article entitled, "What does the Buddha have to do with Jesus?" John Thatamanil says,
For me, these are challenging, but also exciting ideas. I appreciate and practice contemplation, which has many connections to Buddhism. I have been reading more of the Koran and have been amazed by the wisdom of Mulsim Sufis. The challenge of religious pluralism is one that will not go away, and perhaps the best way to move forward is to learn as much as possible from the great religions of the world. The goal is not to be converted, or to create some new syncretism, but rather to be come the best follower of Jesus I can be, even with the help of those who don't claim to follow Jesus.
What do you think? Is this giving up an important Christian distinctive? Is this a "dangerous" approach to religion? What might it mean to admit as a Christian that our faith requires and needs other faiths as well?
Based on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the book "Without Buddha I would not be a Christian" by Paul Knitter. I started reading it this morning while I waited for an oil change on my car. In the preface, he makes a bold statement:"I have realized that these two sources..." meaning Christian theology and human experience "haven't sufficiently equipped me to grapple with the kinds of disconcerting and destabilizing questions...about the nature of God, the role of Jesus, the meaning of salvation...I have come to realize that I have to look beyond the traditional borderlines of Christianity to find something that is vitally, maybe even essentially, important for the job of understanding and living the Christian faith: other religions"In other words, what Knitter is saying (at least for himself), is that to really understand Christian faith and live in the way of Jesus in the contemporary world, Christians need to engage with other religions in a personal and intimate way. This means more than just a cursory study, or an apologetic overview highlighting the differences between religions (and superiority of Christianity). We have to live our Christian lives "dialogically," in conversation with, engaging, practicing, and seeking to understand the religions of the world.
In an article entitled, "What does the Buddha have to do with Jesus?" John Thatamanil says,
"The time has come for religious communities to demand a new kind of clerical leadership. Every religious leader -- Rabbi, Imam, or Priest -- must be required to know a second religious language....And all of us, lay and clergy, must demand a new civic culture marked by interreligious hospitality and by a deep desire to learn not just about but from the faith of our neighbors. We must rise to one of the great spiritual challenges of our time: the hard work of integrating multiple religious wisdoms into our personal lives and public vocations."
For me, these are challenging, but also exciting ideas. I appreciate and practice contemplation, which has many connections to Buddhism. I have been reading more of the Koran and have been amazed by the wisdom of Mulsim Sufis. The challenge of religious pluralism is one that will not go away, and perhaps the best way to move forward is to learn as much as possible from the great religions of the world. The goal is not to be converted, or to create some new syncretism, but rather to be come the best follower of Jesus I can be, even with the help of those who don't claim to follow Jesus.
What do you think? Is this giving up an important Christian distinctive? Is this a "dangerous" approach to religion? What might it mean to admit as a Christian that our faith requires and needs other faiths as well?
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3 comments:
Yessssss. I think it's so important to be culturally relevant and not put roadblocks between us and people with other views, we can learn so much from other people's thoughts, religions, traditions, practices, etc.
I don't believe that we'll be in agreeance about many things, but it's so important to be respectful of other people and what they value, whether we agree with it or not.
This is third hand, but one of my friend's told me an image that somebody used was, cutting off somebody's nose and then asking them to smell the flowers. Cutting down what they believe in and then telling them they follow our savior.
I regret spending time in an apologetics class in high school, simply learning to defend our faith, I was interested in Jesus at that time and spending a portion of our time learning how to engage with people of other cultures and religions would've been a lot more beneficial then learning to "defend" my faith.
I really agree with, 'becoming the best follower of Jesus i can be, even with the help of those who don't claim to follow Jesus'. He uses SOOO many things and the most random of people to show us himself :) it's beautiful.
This is an interesting and complex topic. Encountering adherents of other religions is nothing new to Christians. The task of not only co-existing, even learning from one another, is complicated by the fact that Christianity and Islam are fundamentally proselytizing religions. Besides this, they, along with Judaism, make absolute claims that are contradictory to one another (here I'm assuming the Judeo position that Jesus was not the Messiah).
Jesus had many great teachings that people of other faiths can borrow and incorporate into their belief system, but it doesn't get away from the fact that he claimed to be God's son, the only way to the Father, and that his last words were essentially a commission to make disciples (read: convert people into a particular lifestyle/belief system/relationship). The model of engagement given to us by Paul in Athens was one of respect (he acknowledged their religion and quoted some of their philosophers), yet he moved from here to assert that their revelation was partial and that the fullest revelation was through Jesus. He remarks that God has overlooked the imperfections of their religion in the past but that now God is calling all people to repent.
It seems that if the question pertains to 'salvation,' the N.T. response is to point others, wherever they are in their faith walk/religion, to Jesus Christ.
Now, could meaningful things be learned from participants of other religions? Absolutely! Is the Spirit at work in the lives of people in other faiths? I believe so, very much.
One of the problems that we have among Christians is that we tend to have little respect for or willingness to learn from people who don't have the exact same faith convictions. If I find one point that I disagree with you about (so the thinking goes), you have nothing to teach me. And that's within Christianity.
But to make inter-faith dialogue a requirement for EVERY Christian to be faithful to Christ would be just as big of a mistake as someone condemning you or me for learning something from a Buddhist. As long as it doesn't contradict the revelation of Jesus Christ found in the Bible, I allow that it may be the Spirit's work to lead you into all truth.
I don't know if I even began to answer your questions. It's an interesting topic. Thanks for the post.
Thanks Rachel and Justin.
Rachel - I think you bring up a good point that the "defensive" approach isn't as relevant any more. I do think there is value (especially for the believer) to know why we believe certain things. But, we cannot only be on the defense when engaging other religions. We have to have open hands, hearts and ears.
Justin - Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that it is a really tough topic. You make a good distinction between salvation and then learning more about faith, life, following God, etc. The claims about what is "salvation" what is required, etc. will all vary. And on this it is tough, if not impossible, to combine faiths. But when it comes to being the best human I can be in the world, embodying common virtues such as love, hope, peace, justice, compassion, etc. - certainly we can learn how to better follow in the Jesus Way from great leaders of other religions.
The statements from Knitter and the HP article were both rather bold. And that's why I commented on them. I don't know how many other Christians would say we HAVE to be learning from other religions IN ORDER to be Christian. I agree, that is just another damaging ultimatum as bad as saying YOU CANNOT engage with other religions.
Thanks again -
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