Reincarnation for the Christian

by Quincy Howe

A scholar traces the history of reincarnation in Christianity.

Genres: Spirituality

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

AN INVITATION FOR CHRISTIANS TO ‘PONDER WITHOUT RESERVATIONS’ REINCARNATION

Quincy Howe Jr. (born 1934) was a former professor of classics, comparative religion, and Sanskrit at Scripps College. (This book is published by the Theosophical Publishing House.)

He wrote in the Preface to this 1974 book, “This book was written out of the conviction that the world’s great religions are now rushing toward a convergence of doctrine and practice such as would have been unthinkable at any other time in history… No theory is so sacred, no method so established that it can exempt itself from outside influence… The time is ripe for Christians to ponder without reservation ideas that once seemed bizarre and alien… Christians should be as receptive in their spiritual life as they are in other areas to ideas that stand as undisputed truths in non-Christian parts of the world. It should be apparent in the ensuing pages that I personally believe in the doctrine of reincarnation and feel that it can enhance the framework of Christian life. I am further convinced that the contemporary Christian is not so inflexible as to reject out of hand a belief that has been attested for nearly three thousand years. It is my purpose here to provide the historical and theological perspectives withing which to view a doctrine that deserves serious consideration by all thoughtful Christians.”

He states in the Introduction, “My intention in this book is to propose to the serious Christian a belief that was indirectly anathematized by the church more than fourteen hundred years ago. Given the resistance within Christianity to heterodoxy of any sort, this may appear to be presumptuous… I shall start by saying a few words about the relationship between doctrine and the religious life…” (Pg. 11)

He suggests, “The Christian … who has had intuitions or experiences that seem to support the heterodox finds his situation uncomfortable and frustrating, for the doctrine of the church tells him he is wrong, while his own inner voice assures him to the contrary. The solution that I propose to this quandary is to relax the rule of orthodoxy long enough to examine reincarnation on its own merits… If he remains unconvinced at the end, he has lost nothing and probably has gained some insight into the doctrinal posture of traditional Christianity. If he should be persuaded that reincarnation can be brought into harmony with Christianity, he will have clarification and guidance for many matters that have been either avoided or relegated to the area of ‘mystery’ by conventional orthodoxy.” (Pg. 13-14)

He proposes, “What the church needs at the present is not defenders of the faith but revivers of the faith… a faith that will impart vitality and significance to the religious life. The measure of such a faith is … going to be … its capacity to arouse Christians to a life in Christ. If the price must be paid for such a faith is to compromise the orthodoxy of traditional Christianity, I believe that the gain will have been infinitely greater than the loss. What is at stake … is the extent to which the individual follower finds the presence of God manifest in his own life.” (Pg. 16-17)

He explains, “The doctrine of reincarnation provides the script for a drama of cosmic proportions: it accounts for the source of the individual soul, the demands and conditions for its self-improvement, and the final goal of its journey. Some of the most profound and powerful thinkers in the history of man have embraced reincarnation, and the result of their labors is an extraordinarily comprehensive and explicit account of human destiny in relation to the Absolute. Entire dimensions of the soul’s progress what have remained shrouded in mystery within traditional orthodoxy are laid open and accounted for by the theory of reincarnation.” (Pg. 19-20)

He says, “Since the soul carries with it the accumulation of all previous lives, it naturally follows that each individual is going to either advance or regress. This personality which clings to us always is either going to grow more compassionate, sensitive, and intelligent through good works and noble aspirations or else it is going to become brutish through selfish and thoughtless acts. Herein lies one of the great attractions of reincarnation: it allows for and indeed demands personal evolution… The individual is traversing an evolutionary course that spans many lives, according to his actions he is either retreating from his true nature as spirit or advancing toward the divine goal.” (Pg. 27-28)

He explains the Law of Karma: “it is the effect that takes place as the result of some prior activity… karma is the inevitable succession of cause and effect that governs existence at all levels… its authority extends through the many cycles of past lives. The reward for the good we do in the present may not come back until many lives hence, and the suffering that we endure here and now may very well be the outcome of some pernicious act done lifetimes ago… The skeptic may ask how a balance sheet of our merits over many lives can be maintained. The reincarnationist need only answer: How else would you account for life’s apparent injustice?... Here is where the Law of Karm makes sense of the apparent nonsense of life. The man who is born into the abject poverty may have made ill use of his wealth in an earlier life; the wealthy man is reaping the fruits of his earlier generosity… Karma introduced an element of reason and logic into a problem that has vexed many devout Christian. How are we to believe in a perfect and loving God if he persistently seems to place man in tragic and painful situations?... The Law of Karma entirely absolves God from responsibility for human suffering. Man assumes eternal and total responsibility for his life and has only his own egotism and bad judgement to thank for wretched and apparently unjust circumstances.” (Pg. 30-32)

He argues, “Critics of reincarnation argue that there surely should be some vestige of recollection from one life to another. However, with the exception of a very few extraordinary instances… this does not prove to be the case. We must content ourselves with the answer that Plato proposes … Just before a soul is about to enter its new body, says Plato, it drinks the waters of forgetfulness and loses the recollection of all that had come before. Disappointing as this may be … there are some practical considerations to make us thankful for oblivion of the past… Imagine if every offense, insult, and disgrace of many lives were weighing us down! Faced with such a prospect, anyone would agree it is a kind providence that enjoins the waters of forgetfulness. Just because the memory of specific events is blotted out, this does not mean that the deeper wisdom gained from our past experiences is lost. The … traces from former states of being, follow us from one life to another.” (Pg. 36-37)

He acknowledges, “Some … have endeavored to prove reincarnation by pointing to strong character traits as vestiges from earlier lives… this is to advance a theory of the basis of wholly circumstantial evidence. Indeed, any ‘evidence’ is of questionable value, for the doctrine of reincarnation is generally accepted as a matter of faith or intuition rather than a matter of proof… And yet, although I make no claims for the material presented in this chapter as prof, I do hope that it may influence those who are already predisposed in favor of reincarnation.” (Pg. 39-40)

He summarizes, “First, this view is basically optimistic about men and his destiny, both here and beyond. If man is a particle of God, he can neve be lost from God’s sight. This means that the possibility of eternal damnation is removed... Secondly, the world and its experiences are seen as transient … [and] dwindle to unimportance as man cognizes his true nature… Thirdly, this view … leads to the religion of mysticism… Fourthly, the goal of the religious life is God-realization… That traditional Christian view of man… would differ on all four points mentioned above.” (Pg. 49-50)

He suggests, “Indeed the reincarnationist can even find Scriptural support for personal discarnate preexistence. Origen took Eph 1:4 [‘He chose us in him before the foundation of the world’] as proof for his case… What is illuminating for the reincarnationist is that this passage from Ephesians offers very explicit Scriptural testimony for individual preexistence.” (Pg. 77)

He contends, “The last objection to reincarnation … is really a technical matter rather than a theological issue… If reincarnation is indeed true, why do we have no recollection of earlier lives?... Origen does not address himself to this specific problem, but he may very well have been satisfied with the myth that Plato used for the lapse of recollection…” (Pg. 81-82)

He argues, “To determine with any confidence whether or not Jesus actually preached reincarnation requires an awareness of when the Scriptures are recording his own words, as contrasted to when the Evangelist is assigning to Jesus a probably or appropriate utterance…. Jesus have been crucified about thirty years before the first Gospel was written and, although a generation of Christians had been embellishing and interpreting his words, there can be no question that much of the gospel narrative is his authentic utterance. If one can identify the sayings of Jesus that seem to go against the Christianity of A.D. 60 or 70, then we are quite possibly dealing with his own words… Christ may have said things that suggest or even clearly point to reincarnation, and the Gospel writers, although personally opposed to this belief, may have recorded these words without realizing fully what they imply.” (Pg. 92)

He continues, “one episode in particular … seems to point to reincarnation… his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he should have been born blind?’ [Jn 9:1, ff] … Given the fact that the man has been blind from birth… When could have made such transgressions as to make him blind at birth? The only conceivable answer is in some prenatal state… Christ says nothing to dispel or correct the presupposition. Here is incontrovertible support for a doctrine of human preexistence.” (Pg. 93)

He goes on, “Also very suggestive of reincarnation is the episode where Jesus identifies John the Baptist as Elijah. ‘… [John] is Elias who was to come.’ [Mt 11:13-14]… Then the disciples understood that he had spoken of John the Baptist… Here again is a clear statement of preexistence… Both Elijah and John the Baptist are manifestations of a preexistent type: the forerunner. The meaning or preexistence here is that which possesses eternal discarnate existence combined with at least the latent faculty to manifest on the physical plane… If that which has eternal, discarnate existence is capable of one manifestation or incarnation, then why not several? With the ban against Origen in 553, however, Christians have simply ceased to give serious thought to the possibility of reincarnation.” (Pg. 94-95)

He concludes, “Those who are still irresolute on the question of reincarnation… possess n special advantage before God. The only possible advantage that the reincarnationist may claim over those who are unresolved or opposed is that he has a reasonable and consistent theory to account for the prenatal and postmortem life of the soul as well as an explanation for the apparent absurdities in the dispensation of divine justice. The peace and joy that arise from the spiritual life, however, depend in no way upon the particular creed one confesses.” (Pg. 108)

This book will be of great interest to those (particularly Christians) studying reincarnation.

[Salvatore Marsiano]

Very Good. Informative, Quincy explains it as accepted in several different belief systems. Also tells about Origen, and his belief, how he refused to give in to the Catholic Church.