Bound for the West

This paper builds on Tomoko Masuzawa’s influential critique in The Invention of World Religions by analyzing how colonial and theological frameworks shaped Western representations of Pure Land Buddhism. While Masuzawa exposed the Eurocentric foundations of religious studies, this study examines a specific dimension of that legacy: Christian theological interpretations of Pure Land Buddhism. Sixteenth-century Jesuit missionaries in Japan described Pure Land Buddhism through Protestant analogies, framing it as a distorted counterpart to Christianity. This characterization persisted into the twentieth century, notably in Joseph Dahlmann’s writings, which cast Pure Land Buddhism as counterfeit Christianity and an illegitimate form of Buddhism. Later, theologians Karl Barth and Henri de Lubac reinforced this comparative lens, arguing that although Pure Land Buddhism shares certain features with Protestantism, it ultimately falls short of Christian theological standards. By interrogating these misrepresentations and their impact on academic discourse, this paper demonstrates how Western scholars and theologians constructed narratives that misrepresented Pure Land Buddhism and shaped its reception in Western intellectual history

Buddhism · Christian theology · Christianity · Framing (construction · Protestantism · Pure land · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Karl Barth and Christian Theology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

• Deutsche Jesuiten in Japan

  Harald Fuess•Japanstudien•2006

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• De Lubac, Pure Land Buddhism, and Roman Catholicism

  David Grumett, Thomas Plant•The Journal of Religion•2012

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• The Invention of World Religions

  Tomoko Masuzawa•The Invention of World Religions•2005

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