Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Its Significance and Future Task -- 2. A Dynamic Unity in Religious Pluralism: A Proposal from the Buddhist Point of View -- 3. 'There is No Common Denominator for World Religions': The Positive Meaning of this Negative Statement -- 4. The Impact of Dialogue with Christianity on My Self-Understanding as a Buddhist -- 5. The Problem of Self-Centeredness as the Root-Source of Human Suffering -- 6. Suffering in the Light of Our Time: Our Time in the Light of Suffering: Buddha's First Holy Truth -- 7. Negation in Mahayana Buddhism and in Tillich: A Buddhist View of 'The Significance of the History of Religion for the Systematic Theologian' -- 8. Double Negation as an Essential for Attaining the Ultimate Reality: Comparing Tillich and Buddhism -- 9. A Response to Professor Langdon Gilkey's Paper, 'Tillich and the Kyoto School' -- 10. In Memory of Dr Paul Tillich -- 11. Beyond Buddhism and Christianity -- 'Dazzling Darkness' -- 12. Thomas J. J. Altizer's Kenotic Christology and Buddhism -- 13. Zen Buddhism and Hasidism -- Similarities and Contrasts -- 14. The Interfaith Encounter of Zen and Christian Contemplation: A Dialogue between Masao Abe and Keith J. Egan -- 15. Interfaith Relations and World Peace: A Buddhist Perspective -- 16. Faith and Self-Awakening: A Search for the Fundamental Category Covering All Religious Life -- 17. God, Emptiness and Ethics -- 18. Responses to Langdon Gilkey -- 19. Spirituality and Liberation: A Buddhist-Christian Conversation / Masao Abe and Paul F. Knitter.

"Like all other religions, Buddhism is deeply involved in the religiously pluralistic situation of the world today, and is also involved in inter-religious dialogue. However, the Buddhist view of inter-religious dialogue is significantly different from, say, that of Christianity. In Christianity Jesus Christ, being the only incarnation in history, has an inexplicable uniqueness. It must be maintained even in interfaith dialogue. By contrast, in Buddhism Guatama Buddha is not the only Buddha (an awakened one) but one of many Buddhas. His uniqueness is realised in the fact that he is the first Buddha in human history. Furthermore, the Buddhist teaching of dependent co-origination and emptiness not only provides a dynamic common basis for various religions but also will suggest a creative cooperation amongst world religions. This book clarifies such a Buddhist view of inter-religious dialogue from various perspectives, and it shows a leading Buddhist thinker of the twentieth century engaged in ongoing dialogue with a variety of Western theologies and theologians."--BOOK JACKET.