In Search of the Christian Buddha traces the Buddha’s story from India to Persia to Jerusalem and then throughout Europe, as it was rewritten by Muslim, Jewish, and Christian authors, illustrating its unsuspected integration into European culture. Through a comparison of the tale’s various versions, this book reveals surprising convergences and divergences—between Christianity and Buddhism on subjects including the meaning of death, the problem of desire, and the view of women.

Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author, editor, or translator of a number of books, including The Madman’s Middle Way, Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism, Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel, and Buddhism and Science.

See Buddhadharma's "Book Brief" on In Search of the Christian Buddha.