Glimpses of God and Other Essays by Paul O. Ingram (review)

This is a readable, reflective collection of essays by a self-described historian of religions and process theologian who has had a long, distinguished career as a scholar and undergraduate professor. As one might imagine, the essays include stories from Ingram's personal and professional life, which have helped shape his theological perspectives on God, religion, and the human condition. Ingram notes that the essays are each distinct but also interdependent; therefore, this review will note some reoccurring threads that weave through the book as a whole and also offer some observations on several of the essays individually.

In the Preface, Ingram makes clear that epistemology governs the book, as he seeks to "describe the world in order to communicate perceptions adequately" and "approximate" knowledge of God—relying on symbolic language (ix). All the essays in the book reflect and refract these concerns.

The opening essay reflects on what it means to write about God, seeking understanding yet still holding space for the ineffable while "swimming in a 'cloud of unknowing'" (1). Here, he invites us into a disposition, a posture of listening, silence, mindfulness, and openness, and he shares his own "beginner's mind"—a mind that knows it does not know but continually seeks to know all the same. This talking around/talking toward/talking in search of the Sacred is a key theme in many of the essays.

Ingram has been deeply engaged in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for decades and, in one essay, notes that a friend once described him as a "Lu-Bu"—a Lutheran Buddhist (34). Many of the essays reflect his participation in different facets of this dialogue: as a teacher, friend, practitioner, and scholar. For example, in chapter 2, he shares an experience with a student who was wrestling with the "pluralist hypothesis" of John Hick and the insights they both came away with through their encounter. Also, more explicitly, chapter 5 answers the question, "Why Should Christians Study the Buddhist Way?" And chapter 6 muses on another question many Christians have asked at one time or another: "Why Are There So Many Different Religions?"

In chapter 11, one of the longest chapters in the book, he reflects on Marguerite Porete's The Mirror of Simple Souls in conjunction with Chuang Tzu's worldview, particularly the "butterfly dream," as a way of elaborating mystical experience and its interpretation. Chapter 12, another of the longer chapters, discusses the different examples of Buddhist/science engagements, using the three-fold typology proposed by José Cabezón: (i) conflict/ambivalence, (ii) compatibility/identity, and (iii) complementarity (75).

Several chapters come directly out of Ingram's experience in Lutheran congregations and engage specific aspects of Lutheran theology. For example, chapter 14 uses Matthew 25:31–46, the parable of the sheep and the goats, to reflect on the concept of hell and encourage us to move beyond dualism—beyond judgment to love. Chapter 17 asks, "Can a Lutheran Be a Pluralist, Too?" This chapter, the concluding chapter of the book, wrestles with key themes in Martin Luther's theology and argues how they can support "a pluralist theology of religions." Ingram's conclusion? "A Lutheran can be a pluralist, too, and in the twenty-first century, ought to be" (128).

The essays are thoughtful, sometimes playful, and invite the reader into a conversation the author has been having with God and others for decades; there is a good chance that you have been having some of these same conversations as well.