Garry Trompf

Christmas: Myth, Magic and Legend

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“John Queripel has done it again. As concerned as he is about our unthinking absorption of a shopping-mall Christmas mentality, in this timely book he calls us to go back to the original stories about the birth of Jesus and consider them more maturely. While for him the two Gospel narratives about the first Christmas present historical problems, they still get us thinking about absolutely crucial human questions and carry an uncanny power of Myth - in the positive sense, and not as false. I recommend John Queripel’s work because it is provocative, gets us on our toes and sharpens our critical acumen, but more to disturb our shallow comfortableness than to dishonour the magic and marvel of the Biblical message.”

In Wisdom and in Passion

World Religions

“How very heartening it is to find a highly intelligent Christian minister examining his own faith and religious tradition beside the world of Buddhism. With a deftly handled survey of their respective developments, John Queripel has plumbed the depths of each tradition to find every good reason why Christian and Buddhist thinkers can engage in worthwhile dialogue, and while Queripel wisely discerns the divergent outlooks and remains strong in his own Christian commitment, he brilliantly persuades that Christians and Buddhists need each other to address our fractured world.”