Elijah the Bodhisattva

An unusual and wonderful addition to the field of interspiritual exploration, this book examines the story of Elijah as a point of meditation via comparative themes from Buddhism and the Abrahamic religions.

The book begins expansively, with beautiful refreshing ideas, particularly on anatta, and becomes more concentrated and dense as it progresses, though this may be partially attributable to the visual formatting (which lacks space between paragraphs to prompt pause for thought and digestion). There are some meaningful parallels drawn here. I appreciated the structuring the chapters according to Buddhist themes relating to specific chapters of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. At times, initially, I felt space in the writing (literally and figuratively), with the highlighting of a few core themes which made the process of reading itself a form of meditation. But this space was forgotten as the book progresses in the excitement of ideas, with the pacing, density and physical and thematic space then risking losing the lay reader in the latter half. As it stands, after the first few chapters, this book is at times inaccessible for those not familiar with the story of Elijah. The latter parts read more as dense commentaries or annotations to the Biblical text, albeit as a beautifully cascading mind map of the rapid associative thought of the interspiritual lens of the author. Brown does acknowledge in the introduction, that the approach may appear as stream of consciousness, a decision in part emblematic of a refutation of the imposition of systems and orthodoxy on revelation and realisation. A novel approach! Though, speaking of “novel”, this book does examine a narrative, the story of Elijah, and narrative being its currency, an imposition of greater narrative as a post facto organisational favour to the reader may have added to the experience of reading and understanding.

In a different life, this book may have been edited to appeal more to a lay reader, and I don't doubt there would be many interested in Brown's contributions to interspiritual conversations and discourse. Brown's lens is unique and important, and impressively knowledgeable and generous in scope, though I would note that the scope of the author's experience tends favour Tibetan Buddhism popular in the West more than if such an exploration were written by an author of colour not from the West.

Although there is a passing attempt at critical interpretation, particularly in terms of class, there is not a genuine investment in explore intersectional perspectives which is a shame given the author's evident understanding of relationship between political and spiritual liberation. For example, I would have loved recognition of the way in which the posture and practices of asceticism and anti-materialism are often used to justify the maintenance of patriarchal, racist, and ableist social norms and structures via a gendered disdain for indulgence, laziness and domesticity. These are labels often applied to the disabled, women, and the disenfranchised, whilst ironically aseticism is often a choice for the wealthy and powerful man. The righteous disdain and control of asceticism poses a slippery slope towards the control, domination, and social stratification of the oppressor. Language of purity and cleanliness may also be the language of oppression as we know.

Similarly, I would have loved further exploration of the concept of anatta as inherently political. This is touched on tantalisingly but not unpacked further. Given that mysticim and heresy are themes the author finds valuable, then it would make sense to explore the political relationship these practices have in terms of juxtaposing individual and collective agency in spiritual liberation against the power of orthodoxy. The collective consciousness was another intriguing string teased out of the text briefly, but not explored to the point of satisfaction.

There was so much here! Enough for another book perhaps! Even another book more for lay readers! I'd read that!