Woven on the Loom of Time: Many Faiths and One Divine Purpose

How are we to understand the many religious traditions of humankind? Should we view our own religion as true and all others false? Should we regard all religions as the same? Should we view the religions as a cacophony? Professor Bryant explores these questions in this challenging book. He seeks to find a path through contemporary religious conflict that will lead us to greater understanding and appreciation of the plurality of religious traditions. Woven on the Loom of Time: Many Faith and One Divine Purpose argues that the religious traditions share a common purpose: to fit humanity for the Ultimate. But that shared purpose is unfolded differently in each religious tradition. Moreover, the great religious traditions unfold on the loom of time where they clothe and reshape our humanity to make us fit for the Ultimate. Professor Bryant unfolds his argument in five chapters. After an introductory chapter, he lays the foundation for an understanding of “dialogical humanity” that sees the religious traditions as “a dialogue with transcendence.” He then explores the multiform religious traditions – Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Confucian and Sikh – as “nurseries for the formation of humanity.” In the fifth chapter, he unfolds a “grammar of the spirit” that sees religion as shaping and clothing humanity on the loom of time. In the Epilogue, Bryant restates his thesis in a poem concerning “divine-human destiny.”