The current study examines the agnostic Buddhism of contemporary scholar and practitioner Stephen Batchelor. The main question under examination is whether the essence of Buddhism is undermined when interpreted through Batchelor's agnostic and "belief-free" lens. In an attempt to answer this question, Batchelor's main philosophical texts---Alone With Others, The Faith to Doubt, and Buddhism Without Beliefs---are analysed, as are three critiques of his work written by Bhikkhu Punnadhammo, Bhikkhu Bodhi, and Sangharakshita. It is concluded that while Batchelor is discarding many of the conventional trappings of Buddhism, he is not placing its integrity at risk.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33926 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Silverman, Marjorie L. |
| Contributors | Hayes, Richard P. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Faculty of Religious Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001873548, proquestno: MQ79033, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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