Protestantism

» dancooper - Dan Cooper

"They found much in the other religions of the East to support their idea that the seeds of mans desire and quest for God needed only to be recognized and given a little water."

Watts was raised a Roman Catholic and left the family tradition to explore other possibilities. Zen was a sort of natural home for him, and he wrote several books on it in an attempt to explain it to the western mind. He ultimately returned to Christianity and adapted some of eastern mysticism with Christian doctrine to result in a strangely nice mix. His discussions of the various strengths and weaknesses, as well as the future directions for a developing Christianity (in the book I am reading) are engrossing.

I was raised a Methodist, and found very little reason to examine the Roman Catholicism that the Protestant Reformation left behind. I saw it, as do most Protestants I suppose, as "left in the dust," with about as much applicability to life and to the reality of today, as any other kind of flat-earth thinking. Watts for the very first time has given me an appreciation for the RC position-something I did not think was possible. But more importantly, he has given me reason to examine Christianity as a whole as relevant and meaningful, and favorably compared (and contrasted) to eastern thought. Again, that's something I had begun to believe was impossible. Talk about an interesting read!

-- posted by dancooper