Irreversibility and Reciprocity in the Divine–Human Relationship

Abstract

The Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies has devoted much attention to the problem of “irreversibility and reciprocity” in the divine–human relationship. This chapter returns to the problem from the standpoint of “theo-anthropology,” which the late Prof. Katsumi Takizawa advocated in his dialogue with Karl Barth and with Japanese Buddhist philosophers. The issues to be addressed are as follows: the meaning of Barthian concept of Immmanuel (God-with-us), the relation between Christian revelation and Buddhist self-awakening, and the background philosophies of Being (ontology), of Nothingness (sunyatology), and of Becoming (hayathology).