Mahayana Theology

Jesus Meditating in a Forest

One of the most interesting and challenging dialogues between students and visiting speakers on the Christianity in Dialogue module last term at Queens was with Revd Dr Janet Williams who came to engage students with the question 'Can a Christian be a Buddhist?' Her answer was an affirmative yes, some of the students were not so sure! However, the interface between Christianity and Buddhism and the phenomenon of 'double-belonging' is a significant factor in Christian Inter Faith engagement today.

I've recently come across an interesting website run by Comparative Theologian John Keenan. Keenan has written widely on Christian - Buddhist encounter and is well known for bringing Buddhist - especially Mahayanan - concepts into dialogue with Christian revelation in order to explore how to articulate the truth of Christian understandings of God. He writes:

"Mahayana theology" is a Christian theology that is informed by the philosophical wisdom of Mahayana Buddhism. Just as the early Church Fathers first employed ancient Greek philosophy to articulate the Christian faith, one may employ this ancient Buddhist philosophy to restate that same faith and thereby come to new and somewhat different understandings.

The website has links to Keenan's books but also to free articles outlining his work and understandings. Check it out here