Nishitani Keiji and the Nihility of the Christian Cross: On the Dialectic of Imitation and Worship
Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Trang 1-16 - 2023
Tóm tắt
Nishitani Keiji elaborated the celebrated concept of nihility (虚無) in his seminal work Religion and Nothingness. In this paper, I discuss this concept of nihility in relation to the Christian cross and the theological concept of kenosis. After briefly recapitulating the context and function of the theological concept of kenosis, I show how the notion of nihility is particularly apt to problematize the Christian cross from Nishitani’s Mahayana Buddhist standpoint of emptiness (空). Furthermore, I make use of the concept of nihility to shed some light on one of the earliest texts of Nishitani, in which he expressly engages with Christianity and the Christian cross. Read along this line of continuous development in Nishitani’s thinking, his early and critical reflections on the Christian cross can serve to illustrate what is at stake when Nishitani later attempts to show nihility as a preliminary experience; an experience which must be overcome for the subject to reach the experience of true emptiness. I thereby suggest that Nishitani’s early critique of the worship or adoration of the crucified God anticipates and exemplifies the later generalized move beyond the “field of nihility” (虚無の場) unto the field of emptiness (空の場). Thus, I demonstrate how, from his Buddhist standpoint, Nishitani articulates a profound challenge to any Christian theology of the cross.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. (1995). Orthodoxy. Ignatius Press.
Heisig, James W. (2001). Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School. University of Hawai’i Press.
Henry, P. (1957). Kénose. In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible (vol. 5, pp. 7–161). Letouzy et Ané
Hoffmann, A. (2008). Kenosis im Werk Hans Urs von Balthasars und in der japanischen Kyoto-Schule. Kontextuell-dialogische Studien zur Theologie der Kulturen und Religionen, Bd. 17. Borengässer Verlag
Münch, A. (1998). Dimensionen der Leere. Gott als Nichts und Nichts als Gott im christlich-buddhistischen Dialog. Studien zur systematischen Theologie und Ethik, Bd. 16. LIT Verlag
Nishida Kitarō 西田幾多郎 (1947–1989). 『西田幾多郎全集』[Complete works of Nishida Kitarō] 19 volumes. Iwanami Shoten 岩波書店
Nishitani, K. (1982). Religion and Nothingness. Translated by J. V. Bragt. University of California Press
Nishitani K. 西谷啓治 (1986–1995). 『西谷啓治著作集』 [The Collected Works of Nishitani Keiji], 26 volumes. Tokyo: Sōbunsha 創文社.
Nishitani, K. (1990). The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism. Translated by Graham Parkes with Setsuko Aihara. State University of New York Press
Odin, S. (1989). A Critique of the “Kenōsis / Śūnyatā” Motif in Nishida and the Kyoto School. In: Buddhist-Christian Studies (vol. 9, pp. 71–86). University of Hawai'i Press.
Waldenfels, H. (1980). Absolute Nothingness: Foundations for a Buddhist-Christian Dialogue. Translated by J. W. Heisig. Paulist Press
Žižek, S. (2003). The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity. MIT Press Ltd.