God in Nature, God in Christ, God in Religions: Bede Griffiths’s Mysticism, and Its Ambiguities

Abstract

Bede Griffiths is considered one of the pioneers of interfaith theology. He sought to establish a profound connection between different religious traditions at a time when even Christian ecumenism was still in its infancy. His spirituality, nourished by monastic sources, and his mystical teachings devoted an unusually high degree of attention to the problem of nature. According to his own interpretation, he first found God in nature, then in Christ and the Church, and finally in the comprehensive horizon of religions. This article attempts to demonstrate that his theology of religions, which reflects an explicitly mystical approach, is not simply pluralistic in orientation, but remains committed to Christianity, yet presupposes an almost forced harmony between different religious traditions. An analysis of Griffiths’s most important texts reveals a series of ambiguities and inconsistencies in his thinking that are rarely examined in the relevant literature. By analyzing Griffiths’s mysticism, his conception of nature, and his theology of religions, the article argues that his thinking is still so nuanced and complex that it has potential for the future.