Who Can Stop The Wind?

Notto R. Thelle is a senior professor of theology at the University of Oslo, Norway. He formerly spent sixteen years in Japan, where he was involved in research, dialogue, and pastoral work. Thelle has published several Norwegian textbooks on and translations of Buddhist and Eastern traditions. But his deepest commitment is the existential search for meaning, which has primarily been expressed in preaching and teaching, various types of dialogues, and particularly in writing.

In today’s global village, where religions can no longer live in ‘innocent’ and ‘safe’ ignorance of one another, thoughtful Christians are trying to understand other faiths as never before in our history. Most of us, alas, have too little opportunity for profound exposure to these others. But some there are who can help us—because they have left the familiar homeland of the once-Christian West and lived in the ‘borderland’ between Christianity and another sincere faith. Among the latter, Notto Thelle seems to me an extraordinarily insightful guide and pioneer. His very readable book is not a theoretical study of the relation between Buddhism and Christianity, but a lived experience and dialogue. It should be required reading for students of theology—and indeed for all serious Christians.Douglas John Hall, CM, ThD Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology McGill University, Montreal, Canada

• ContentsFaith in the Border Zone   viiSetting Out on the Journey   2Who Can Stop the Wind?   4Faith’s Companion   6Faith as Fate and as Choice   7The Death and Resurrection of Our Words   10Adversaries—and Allies   18En Route   20Where Do You Stay?   23The Human Person in the Cosmos   24Buddha’s Path—Between Otherworldliness and Presence   31Zen Meditation and the Sacrament of Simple Things   36“. . .An Open Space in Each Person’s Life”   44The Priest’s “Gift to His Bride”   47The Wide Perspective   49“The Flower Opens in the Sheer Drop”   52“Melt, My Heart! Weep, My Eye!”   56Hallesby and Zen   61Diamond and Lotus   63“. . . Until the Morning Star Rises in Your Hearts”   65It Is Dark at the Foot of the Candlestick   67 Reactions to a Message   70What a Friend We Have in Jesus . . .   72Mission and Roots   80Disciples and Hangers-on   83The Spark   84Fidelity   86“I Want to Be a Japanese”   88A Larger Pattern   90The Outward Path and the Homeward Path— Toward a Greater Faith   92A Modern Pilgrim   94When the Borders Become Too Narrow   96Theological Addresses   98Toward a Larger Faith   100