Dr. Travis Pickell
By: Isaac Brown
Photographed by: Raeleigh Cadd
Dr. Travis Pickell has the unique background among George Fox University (GFU) theology professors of having grown up Buddhist. Pickell said it is as odd as it seems that a “white dude” from California should have grown up within a primarily Eastern-Asian religion. Recently, he offered the backstory and insights into both Buddhism and how Christianity compares.
After Pickell’s mother and grandmother left the Roman Catholic Church, they took a “spiritual journey” that ended in Nichiren Shoshu, a Japanese branch of Buddhism. When Pickell was a child, he underwent Gojikai (analogous to Catholic confirmation) and was raised within a tradition highly uncommon to Southern California. Within a particular branch of Nichiren Shoshu, called Soka Gakkai, much of religious practice in Pickell’s childhood revolved around household shrines―called Butsudan―and enshrined, distinctly patterned scrolls―called Gohonzon―which assist in bringing whoever chants before it closer to Buddhahood, or enlightenment. In practice, Pickell said that much of religion in his childhood was chanting and thereby “outputting positive energy” or good karma.
But this is not to say that Pickell’s life was entirely uncommon. He went to a public school, and though he was the only Buddhist there, Pickell said he and his friends knew this but it never seemed strange to him. He only ever met other Buddhists at what Pickell said were more or less “Buddhist life groups,” or a “community of Buddhist evangelists.” Though Pickell admits that his family and the other families in the community practiced a “westernized” Buddhism that more easily accommodated concepts such as the “nuclear family,” he said they “genuinely practiced” their religion.
Dr. Travis Pickell photographed by Raeleigh Cadd.
Pickell said he did not have a profound awareness or understanding of Buddhism growing up, but some aspects of the religion were prominent to him then and remain prominent now. Pickell said he viewed karma as an “ironcad law of justice,” and that karma was a simple and strict cause and effect moral system. From this, Pickell said he came to carry a lot of “baggage” and “guilt,” and was unsure whether he was creating much good karma. So when he encountered Christianity in his sophomore year of high school, Pickell said he was shocked by the idea of “radical forgiveness”; he saw it as freeing from all the potential effects of his bad karma. Evidently, this was a significant moment for Pickell, as he now teaches Christian theology.
Nonetheless, some of the elements that Pickell found true in Christianity are present in Buddhism. Only later in life did he realize that karma can be a social endeavor—that by pursuing good karma for yourself, you can bring good karma to others. He also did not grow up with the Buddhist idea of the Bodhisattva―one who delays achieving nirvana in order to help others find their way to enlightenment. This concept of voluntarily entering a world of suffering to help others transcend their current state has obvious resonance with Christianity.
When asked whether his religious background changes the way he teaches, Pickell said that “we’re all mysteries to ourselves,” and that it’s hard to know why exactly he is the way he is. Nonetheless, being a part of two different traditions has moved him toward being a “synthetic thinker.” When approaching an issue, he doesn’t look for one right answer, but tries to bring multiple answers together to see how they agree and disagree. Though Pickell rejects Buddhism as a system, he sees parallels between Christianity and Buddhism―such as the compassion of the Bodhisattva―and ways in which it can even inform Christian practice. Even within more “westernized” strands of Buddhism, Pickell said that practices such as mindfulness are not dissimilar to Christian prayer.