Reflections on the Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in Its Second Decade: Issues in Theory and Practice

The essay opens with a historical overview of the Buddhist–Christian dialogue associated with Masao Abe, John B. Cobb Jr., the Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounters, and the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies. It then evaluates The Emptying God as an example of formal theological dialogue centered on the relationship between divine self-emptying and Buddhist emptiness. The discussion proceeds to Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit, presenting Robert Kennedy’s integration of Zen meditation and Christian contemplative practice. The section on A Bridge to Buddhist-Christian Dialogue explains Leonard Swidler’s historical introduction and Seiichi Yagi’s use of Nishitani Keiji’s concept of front-structure to interpret the Trinity, Christ, and the relation between God and humanity. The final major section examines John P. Keenan’s The Meaning of Christ, especially its application of Yogācāra theories of consciousness, Madhyamaka emptiness, dependent arising, and the doctrine of the three bodies to Christian theology. The essay concludes by observing that Buddhist–Christian dialogue in the 1990s had begun to move beyond the original Abe–Cobb framework toward more diverse and methodologically sophisticated engagements.