Without Buddha I Could Not be a Christian [Paperback]

I finished Marcus Borg's book wondering what was so special about Jesus. The American scholar paints a portrait of someone I would have like to have met, a man interested in the mystery of being, in personal transformation, in social and economic justice, a man who practiced peace through nonviolence, right up to the moment of his death. But with more than a few modern incarnations of the Jesus model - Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Martin Luther King - I was left wondering, "Why bother with Jesus?"

Paul F Knitter in his new book , Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian, helped me find at least a partial answer.

Knitter is a former Catholic priest and retired scholar of comparative religions who since the 1980's has been exploring Buddhism as a way of enlightening, enlivening and refreshing Christian theology. His problems are nothing new: the distance between creator and created, between humans and and a divine Jesus; the presence of evil in a world controlled by an active god; Jesus' radical nonviolence and war in the name of God; the selfish nature of petitionary prayer and the exclusivity of Christian "truth." This book is Knitter's personal exploration of Buddhism as a means of addressing these issues and with an infusion of Eastern mysticism of rescuing Christianity from the literalists.

I'll leave it to the Christians to judge how well he has succeeded. What the book made clear to me is that Buddhism presents a more unified, less contradictory vehicle for approaching the great unknowable. It does not require belief, it does not preach or moralize, and it begins where all things begin - you and your perception of the world. As the Dhammapada says in the first two verses: "All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind. Speak with a peaceful mind and happiness follows."

I couldn't help feeling as I progressed through the book that if Christianity needs such a drastic overhaul, then why not just go over to being a Buddhist? Why "rescue" Christianity from itself? Knitter doesn't provide a satisfactory answer. For him it seems to come down to a matter of nostalgia, of not being able to turn away from a tradition and a set of symbols that have defined most of his life. I suppose at the age of 70, Knitter will never be able to put Christianity aside entirely, though he did decide at the end of writing this book to take Buddhist refuge and the Bodhisattva vows, a kind of Buddhist baptism, if you will.

For myself, the book helped me find something about Jesus that matters. Like Socrates before him, Jesus was unflinching in the search for truth, allowing his guiding principles to play out in his life, up to and including the time and manner of his death.

"It was at this point that Jesus felt himself claimed - perhaps unconsciously but certainly agonizingly - by what Lonergan called the Law of the Cross. Faced and threatened by hatred and violence, Jesus knew - or better, he felt - that the divine Spirit acting through him could not respond to hatred and violence with more hatred and violence . . . But he also knew that if he didn't so respond, it was over. They would kill him. That horrified him. The Gospels report that he was so frightened that he sweat blood. He could neither avoid the issue by fleeing nor respond to it by violence. Somehow, having to die at this moment was part of his mission. Therefore, so be it. 'Thy will be done.'"

This is something to which we can all aspire, because so few of us make it that far, to live our principles regardless of the consequences to ourselves, even unto death.

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Once in a rare while a book comes along which is filled with such profound theological insight, spiritual wisdom, and especially courage and humility, that one wants to rush out to buy a dozen copies to send to one's friends.
Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, studied theology at the Gregorian University and then under the renowned Jesuit Karl Rahner as a graduate student. For most of his adult life he has struggled with virtually all of the doctrines of Christianity. More accurately, he has struggled with their exposition and interpretation in our wordy, dualistic, Western terminology. He shares his struggles and questions with the reader, never imposing solutions but simply offering another perspective that he finds in the teachings of the Buddha.
Is there any thoughtful Christian who has not winced at the anthropomorphisms, inconsistencies, intelligibility, and outright contradictions that often permeate our God talk, liturgical services, and prayer life, not to mention credal declarations?
Knitter's questions are directed at the conceptual language we use about God's transcendence and immanence, the Trinity, the Incarnation, creation, evil, the afterlife, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, salvation, the afterlife, eternal damnation, God's will. There is scarcely a piece of our belief system, our spiritual and liturgical life, or our Christian praxis that does not come under scrutiny. This includes the contemporary aversion to silence in liturgy and spirituality (he would increment the Sacraments to include a Sacrament of Silence), the prayer of petition (God the Super-magician who is asked to upset the order of nature for my benefit), eternal damnation (impossible!), just war theory (an oxymoron).
These are not the rantings of a disillusioned Christian, but the thoughtful reflections of a theologian who would see our faith enlarged and enriched. He permits us to throw out the dirty bath water so that we can see and touch the baby again. You will finish this book (probably after a second reading) with a deepened sense of the divine, a renewed and enlightened Christian faith.
Finally and logically Knitter leads us to Christian praxis and a vision of the radical changes required if, as individuals and church, we would realize God's "Kindom," to use his pregnant neologism.
Knitter is no armchair theologian. Having come out of the liberation theology tradition, he has worked actively in Latin America in the cause of peace, justice, and reconciliation. Thus the concluding chapter of the book addresses a Christian praxis rooted in the example and teaching of Jesus (and the Buddha). It reminds us that, to use the Buddhist expression, "to make peace we must be peace." No reader can finish this book without concluding that Christianity and just war theory are simply incompatible.
Knitter looks to the day when we can read a book entitled "Without Jesus I could not be a Buddhist."

Paul Knitter remains a Churchman but he is unflinchingly honest about the problems created for those who want to be followers of Jesus today, by what the Western Church has done over the centuries, with the life, example and teaching of Jesus.
In each chapter, Knitter spells out his own problems with one area of Christian orthodoxy, moves into who Buddhism offers in the corresponding area, and then brings back into his Christian self, whats he has gained from immersion in Buddhism.
He brings to this book his own rich maturity in Christian faith and the fruits of his Buddhist insights, all of it honed by discussions with his students. The result - presented with freshness and humour - is a book as much devotional and spiritual biography as academic theology. It has helped me to see Jesus as a living spiritual trail-blazer who cannot be understood in Western thought forms alone.
For anyone who is having difficulty with the dualist, paternalist, imperialist and exclusivist nature of Western Christian orthodoxy, but who still thinks trying to be a follower of Jesus in today's world is worth an effort, I warmly recommend this book.