Paul F. Knitter

Having spent the majority of her ninety-plus years as a member of a religious order that defines its mission as ""to witness in the Church God's faithful love for the Jewish people,"" and having lived in Jerusalem for over thirty years and become an Israeli citizen in 1992, Sr. Maureena Fritz delivers in this book a final testament. She appeals to her fellow Christians to recognize, honestly and humbly, that the roots of the antisemitism that has persisted throughout the history of the West are to be found in the New Testament itself and in the traditional Christian theology of ""supersessionism""--i.e., Christian supremacy over Judaism and all other religions. She seeks to redeem the name of Jesus by recognizing that he was and remained a faithful, though critical, Jew and that the distinctive way that he calls his disciples to follow always remained ""a way that is open to other ways."" She endorses recent efforts by Christian theologians to forge a pluralistic Christology that will ground both commitment to one's own tradition and dialogue with others. Such an understanding of Jesus will enable the affirmation of the irrevocability and ongoing validity of God's covenant with Israel.

Having spent the majority of her ninety-plus years as a member of a religious order that defines its mission as "to witness in the Church God's faithful love for the Jewish people," and having lived in Jerusalem for over thirty years and become an Israeli citizen in 1992, Sr. Maureena Fritz delivers in this book a final testament. She appeals to her fellow Christians to recognize, honestly and humbly, that the roots of the antisemitism that has persisted throughout the history of the West are to be found in the New Testament itself and in the traditional Christian theology of "supersessionism"--i.e., Christian supremacy over Judaism and all other religions. She seeks to redeem the name of Jesus by recognizing that he was and remained a faithful, though critical, Jew and that the distinctive way that he calls his disciples to follow always remained "a way that is open to other ways." She endorses recent efforts by Christian theologians to forge a pluralistic Christology that will ground both commitment to one's own tradition and dialogue with others. Such an understanding of Jesus will enable the affirmation of the irrevocability and ongoing validity of God's covenant with Israel.

Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian narrates how esteemed theologian, Paul F. Knitter, overcame a crisis of faith by looking to Buddhism for inspiration. From prayer to how Christianity views life after death, Knitter argues that a Buddhist standpoint can encourage a more person-centred conception of Christianity where individual religious experience comes first, and liturgy and tradition second. Moving and revolutionary, this edition comes with a new conclusion – ‘Jesus and Buddha Both Come First!’ ‘A compelling example of religious inquiry.’ New York Times ‘One of the finest contemporary books on the encounter between religions in the heart and soul of a single thoughtful person.’ Library Journal

This book presents three different, influential and representative theological approaches towards the world religions. Students are not only introduced to the field, but get three passionate and intelligent 'takes' on what is at stake. By means of a response to each of the primary essays, the authors are put into interaction with each other, and are also engaged with the most contemporary scholarship in the field of theology of religions.This sustained and high level critical interaction between the authors provides a feature that is not to be found in any other current work in theology of religions. The three views represent: conservative Roman Catholic Christianity (D'Costa), Reformed evangelical Christianity (Strange) and liberationist liberal Christianity (Knitter). This book will therefore appeal to a very wide theological market from all sections of the theological spectrum.

Presents a comprehensive study of every major position taken by Christian churches and theologians on world religions and religious pluralism. Original.

Jesus and the Other Names will give pause to those who believe Christian Mission can be carried on as is in the modern era. Sure to inspire debate as well as dialogue it offers a more humble, but perhaps more "Christic," postmodern approach to mission in the new millennium that has little to do with earthly glory and nothing to do with the sense of cultural superiority that so often - and often so tragically - accompanied modern missionary movements. Theologians, missiologist, Christian, historians, can all benefit from its thoughtful and timely message.

The essays assembled in this volume, all of which were given at the 1988 meeting of the College Theology Society at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles, reflect and verify a growing conviction within contemporary Christian theology: if theologians are going to do their job properly, they have to somehow get out of their own backyards. They cannot be church and they cannot carry on the task of drawing ever new treasures out of the old "deposit of faith" unless they do so together with othersó"others" meaning people who are genuinely different from themselves. In differing ways, each of the essays in this volume deals with the otherness of culture, or religion, or victimhood. Contents: Can Theology be Transcultural? Raimon Panikkar; The Cosmology of Religions, Thomas Berry; Theology in a Suffering World: Theology as Intellectus Amoris, Jon Sobrino; Liberation Theology and Marxism, Enrique Dussel; The American Catholic ChurchóA New Way of Being Catholic, Robert Kress; Christology from a Contemporary African Perspective, Caritas McCarthy; Examining Gender Issues in Interreligious Dialogue, Maura O'Neill; Jesus as Savior of the World, Gerald Finnegan. Co-published with the College Theology Society.