Religion in Dialogue with Late Modern Society: A Constructive Contribution to a Christian Spirituality Informed by Buddhist-Christian Encounters

This book is a constructive contribution to a Christian spirituality for the late modern religiously plural society. Based on a description of contemporary religion, in which the author refers to modern sociologists (some general and some specifically involved with religion), this study outlines certain recent characteristics of our contemporary way of relating to religion, and formulates a spirituality for the late modern religiously plural society. It detects such spirituality arising within three dynamic fields: ‘continuity and internal diversity’, ‘formal and informal structures’ and ‘vita activa and vita contemplativa’. Against this background the author presents and analyses a case study of Aloysius Pieris, a Christian theologian active in ‘Buddhist’ Sri Lanka, and of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk active in ‘Christian’ France. Based on identified presuppositions and in dialogue with these two personalities the book proceeds towards a construction which contains some basic indicators of a Christian spirituality for the late modern religiously plural society. The concepts ‘community’, ‘baptism’ and ‘grace and concern’ are central to the construction.