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Book Review: Love Trumps Karma, Karyn Henley
In the beginning was the dhamma,
And the dhamma was with God,
And the dhamma was God…
The true light that enlightens everyone.
- John 1:1 (Sri Lankan translation)
We all speak different languages, even if only variations of the same. Because I cannot always guess the vernacular of my intended audience (myself, somehow confined to Gen-X-Postmodernese) I tend to favor shocking statements that grab attention.
You can recognize the tendency. The same desperation to be heard hides behind picket signs that read God hates fags and bumper stickers proclaiming Jesus loves you, but everyone else thinks you’re an asshole. Unfortunately, those who fall prey to similar extremities are often heard but rarely understood. And with good reason.
Many Christian writers, speakers and theologians today are clamoring to find a grip on this “emerging culture” we find ourselves in the midst of. Do we embrace a kind of moral relativism, or should we entrench ourselves in fundamentalist defense?
More importantly: how do we prepare our own church body to interact in a rapidly changing world, with relevance, and still remain Christ-sustained believers?
Teaching Sunday School and working with teens and young adults, I have long-desired to introduce some of them to this expanding conversation. I want to equip them for handling tough questions, like: what makes Christianity unique? Why Jesus? Is there a Universal Truth? I’ve read many articulate books touting countless positions, but I rarely find something gentle enough to bring inside my church’s cautious walls. Why? Because rhetoric, by its nature, is seldom gentle.
What if there were ways to introduce the language and heart of Postmodern Culture to a younger Christian audience while simultaneously equipping them for a new kind of Christian apologetic? It could be practical, but not confining. It would instill confidence, but demand sympathy and understanding. It might be radical, but never antagonistic.
Enter Karyn Henley into the conversation, with Love Trumps Karma: Uncovering the Truth You Know You Know. Henley has already built a reputation for children’s writing, most notably with The Beginner’s Bible. In her latest work, Henley pushes into a more mature market to tackle some of the most difficult questions facing inquisitive youth today. The writing, however, is certainly not limited to a teen audience.
Piece-by-piece, Love Trumps Karma constructs a defense of Christianity aimed at young people living in a pluralist society such as ours. Particularly profound, Henley builds her Christian arguments using pieces of non-Christian (often Buddhist and Hindu) philosophies. If you grew up in the church, as I did, you were probably taught to avoid other religions like the plague. As Henley herself writes, “Lots of Christians are afraid to ask these questions. Some of them are afraid to even think about karma or dhamma… but it’s important to figure out what you believe and why. So while we’re not going to do an in-depth study of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, and Islam in this book, we are going to take a look at what we, as human beings together on this planet, have in common.”
Instead of using Christian reasoning to demean other ideas and beliefs, Henley takes a radical approach of using other ideas and beliefs to support Christianity. In Acts, Paul modeled this method at Mars Hill, yet we rarely see it in action today. I find such a journey incredibly refreshing.
In the third chapter of Love Trumps Karma, Henley compares the teachings of Jesus to Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tze (Taoism), and to Hindu teachings. She concludes, “the main thing to remember here is that Lao Tze and the Taoists, like the Greek philosophers, Buddhists and Hindus, were searching for a way to know God.”
But Henley never stops with the affirmation of other journeys. Every chapter maintains a consistent move toward the life and godhood of Jesus Christ, culminating in the development of a profoundly simple, infinitely adaptable Christian apologetic.
Some might ask why a new apologetic is necessary. Why reinvent the wheel? Such pushback is understandable, especially from older Christians who were saved through evangelism of the 20th Century. What we must gently maintain is that although Truth itself has not changed, our cultural landscape has. Efforts of the past are losing relevance by the day, and Henley reminds us that while Christians are supposed to be the most loving people on earth, our Hindu, Buddhist and New Age neighbors are often kinder, more generous and less judgmental. They see the Bible as a rulebook for a condemning, narrow-minded religion.
How tragic that the matchless love in the Gospel of Christ has become synonymous with harsh dogma and unsympathetic law!
Henley deals with this antagonistic use of scriptures: “Remember, it’s not Truth because it’s in the Bible; it’s in the Bible because it’s Truth… if we keep shoving the Bible in people’s faces, they often can’t see past it to the Truth they know they know.”
Henley’s book reminds me that I want my own Christianity to be contagious, not just convincing. All that convincing requires is intellectual assent. A contagious Christianity is believable, but also so invigorating to those who come in contact with it that they cannot help but be pulled into what the book calls “a dance with the Divine.” Much like Brian McLaren’s More Ready than You Realize, Love Trumps Karma demonstrates that joy-filled Truth will lead you into a dance, not a wrestling match.
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