Eckhart Tolle
I’ve had lots of inquiries over the past several months from people looking for speakers to help "protect" their congregations from the dangerous teachings of Eckhart Tolle. Since I haven’t had the time to read his books, and don’t know anyone who is teaching on him, I’ve not been very helpful. (And frankly, I don’t think very highly of "inoculation" approaches anyway.) But here’s an interesting exploration of his work by preeminent theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr. One of Rohr’s points is that:
Although Tolle is not a Christian teacher, we must not assume that makes him an anti-Christian teacher. Today we need whatever methods or help we can receive to allow the Christian message to take us to a deeper level of transformation. Our history, and our guidance of Western history, shows this has clearly not been happening on any broad scale. This is an opportunity for us to understand our own message at deeper levels. It would be a shame if we required him to speak our language and vocabulary before we could critically hear what he is saying-that is true and helpful to our own message.
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1 Comment
tonylorenzen commented on 12 September 2008:The thing that bother me about Tolle is that he's taken thousands of years of Buddhist tradition and watered it down into a best seller. Nothing wrong with bringing mindfulness to the masses, but it seems to me as if he sets himself up to be Thich Nhat Hahn or the Dali Lama. And to whose benefit really? Is he in it for anyone else besides Eckhart Tolle? (and his bank account)? Jon Kabat Zinn did much of the same thing a few years back, but his approach struck me in a different way. Zinn was making money too, but he seemed more interested in making sure mindfulness could really help people with chronic and terminal medical issues and stress. Tolle seems to (at least to me) get into his role as guru, yet he's just really teaching Buddhist basics. Who gave him Dhama transmission? Is he really a qualified teacher because he took up meditation practice. His intention is a good one, and many people seem to like what he has to say, but how many people are taking up a serious disciplined spiritual practice, guided by an experienced teacher because of Tolle and how many are just buying books? There's a good interview with Tolle on one of my favorite NPR programs, Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet available on SOF's website:
http://speakingoffaith.publ...
and by podcast on iTunes.