One of the most difficult, and therefore one of the most promising, topics that came up in my recent conversations with Korean Buddhists a couple of weeks ago was embodied in the central images of our traditions: the Buddha sitting in quiet contemplation under the Bodhi tree and the Christ agonizing on the cross. There [...]
Posts under ‘Liberation theology’
President Obama, I don’t want to denounce you!
One of the basic principles that I try to practice as a Buddhist-Christian is to oppose without denouncing. As a Buddhist teacher once put it to a group of Christian liberation theologians, “We Buddhists don’t denounce.” This is one of the most difficult, but also one of the most important, things we Christians can learn [...]
Niebuhr and Buddha – and Obama
With this blog, I’m jumping into water over my head. I may need someone to rescue me, or set me straight. I want to say something about Reinhold Niebuhr and Walter Rauschenbusch (about whom I am in no way specialized, whereas two of my colleagues here at Union, Jim Cone and Gary Dorrien, are) and [...]
Black Theology and Interreligious Dialogue
My colleague here at Union Theological Seminary, James Cone, wrote the following way back in 1992: Although I am a Christian theologian, I contend that a just social order must be accountable to not one but many religious communities. If we are going to create a society that is responsive to the humanity of all, [...]