Two Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversations: Review Essay

Two Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversations.'·R~viewEssay Two Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversations Review Essay Aaron Gross Watson Fellow, Katmandu, Nepal 99 The Emptying God: A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation, edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. and Christopher Ives. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990. 212 pp. $19.00. Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness, edited by Christopher Ives. Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1995. 272 pp. $18.00. Increasingly, spiritually committed individuals have found the need to go beyond their tradition in seeking religious truth. This has led many Christians and a disproportionately large number of American Jews to look Eastward, especially to Buddhism, for spiritual wisdom. Despite this, formal dialogue between Jews and Buddhists has been practically nonexistent. Indeed, the two books reviewed here are the first scholarly works to include exchanges between Jews and Buddhists. Both books focus on the seminal essay, "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata," by Masao Abe, who is presently the main representative of Zen Buddhism in Europe and NorthAmerica. In The Emptying God, one Jewish and six Christian theologians respond to Abe. In Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness, two Jews and six Christians respond. Together the books constitute a highly creative, albeit somewhat chaotic, contribution to dialogue. Indeed, they break new ground, creating openings for deeper future dialogue. Because Divine Emptiness is essentially a follow~up volume to The Emptying God, the discussions in it attain greater depth. However, in both books the range and fertility of ideas is remarkable. While the complexity of ideas and the obscurity of language that is often employed makes this conversation less accessible than it might be, such limitation is perhaps unavoidable at this stage in the interfaith encounter. In "Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata" Abe asserts that the aim of dialogue should be mutual transformation, which will deepen both Christian and Buddhist spirituality so that both faiths may overcome antireligious ideologies, especially Nietzschean nihilism and scientism. Working from his own religious experience and textual study, Abe offers two presentations of the ultimate religious ground. One is the "emptying God," that is, the complete kenosis not only ofChrist, but of God, a kenosis 100 SHOFAR Spring 1999 Vol. 17, No.3 necessitated by God's all-embracing love. The other is "dynamic Sunyata" which does not remain transcendent Sunyata, but ceaselessly and at every moment empties itself, thus becoming a "boundless openness" that contains both wisdom and the compassionate "vow and act" to enlighten all beings. Abe quotes the Prajnaparamita sutra as a succinct expression of his position on the nature of Sunyata: "Sunyata is non-Sunyata (asunyata); therefore it is ultimate Sunyata (atyanta-Sunyata)" (Emptying God, p. 27). In a paraphrase of this important Buddhist scripture, Abe summarizes his vision of the Kenotic God: God is not God (for God is love and completely self-emptying); precisely because God is not a self-affirmative God, God is truly a God oflove (for through complete self-abnegation God is totally identical with everything including sinful humans) (Emptying God, p. 16). Having discussed these foundational religious truths, Abe goes on to discuss themes such as free will, the problem ofevil, the ground ofvalue judgments, and the Holocaust. The respondents to Abe's essay appreciate his creative and sincere efforts at dialogue. However, many of them fmd his formulation of Christian doctrine unacceptable , and they challenge his explication of Buddhist Sunyata, especially as this interpretation impacts ethics. The diversity of responses is so great that I will first briefly summarize each view to convey the range ofreaction. Then I will provide some context for understanding Abe. Finally, I will offer some evaluative remarks. Of all the respondents in The Emptying God, Thomas 1. 1. Altizer is unique and remarkable for the extent ofhis agreement with Abe. Altizer argues that Christians need a more radical understanding ofthe kenotic symbol of the crucifixion. He boldly states that "if the love of God is a self-emptying and self-negating compassion, then it is surely present in a Buddhist Emptiness or Sunyata, and present there more purely than it has ever been in the Christian tradition ... (p. 77). In Altizer's view, "Christian theology itself will inevitably be partial and incomplete if it fails to...