Zen A Trinitarian Critique

Short Description
“What Zen recommends as the way of enlightenment — becoming one with the ultimate reality — is simply another form of the Satanic promise to Eve: “you …

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Content
Zen: A Trinitarian Critique
Trinitarianism is the heart of the Christian confession of faith, and, therefore
also, the heart of the Christian worldview. If we know that nothing can be more
important for our understanding of Christianity itself than a deep appreciation of
the meaning of the Trinity, then clearly we should also be persuaded that no truth
could be more important for a Christian approach to the comparative study of
religion. But, of course, such a conviction contradicts the modern way of thinking.
For most modern men a truly scientific methodology in the study of religion
must meet two conditions common to scientific study in general. The method must
be neutral and objective. What this means in practice may be illustrated by the
somewhat crude expression of Swedish theologian Krister Stendahl: “I do not have
the right to visit his holy of holies insulated by the rubber soles of my globetrotter
shoes.”1 This is Stendahl’s way of saying that Christians should not approach the
study of non-Christian religions with the presuppositions of Christianity. He rejects
the idea that Christians should judge other religions in terms of Christian categories
of thinking. If, for example, some Christians are…