Encountering God
by Diana L. Eck
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Description
In the summer of 1965, as young Americans everywhere struggled to come to terms with the war in Vietnam and the crises of the civil rights movement, Diana Eck was a college student learning Hindi in preparation for her first visit to India. It was a trip that would change her life, bringing her into relationships with non-Christians such as the former freedom fighter Achyut Patwardhan and the philosopher Krishnamurti, whose insights challenged her to examine her own Christian faith from a show more radically new perspective. Now in the 1990s the challenge of responding to the problem of religious difference is virtually universal. Is only one religion true? Is there a way ahead in a world of interreligious strife? Today most Americans have encountered religions not their own: a neighbor practices Buddhist meditation, one's child has a Muslim classmate, or a friend extends an invitation to a Christmas Eve service or a Passover seder. In Encountering God, Eck reflects on the questions posed by her own ongoing encounter with Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims. Her vivid story reminds us that interfaith dialogue "does not usually begin with philosophy or theory, but with experience and relationships." Eck considers the spiritual questions that perplex each of us, Hindu or Christian, devout or not: Who is God? How are we to pray? What are we to believe in the face of inexplicable suffering and death? Eck insists as a Christian that her relations with people of other faiths have helped her to think about these questions and deepened her own faith. Above all, Encountering God instructs us in the urgent need for dialogue among the world's faiths as we enter the twenty-first century. Eck believes understanding between Christians and people of other faiths is not only possible but essential to our common future. As we confront our growing interdependence in a global community, she argues that we must all reach beyond mere "tolerance" of other religions toward a genuine pluralism based on respect for religious differences and openness to mutual transformation. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
One of the members of a small interfaith dialog group to which I belong suggested we all read this book. I am glad she called it to my attention, this is a wonderful discussion of the theology of, need for, and aims of interfaith dialogue. I want to read more like this.
A Christan with an education Diana outlines the meaning of Christianity to her and the reasons why this is not the only path to God. She herself claims to be a Christian and lays out the foundation for what they means. She makes a very strong case against the conservative Church of condemnation.
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Author Information
21+ Works 1,598 Members
Diana Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of The Pluralism Project.
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Encountering God
Classifications
- Genres
- Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 291.1 — Religion Other religions [Formerly: General Religious Topics] [formerly: Religious mythology, general classes of religion, interreligious relations and attitudes, social theology. Relocated to 201]
- LCC
- BR127 .E25 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Christianity Christianity
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 350
- Popularity
- 90,100
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.06)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 2
