Guest Editors’ Introduction

The State of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in Korea

Buddhism and Christianity are unarguably two of the most dominant religions in contemporary Korea. The period and context for the introduction of each tradition differ significantly. Buddhism was introduced to Korea between the fourth and sixth centuries, and since then, it has played a significant role in the evolution of Korean society. Catholicism was introduced to Korea in the eighteenth century, while Protestantism came to Korea in the late nineteenth century.¹ Despite these differences, the roles and influence each of these faiths have had and continue to have on contemporary Korean society and the lives of the Korean people cannot be overemphasized. Although they form integral parts of Korea’s social and religious life, Buddhists and Christians have not always had an amicable relationship, and the conflict between them has at times turned violent. In recent years, efforts have been made by the two religious groups to ameliorate the unfortunate reality of their lack of mutual understanding. This has happened more at the level of practitioners than in academic discourse.²

Korea may be one of the best places for undertaking a Buddhist-Christian dialogue as it has almost an equal number of Christians and Buddhists,³ as Bernard Senécal notes in his essay. Despite this fact, the Buddhist-Christian dialogue in Korea is still in its initial stage. Serious dialogue at the scholarly level is far more needed than people think. This situation stands in contrast to the trend in the West. As Asian religious-philosophical traditions became better known in the Western intellectual and cultural milieu, comparative studies of traditional Western religions (and philosophies) and those of the East began to take shape. One such East-West dialogue of intellectual traditions took the form of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. One can consider two directions in this encounter. From the Eastern side, the Kyoto School thinkers of Japan have produced rich sources for the Buddhist-Christian dialogue that encompass both philosophy and religion from Western intellectual disciplines. Nishida Kitaro’s Nothingness and Religious Worldview, Nishitani Keiji’s Religion and Nothingness, which is a translation of the text What is Religion?(Shūkyō to wa nanika 宗教とわ何か), and Tanabe Hajime’s Philosophy as Metanoetics,to name a few, offer compelling discussions of the different ways the East and the West envision ultimate reality and religious practice. In this interreligious dialogue along with East-West comparative philosophy, one finds rich sources for the potential of a Buddhist-Christian dialogue. In the context of Korea, as Robert Buswell mentions in his response, Paek Yongsŏng 白龍城 (1864–1940) was the first who found it necessary to consider Christianity.⁴ Wŏn Buddhism adopted various aspects of Christianity, as Jin Y. Park’s paper discusses. More theoretical engagements of Buddhism and Christianity as religious paradigms can be found in Kim Iryŏp’s 金一葉 (1896–1971) discussion of Christianity from a Zen Buddhist perspective, in which she discusses how God and Buddha share the same ground (Kim 1960, 59; English translation, Park 2014, 96).⁵

The other direction comes from the West. As Buddhism became known to American society and the American intellectual world, which from the early twentieth century was especially influenced by the popularity of Zen Buddhism, some of the major theologians initiated interreligious dialogues, and scholars, such as John Cobb, Thomas Merton, and Paul Knitter (who participated in the Roundtable for this issue), took the Buddhist-Christian dialogue as the core of their religio-philosophical thinking.⁶ In the context of the Korean intellectual and religious scene, such scholarly dialogues seem to be fewer than one might expect. Some of the notable scholars of Buddhist-Christian dialogue are Pyŏn Sŏnhwan, Kim Kyŏngjae, Keel Hee-Sung (Kil Hŭisŏng), Oh Kang-nam (O Kangnam), and Kim Sung Hae (Kim Sŭnghye). A Methodist pastor and pluralist theologian, Pyŏn Sŏnhwan tried to construct a “Korean inculturation theology” (t’och’ak hwasinhak 토착화신학), a theology envisioned through dialogue with Asian religions, especially Buddhism. In his writings, Pyŏn discusses the possibility and necessity of a Buddhist-Christian dialogue in the...