Normativity, “Acceptance,” and Fractals: Perry Schmidt-Leukel and the Future of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

The purpose of this paper is to position Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s ‘fractal’ approach to religious pluralism in the context of the theology of religions’ evolution over time. Starting from an overview of Ippolito Desideri’s engagement of Tibetan Buddhism in the eighteenth century, the paper compares different approaches to interreligious epistemology, underscoring the differences between Francis Clooney’s understanding of rationality and the nature of reason in early Buddhist philosophy. The paper presents Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s conceptual model as a viable approach that escapes the dichotomy between classical and postmodern approaches to religious diversity, offering an example that brings into conversation Christian and Tibetan soteriology.