Wisdom Christianity of Bede Griffiths

"This is indeed India; the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations—the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined." -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897

"It is precisely the fact of being a bridge [between Christianity and Hinduism] that makes this uncomfortable situation worthwhile. The world, at every level, needs such bridges. The danger of this life as a ‘bridge’ is that we run the risk of not belonging to either side; whereas, however harrowing it may be, our duty is to belong wholly to both sides. This is only possible in the mystery of God." -- Swami Abhishiktananda, Letter, September 2nd 1967

"Would you believe that all the gods that people have ever imagined are still with us today?" -- Neil Gaiman, author, American Gods, Chapter 13, 2001

"It is beyond doubt that the achievement of this devout Roman Catholic sannyasin [Bede Griffiths] will be reflected upon, and built upon, throughout the twenty-first century. Many Christians, some of whom are as yet unborn, will be inspired to follow his example...." -- Judson B. Trapnell, theology professor, Bede Griffiths: A Life In Dialogue, 2001

"Shantivanam [Ashram], in its own unique way, is an enduring monument to the wisdom of interspirituality as Father Bede practiced it, even though he did not actually use this term since it was coined after his death. He saw that the Church has an important task here: the gradual sifting through and careful absorption of the authentic spiritual insights, practices, and experiences that have existed for millennia in the other traditions of spirituality." -- Brother Wayne Teasdale, monk, "Father Bede as Sage of a New Age", The Golden String, May 2003

"The history of the movement to which Bede Griffiths belongs [Wisdom Christianity] has yet to be written. It is a relatively modern development, beginning only in the seventeenth century with Roberto de Nobili, and acquiring definite shape and direction in the latter half of the twentieth century, with such figures as Jules Monchanin and Abhishiktananda...." -- Brother Wayne Teasdale, monk, Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to his Interspiritual Thought, 2003

"The Second Vatican Council, in its Declaration on Non-Christian Religions, declared that ‘the Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions,' and encouraged Catholics to ‘recognize, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral values as well as the social and cultural values to be found among them.' Following this direction the All-Indian Seminar in 1969, which was attended by the whole of the hierarchy and representatives of the whole Catholic Church in India, spoke of the 'Wealth of truth, goodness and beauty in India's religious tradition' as ‘God's gift to our nation from ancient times.' The Seminar showed the need of a liturgy ‘closely related to the Indian cultural tradition,' and a theology ‘lived and pondered in the vital context of the Indian spiritual tradition.' In particular, the need was expressed ‘to establish authentic forms of monastic life in keeping with the best traditions of the Church and the spiritual heritage of India.'" -- Brother Augustine, monk, June 2004

"All the sacred scriptures are a gift of God to humanity." -- Brother John Martin Sahajananda, monk, Guidelines For Interreligious Dialogue, January 2009

Wisdom Christianity is the combination of Christianity and Hinduism. Father Bede Griffiths aka Swami Dayananda, a Benedictine monk and Hindu swami, was it's most famous and recent practitioner.

Fastiggi, R., and Pereira, J., The Swami From Oxford, CatholicCulture.Org, 2010

The scene is Tamil Nadu in South India. An elderly man with white hair and beard sits in meditative posture in a thatched hut near the banks of the River Cavery. He is dressed in the ocher robe of a Hindu sannyasin--an ascetic who has renounced all possessions. Yet this man is not a Hindu guru but a Benedictine monk named Bede Griffiths, originally associated with Prinknash Abbey in England. A former student of C.S. Lewis at Oxford, Griffiths is well known as a popular interpreter of Hindu wisdom to Western Christians. A convert to Catholicism, Griffiths is a British version of Thomas Merton, who, like his American counterpart, has had a long and abiding interest in Oriental religion.

Griffiths has made the claim that he is "a Christian in religion but a Hindu in spirit."

Syncretic Scriptures

"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods." -- Psalm 82:1

"For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods." -- Psalm 96:4

"... behold, the kingdom of God is within you." -- Jesus Christ, celestial, Luke 17:21

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." -- John 3:3

"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." -- Jesus Christ, celestial, John 3:7

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it to them." -- Romans 1:19

"For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we in him." -- 1 Corinthians 8:5-6

Astronomy Vs. Astrophysics

"I am terrified of Geoffrey Burbidge. I admit it. He makes me quake in my boots. The larger by a considerable margin of the famous husband-and-wife team that has earned the moniker 'B-squared', Geoff is certainly a different kettle of fish. Margaret, on one hand, is a motherly figure, treating visitors to their lovely San Diego home to tea and crumpets in the glorious English tradition. Dealing with her husband is quite another matter. Geoffrey does not suffer fools gladly, and it would seem to me that by his definition, all the world’s a fool. And that includes me, of course. Over the years, I have enjoyed a cordial relationship with the Burbidges, and hasten to assure you that Geoff has never been unkind to me. We are, after all, on the same side (I think, I hope!). It’s just that he’s direct. Very direct. Dr Burbidge’s brand of civility is unadorned by frills or meaningless platitudes. If you’re a spade, he will certainly not call you a shovel. My point is this: Whether or not Geoffrey Burbidge’s social skills make you feel all warm and cuddly, you will ignore him at your peril. He is arguably the most accomplished theoretical astrophysicist alive today, and although I disagree with him on the fundamental issues of universal expansion and what energises the Sun, I use every opportunity that comes my way to learn from him. He is without doubt one of the giants of the modern era." -- Hilton Ratcliffe, astronomer, May 29th 2009

So I'm seriously thinking about moving to California to go back to school: UCSD's Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences to meet the Burbidges. I just hope they don't die on me before I get there.

Astronomy or physics -- That is the question: Interview with Dr. Halton Arp By Paul Wright, July 29, 1975

I never thought of myself as an astrophysicist. As a matter of fact, that’s an anecdote I can tell. When I arrived from Harvard I was convinced I was an astronomer. There was never anything else in my mind. And when I went into nuclear physics course with Willie Fowler, who was teaching at the time, we all handed in our blue slips in the beginning. When he went through the blue slips and he announced proudly to this group, he said, oh, we have an astrophysicist in the class and I started looking around to see an astrophysicist, pretty interesting. I tried to find this astrophysicist, but finally Willie pointed to me and said, “you!” And I said, “I’m not an astrophysicist, I’m an astronomer.” I never accepted that term about astrophysicist. I think, that one of the underlying currents right now in astronomy today is a deep seated struggle between the physicist, to be blunt about it, and the astronomer. Physicists believe that the universe is just another example of laboratory physics, just another arena for their laws to work in. And I think a few true astronomers, at least I believe, that there is in astronomy most important fundamental new processes which have yet to be discovered which are transcendent to physics in a sense. I don’t know if it’s going to be right, we’ll have to see. But a lot of physicists are shifting in to astronomy so I mean, I think, for other reasons, I think they sense it. But they bring different skills and different approaches to the astronomy. They approach it as a deductive exercise, as if they were trying to prove again and again the things they learn in the laboratory and learn in their courses and I think the reason that they are going to fail is that they don’t look on astronomy as an arena for discovering new things. They look at it as an arena for proving old things. That’s a fighting statement.

UPDATE (Hat tip: Fungus): Voyager Makes an Interstellar Discovery.

The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist.

I Learned Three New Words Today

I learned three new words today.

That's because I was accused of two separate heresies...haha.

Nestorianism AND Monophysitism (specifically Eutychianism).

For I say Mary should be called, "The Mother of Christ" (Nestorianism).

And I also say Jesus had a dual nature, namely mundane and extraterrestrial (Eutychianism).

I wouldn't have survived very long in Medieval times.