The modern/postmodern/secular world is often struck
by its own power, and raises anxious questions
about humanity’s meaning/role/destiny in the universe
so, Christianity needs to bring its own vast resources
to bear on these questions.
If Christianity’s mission is to dialogue
with all people, it must begin
by creating mutual respect/harmony with all churches –
interdenominational infighting makes Christians
hypocrites when they try to reach out.
As a chaplain in World War II, John MacQuarrie
saw the basic goodness of soldiers
and grace operating in Muslims
which challenged his Calvinist negativity
about human nature’s “absolute depravity”
and led to his conversion from Presbyterian to Anglican
letting go of Calvin’s exclusivism, he found grace
everywhere, and became the stellar Anglican theologian.
Jesuits in Japan hung out with Zen monks
and readily participated in the quasi-religious
“Tea Ceremony” which looks from the outside
like a non-spiritual ritual, but internally
is about disciplined silence/simplicity/
self-effacement/contemplation.
There may not be a universal religion
but there is a universal wisdom
which Aldous Huxley wrote about in 1945
in The Perennial Philosophy – all religions
value virtues like patience/humility/kindness/
compassion/peace. Like John Henry Newman
who was a major influence in Vatican II
Huxley believed God’s Plan included all religions.
The fact that nondualism is central
to three major religions: Taoism/Hinduism/Buddhism
and underlay Christian mysticism for sixteen centuries –
Jesus said “You are in Me and I am in you
and we are in God” – means nondualism
unites both Western and Eastern religion.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 