Dom Bede speaks in the light of the east

CHRISTIANITY'S need to discover the sense of the sacred that pervades eastern religions is to be examined by Dom Bede Griffiths OSB (pictured above) when he delivers the annual Hibbert Lecture, broadcast from his home, the Saccidananda Ashram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
In a 30-minute programme called In the Light of the East, to be aired by BBC Radio 4 On June 21 at 8.45 pm, Fr Bede says "I have learned to see Christianity from the point of view not of Europe, but of Asia. . . We (Christians) are now being challenged to rethink our religion in the light not of western,
but of eastern thought. . . this moment may be as decisive for Christianity today as it was for the early church when it passed from its original Jewish matrix into the Graeco-Roman world."
Fr Bede's lecture will be prefaced by a special feature on the life and ethos of the Saccidananda Ashram which brings mystics and contemplatives from all religious traditions together for discussion and prayer. An extended interview with Fr Bede on the issues dealt with in the lecture will be broadcast on The Sunday Programme on June 25 at 7.40 am.