When I picked this book up, I was expecting a comparative study of Taoism and Christianity. I expected long (but interesting) chapters that fleshed out whatever similarities and differences exist between the two. Instead, what I found was poetry, wisdom, and the beautiful marriage of two traditions, each of which interpret and express the other.

What is perhaps most lamented about Christianity in the West today is its rigid nature. Even I lament this. We are told to encounter Jesus Christ, but not everyone gets a sense that the Church helps them to do so. Someone might read about Jesus in the Gospels, and think he seems like a pretty remarkable guy, but when they go to Church, do they have a sense that he’s present? Perhaps the reason for a lack of belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is less to do with poor catechesis, and more to do with his body—i.e., the Church—being unrecognisable. We live roughly two thousand years into Church history, and in that time there has been an abundance of confounding theological development. This incredibly simple “good news” of the Early Church—the thing that kicked off the Christian movement to begin with—can seem to be buried beneath the innovations of later theologians, churchmen, or (worst of all) curial officials. We hear tell of “divine simplicity” from those who don’t seem to have a clue what “simplicity” entails! If one seeks to encounter Christ, it might feel as if they are expected to look through a brick wall to see him. Not so in this book.

Hieromonk Damascene recognised this problem in much of what Christian spirituality has become. He noted that disaffiliated Christian would often look to Eastern religions to attend to their spiritual needs, and in speaking of the experience of one individual to have done so, he remarked on how it was Fr Seraphim’s study of Taoism that led him back to the Orthodox faith that he was at one point jaded by. So it was that Fr Damascene came to write this book, the first part of which is a poetic “New Testament” of the Daodejing. The second part is more explicative, and functions as a sort of apologetic for Damascene’s marrying of the two traditions. The final part is a sort of spiritual manual, and contains a wonderful synthesis of Daoist philosophy and the “spiritual mechanics,” if it is at all proper to call it that, of the Jesus Prayer. Frankly, there is too much written here to meaningfully talk about in one post, so I will simply answer the question: why does this book matter?

First and foremost, I loved reading this book because it introduced us to a beautifully simple and fresh Christianity to who might sometimes feel jaded by the way it is often practiced in our own churches, and while the book is written by an Orthodox priest, I would argue that anyone of any denomination (or even anyone fascinated or inspired by Jesus Christ) could find value in this work.

Secondly, it is marvellous how Damascene (and Fr Seraphim before him) saw Christ in the ancient and foreign philosophy of Lao Tzu. The Church is said to be “catholic” and it cannot be worth the name if it does not draw from or relate to the universal wealth of human philosophy and spirituality that exists and has existed throughout our history. That Christ the Eternal Tao does so speaks to its immense theological value since this kind of blending of traditions is what’s needed if the Christian faith is to be understood by people from cultures other than our own. Christianity is often understood as the “white man’s religion,” and although this could not be further from the truth (Jesus wasn’t a white man, after all), it speaks to a failure on our part, as a Church, to separate our faith from our culture so that it might be inculturated elsewhere. In this respect, the book follows in the footsteps of men like Matteo Ricci SJ who, having been a missionary in China, strove to understand Confucian philosophy and relate it to the Christian faith.

In short, this book is well worth the read for those interested in issues of inculturation, inter-religious dialogue, and those left wanting by common practices in Christianity today. No doubt this has quickly become one of the most treasured books I keep in my own library.