In my first book, Spirituality, I wrote,
In my experience, my faithfulness to Christ and my openness to the wisdom of other traditions are two aspects of my spiritual journey that have enhanced and enriched each other.
Aside from a seven-year experiment exploring the colorful world of earth-based religions, my spiritual practice has always been centered in Christ and the Christian tradition — and, following the lead of such contemplative luminaries as Thomas Merton, Tilden Edwards, Bede Griffiths, Abhishiktananda, and Raimon Panikkar, I have found my fidelity to Christ is served by a willingness to engage respectfully in the teachings and practices of other faiths.
My goal in such interspiritual exploration is not to water down my faith into some sort of world-mystical soup, but rather to deepen my fidelity to the two great commandments of Christianity — love God, and love our neighbors as ourselves — through allowing my love of my non-Christian neighbors to challenge, nurture and support my Christ-centered love of God.
Not everyone is called to interspiritual exploration, and certainly not everyone is called to such exploration in the same way. The following list of books is a witness to that diversity: some of these books are written by Christians, others not; some explore the tricky dynamics of interfaith dialogue (exploration similarities and differences in belief, teaching and ethics) while others opt for a less precise but more heart-centered emphasis on common practice, such as meditation and contemplation. Most of these titles invite the reader into the interfaith/interspiritual world from a Christian perspective, since, after all, that is my starting point.
Hopefully one or more of these titles will speak to you on your journey deeper into the heart of God.
- Abhishiktananda, Prayer
- Bede Griffiths, Essential Writings
- Brian D. McLaren, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World
- D. T. Suzuki, Mysticism Buddhist and Christian
- Geoffrey Parrinder, Mysticism in the World’s Religions
- Hieromonk Damascene, Christ the Eternal Tao
- Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, Living in New Consciousness
- James S. Cutsinger, ed., Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East
- Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything
- Mirabai Starr, God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
- Paul Knitter, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian
- Steven T. Katz, ed., Comparative Mysticism: An Anthology of Original Sources
- Terry Muck and Rita M. Gross, eds., Christians Talk About Buddhist Meditation, Buddhists Talk About Christian Prayer
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha Living Christ
- Thomas Matus, Yoga and the Jesus Prayer
- Thomas Merton, Mystics and Zen Masters
- Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions
- William Johnstone, The Still Point: Reflections on Zen and Christian Mysticism
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