Catholicism and Buddhism: The Contrasting Lives and Teachings of Jesus and Buddha - Hardcover

by Anthony E. Clark (Author), Carl E. Olson (Foreword by)

The recent tide of books comparing Christianity and Buddhism has centered mostly on similarities. The Dalai Lama, for example, provided his opinions on Christianity in a popular book, The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus (1996). Other writers have equally sought to describe these two traditions as "two paths to the same place." Finding these approaches overly simplified, Anthony Clark confronts the distinctions between Buddhism and Catholic Christianity, acknowledging areas of confluence, but also discerning areas of abiding difference. Clark provides here a Catholic view of Buddhism that avoids obfuscations, seeking clarity for the sake of more productive dialogue.

Author Biography

Anthony E. Clark is the Edward B. Lindaman Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of History at Whitworth University. He is author of several books, including Heaven in Conflict: Franciscans and the Boxer Uprising in Shanxi (2015), China's Saints: Catholic Martyrdom during the Qing (2011), and the editor of China's Christianity: From Missionary to Indigenous Church (2017).