The one thing needful
December 21st, 2010I was amused to see that former bishop Richard Holloway has the same objection to Karen Armstrong’s book on compassion that I do.
The bishop:
… Read the restThe second plank in her platform is that compassion is, as it were, the distilled essence of the world’s great religions…
But is she correct in suggesting that, au fond, the essence of the main religions boils down to compassion? It is probably correct where Buddhism is concerned and it is from Buddhism that her best insights and examples come. I think she is on shakier ground when she applies it to Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam are redemption religions, not wisdom religions. They exist to secure life in the world to