Enlightenment and agape

Continuing from this post, at IPS andrew posted a link to a John Cobb piece comparing Christianity and Buddhism on agape. It's a good one. A couple of excerpts emphasizing how a Buddhist-inflected AQALingus might display some of the traits we've noticed in the previous links.

"I find in Pure Land rhetoric, as in Buddhism generally, a strong focus on enlightenment as the one goal worthy of pursuit. [...] At this point in history I am much more concerned for the salvation of the planet, and especially of the human species, from the misery and destruction we are now bringing upon it than for personal salvation. [...] But I find preoccupation with our inner states an inappropriate response to our global historical situation.


"In the twentieth century the social gospel and the liberation theologies have continued the prophetic emphasis on concrete historical change. [...] I do not see a comparably supportive tradition in Mahayana Buddhism as a whole. By that I do not mean that there are no themes or points of contact for accenting global responsibility of this sort. Buddhists have certainly taken the lead in deploring violence and working for peace. But on the whole the analysis of the what now works against peace still tends to underplay the concrete historical factors that are currently so threatening. The tendency is to contrast the general human condition with enlightenment and to see enlightenment as the way to peace."