Bede Griffiths

Record of a spiritual journey which led the author through the Church of England into Roman Catholic Church, by an English Benedictine abbot.

One of today's foremost mystics introduces readers to the thought of one of the most important spiritual teachers of the past century. Bede Griffiths—English Benedictine monk and lifelong friend of C.S. Lewis, who was his tutor at Oxford—wrote in 1955 to a friend: "I'm going out to India to seek the other half of my soul." There, he explored the intersection of Hinduism and Christianity and was a driving force behind the growth of interspiritual awareness so common today, yet almost unheard of a half-century ago. Wayne Teasdale, a longtime personal friend and student of Griffiths, provides readers with an intriguing view into the thoughts, beliefs, and life of this champion of interreligious acceptance and harmony. This volume is the first in-depth study of Bede Griffiths' contemplative experience and thought. Fully exploring the antecedents and development of Griffiths' theory that the Christian mystery can be expressed through the worldview of Hinduism, Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought is a vital starting point for any spiritual seeker who wants to understand the shared territories of these two great faiths.

Bede Griffiths, who died in 1994, was an English Benedictine monk who settled in India in 1955 and went on to become one of the great mystical teachers of our time. In India, where he assumed the dress and ascetic discipline of a Hindu holy man, Griffiths established a Christian community following the customs of a Hindu ashram. Through his immersion in the scriptures of India, he found wisdom and inspiration for his own Christian faith. This volume, which draws on his autobiographical volumes and his many other books, presents the ideal entry to the cosmic and mystical spirituality of a great spiritual guide.

Every age has its visionaries. Bede Griffiths, the gentle Benedictine monk who traveled to India to seek the other half of his soul was one such spiritual giant. Like Mother Teresa and Thich Nhat Hanh, Father Bede's spirituality transcends sectarian labels. His Shantivanam ("Forest of Peace") monastery in India is Christian in faith but Hindu in lifestyle. The essays and stories in the moving tribute to Father Bede by such luminaries as Thomas Berry dissolve the boundaries between Christian belief and Eastern practice. Foreword by the Dalai Lama.

Bede Griffiths was a Benedictine monk who achieved worldwide recognition for his pioneering efforts to bridge the great traditions of Christian and Hindu faith. He advocates a global spiritual friendship, rather than a global religion, cultivating respct for each other's spiritual practices.

Explores the work of spiritual leader and writer Bede Griffiths, who envisioned a union of Eastern and Western spirituality.

This book reveals how the images Bede Griffiths OSB Cam used for God are richly embedded with concepts ancient and new, making them especially relevant for our current times. It prompts insight into the great deposit of wisdom and scholarship that was his source, and will benefit those interested in religious imagery, gender equality, monastic life, interfaith dialogue, evolution of consciousness, practical theology and spirituality, and integral thought. Led by Christ, “the Golden String,” Griffiths made the sea-change from Great Britain to India, promoting “the marriage of East and West,” the essential value of the feminine, contemplative prayer, interreligious dialogue, and integral life. His initiation to Christian sannyasa and faith in the evolutionary process reflect his openness to change and to grow, and highlight this great sage’s masterful use of images grounded in his motto, to “always go beyond.”

The author invites us to look afresh at Christianity in the context of modern physics on the one hand and Eastern mysticism on the other. Scientists now acknowledge that quantitative enquiry can reveal only one aspect of reality and to come to terms with a much deeper transcendent reality we must also be prepared to learn from Eastern traditions. The Western machanistic model of the universe, dating from the time of Galileo and Newton, must now be replaced with a new organic model -- this marks a return to the ancient traditional wisdom in which the universe was seen to consist not only of a physical dimension but also of psychological and spiritual dimensions, all of which are interrelated and interdependent. In exploring "the divine mystery behind human life" the author seeks to discover the basic unity which underlies all religion and discusses the concept of the Cosmic Person or Cosmic Lord as revealed in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. He concludes that a radical vision of a new society and a universal religion in which "the essential values of Christianity will be preserved in living relationship with the other religious traditions of the world."