Masao Abe and the Problem of Evil in Buddhism and Christianity

In his prolegomena to "The Problem of Evil in Christianity and Buddhism," Masao Abe compares how Christianity and Buddhism explain the conflict between good and evil, the absolute ethical imperative to do good and avoid evil, and the problem that human beings inevitably fail to comply with...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lehe, Robert Tad 1949- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Hawaii Press [2019]
In: Buddhist Christian studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 39, Pages: 217-226
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Abe, Masao 1915-2006 / Evil / Buddhism / Christianity
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AX Inter-religious relations
BL Buddhism
CB Christian life; spirituality
Further subjects:B Sunyata
B kenotic
B Nirvana
B Theodicy
B problem of evil
B Good and evil
B Emptiness
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:In his prolegomena to "The Problem of Evil in Christianity and Buddhism," Masao Abe compares how Christianity and Buddhism explain the conflict between good and evil, the absolute ethical imperative to do good and avoid evil, and the problem that human beings inevitably fail to comply with that imperative. Abe argues that Buddhism and Christianity agree on the absoluteness of the imperative, but that Buddhism's notions of the relativity and interdependence of good and evil and "absolute nothingness" beyond good and evil make intelligible, as Christianity does not, the necessity of evil, without undermining the ethical imperative to do good, and solve the problem of the failure to overcome the duality of good and evil at the ethical level. I explore advantages and disadvantage of the responses of Buddhism and Christianity to the problem of evil, according to Abe's analysis. I argue that Buddhism enjoys an advantage in dealing with the origin of evil and the conflict between good and evil without the burden of Christianity's problem of theodicy, but suffers a difficulty in explaining why commitment to the ethical imperative is a prerequisite to enlightenment. Christianity's identification of the good with God gives an advantage in explaining the relation between the ethical imperative and the religious ultimate, but encounters the problem of explaining the origin of evil.
ISSN:1527-9472
Contains:Enthalten in: Buddhist Christian studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/bcs.2019.0016