Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Das himmlische Geflecht

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

( This book is a significantly expanded German version (about three times the size) of the Chinese-English book "To See a World in a Flower". )

Ein aufregender Religionsvergleich - neuartig, spannend und erhellend Der Buddhist meidet die Welt, der Christ wendet sich ihr zu. Christen glauben an einen Gott, Buddhisten kennen nur ein unpersönliches Absolutum. Der Buddhismus ist eine Lehre zur Selbsterlösung, das Christentum dagegen weiß um die Notwendigkeit der göttlichen Gnade. - Perry Schmidt-Leukel wendet sich gegen solche Klischees. In seinem Vergleich behandelt er beide Religionen nicht so, als seien sie homogene Einheiten. Mit seinem neuartigen Ansatz zeigt er vielmehr, dass jede der beiden Religionen das, was sie an der anderen ablehnt, auch in sich selbst trägt. Buddhismus und Christentum unterscheiden sich, doch zugleich ähneln sie einander gerade in ihrer internen Vielfalt. Das aber heißt: In der anderen Religion begegnet mir immer auch das Andere der eigenen Religion. Die Unterschiede fordern heraus und können sich doch sinnvoll ergänzen.

To See a World in a Flower /  一花一世界:分形理论视角下的佛耶对话
A Fractal Interpretation of the Relation between Buddhism and Christianity

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Beijing: Zong jiao wen hua chu ban she (Religious Culture Publishing House) 2020

Religious Studies scholar and theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s theory that religious diversity displays fractal patterns is at the center of his recent book “To See a World in a Flower”. The book exemplifies the theory by an analysis of the typological differences between Buddhism and Christianity. It is based on five lectures which Schmidt-Leukel held in Beijing in 2017 on the invitation of the Minzu University. The book, published in Beijing, contains the lectures in English and in Chinese translation.

Buddha Mind – Christ Mind. A Christian Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra

Perry Schmidt-Leukel.

Leuven: Peeters 2019  (Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts, vol. 9).

After many commentaries by Buddhist scholars throughout the centuries, this is the first commentary from a Christian perspective, exploring the deep resonances between the “spirit of awakening” and the “spirit of Christ”.

Buddhist and Christian Attitudes to Religious Diversity

Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Hans-Peter Großhans, Samuel Ngun Ling (eds.)
Yangon: Ling’s Family Publications 2017, 350 pages, ISBN 978-99971-0-269-0

The attitudes of Christians and Theravāda Buddhists toward religious diversity are at the center of a new publication jointly edited by Prof. Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Großhans, Professor of Systematic Theology, from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, together with Dr. Samuel Ngun Ling, Principal of the “Myanmar Institute of Theology” in Yangon, Myanmar. “Buddhist and Christian Attitudes to Religious Diversity” has been published in February 2017 with Ling’s Family Publications in Yangon, Myanmar. “The contributions to this book inquire about the possibility to overcome such perceptions of other religions, and of religious diversity as such, which imply contempt and disdain toward other faiths,” says Professor Schmidt-Leukel. “In South Asia, this issue is currently not only getting momentum, it is becoming explosive.”

God Beyond Boundaries: A Christian and Pluralist Theology of Religions

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

“God Beyond Boundaries”, written by the Religious Studies Scholar and Theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, deals with the essential features and benefits of a pluralist approach in the theology of religions.

It is the English translation of his book “Gott ohne Grenzen” (first published in 2005)

Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology - The Gifford Lectures

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Interreligious dialogue has encouraged many theologians in all major religious traditions to consider whether other religions may offer a different but nevertheless genuine and valid path of salvation or liberation. Perry Schmidt- Leukel, in this extended version of his 2015 Gifford Lectures, argues that this position—often called "religious pluralism"—must be developed within particular insights supplied by each of the major traditions.

The German edition appears under the title "Wahrheit in Vielfalt"

Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought

Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Joachim Gentz (eds.)

This collection of essays by major scholars analyze the religious diversity in Chinese religion, bringing together topics from traditional and contemporary contexts and Chinese religions' encounters with Western religion.

Buddhism and Religious Diversity

Perry Schmidt-Leukel ed.

Perry Schmidt-Leukel ed.

Buddhism is—and has been—as much convinced of its own superiority as any other faith, and has also been involved in various inter-religious tensions and violent conflicts. The ways, however, in which Buddhists have thought about the religious ‘other’, and practically dealt with it, display peculiar features, which do indeed differ profoundly from what we find in the Abrahamic faiths. Yet today, Buddhism must address the question whether it can arrive at a genuine appreciation of religious diversity, and recognize other religions as different but nevertheless equally valid.

Transformation by Integration

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

A growing number of people experience their own spiritual lives as being inspired by more than one religious tradition. Multi-religious identity formation and double-belonging are obvious signs of a process of significant transformation as a result inter-faith encounter - a transformation that had been expected and positively willed by various inter-faith theologians.

Understanding Buddhism

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Today Buddhism is often presented as a religion without dogmas and commandments, without God and without any need to believe, tolerating all and everything – as no “religion” at all, but as a way of life most suitable to the needs of post-modern Westerners. But is this an accurate image?

The German edition appears under the title "Buddhismus verstehen"

Buddhism and Christianity in Dialogue - The Gerald Weisfeld Lectures 2004

Perry Schmidt-Leukel (ed.)

Buddhism and Christianity in Dialogue continues the Weisfeld-Lectures, which were established with the first series on War and Peace in World religions, published in 2004 by SCM Press.

Wer ist Buddha?
Eine Gestalt und ihre Bedeutung für die Menschheit

Perry Schmidt-Leukel (ed.)

The book presents an overview on how the Buddha is seen within different branches of Buddhism and from non-Buddhist perspectives. With contributions by Margarete von Borsig, Michael von Brück, Wilhelm Halbfass, Johannes Laube, Konrad Meisig, Haruko Okano, Gregor Paul, Perry Schmidt-Leukel, David Scott, Helmut Tauscher, Claudia Weber, and Monika Zin.

Die Idee der Reinkarnation in Ost und West

Perry Schmidt-Leukel (ed.)

The book discusses different types of reincarnation beliefs from the perspective of Religious Studies, Theology, Psychology and Philosophy. With contribution by Eberhard Bauer, Norbert Bischofberger, Christoph Bochinger, Peter Graf, Hans-Peter Müller, Perry Schmidt-Leukel, Hans Wolfgang Schumann, and Wolfgang Seelig.

Den Löwen brüllen hören

Perry Schmidt Leukel 'Den Löwen brüllen hören' : zur Hermeneutik eines christlichen Verständnisses der buddhistischen Heilsbotschaft

Paderborn ; München u.a. 1992Schöningh