Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras »

Diana L. Eck is a professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University.

Diana Eck’s work has become increasingly important in our ever-changing communities, as people of different faiths must negotiate how to live together peacefully. In Encountering God, Eck shows why dialogue with people of other faiths is crucial in today’s interdependent world—globally, nationally, and even locally. She reveals how her own encounters with other religions have shaped and enlarged her Christian faith toward a bold new Christian pluralism.

“In a splendid exposition of non-Christian approaches to God, Eck encourages an increased religious literacy that she suggests will contribute richness and diversity to our national identity.” —Publishers Weekly

Diana L. Eck is professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University, and author of A New Religious America. She was involved in the interfaith dialogue program of the World Council of Churches for fifteen years.

Publishers Weekly

Eck, a leader in interfaith dialogue movements and professor of comparative religion at Harvard, here scans the current religious landscape, reshaped by recent immigrants to the U.S., and examines ``the challenge that religious diversity poses to people of faith in every religious tradition.'' Her personal Christian grounding in Methodism, begun in Bozeman, Mont., has been enhanced by Eastern spirituality, particularly her encounters with Hinduism during her studies and travels in India. ``Today these two places, Bozeman and Banaras, both convey the spiritual meaning of home to me.'' In examining the differences among religious cultures, Eck continually places the Christian believer in relationship with those who follow Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Native American religious practices. In a splendid exposition of non-Christian approaches to God, Eck encourages an increased religious literacy that she suggests will contribute richness and diversity to our national identity. (Aug.)