The Way of All the Earth: Experiments in Truth and Religion

by John S. Dunne

Overview

Reflections on the common experiences of man as they are revealed in the writings of the Hindu-Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian traditions. In this inter-religious dialogue John Dunne shifts his standpoint to reach a sympathetic understanding of the essential message of the Eastern religions and then returns with new insight into Christianity. Through an examination of figures in various religions, including Gotama, Mohammed, and Gandhi, Dunne explores the possibilities of companionship with God.

"The holy man of our time, it seems, is not a figure like Gotama or Jesus or Mohammed, a man who could found a world religion, but a figure like Gandhi, a man who passes over by sympathetic understanding from his own religion to other religions and comes back again with new insight to his own. Passing over and coming back, it seems, is the spiritual adventure of our time. It is the adventure I want to undertake and describe in this book."—from the Preface

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268019273
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	09/30/1978
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.67(w) x 8.31(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

John S. Dunne (1929–2013) was the John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of twenty books, including Circle Dance of Time (2010), Deep Rhythm and the Riddle of Eternal Life (2008), and A Vision Quest (2006), all published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Editorial Reviews

. . . a theological achievement of the first order.” —Library Journal

“[This book is] Dunne’s sensitive exploration of ‘passing over,’ the process whereby an individual crosses sympathetically from his own religion to another and returns with increased understanding of his personal faith. Dunne’s own literary odyssey leads him to conclude that all religions are based on common experiences. The need for ‘passing over’ is even more vital now than when Dunne wrote the book in 1972.” —The Christian Century

“There is not another thinker—religious or secular—like Dunne. He brings to a too literal age the seer’s gift for uncovering the connections between our existing approaches to knowledge.” —Martin Marty

From the Publisher

[This book is] Dunne’s sensitive exploration of ‘passing over,’ the process whereby an individual crosses sympathetically from his own religion to another and returns with increased understanding of his personal faith. Dunne’s own literary odyssey leads him to conclude that all religions are based on common experiences. The need for ‘passing over’ is even more vital now than when Dunne wrote the book in 1972.

The Christian Century