Description
Book SynopsisTravels in the Borderland Between East and West
Trade ReviewIn today’s global village, where religions can no longer live in ‘innocent’ and ‘safe’ ignorance of one another, thoughtful Christians are trying to understand other faiths as never before in our history. Most of us, alas, have too little opportunity for profound exposure to these others. But some there are who can help us—because they have left the familiar homeland of the once-Christian West and lived in the ‘borderland’ between Christianity and another sincere faith. Among the latter, Notto Thelle seems to me an extraordinarily insightful guide and pioneer. His very readable book is not a theoretical study of the relation between Buddhism and Christianity, but a lived experience and dialogue. It should be required reading for students of theology—and indeed for all serious Christians.Douglas John Hall, CM, ThD Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Notto Thelle's Who Can Stop the Wind? is a Christian’s theological engagement with the truth and power of religious pluralism. He dialogically engages with this pluralism, mostly in Japanese Zen Buddhist forms, that both affirms the depth of non-Christian Ways as he 'passes beyond dialogue' to a renewed understanding and appreciation of the depth of the Christian Way. In the process, he becomes a model for the possibilities of creative transformation in a religious world that is true to the deepest insights and experiences of Christian faith as well as non-Christian faith and experience.Paul O. Ingram
Professor Emeritus
Pacific Lutheran University
Table of ContentsContentsFaith in the Border Zone vii
Setting Out on the Journey 2
Who Can Stop the Wind? 4
Faith’s Companion 6
Faith as Fate and as Choice 7
The Death and Resurrection of Our Words 10
Adversaries—and Allies 18
En Route 20
Where Do You Stay? 23
The Human Person in the Cosmos 24
Buddha’s Path—Between Otherworldliness and Presence 31
Zen Meditation and the Sacrament of Simple Things 36
“. . .An Open Space in Each Person’s Life” 44
The Priest’s “Gift to His Bride” 47
The Wide Perspective 49
“The Flower Opens in the Sheer Drop” 52
“Melt, My Heart! Weep, My Eye!” 56
Hallesby and Zen 61
Diamond and Lotus 63
“. . . Until the Morning Star Rises in Your Hearts” 65
It Is Dark at the Foot of the Candlestick 67
Reactions to a Message 70
What a Friend We Have in Jesus . . . 72
Mission and Roots 80
Disciples and Hangers-on 83
The Spark 84
Fidelity 86
“I Want to Be a Japanese” 88
A Larger Pattern 90
The Outward Path and the Homeward Path— Toward a Greater Faith 92
A Modern Pilgrim 94
When the Borders Become Too Narrow 96
Theological Addresses 98
Toward a Larger Faith 100
