Overview

This study contends that, due to the parallel religious issues respectively raised by the late classical transition to decentralized feudal rule in Japan and by the Black Death in Europe, Buddhist theological developments mirror in their internal logic the succession from late medieval Catholicism to Lutheranism to Calvinism. This work identifies the Kamakura Takeover and the Black Death as the respective socio-cultural events that gave rise to a works-centered Buddhism and a works-centered Christianity. It then argues that first-generation Japanese reformer Honen (not the second-generation reformer Shinran) is the best counterpart to Martin Luther, both of whom taught a message of salvation by faith alone. Moreover, it proposes that second-generation Christian reformer John Calvin is the best counterpart to Shinran, both of whom proclaimed a message of salvation by grace alone. This book will appeal to scholars in Buddhist-Christian Studies, Japanese Buddhism, Reformation Studies, Christian Theology, and Comparative Religion.

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9780773415492

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"""[The author's] work makes a significant contribution to Buddhist-Christian Studies."" (Prof. John K. Simmons Western Illinois University) ""This most engaging book identifies real parallels in the lives and theologies of first generation reformers Honen and Luther as well as the later reformers Shinran and Calvin."" (Prof. Kay K. Jordan Radford University)"""

[The author's] work makes a significant contribution to Buddhist-Christian Studies. (Prof. John K. Simmons Western Illinois University) This most engaging book identifies real parallels in the lives and theologies of first generation reformers Honen and Luther as well as the later reformers Shinran and Calvin. (Prof. Kay K. Jordan Radford University)

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