From October 16-18, 2021 I attended virtually the 8th Convening of the Parliament of World Religions www.parliamentofreligions.org This mother organization of modern inter-religious dialogue was founded during the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 by some progressive white Christians (not including luminaries such as the then Archbishop of Canterbury.) Only a handful of representatives of non-Christian faiths attended. These included the abbott of the Engaku-ji Buddhist monastery in Kamakura, Japan, Shama Shaku whose letter of acceptance was written by the "preeminent cultural translator of the Zen Buddhist tradition from Japan to North America," D. T. Suzuki (see Eck, Encountering God, p. 25.) The sole Muslim was a New Englander who was a convert. The Hindu representative was Swami Vivekananda who greeted participants by noting that he was representing a religion "that has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance," Eck, p. 26.)
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March 2023
AuthorDan Hoffman is an Indianapolis USA based spiritual director, supervisor of spiritual directors, and workshop/retreat leader. This occasional blog discusses things he is thinking about and wants to share. Comments are always welcome. |