Buddha and Religious Diversity

J. Abraham Vélez de Cea is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Eastern Kentucky University, USA.

• Introduction Part 1: A Cross-Cultural and Interreligious Interpretation of the Typology Exclusivism-Inclusivism-Pluralism 1. A New Framework 2. Pluralism and Degrees of Openness Part 2: Exclusivism 3. Clarifying the Concept of Exclusivism 4. Is There Liberation outside Buddhism? Part 3: Inclusivism 5. Retrieving the Early Buddhist Position 6. Are Buddhists Inclusivists or Exclusivists with Inclusivist Attitudes? Part 4: Pluralistic-Inclusivism 7. From Inclusivism to Pluralistic-Inclusivism 8. Beyond Buddhist Inclusivism Part 5: Pluralism 9. Was the Buddha a Pluralist? 10. Applying John Hick’s Model of Pluralism to the Pāli Nikāyas? Part 6: Starting a Dialogue between the Buddha and other Models of Religious Diversity 11. A Comparative Appraisal of Hick, Heim, and the Buddha

"The Buddha and Religious Diversity is an outstanding work of theological analysis and a thought-provoking contribution to Buddhist critical-constructive reflection, which ought to be read by anyone concerned with Buddhism’s relation to other ways of seeing, and living properly within, our world—whether those ways are religious or not." - Roger Jackson, Carleton College in Northfield, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly