religious dialogue
Buddhist-Christian dialogue is important to the understanding and tolerance of other beliefs and people of the other faith. If conducted in the right manner with the right people participating in the dialogue, it can be a very constructive and informative media. It can help make sense of these two religious traditions by hearing views on certain topics from the perspective of another faith other than our own. This dialogue can also answer questions of those wondering whether our religious differences divide us, or whether they can create a need for aid from other traditions and values. The meeting between Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan was a form of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Both are ordained clergy in their own religions and both were exiled because of their protest of the Vietnam war. They sat down together and shared the aspects of their religious life with the other. What brought them together and made their conversations interesting was sense of compassion and similarities brought about by their experiences of the Vietnam War that deepened their religious lives. In my own experience, I have found that conversations between religious people can turn into opinionative speeches rather
There are two forms of dialogue that can be utilized in Buddhist-Christian dialogues: conceptual dialogue, socially engaged dialogue; and interior dialogue. The elements of the dialogue as well as the form, are independent of each other and therefore the form is dictated by the people involved in the discussion. The focus of conceptual dialogue is doctrinal, theological, and philosophical meaning it concerns a religious tradition's self-understanding and worldview. In conceptual dialogue, Buddhists and Christians compare theological and philosophical views on such questions as: human nature, suffering and evil; nature and ecology; salvation/ liberation; the relation between love, compassion, and justice; the role the Jesus in Christianity and the role of the Buddha in Buddhism; and what Christians and Buddhists can learn from each other. This form was followed in Hanh and Berrigan's encounters by the way they discussed issues, such as the relationship between Jesus and the Buddha, or Thich Nhat Hanh's understanding of the Christian Eucharist, to criticism of the involvement of religious people in armed conflict, the implication of religious institutions in economic systems, and the moral necessity to follow the consequences of one's religious convictions, even when they lead to exile, imprisonment, or death. Conceptual dialogue is emphasized by Christian participants because is allows them to incorporate their beliefs which stem from a long tradition of theological interpretation of the bible. This tradition places heavy emphasis on doctrine, more so than non-Christian traditions. Since in traditional Christian teaching there are greater evils than violence,
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1128
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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