عنوان

Exclusion and Embrace:

LA110711

انگلیسی

Exclusion and Embrace:

[Article]

A Theology of Breaking Boundaries and Building Bridges Between Christianity and Buddhism in Myanmar

David Thang Moe

Leiden

Brill

Theravada Buddhism is a national religion of the Burman majorities, whereas Christianity is an alienated religion of the ethnic minorities in Myanmar. Failing to embrace one another, ethnic Christians and Burman Buddhists built boundaries of mutual exclusion and hostility. This paper will argue that wrongs are on both sides - for instance, Buddhism becomes an 'analogy' of Judaism in terms of its nationalistic imperialism, whereas Christianity as an analogy of Hellenism in terms of its religious supersessionism. I will employ the idea of embrace as a theological response to the problem of exclusion. In particular, I will explore the boundary breaking of Jesus and the bridge building of Paul in a Greco-Roman context as the contextual models for Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism is a national religion of the Burman majorities, whereas Christianity is an alienated religion of the ethnic minorities in Myanmar. Failing to embrace one another, ethnic Christians and Burman Buddhists built boundaries of mutual exclusion and hostility. This paper will argue that wrongs are on both sides - for instance, Buddhism becomes an 'analogy' of Judaism in terms of its nationalistic imperialism, whereas Christianity as an analogy of Hellenism in terms of its religious supersessionism. I will employ the idea of embrace as a theological response to the problem of exclusion. In particular, I will explore the boundary breaking of Jesus and the bridge building of Paul in a Greco-Roman context as the contextual models for Myanmar.

2017

103-128

Exchange

46/2

1572-543X

breaking boundaries

Buddhists

building bridges

Christians

embrace

exclusion

David Thang Moe

10.1163/1572543X-12341434

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y