Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal, by Keith Yandell
and Harold Netland [3] — in his review, Chandler H. Im calls this a
“long overdue” and “outstanding” resource which “illustrates, from
an evangelical position in particular, what interfaith interface
between Christians and Buddhists should look like for the purpose of
mutual understanding and enrichment, while pursuing a quest for
truth and reality.”

The authors understand that “Buddhism has always been a
missionary religion.” They “provide a panoramic survey of the
expansion and development of Buddhism throughout Asia and the West”
while providing “in detail similarities and differences among
diverse traditions….

“One main purpose of the text is ‘not to comprehensively argue
for the truth of Christian claims … but to clarify the
differences’ between Christianity and Buddhism.” The authors
“conclude that the two major (irreconcilable) differences between
Christianity and Buddhism are (1) the existence of God and (2) Jesus
as the historical incarnation of God. In short, Buddhism is a ‘self
power’ religion, whereas Christianity is a religion of ‘other
power.’ … [T]hey competently demonstrate that Christian-Buddhist
interface would be fruitless if focused only upon the religions’
similarities without examining their differences as well.”
Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 46:1 – 2010, pp113-114. [5]

COMPARATIVE RELIGION

Apologia Report Contributing Editor Paul Carden recently finished
updating the best concise religion comparison tool in print, the 7th
edition of Rose Publishing’s Christianity, Cults & Religions. In
this 14-panel fold-out side-by-side comparison chart of the
Christianity’s 20 principal rivals in the West, details for each
belief system considered include: founder, date, location, teachings
on God, Jesus, salvation, death, key writings, other beliefs, and
distinctive practices.

The news regarding the 7th edition centers on a fresh DVD-based
curriculum that is designed to complement this product. To learn
more, go to .

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