Oriental Verities on the American Frontier: The 1893 World's Parliament of Religions and the Thought of Masao Abe

Abstract

Even a casual perusal of the past numbers of Buddhist-Christian Studies can hardly fail to impress one with the air of mutual respect, of deeply felt spiritual and intellectual camaraderie, that imbues the recent efforts at Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Here, surely, is religious and academic communication at its very best: revelations of profound concerns shared across deep cultural divides, the meeting of hearts and minds in the joint quest for greater understanding of the human condition, and the cross-fertilization of ideas in an atmosphere of good humor and intellectual precision. I am neither Buddhologian nor theologian, and I have not been involved personally in this dialogue, but my admittedly quick review of its literature has left me sincerely moved by the sense of community shared by its participants. Without denying the validity of this sense of community, however, I must point out another reaction that is not nearly so positive-actually an entire set of reactions-to the recent enterprise of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. These reactions devolve from the observation that this community of dialogue, however commendable, is remarkably limited in both membership and scope. That is, the list of major participants has been relatively stable over the life of this journal, and the discussions have focused on a limited number of topics of philosophical and theological interest. In fact, one might say without too much exaggeration that the core tradition of dialogue represented in Buddhist-Christian Studies has been between one Buddhist, Masao Abe, and his Christian friends. And indeed, Abe's training seems to have achieved its natural culmination in his participation in this dialogue. To appreciate this fully, the reader should realize the extent to which Abe's success has come in the latter stages of his career and in lands far beyond his own native Japan. Although Abe has not published a single monograph in his native language, nor been involved in pri-