Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras

Annotation

Diana Eck's work has become increasingly important in our ever-changing communities, as people of different faiths must negotiate how to live together peacefully. In Encountering God, Eck shows why dialogue with people of other faiths is crucial in today's interdependent world—globally, nationally, and even locally. She reveals how her own encounters with other religions have shaped and enlarged her Christian faith toward a bold new Christian pluralism. "In a splendid exposition of non-Christian approaches to God, Eck encourages an increased religious literacy that she suggests will contribute richness and diversity to our national identity." —Publishers Weekly Diana L. Eck is professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University, and author of A New Religious America. She was involved in the interfaith dialogue program of the World Council of Churches for fifteen years.

Author Biography

Diana L. Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of The Pluralism Project. As a Christian, she has also been involved in the United Methodist Church, the World Council of Churches, and the life of Harvard Divinity School. Her book Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of The Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious diversity.

Review

'In a splendid exposition of non-Christian approaches to God, Eck encourages an increased religious literacy that she suggests will contribute richness and diversity to our national identity.' -Publishers Weekly "There cannot be a wiser or more authoritative guide to this challenging world of diverse spirituality than Diana Eck."--Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God

"Eck has put the structure and content of her beliefs on the line while opening herself to encounter deep places of living, vibrant faith in other religious traditions. Her Christian faith commitment is apparent, as is her dedication to dialogue, and she has managed deftly to balance the two, presenting a nuanced discussion of the richness that can be gained from such authentic encounters both here and abroad." -Parabola

"Although Encountering God is the work of a scholar and is throughout informed by scholarship, its intended audience is anyone who has ever entertained spiritual and religious questions." -Boston Phoenix

"With this account of her life journey, Eck will be incorporated in the list of twentieth-century interpreters who have facilitated the conversations of men and women dedicated to the interior life." -Booklist

"This book is not simply a personal diary. It is also both an urgent call for interreligious dialogue and a theological argument for that pluralism underlying such dialogue." -Religious Studies Review

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