World Cultures and World Religions: The Coming Dialogue

By Hendrik Kraemer

A study of the meeting of Christianity and non-Christian religions and the religious dialogue that emerges from the clash of cultures between East and West.

ISBN: 9780227170960

Description

The meeting of Christianity and the non-Christian religions, the impact of East on West, and West on East, the clash of cultures and the movement of divine and human forces that are changing the pattern of man’s life, form the basis of Kraemer’s magisterial book.

He deals historically with the world situation as he sees it because history determines the mood in which East and West approach this ‘coming dialogue’. In a series of masterly chapters Kraemer surveys the position of the world’s religions deeply enmeshed in socio-cultural systems that create both barriers to change but impetus towards evolution. The dialogue with the ‘grand, elusive, Eastern systems of humanist thinking’ demands searching thought, fundamental re-adjustment of methods and readiness to find fresh points of contact. It will, however, vindicate the personal conception of the living God as manifest in Jesus Christ. The ‘key word of Oriental philosophies is Harmony, glossing over the glaring disharmonies of man’s life.’

This is, the heart of the dialogue that Kraemer discusses backed by his vast experience and learning. Kraemer provides a formative and fundamental tool for Christians and all who are aspire to an intelligent and penetrative understanding of the religious and cultural life of the world.

Additional information

Dimensions 229 × 153 mm
Pages 394
Format

 | 

Trade Information JPOD

About the Author

Dr. Hendrik Kraemer received his doctor’s degree in Oriental Languages, Cultures, and Religions from Leiden University. He became Professor of the History and Phenomenology of Religions in the Theological Faculty of the University of Leiden (Netherlands). He was Director of the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches at Bossey (near Geneva) and was Fosdick Visiting Professor at the Union Theological Seminary, New York.

Contents

Preface

1. Why This Subject?
2. The Relations of Eastern Cultures and Religions with the West in the Past
3. The New Situation in the Nineteenth Century
4. The Significance of Christian Missions
5. The Cultural Response of the East to the Western Invasion: The Muslim World
6. The Cultural Response of the East to the Western Invasion: Hindu India
7. The Cultural Response of the East to the Western Invasion: The Buddhist World
8. The Cultural Response of the East to the Western Invasion: China and Japan
9. The Western Response to Eastern Cultures and Religions
10. The Significance of the Political Revolution since World War II and of the
     Resurgence of the Non-Christian Religions
11. “The Coming World-Civilization”
12. The Terms of the Coming Dialogue

Index of Proper Names
Index of Subjects

Extracts