Those lines from West Side Story’s rollicking song, “Office Krupke” have come back to tease me over the decades since I first heard them. Are we depraved because we’re deformed? Or because we’re deprived? Some Christians, given their understanding of original sin and our fallen nature, would hold to “deformed.” I suspect that that’s an [...]
Posts under ‘Christianity’
The Sitting Buddha and the Crucified Christ
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 [...]
A Buddhist Response to Christian Fanaticism (written on a return flight from Seoul, Korea to New York)
For the past eight days, my wife Cathy and I have been rushing – or better, have been gently rushed – around the peninsula of South Korea as part of a project aimed at promoting a more fruitful dialogue between Buddhists and Christians. The seed of this venture was planted, and then nurtured, by my [...]
The Cross and the God of the Gaps
Today, Good Friday, I experienced the confluence of two theological streams – one philosophical and the other devotional. I started with the philosophical on the bus to the United Nations this morning, on my way to participate in “The Way of the Cross, the Way of Peace” which would trace its way down 42nd Street 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, [...]
Coming Soon
Watch for a coming blog from Union Professor Paul Knitter on topics of interfaith dialogue and understanding.
