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Spirit of Buddhism, The: A Christian Perspective on Buddhist Thought

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Many books claim to be revised, but when you look into them it turns out that little has changed. This is not so with the second edition of Burnett's work. Much of the text has been completely rewritten and there are numerous additions adding both extra and updated material. It also now functions more as a textbook, giving learning objectives, topics for dialogue, and both extended reference material (glossary, recommended reading lists) and web resources. If you saw my review of the first edition, you know that I was disappointed that the book was subtitled "A Christian perspective on Buddhist thought" when there was comparatively little interaction and the book seemed like a repetition of many standard introductory surveys already available. However, this has changed. Burnett now engages Buddhism from his particular perspective at a number of points and brings up interesting ideas and comparisons. With all of these improvements, this second edition of the book is well worth anyone's time who wants to examine a sensible and irenic examination of Buddhism by someone who is a Christian and professional anthropologist.