I Am Food: The Mass in Planetary Perspective

A basic spiritual commentary on the Mass, this book approaches the central Christian celebration from a combination of view points. Corless takes a personal approach to the Mass, but in the tradition of Teilhard de Chardin, he explores its cosmic setting. The symbolic significance of the parts of the Mass is seen within a Christian framework informed by the author's Buddhist experience. The Mass is a ritual of entry into a mandala; the participant experiences union with the God who resides at the heart of the mandala. Professor Corless explains that it is a lack not of relevance but of mystery that plagues men and women in churches today. In returning to an experience of mystery, mediated through symbol, suggestion, art, and ritual, we will find the Mass enlivened.

ROGER CORLESS is Professor of Religion, Emeritus, at Duke University. He has academic qualifications in Christian Theology (B.D, King's College, London) and Buddhist Studies (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison). He is a practitioner in both traditions, although he does not mix them, and has come to see himself as a one-man dialogue between them. He is a co-founder of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and its journal Buddhist-Christian Studies (University of Hawaii OEi Press). His many publications in Buddhism, Christian Spirituality, and Buddhist-Christian Studies include the innovative introductory text, The Vision of Buddhism: The Space under the Tree.