What Christians Can Learn From Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation (Facets)

It is a truism in the study of religion that to understand one's owntradition truly one must inhabit another's deeply. Kristin JohnstonLargen in this exciting volume takes the reader on such a pilgrimageinto Buddhism, to ultimately address what we as Christians might meanby salvation. In the last generation, lay Christians have already trodinto Buddhism to see the tradition for themselves. So this exercise incomparative theology employs interreligious dialogue as an integraland imperative part of Christian theology today. It first exploresthe model of comparative theology and the meanings of salvation, orsoteriology, in Christian tradition. It then reviews the chiefoutlines of the Buddhist worldview and explores the concept ofsalvation in Buddhism - nirvana, achieved through emptiness - and how itinforms a host of Buddhist practices. Only then does Largen return tothe Christian tradition to show not only what Buddhists can teach usabout themselves but also about ourselves. Critically corrected bythis larger religious context, Largen demonstrates, Christiansoteriology can be enriched and enlivened.

Kristin Johnston Largen is associate professor of systematic theology at Gettysburg Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has taught for the last eight years. Her most recent publication is Finding God among Our Neighbors: An Interfaith Systematic Theology (Fortress Press, 2013). She is also the editor of Dialog.