In the Company of Friends: Exploring Faith and Understanding with Buddhists and Christians

Contents

v i i Contents Foreword by Charles Hallisey xi Acknowledgments xxiii Introductory Note xxvii List of Abbreviations xxxiii I THE QUEST FOR RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDING WITH THERAVĀDA, JŌDO SHINSHŪ BUDDHISTS, AND CHRISTIANS Chapter 1 On Understanding Religious Men and Women 3 Chapter 2 Truth and History in Interreligious Understanding: A Preliminary Inquiry 13 Chapter 3 Interreligious Understanding as a Religious Quest 23 II THE DYNAMICS OF FAITH AND BEYOND: PERSONALLY AND IN AN EVER EXPANDING COMMUNITY Chapter 4 Saṃvega and the Incipient Phase of Faith 37 v i i i I n t he C om p a ny of Fr ie nd s Chapter 5 Shinjin: More than “Faith”? 45 Chapter 6 Celebrating Our Faith 63 Chapter 7 Colloquia in Faith 73 III CONVERGING AFFIRMATIONS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES Chapter 8 “Relying Upon” or “Taking Refuge” as a Genuinely Human Activity 85 Chapter 9 Love and Compassion as Given 99 Chapter 10 Toward an Understanding of What Is Inconceivable 109 Chapter 11 The Arising of Salvific Realization as Buddhists and Christians Have Affirmed 123 Chapter 12 Relationality in Religious Awareness 135 IV BUILDING FROM OUR PAST INTO OUR COMMON FUTURE Chapter 13 From Controversy to Understanding: More than a Century of Progress 163 Chapter 14 Religion and the Imperatives for Development 175 Chapter 15 Getting First Things First: Some Reflections on a Response by Venerable Ananda Maitreya 181 C o nt e nt s i x Chapter 16 Translational Theology: An Expression of the Faith of Christians in a Religiously Plural World 187 Chapter 17 Buddhists and Baptists: In Conversation into Our Common Future 199 V THE CHALLENGE OF OUR FUTURE Chapter 18 Will There Be Faith on Earth? 217 Notes 225 A Bibliographic Note on the Context of Origin and Subsequent Versions of the Chapters in this Volume 287 Bibliography 291 Index 305 ...