The Joyful Exchange and the Supreme Secret: Luther, Śāntideva, and a Comparative Theology of Exchange

Until now, Lutherans encountering Buddhism have largely done so by way of Shinran's doctrine of other‐power or by way of the Kyoto School's reflections on emptiness. The present essay charts a different path for comparative theology by setting Luther's joyful exchange alongside the exchange of self and other that Śāntideva develops in the Bodhicaryāvatāra . In each tradition, the exchange is something given before it is something done; each weakens the self's assertion that it owns its fortunes and misfortunes, and each can be acquired over time as a settled disposition, a habit of dwelling within the neighbor.