Openness vs. Syncretism

There is a continuing debate in the Episcopal Church (and other denominations) about the value of praxis from other faiths being integrated into our own Christian faith. Two outstanding cases lately have been the election of The Rev. Kevin Forrester (Who practices Zen meditation) as the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan and the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding in Seattle who professes herself as a Muslim as well as an Episcopal Priest.

The issue here is one of drawing lines - when does integration of praxis into the Christian faith so transform it that it is no longer recognizable as such? How much openness to cross-pollination from another religion can we have before ending up as syncretists - simply a mix of two faiths that may possibly honor neither? In both of these cases, the additional issue is that both of these persons are ordained. While many of the same questions might apply to a lay Episcopalian, there is an added issue in that both of these people are specifically called by their ordination vows to upholding the Christian faith as received from the saints and transmitting it to the next generation. We certainly cannot say that practices from other religions cannot be allowed, as much of our existing tradition, especially around Christmas and Easter, come from pre-Christian sources. Instead of some sort of blanket statement, we need to evaluate each case on its own merit.

Let’s start with the case of Rev. Forrester. Putting aside the questions about the method of election in Northern Michigan, which is off-topic for the sake of this writing, what kind of tradition and praxis from Buddhism is Rev. Forrester bringing into his Christianity? The branch of Buddhist practice that he is engaging in is Zen, which is one of the major branches of Buddhism and is especially strong in Japan. While many branches of Buddhism are theistic, Zen Buddhism emphasizes experiential wisdom, gained through the practice of meditation, called zazen, which brings enlightenment. Zen eschews Buddhist religious practice in favor of direct insight. Therefore, people who engage in Zen meditation are not enjoined to take part in any religious practice or adopt any particular view of divinity. Zen is agnostic in its purest sense.

Does that mean it has no effect on Rev. Forrester’s Christianity? Of course not! We are embodied beings in human cultures and every aspect of our individual and corporate lives effect the lens we see the Gospel through. A Christian who listens to Rush Limbaugh often has a very different take on the Gospel than a Christian who watches Jon Stewart. Roman Christians who undergird their theology with a Neo-Platonic philosophical framework believe in a doctrine of transubstantiation, while Anglican Christians who work within a more utilitarian framework believe in real presence. A Christian who practices zazen is going to have a different idea about the Gospel than one who bases their praxis on The Purpose Driven Life. The question is, can you practice zazen and still remain within the fold of Christianity?

Zen Buddhism in its pure form certainly has a different emphasis on reality than orthodox Christianity. In Zen, the point is to get away from external sources and search for the “Buddha within,” which can bring about freedom from the karmic cycle. Christian contemplative meditation, on the other hand, generally emphasizes the external - getting the self out of the way so that we can contemplate the Trinity. However, many leaders in Christian contemplative practice including Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating have noted the similarities between the praxis of oriental and Christian contemplation, even if the goals are different. Many aspects of Zen mediation techniques have been adopted by Keating and his followers in the Centering Prayer movement to augment and help formalize the revival of ancient Christian meditative praxis.

Therefore, the issue should not be whether Rev. Forrester is using Zen techniques, but whether the practice is directed in a way that is compatible with Christian belief. In the document, “My Christian Faith & the Practice of Zen Buddhist Meditation” from the Diocese of Northern Michigan’s website, Rev. Forrester states, “My experience continues to be that through the grace of meditation I am drawn ever deeper into the Trinitarian contemplative Christian tradition.” If this is indeed the case, he stands with Merton and Keating in the long tradition of taking what is good from other cultures and traditions and bringing them to Christ. The fact that he received “Lay ordination” in Zen does not seem to signify much, although one could certainly say that, in hindsight, it might not have been an astute move.

This situation is one that is gray, as Rev. Forrester is working near the edges of Christian meditative practice. In such cases, I would generally defer to the people and clergy of the diocese he is to serve as to whether he can effectively serve as a chief pastor and teacher.

I find the case of Rev. Redding to be less ambivalent. Rev. Redding has been an Episcopal Priest for 25 years. In 2006, she became a practicing Muslim and claims that it is possible to be both. The difference in the case between Rev. Redding and Rev. Forrester is that while Rev. Forrester has adopted praxis from another religion while working it into trinitarian theology, Rev. Redding is claiming the full theology of both religions. In order to become a practicing Muslim, she had to recite the shahadah, “I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” The problem here is that orthodox Christianity explicitly teaches that Jesus is God as a person of the Holy Trinity, a claim which Muslims explicitly reject.

Once again, this is complicated by her priesthood. While it might be possible for a layperson in the Episcopal Church to hold those tensions together, a priest has to affirm the divinity of Christ in every eucharist - a non-sequitur for a practicing Muslim. A priest stands in persona Christi at the eucharist, something that is impossible if you can’t affirm his divinity. Rev. Redding is under the authority of the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, who has given her until the end of this month to recant or be defrocked. In this case, I have to agree. Had she simply adopted prayer methods from Islam or the concept of surrender to God, the result might be different. I can see no way in which a Christian Priest can be a confessing Muslim - it lends integrity to neither religion.

We have to be careful when looking at this line between openness and syncretism. It is possible to be too close-minded and to mistake the cultural trappings of Christianity for Christianity itself. When we do this, we risk losing insights from the Holy Spirit that indeed can come from sources outside the church. It is also possible to be so enamored of the concept of “pluralism” that we lose what is best in a religion in a rush to create a politically-correct theological porridge that is neither beautiful, nor palatable, nor sustaining. Only through careful examinations of the fault-lines between Christianity and other religions can we find those insights which can add beauty and depth to our tradition.

David+

anglican, buddhism, christianity, clergy, episcopal, islam, religion, theology

Comments

[FrSimmons]

Since I posted this article, other issues have been raised about The Rev. Forrester that have to do with the process of his election, his Christology, and his Liturgical innovations. This article was narrowly focused on his incorporation of meditative praxis into Christianity.

I have some deep concerns about these other issues, most notably his liturgical revisions, but that would be the topic of a completely different post.