When Anthony Fernando first wrote this book as Buddhism and Christianity: Their Inner Affinity (1981, Sri Lanka), he intended it to be a handbook on Buddhism for Christians in Sri Lanka, centering his comparison not on the contemporary scene but on the root-forms of each tradition—i.e. the teachings of the respective founders: Gautama and Jesus.

This revised edition has been ably expanded and enhanced by Dr. Swidler to include affinities that speak to those of the Jewish faith through the Talmud and writings of the rabbis of Judaism.
What, in fact, emerges is a certain inner affinity among the three. Basically the author feels Gautama, Jesus and the rabbinic teachers had the same purpose in mind in writing what they did: to free their hearers from ignorance and/or sin and to restore their followers to “health,” however that may be defined. This is an excellent source book for dialogue.