In Wisdom and in Passion: Comparing and Contrasting Buddha and Christ

Two faiths of great influence, making great claims of their founders. How do such faiths enter into dialogue, so necessary in our fractured world? What do Buddha in deep meditation and Christ, with a deep yearning for the justice of the reign of God, say to each other, and to us? What commonalities and differences do they share as those in whose name new faiths were founded? What caused the followers of each to believe their messages were such that they broke free of their old faith traditions? How are the stories of each shaped by universal myths, and what do they do with these myths in each account? How has each faith spread around the world, encountering very different cultures, shaping and being shaped by them? What did Buddha and Jesus teach, and how have those teachings been understood? What place do the Scriptures play in each? How is the divine understood and by what method do we penetrate to the divine? How are ethics and living understood in each faith? These questions, among others, shape this book, a wide-ranging exploration of a challenging, yet necessary interfaith dialogue.

John Queripel, a Uniting Church in Australia minister, has worked in a range of contexts. He has always had a concern for speaking and living faith in authentic dialogue with scholarship and the modern context. He has authored Bonhoeffer: Prophet and Martyr, On the Third Day: Re-looking at the Resurrection, and Christmas: Myth, Magic and Legend. He chaired the NSW Uniting Church Relationships with Other Faiths Committee, and the NSW Council for Christians and Jews.