37 PAUL HEDGES Towards an Anglican Theology of Buddhism Mutual Flourishing and Generous Love 1 Engagement and dialogue between religions has become a central concern for Christian churches. However, at the ecclesial level, this has either focused upon the encounter in general terms, or when it has engaged specific religions the fellow Abrahamic traditions, Judaism and Islam, have often taken centre stage. As such, despite an encounter that is at least two hundred years old, rooted in colonial times, there has been no Anglican statement or official consideration of its relationship with Buddhism; this is true both in Western and Asian contexts. 2 Nevertheless, there has been considerable interest in the relationship from individual theologians, as well as missionaries and bishops working within the Buddhist context. Before addressing the specific focus of this article, I will briefly offer some context on the Anglican encounter with Buddhism. It should be noted that this article will take the perspective of an Anglican tradition based within a pri- marily Western (British and North American) context, however, one in dia- logue with the wider Anglican Communion. It should be noted that it is not suggested herein that there can be a single Anglican approach to Buddhism. Certainly, an Anglican approach to Buddhism in a predominantly Theravada country like Sri Lanka will differ from that found in Singapore where a Chinese Mahayana tradition is a significant part of a religiously diverse soci- ety, which will differ from a rural English village, or urban multicultural Los Angeles. However, this article nevertheless hopes to advance some principles which may represent aspects of what may be common to any Anglican theol- ogy of Buddhism, even if this may be expressed differently depending upon the context; it recognises that it does not, however, talk from nowhere, al- 1 The author is grateful to Janet Williams for feedback on an earlier draft and some initial information from Clare Amos. 2 Unable to trace any such document or consideration, the author checked with Amos who consulted with Ipgrave who confirmed this lack. Amos noted, though, that a NIFCON consultation was planned in Myanmar in January 2017 on just this issue.