theophiles.org - When Jesus met Buddha

Written by grizzly

Monday, 15 December 2008 19:34

From the Boston Globe:

Following the ideas of Pope Benedict XVI, the church refuses to give up its fundamental belief in the unique role of Christ... While the Vatican does not of course see the Buddha as a demon, it does fear the prospect of syncretism, the dilution of Christian truth in an unholy mixture with other faiths.

But there is another, ancient tradition, which suggests a very different course. Europe's is not the only version of the Christian faith, nor is it necessarily the oldest heir of the ancient church.

Comments

OrionBlastar - The Future Buddha

|2008-12-15 20:41:08

I've been to Thailand and some people think that Jesus is the Future Buddha. The one that will come back and fix things.

As a Christian, Jesus is my Buddha already, Buddha means teacher.

WebbedFeetOfClay

|2008-12-16 09:01:28

iirc actually it means "enlightened one" wich would be a bit troublesome as a name for "the Enlightening One/The Light"

emperorbma

|2008-12-16 16:54:11

Correct assessment, since "enlightened" implies Jesus had to somehow gain His status as the Light of God.

WebbedFeetOfClay - This article annoyed me sooo much.

|2008-12-16 09:19:10

a few key points of that academic lack of integrity being.
-"Throughout their history, these Nazarenes used Syriac, which is close to Jesus' own language of Aramaic, and they followed Yeshua, not Jesus. No other church - not Roman Catholics, not Eastern Orthodox - has a stronger claim to a direct inheritance from the earliest Jesus movement." flimsy flimsy flimsy flimsy nonsense (especially if you're using it as an argument to the modern "western" church which has already rejected, with good reason, both of those movements. (Also should probably say that one of the distinguishing linguistic elements of Syriac is often Greek influence. If you actually care to read Syriac scripture, as the author doesn't seem to have, it's clearly translation of Greek, not some earlier aramaic text.) as for the Yeshua bit, yes, the "western church" should be criticized and ridiculed because greek lacks an Sh sound.

I put "western" in quotes because he seems content to refer to Eastern orthodoxy as a european movement, when culturally and geographically, that's just absurd. For the majority of the early unified church europe was rome's and the eastern patriarchates encompassed the levant, the middle east (including Palestine), and northern africa, none of which are europe. (I'd also say if he wants to see good relations between the church and other faith groups, depending on the time period he's got some nice examples with EO under muslim rule.)

that said, (and more of it unsaid for the sake of space and sanity), I really don't see a problem with seeing and recognizing truth and value where it occurs in Buddhism or elsewhere, but it's value and being is fundamentally that of Christ God himself. There can not be truth apart from Truth. (the author really didn't demonstrate a substantive syncretism on the nestorians part either)

PineHall - Agree

|2008-12-16 10:35:54

Quote:

the author really didn't demonstrate a substantive syncretism on the nestorians part either

Yes, I don't see a convincing argument for substantive syncretism. The author seems to be trying to shoehorn his views into history where it is really not there. The little I know about the Nestorians, I think they kept Jesus the main thing in their beliefs.

I wish he would have said more disappearance of Christianity from that part of the world. I wonder why it did not survive.

holmegm

|2008-12-16 12:07:03

article wrote:

Following the ideas of Pope Benedict XVI, the church refuses to give up its fundamental belief in the unique role of Christ

That wacky Pope! Clearly out on a limb, he is.

emperorbma

|2008-12-16 16:56:45

Srsly! They ridicule the Pope for one of the right things that he's doing.

SteveGus - Crucifix

|2008-12-16 20:06:07

Yeah, they had to get outside help to make the crucifix. They settled for the one with the lotus on it, no real harm in that.

What they don't tell you is, they sent back the first one they got, the one that had six arms. It spoiled the simplicity of the design.

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Last Updated on Monday, 15 December 2008 19:37

Our valuable member grizzly has been with us since Thursday, 03 April 2008.

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