CHAPTER 11: The Founder
This chapter contains passages on the life and work of the founders
of religion, who first discovered the truth that leads to salvation,
offered their whole lives to enlighten and save others, provided for
subsequent generations models of the ideal person, and continue to shed
grace and light into the hearts of people everywhere. Among these great
souls are Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, Confucius, Abraham, Moses,
Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Mahavira, Nanak, and the ancient Hindu rishis.
Hindu scriptures also chronicle the exploits of Krishna and Rama, avatars
of the Lord Vishnu. Confucian scriptures eulogize the lives of the ancient
sage-kings Wen, Yao, Shun, and the Duke of Chou. We also include passages
on the founders of some of the newer religions, such as Joseph Smith,
Baha'u'llah, and Sun Myung Moon.
And yet, this consideration of the founders of religion as a genus
should not be construed as leveling them to figures of equal significance.
Each one is unique, and each stands in a unique position in relation to
the religion which he spawned. For the Christian, it is the saving work
of Christ alone that saves, notwithstanding the accomplishments of other
founders, no matter how great they may be. Similarly, the Muslim's faith
is defined uniquely by the message of Muhammad, and the Buddhist's by the
enlightenment and teachings of Siddhartha. The committed believer is
confronted with one individual as the standard of truth and love and who
defines the true way. The declaration, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14.6) is echoed by
similar statements in many religions: "Outside the Buddha's dispensation
there is no saint" (Dhammapada 254); "Muhammad is the Seal of the
Prophets" (Qur'an 33.40); "Glory be to Lord Mahavira, the teacher of the
world" (Nandi Sutra 2). The believer must be faithful to the founder of
his own tradition, who sets before him the truth and offers him the
gracious help that guides his life. That is his faith; he cannot but
cleave to it. Then, on that foundation, he may look about and observe the
comparisons made in this chapter. He will find that the founders of other
faiths have also been given insight into divine truth and have lived out
that truth in an exemplary manner. He finds them worthy of respect, for
their faith is comparable to the standard of faith set by his own
tradition.
Another difficulty which besets any treatment of the founders of
religions is that in certain traditions they are regarded as gods or as
possessed of divine attributes--a topic which in itself is worthy of
consideration in this chapter. Thus Jesus of Nazareth is the incarnation
of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Siddhartha is a manifestation
of the eternal Buddha or Dharmakaya, Krishna and Rama are incarnations of
Vishnu, who in his cosmic form pervades the entire universe, and the
Shinto culture heroes are gods who have come down from heaven. Yet to the
extent that the founders are regarded as divine, their very human
accomplishments--suffering persecution and rejection, struggling with
temptation, and extending themselves in the service of others--may be
mitigated. What, after all, is persecution or temptation to a god? What
is so praiseworthy about a person helping others if he is omnipotent and
endowed with all treasures? Hence, in this chapter we have tried to avoid
particularly Docetic passages in favor of passages where the founders are
regarded as subject to the ordinary limitations of being human.
Similarly, any distinction between the salvation wrought of God and
the saving work of a human founder becomes blurred when the founder is at
the same time the very deity who is continually offering salvation. We
have treated the theme of salvation as divine activity in Chapter 10.
There we have placed many passages on the saving work of Jesus, Buddha,
and Krishna as it is a function of their divinity, while reserving
passages which describe their more particularly human existence for this
chapter.
These founders, saviors, and pathfinders are compared in various
aspects of their life, faith, work, and character by bringing together
comparable passages. We will consider first the founders' call and their
initial embarkation on the path, second their difficult course of
persecution and rejection by the world, and third their victory,
triumphing over all difficulties and fully realizing the divine purpose.
One section gathers passages describing their struggle with and victory
over evil and demonic powers. Another contains descriptions of their
roles as revealers and teachers, bringing new truth and light for the
people of their age and subsequent ages. Other texts show the founders to
be supreme examples of self-sacrifice and service to others as they gave
of themselves to the mission of saving and enlightening this dark world.
Their accomplishments not being limited to their own lifetimes, a seventh
grouping of texts describe these founders as forever alive in peoples'
hearts, as the continuing light and inspiration for every age, and as
intercessors on the believers' behalf. An eighth section treats various
conceptions of the founder's person--e.g., his humanity and divinity. We
have gathered texts foundational to Christian reflections on Christ's
divinity, Buddhist reflections on the three bodies of the Buddha, and
similar ideas in other religions, as well as passages which express the
ordinary humanity of Muhammad, Moses, Confucius, and other founders from
traditions which deny that their founders are divine. The final section
relates each founder of religion to a long line of prophets, Buddhas,
Tirthankaras, avatars, teachers, or sages who preceded him and who may
follow him in the future.
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