Book Review: Life Transformed
Life Transformed
Meditations on the Christian Scriptures in Light of Buddhist Perspectives
ACTA Publications
1989
Here is a book for a variety of people: those who like to use Scripture as a springboard into real conversation with Jesus and His Father; those who are sensitive to the insights into truth found in other faiths; those who teach or preach and need a fresh approach to familiar texts. Fr. Lefebure’s reflections will make connections that will open new vistas in the spiritual life.
Written primarily for Christians to awaken new perspectives into their own Scriptures, the author justifiably hopes that Buddhists will find new insights into their own Scriptures and teaching stories as well from the parallel passages cited. Lefebure does not attempt a new synthesis of the two faiths but restricts his comments to a learning-level stance for both religions—in the spirit of true dialogue.
As a member of the Society for Buddhist–Christian Studies, Lefebure is well aware of the difficulties within each tradition and so he further restricts his considerations to Catholic Christianity and to Zen and Shin Buddhist traditions. Though assistant professor of systematic theology at Mundelein Seminary of the University of St. Mary of the Lake, the author’s concern is more on the meditative side than the scholarly or historical-critical analysis. These short chapters are designed for prayer, not analysis.
In each chapter, Christian and Buddhist visions of life are contrasted and/or compared, while the general plan of the book will lead the reader through each religion’s comparable processes of transformation of the ordinary self that leads to a new “true life”—however each chooses to describe it. Divided into three parts, the meditations progress from a cosmic vision, through the search for the Self, to the final Death/Resurrection or the Great Death. That is, from the wisdom tradition of each religion, through the Oxherding and Good Shepherd stories, to the loss of self and rediscovery on a deeper level, to the fuller and more authentic life.
The riches to be gleaned from these meditative comparisons would “fill a book.” And Lefebure has done just that in a clear, simple style that manages to say a lot in a few words. The typography is excellent for the purpose.
Written primarily for Christians to awaken new perspectives into their own Scriptures, the author justifiably hopes that Buddhists will find new insights into their own Scriptures and teaching stories as well from the parallel passages cited. Lefebure does not attempt a new synthesis of the two faiths but restricts his comments to a learning-level stance for both religions—in the spirit of true dialogue.
As a member of the Society for Buddhist–Christian Studies, Lefebure is well aware of the difficulties within each tradition and so he further restricts his considerations to Catholic Christianity and to Zen and Shin Buddhist traditions. Though assistant professor of systematic theology at Mundelein Seminary of the University of St. Mary of the Lake, the author’s concern is more on the meditative side than the scholarly or historical-critical analysis. These short chapters are designed for prayer, not analysis.
In each chapter, Christian and Buddhist visions of life are contrasted and/or compared, while the general plan of the book will lead the reader through each religion’s comparable processes of transformation of the ordinary self that leads to a new “true life”—however each chooses to describe it. Divided into three parts, the meditations progress from a cosmic vision, through the search for the Self, to the final Death/Resurrection or the Great Death. That is, from the wisdom tradition of each religion, through the Oxherding and Good Shepherd stories, to the loss of self and rediscovery on a deeper level, to the fuller and more authentic life.
The riches to be gleaned from these meditative comparisons would “fill a book.” And Lefebure has done just that in a clear, simple style that manages to say a lot in a few words. The typography is excellent for the purpose.
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Statue of Manjusri at Hsi Lai Temple, Hacienda Heights, California
Fr. Leo Lefebure is the Matteo Ricci, SJ, Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and also of the new Center for Religious Understanding, Acceptance, and Tolerance. He serves as an advisor to the Board of Directors of MID and participated in the first two Gethsemani Encounters.