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by John P. Keenan (Author), Linda Klepinger Keenan (Editor)
This is volume 2 of a wide-ranging interfaith reading of the Letter to the Ephesians--a New Testament text whose words have inspired and enhanced Christian spiritual life and liturgy over the centuries. Unfortunately, at the same time, Ephesians has provided apparent scriptural support to those who would defend slavery, patriarchy, misogyny, and the physical power of Christ over the cosmos. How on earth are today's Christians to receive and understand such a text as this? Earthing the Cosmic Christ of Ephesians: The Universe, Trinity, and Zhiyi's Threefold Truth draws upon a broad array of scientific, theological, and philosophical thinkers who enable us both to marvel at today's ever-expanding knowledge of our vast cosmos and to appreciate the importance of the Ephesian letter in the canon of our Christian scriptures, even while we acknowledge the archaic geocentric cosmology that underlies its claims about the cosmic Christ and reject its accommodation to the patriarchal, misogynistic, and slaveholding norms of its first-century culture. Throughout this reading of Ephesians, we look to Chinese Buddhist master Zhiyi and his "threefold truth" to enhance our understanding of trinity and the nascent trinitarian themes within this letter. As a whole, this work constitutes a new appreciation for Ephesians as well as a twenty-first century apologetic for doctrinal humility and for theologizing within a global theological commons.
Author Biography
John P. Keenan is professor emeritus of religion at Middlebury College and a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. His previous works include The Emptied Christ of Philippians: Mahāyāna Meditations; The Meaning of Christ: A Mahāyāna Theology; The Gospel of Mark: A Mahāyāna Reading; A Study of the Buddhabhūmyupadésa: The Doctrinal Development of the Notion of Wisdom in Yogācāra Thought; and Grounding Our Faith in a Pluralist World--With a Little Help from Nāgārjuna.
