Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Diary

by Paul Hattaway

From its small beginning in north India 2,500 years ago, Buddhism is poised to become the third largest religion in 2010 with 1.8 billion adherents. Peoples of the Buddhist World is a timely book on the religion which was perhaps the first organized missionary faith.

Authentic Media, 129 Mobilization Dr., Waynesboro, GA 30830 and Piquant Editions Ltd., 4 Thornton Road, Carlisle, CA3 9HZ, UK, 2004, 453 pages, $24.99.

—Reviewed by Madasamy Thirumalai, Bethany College of Missions, Bloomington, Minnesota.

From its small beginning in north India 2,500 years ago, Buddhism is poised to become the third largest religion in 2010 with 1.8 billion adherents. Peoples of the Buddhist World is a timely book on the religion which was perhaps the first organized missionary faith.

Paul Hattaway aims to “touch the hearts of common Christians” and enable them to be active participants in the “great cosmic struggle going on between the powers,” by presenting vivid one-page profiles and visuals of 238 distinct major people groups that profess and practice Buddhism. In each of these people groups, at least fifty percent of their total population is either Buddhist, or there are more than 500,000 persons professing Buddhism. Some of these groups—Han Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Burmese—number in the tens of millions.

Several articles and testimonies throughout the book, along with the visuals, move our hearts to pray for Buddhist people groups. This volume is indeed well researched and comprehensive. Adults and children alike will find the layout stimulating and the content fascinating. The volume contains accurate sociological, anthropological and religious information. Even non-Christians can use this book because of the enormous amount of information given in each profile.

Evangelization of Buddhist peoples has a long history, one that has seen a number of tragic failures. This book clearly presents the current picture of evangelism among Buddhists and suggests what we all can do to help in this endeavor.

Buddhism is truly a multinational religion covering myriad people groups. In recent decades, evangelization of Buddhist peoples did not attract the attention it deserved. Perhaps this inattentiveness was due to the fact that Western nations perceived there to be no threat to their territorial and economic security from the Buddhist world. Meanwhile, Buddhist and Hindu missionaries have taken advantage of the estrangement between Western youth and the Christian church by offering alternative approaches to spirituality. Because there has been no great Christian effort to checkmate the spread of Eastern religions, Buddhism and Hinduism have become influential forces in the West.

Peoples of the Buddhist World gives us a good glimpse of Buddhists and guides us to pray diligently and knowledgeably for them.

Check these titles:
Lai, Whalen and Michael Von Bruck. 2001. Christianity and Buddhism: A Multicultural History of Their Dialogue (Faith Meets Faith Series), Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.

Thirumalai, Madasamy. 2003. Sharing Your Faith with a Buddhist. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers.

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