sophiaserpentia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-04-22 01:47 pm
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-04-22 01:47 pm
(no subject)
Just posed this question in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
challenging_god and wanted to record it here, too. (Some of you will see a crossposting.)
Does the strength of Christianity reside in the essential uniqueness of its message?
Or, conversely, is Christianity strengthened if it can be reconciled with other religions spiritually and/or mystically?
I fall into the latter camp. It seems to me that spiritual experiences are the same for people of every culture, and that religions and philosophies have largely derived from attempts to describe these experiences in concrete terms. These "traps for the divine" ultimately fall short because it is not possible to describe the infinite in finite terms.
Nonetheless I feel that my studies of scripture have led me to understand the Christian message as an outgrowth of this same mystical life with many parallels to the teachings of other religions.
challenging_god and wanted to record it here, too. (Some of you will see a crossposting.)Does the strength of Christianity reside in the essential uniqueness of its message?
Or, conversely, is Christianity strengthened if it can be reconciled with other religions spiritually and/or mystically?
I fall into the latter camp. It seems to me that spiritual experiences are the same for people of every culture, and that religions and philosophies have largely derived from attempts to describe these experiences in concrete terms. These "traps for the divine" ultimately fall short because it is not possible to describe the infinite in finite terms.
Nonetheless I feel that my studies of scripture have led me to understand the Christian message as an outgrowth of this same mystical life with many parallels to the teachings of other religions.