While it may be true that the Eastern Orthodox tradition is closer to the “feel” of Eastern religions in many ways, it’s also true that Eastern Orthodoxy has been far less successful at converting people from Eastern religions to Christianity than the Latin tradition has been (and Evangelical Protestantism is making major headway nowadays). Why this is the case may have many causes, but it’s worth noting.
I can relate my own personal experience with my wife. She is Japanese, from a Shinto-Buddhist background, and she was Baptized this year in the Melkite Catholic Church. On her journey towards Catholicism, however, she seems to have found the Latin writings much more convincing and helpful precisely because of the more rational approach, though now that she’s converted the Melkite tradition is the norm. I believe that when one comes from a more “experiential” religious tradition, there is really not much that differentiates one of these types of religion from another. After all, if God is primarily to be experienced first, then there is little appeal to someone who already “experiences” the spiritual benefits through their own tradition. It is precisely the rational arguments that cut to the differences, and explain why the Christian God is more reasonable answer to spiritual questions, that open the door to conversion.
In syncretic cultures like those in the East there is really no impetus to switch from one “experiential spirituality” to another, since they are all equal aspects of the one true reality; what is needed is something that is undeniable and different, something that cuts through the syncretism. I fear that the article in the OP plays to the syncretism, rather than cutting through it. What Eastern (as in Asian) people need, IMO, is to know directly why and how Christ is the unique answer to the human dilemma, and how this fact can make a practical, day to day change in one’s life, not an expression by Christians of how similar our approaches to God are; I believe that merely encourages people to not convert, because in their syncretic cultures they are already surrounded by religions and traditions that fit that bill, and Christianity becomes just another one.
Just my thoughts, and I say this as someone who much prefers the prayer and practical tradition of the Byzantine East.
Peace and God bless!
