Download or read book Meaning, Consensus, and Dialogue in Buddhist-Christian Communication written by John D'Arcy May and published by Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 1984 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no lack of phenomenological literature on both Buddhism and Christianity, nor of theological literature on the «dialogue» between them. There is need, however, of a theory of communication between such communities of belief. Analyses of Buddhist and Christian canonical texts reveal the linguistic patterns underlying the «construction» of meaning in the earliest communities; a theory of consensus formation provides a broader framework for understanding the development and interaction of social meaning systems; and in this framework the problems posed by Buddhist-Christian communication are formulated and analysed.