Buddhist-Christian Dual Belonging: Affirmations, Objections, Explorations

263 Pages·2016·4.499 MB·English

by  Gavin D'Costa (editor), Ross Thompson (editor)

Buddhist-Christian
dual Belonging

Buddhist-Christian
dual Belonging
affirmations, objections, explorations
Edited by
gavin d’Costa
University of Bristol, UK
and
ross thompson
First published 2016 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright© 2016 gavin d’Costa and ross Thompson
gavin d’Costa and ross Thompson have asserted their right under the Copyright, designs
and patents act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
names: d’Costa, gavin, 1958- editor. | Thompson, ross, 1953- editor.
title: Buddhist-Christian dual belonging : affirmations, objections,
explorations / edited by gavin d’Costa and ross Thompson.
description: Burlington, vt : ashgate publishing Company, 2016. | includes
bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lCCn 2015021665 | isBn 9781472460912 (hardcover) |

subjects: lCsh: Christianity and other religions--Buddhism. |
Buddhism--relations--Christianity.
Classification: lCC Br128.B8 B819 2016 | ddC 261.2/43--dc23
lC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015021665
isBn 9781472460912 (hbk)
Contents
Notes on the Contributors vii
introduction 1
Ross Thompson and Gavin D’Costa
part i aFFirmations
1 Chasing two rabbits? dual Belonging and the Question of
salvation/liberation 13
Rose Drew
2 The Question of salvation/liberation: a double-Belonger’s
perspective 31
Paul F. Knitter
3 Creation, dependent arising and dual Belonging 49
Ross Thompson
part ii Challenges
4 ‘There Can Be only one’: The impossibility and idolatry of
‘dual Belonging’ 71
Daniel Strange
5 The ultimate Buddhist religious goal, nirvana and its
implications for Buddhist-Christian dual Belonging 89
Asanga Tilakaratne
vi Buddhist-Christian Dual Belonging
6 a roman Catholic approach to Buddhist-Catholic
‘dual Belonging’ 107
Gavin D’Costa
7 dual Belonging, ritual and the spiritual revolution 123
Marianne Moyaert
8 strategies of negotiation in Buddhist-Christian dual Belonging 143
Catherine Cornille
part iii explorations
9 an alternative Conception of multiple religious Belonging:
a Buddhist-Catholic perspective 161
Abraham Vélez de Cea
10 The Buddhist Faith of non-Buddhists: From dual Belonging
to dual attachment 179
Rupert Gethin
11 dual Belonging and pure land Buddhism 197
Caroline Brazier
12 going Beyond the Creator god: an apophatic approach
to Buddhist-Christian dual religious Belonging 217
J.P. Williams
Conclusion 233
Ross Thompson and Gavin D’Costa
Index 249
notes on Contributors
Caroline Brazier is a pureland Buddhist, Buddhist psychotherapist and leader
of the tariki training programme in other-Centred psychotherapy. she is
also actively involved in the development of Buddhist healthcare Chaplaincy
at a local and national level. Caroline is author of six books on Buddhism and
psychology, her book The Other Buddhism: Amida Comes West (o-Books, 2007)
provides an introduction to pureland thought in a Western context. daughter of
a methodist minister, Caroline has an appreciation of the Christian paradigm,
and, although she left the tradition many years ago, finds ground for dialogue
through her pureland affiliation.
Catherine Cornille is the newton College alumnae Chair of Western Culture
and professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College. her teaching
and research focus on methodological questions in Theology of religions,
Comparative Theology and interreligious dialogue. she has authored or
edited 16 books in the area of interreligious dialogue, most recently The Im-
Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue (Crossroad, 2008), Criteria of Discernment
in Interreligious Dialogue (Cascade, 2009), Interreligious Hermeneutics
(Cascade, 2010), The World Market and Interreligious Dialogue (Cascade, 2011)
Interreligious Dialogue and Cultural Change (Cascade, 2012), Women and
Interreligious Dialogue (Cascade, 2013) and The Wiley-Blackwell Companion
to Inter-Religious Dialogue (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). she is founding editor-in-
chief of the book series ‘Christian Commentaries on non-Christian sacred texts’.
Gavin D’Costa is professor of Catholic Theology at the university of Bristol.
he is author of seven books, most recently: Christianity and the World Religions.
Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009); and
Vatican II and the World Religions (oup, 2014) he is an advisor to the vatican,
the roman Catholic Bishops in england and Wales and to the Church of
england, Board of mission on matters related to other religions. his interests
lie in systematic and dogmatic theology, gender and psychoanalysis and the
Christian theology of interreligious dialogue.
viii Buddhist-Christian Dual Belonging
Rose Drew, since completing her doctorate in 2008, has lectured in interfaith
studies and Buddhism at the university of glasgow and in 2011 held a
research scholarship at uppsala university, sweden. her research interests
are predominantly in interreligious dialogue (especially Buddhist-Christian)
and the theology of religions. her monograph, Buddhist and Christian? An
Exploration of Dual Belonging (routledge, 2011), won the 2013 Frederick
J. streng award for excellence in Buddhist-Christian studies. rose has also been
involved in practical interfaith work for a number of years and currently works
full time for charity interfaith scotland, managing a new project to support and
develop positive interfaith engagement in glasgow.
Rupert Gethin is professor of Buddhist studies at the university of Bristol and
president of the pali text society. his books include Sayings of the Buddha: A
Selection of Suttas from the Pali Nikāyas (oxford university press, 2008), The
Foundations of Buddhism (oxford university press, 1998) and The Buddhist
Path to Awakening (leiden, 1992). he has a particular interest in early indian
Buddhist literature and indian Buddhist systematic accounts of the mind and
meditation. he is currently working on a book provisionally titled Mapping
the Buddha’s Mind: A Study of Indian Buddhist Systematic Thought in the
Abhidharma of the Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda, and Yogācāra Traditions.
Paul Knitter is the paul tillich emeritus professor of Theology, religions and
Culture at union Theological seminary in new York City. after spending most
of his career in trying to lay the foundations for Christian interreligious dialogue
(especially in No Other Name? (1985) and Introducing Theologies of Religions
(2002)) he has recently taken up his own comparative theological project in
Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian (2009) and is presently co-authoring
with roger haight, s.J. Companions of Jesus and Buddha in Conversation:
Toward a Mystical-Prophetic Spirituality, to be published by orbis Books.
Marianne Moyaert holds the Fenna diemer lindeboom Chair of Comparative
Theology and hermeneutics of interreligious dialogue at the Free university
of amsterdam. she also teaches at the Ku leuven, Belgium. she has authored
three books, including Fragile Identities: Towards a Theology of Interreligious
Hospitality (rodopi, 2011), and co-edited Ritual Participation and Interreligious
Dialogue: Boundaries, Transgressions and Innovations (Bloomsbury, 2015)
(peeters, 2010). she has published over 50 articles, treating a wide range of
topics relating to interreligious dialogue, hermeneutics and comparative
Notes on Contributors ix
theology. her book In Response to the Religious Other: Ricoeur and the Fragility
of Interreligious Encounters was published in 2014 (lexington Books).
Daniel Strange is academic vice-principal and tutor in Culture, religion and
public Theology at oak hill Theological College, london. he is author of The
Possibility of Salvation Among the Unevangelised (paternoster, 2001) and For
Their Rock is Not as Our Rock: An Evangelical Theology of Religions (apollos,
2014). With gavin d’Costa and paul Knitter, he is co-author of Only One
Way? Three Christian Responses on the Uniqueness of Christ in a Pluralistic World
(sCm, 2011). he has also contributed to the sCm Core text and reader,
Christian Approaches to Other Faiths (sCm, 2008).
Ross Thompson is a freelance writer living in Wiltshire. he served for 20 years as
a parish priest in Bristol, and taught doctrine and ethics at st michael’s, llandaff
and Cardiff university. his recent works include Buddhist Christianity: A
Passionate Openness (John hunt, 2010) and Wounded Wisdom: A Buddhist and
Christian Response to Evil, Hurt and Harm (John hunt, 2011). he is currently
contracted to write The Interfaith Imperative: Dialogue and the Integrity of
Theology (Wipf and stock, forthcoming 2016). his main current research
interests are exploration of the interface between Christianity, Buddhism and
science, and the development of a spirituality drawing on all three.
Asanga Tilakaratne graduated from peradeniya university, sri lanka,
specialising in Buddhist philosophy, and has a masters in Western philosophy
and phd in comparative philosophy from university of hawaii at manoa.
Currently he is the professor of pali and Buddhist studies, university of
Colombo, sri lanka. he has published, both in sinhala and english, more than
100 papers and authored and edited several books on Buddhist philosophy,
philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, practical ethics, contemporary
social and political issues, Buddhist epistemology and logic and interreligious
understanding, including most recently Theravada Buddhism: The View of
Elders (university of hawaii press, 2012).
J.P. (Janet) Williams lectures at ripon College Cuddesdon, uK, and is dean
of the West of england ministry training Course. her publications include
Denying Divinity: Apophasis in the Patristic Christian and the Soto Zen Buddhist
Traditions (oup, 2000) The Four Chalcedonian Adverbs: A Reflection on
Buddhist-Christian Dual Belonging (forthcoming, in Currents of Encounter: The
Typology of Religions, rodopi). her research interests are apophatic traditions