How engagement with Buddhism changes Christian self-understanding
Increased engagement with Buddhism has widened rather than narrowed the range of questions for Christian-Buddhist dialogue, say scholars of the traditions and their interaction.
In fact, says Clare Amos, recently appointed WCC programme executive for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, the very self-understanding of Christians is being modified in their encounters with Buddhists and Buddhist traditions.
Amos is editor of Current Dialogue, the WCC’s international journal of interreligious dialogue. She and her predecessor, guest editor Shanta Premawardhana, have published papers from a recent consultation on the topic in a special issue of the journal, now available in print and online.
The journal, revived by Amos after a two-year hiatus, will continue publishing twice a year.
The “rich feast” of this consultation, along with others on Christian encounters with Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, says Amos, will inform work on a report on “Christian self-understanding in the context of religious plurality” being crafted in 2012.
Contributors include Aloysius Pieris, Elizabeth J. Harris, Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Leopold Ratnasekera, Ruwan Palapathwala, David M. Eckel, among others.
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