This is a clipped version of a longer lecture given for Fora TV, in it Marcus discusses the path of Christianity and how it compares to the path’s of other religions such as Buddhism.
For Christians, Christianity is the path. Marcus illustrates this point with a story. He explains that he flies a lot because of his lectures and that flying for him is about rest and reading. Marcus tries to avoid conversation when on the plane to make more time for reading. He was reading Huston Smith’s book, Why Religion Matters on a flight and his neighbor starts talking to him about his interest in religion. She explains she is interested in Buddhism because it is about a way but that she is uninterested in Christianity because it’s all about believing. Marcus understood her point even if he silently disagreed. For most modern Christians believing is at the very center of what it means to be Christian and you either believe or you don’t. The earliest name for Christianity, found in the New Testament is “Followers of the Way”. This view is a cross cultural archetypal image, Buddhism is about the way, the Taoism is the way, Christianity is also about a way or path of transformation and that path has two dimensions to it. One of the dimensions is personal, it is about dying an rising with Christ understood as a metaphor for an internal process of transformation, it’s about being born again and entering into a new way of being. Secondly the transformation is political, it’s about the transformation of the world, this expressed with the centrality of the phrase, “the kingdom of god.” The kingdom of god is what life would be like on this earth if the ruler were king and the rulers of this world were not. The kingdom of god is for the earth. We see this in the Lords prayer “thy kingdom come on Earth” and “For god so loved the World.” This second phrase does not specify one group of people over others but that god loved the world indiscriminately and not just human beings but other beings as well. When one sees Christianity as the way it means the practice, which means paying attention to the reality of god and our relationship with god. It means the practice not believing is central. The way is symbolized in Christianity by the cross, the cross as the path of personal transformation by being crucified in the way that “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me.” The cross also symbolizes confrontation with with powers that rule this world. The cross is both personal and political.