In the Company of Friends

John Ross Carter is Professor of the Study of the Great Religions of the World, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, and Director of Chapel House at Colgate University. He is the author of On Understanding Buddhists: Essays on the Theravāda Tradition in Sri Lanka, also published by SUNY Press, and the editor of On Living Life Well: Echoes of the Words of the Buddha from the Theravāda Tradition.

• Foreword by Charles HalliseyAcknowledgmentsIntroductory NoteList of AbbreviationsPart I: The Quest for Religious Understanding with the Therāda, Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists, and Christians1. On Understanding Religious Men and Women2. Truth and History in Interreligious Understanding: A Preliminary Inquiry3. Interreligious as a Religious QuestPart II: The Dynamics of Faith and Beyond: Personally and in an Ever-Expanding Community4. Samvega and the Incipient Phase of Faith5. Shinjin: More than "Faith"?6. Celebrating Our Faith7. Colloquia in FaithPart III: Converging Affirmations from Different Perspectives8. "Relying Upon" or "Taking Refuge" as a Genuinely Human Activity9. Love and Compassion as Given10. Toward an Understanding of What Is Inconceivable11. Arising of Salvific Realization as Buddhists and Christians Have Affirmed12. Relationality in Religious AwarenessPart IV: Building from Our Past into Our Common Future13. From Controversy to Understanding: More than a Century of Progress14. Religion and the Imperatives for Development15. Getting First Things First: Some Reflections on a Response to Venerable Ananda Maitreya16. Translational Theology: An Expression of the Faith of Christians in a Religiously Plural World17. Buddhists and Baptists: In Conversation into Our Common FuturePart V: The Challenge of Our Future18. Will There Be Faith on Earth?NotesA Bibliographic Note on the Context of Origin and Subsequent Versions of the Chapters in this VolumeBibliography

"…a handsome and durable volume … profound and sustained meditation on the relation between faith and understanding in interreligious dialogue. It is a work which will interest and inform Buddhist and Christian scholars alike, and challenges us to engage in ever more frequent and fruitful encounters both with each other and among ourselves." — Eastern Buddhist"This book is valuable for collections that emphasize theology, philosophy, or interfaith movements." — CHOICE"In the Company of Friends is groundbreaking. It brilliantly critiques current assumptions operative in the academic study of religions, theologies of religions, and interreligious dialogue and painstakingly sketches a new direction for learning inter-religiously. It will become a lightning rod of intense scholarly discussion and creative re-imagining in many fields related to religion and theology in the academy in coming years." — John J. Makransky, author of Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet"This book is a distinctive contribution in the field of Interreligious Dialogue Studies, specifically Buddhist Christian dialogue, coming from more than three decades of scholarship and experience of the author. The fact that it is a testimony of an accomplished scholar and revered teacher, engaged in interreligious dialogue, giving not only detached accounts of ideas, but more relevantly, his personal engagement with the themes and issues discussed, makes the book an attractive read for those interested in the field." — Ruben L. F. Habito, author of Healing Breath: Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World