The History in Front of Comparison: The Reception History of Eckhart and Indian Thought and the Future of East–West Comparison

Abstract

Past comparisons between Meister Eckhart and Eastern religious thought typically were based on the notion of a universal religious experience. Today, those comparisons appear quite arbitrary in light of social constructionist critiques of their universalist presuppositions. This paper argues that such comparisons are less arbitrary than they appear, however, when one takes into account the history of the modern reception of both Eckhart and of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy in the West. Comparison between Eckhart and certain aspects of Hindu and Buddhist thought is justified to the extent that the late nineteenth century encounter with Indic religions formed an integral part of the hermeneutical situation in which Eckhart's works were retrieved.