Is Buddhism Indispensable in the Cross-Cultural Appropriation of Christianity in Burma?

Abstract

Is Burmese Theravada Buddhism dispensable for the cross-cultural appropriation and mission of Christianity in Burma?1 According to the traditionally held Burmese2 Protestant Christian assumption inherited from Adoniram Judson the answer is yes,3 for the simple reason that Burmese Buddhism and Christianity are totally different from one another, and there is no point of contact between the two. Whereas Christianity is theistic, Buddhism is nontheistic; whereas the former is a religion of grace (humans are believed to be saved only by faith in Jesus Christ through God's grace), the latter is a philosophy that recommends self-effort in achieving liberation. Some non-Buddhists consider Burmese Buddhism idolatrous4 because Buddhist devotees venerate images of the Buddha and other sacred objects. Hence it is perceived that Buddhism is not at all related to Christianity and not indispensable to Christianity. This paper suggests the opposite by examining principal Burmese Buddhist terms used by Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) in two tracts written in Burmese: A View of the Christian Religion (Tract No. 1) and Golden Balance (Tract No. 3). Adoniram Judson was America's first overseas missionary translator in Burma. He was a graduate of Brown University (1804-1807) and of Andover Theological Seminary (1808-1810). Judson, together with his wife, Ann Hasseltine (1789-1826), arrived in Rangoon, Burma, on 13 July 1813 and served there for nearly four decades as the first missionary of the newly established Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States. Judson acquired a good knowledge of the Burmese vernacular and some knowledge of Pali, the canonical language of Theravada Buddhism. In 1840, he finished the translation of the Bible; in 1849, he produced the English-Burmese and Burmese-English dictionaries.5 Judson wrote at least eight tracts in Burmese.6 Of the eight, six, including A View of the Christian Religion, were published in The Septenary or, Seven Manuals.1 This tract, written in July 1816, was again published in Tracts in Burmese, vol. 1 (I860)8 and included four chapters: Historic, Didactic (or Practical), Preceptive, and Devotional. Its English translation was published in The Life of Adoniram Judson.9