Unlike much work written in the field of comparative religion, this book adopts an explicitly Christian perspective. This is done not out of any feeling of superiority but because such an approach can, I believe, secure a more penetrating analysis of what my fellow Christians might learn from other faiths. Instead of a strained effort to stand above or outside (which was likely in any case to prove too demanding in so short a work), I have sought to achieve two main aims. The first, essentially factual, is a brief but effective characterisation of each of the world’s major religions in both their historical and contemporary context (with their salient differences from Christianity also highlighted). Secondly, there is a theological purpose, an attempt to answer the difficult question of what might have been happening across those religions, if the existence of the Christian God were to be assumed. In other words, is it possible to make sense not just of the human aspirations and searchings involved but also of a divine reality in turn reaching out to humanity in revelation – a revelation nonetheless constrained by the specifics of cultural conditioning? One novel feature in what follows is in consequence the suggestion of various insights in those alternative traditions where that revelation has penetrated more deeply than seems to be the case within Christianity.
After indicating some reasons for the topic’s contemporary importance, Chapter 1 fleshes out this particular understanding of revelation as resulting in what I call ‘complementary shards’, overlapping but imperfect constructions, rather like beautiful but broken pots. Chapter 2 then challenges any notion of Christianity’s own self-containment. Instead, its forms and ideas as developed in both the Jewish and classical worlds can be seen to have been heavily indebted to surrounding pagan religions. Then, while Chapters 3 and 7 are devoted to a single religion each, to what are perhaps the oldest and newest world religions (Hinduism and Islam), Chapters 4, 5 and 6 turn instead to examine the several interacting religions that are to be found in India (Jainism, Theravada Buddhism and Sikhism), China (Daoism, Confucianism and Mahayana Buddhism) and Japan (Shinto, Zen and Pure Land Buddhism), respectively. Chapter 8 then contends that, far from all this leading to the diminishment of revelation, such an approach can actually provide an enrichment of its understanding. Finally, Chapter 9 briefly concludes with an examination of how my own work relates to earlier existing dichotomies within the field.
