Notes from the Balcony

Ongoing comment and dialogue on being a new church in a new world - A Blog by John Montgomery

[The Bible] is not, for a start, a list of rules, though it contains many commandments of various sorts and in various contexts. Nor is it a compendium of true doctrines, though, of course, many parts of the Bible declare great truths about God, Jesus, the world and ourselves in no uncertain terms. Most of its constituent parts, and all of it when put together (whether in the Jewish canonical form or the Christian form), can best be described as story. This is a complicated and much-discussed theme, but there is nothing to be gained by ignoring it. - N.T. Wright

Friday, July 13, 2007

Noun or Adjective? That is the Question!

The late Wilfred Cantwell Smith suggested that to talk about someone as a Buddhist, rather than as Buddhist misconstrues what faith is about. It flunks English grammar as well. Christian is not a noun (i.e. a Christian), but an adjective (i.e. a Christian person). In that context, I could perhaps be both Buddhist and Christian. So does that get me into heaven and kicked out at the same time? My Evangelical colleagues want to know.

John Cobb suggested that perhaps the great religious traditions were not different answers to the same questions, but different answers to different questions.

I like to think that I am both Christian and Buddhist - maybe with a little Jewishness added as well. I wish both Agape and Compassion to you and yours!

John

Photo Used With Permission: blindelinse
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