Professional Documents
Culture Documents
http://itq.sagepub.com Book Reviews: The Bhagavad-gita and St. John of the Cross. By Rudolf V. D'Souza OCD. Anand, Gujarat, India: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1996. Pp. v+460. Price $15.00
Noel Carroll Irish Theological Quarterly 1999; 64; 433 DOI: 10.1177/002114009906400432 The online version of this article can be found at: http://itq.sagepub.com
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433
The Bhagavad-gita and St. John of the Cross. By Rudolf V. DSouza OCD. Anand, Gujarat, India: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1996. Pp. v+460.
Price
cal
to
$15.00.
One of the pressing challenges facing the Church today is to clarify her nature and mission vis-d-vis the major religions. There are several reasons for this. The world is shrinking rapidly so
that
are
meeting
across
national boundaries; beliefs too are meeting and intermingling with the possibility of syncretism resulting. Also, the Church in recent decades has urged Christians to approach the
together in an effort discover their similarities and differences. The authors approach is both sympathetic and rigorous, displaying a profound knowledge of both traditions. It could serve as a model for any such comparative study. There are similarities between the two, but there are also fundamental differences. Probably one of the greatest thinkers that India has produced is Shankara. He wrote a commentary on the Gi ta in which he displays the philosophy of Advaita or non-dualism. God, the world, and the person are not distinct and separate entities. If they seem so, that is due to ignorance. Hence for Shankara the spiritual search consists in an effort to overcome this sense of separation and to dissolve oneself in the Self which is the only reality. A Christian could never accept this philosophy and remain true to the teaching of Christ. For the Christian the key word is relation - not dissolution. NOEL CARROLL, S.V.D. Guaranda, Ecuador
movements
Radical Prayer: Creating a Welcome for God, Ourselves, Other People and the World. By David J. Hassel, S.J. Anand, Gujarat, India: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, n.d. Pp. 181. N.p. ASIN 0 809 103400.
All
act
Christian
explanations of
comes
moves
of praying. Definitions of prayer from the great teachers of the Christian tradition include raising the mind to God (John Damascene), conversation and discussion with God (Gregory of Nyssa), affectionate directing of the mind to God
people
to
the
between friends (Theresa of Avila), and loving attentiveness to God (John of the Cross). David Hassel in this book describes prayer as benevolence, as creating a welcome for God, ourselves, other people and the world.
SEÁN HANNAFIN
(Augustine),
intimate
sharing
Tralee