Ecce Homo, Ecce Dharma: On the Right Use of Religions

Abstract

(1) The twentieth century has witnessed the murder of 187 million people by human agency. Having lived through the bulk of this most violent century of human civilization, and as a survivor of the carpet bombing of Tokyo, I suggest that the word ‘war’ should be replaced by ‘murder’, as the First World Murder, the Second World Murder, and the Cold Murder. In the face of such cosmic violence, the credibility of the great world religions has been dissipated. Civilization is challenged by the plain truth: ‘The tree is known by its fruit.’ Good fruit would be the elimination of mass murder. Is this a dangerous simplification? Yet, if Christ is identified as ‘the Life’, it must stand. This simplification implies a passionate refocusing and restructuring of Christian theology. The new theology of oikumene is in its birth pangs. (2) The human quest for salvation is expressed in all religions. Thus when Buddhism is mentioned Christianity is implied, and vice versa. No religious tradition is an isolated spiritual reality. (3) When the shape of the bottle changes, the taste of the wine is affected. Culture is the bottle. The gospel is the wine. No particular expression of the Christian faith can be the standard by which all other expressions are judged. (4) The emerging task of theology is a humble one. It is to point to the direction in which it perceives the presence of the truth of Christ. It is the direction, not the precise doctrinal description, which is important. This will open for us new possibilities in theology.