Barth’s Theology of Religion and Dōgen’s Nondualism

James Farwell begins by challenging the now-common classification of Barth’s theology of religions as “exclusivism,” calling his position rather a “kerygmatically generated inverse pluralism.” Arguing that Barth’s project is a rejection of any theology of religions, Farwell goes on to engage Barth as a partner in comparative theology, particularly in conversation with the Zen teacher Dōgen, who founded the Soto Zen school of Japanese Buddhism. Despite Barth’s own quick rejection of Zen Buddhism as a religion that seeks salvation in human striving, Farwell finds in Dōgen a critique of religion very similar to Barth’s own. That surprising convergence is itself a worthwhile fruit of comparative theological study. Coupled with this critique, however, Dōgen offers an illuminating nondualism that makes no ultimate distinction between practice and realization, between the path and the goal of “salvation.” This offers a new insight that may helpfully temper Barth’s own emphasis on God’s revealing Word as over against human effort.