A Message from the Editor
I
n presenting to the public this second issue of its annual journal, Religion East & West, the Institute for World Religions continues to express its commitment to promoting knowledge and understanding of the world’s faiths. Accordingly, this issue offers a truly ecumenical reading of ethics in religious traditions. All the authors write from a lifetime of immersion in the study of others’ faiths as well as their own. The authentic voices emerging from these pages testify that it is indeed possible to achieve that interreligious trust and understanding which has become essential to the human future. This issue’s lead article is by Mary Evelyn Tucker, who is noted for her series of books on ecology as it is seen in several of the world’s religions. Her focus here is on the need for all religions to enter a new historical phase in which they teach and inspire reverence for the biosphere and for nonhuman life. A response to her address is given by Judith Berling of the Graduate Theological Union. In another article, the late Thomas F. MacMillan, who was active both as a teacher of world religions and as a Baptist pastor, finds common ground in the virtue-based ethics of the Thomist tradition and Buddhist Mahayana. An overview of the ethics of Islam comes from Snjezana Akpinar, the president of Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Zhuohao Yu, a professor at Pacific Lutheran Seminary, writes on moral education in the neo-Confucian tradition. In Mary Bockover’s article, Confucian ethics is the basis of a critique of the Internet. To the voices of these scholars who are drawn to religious studies we have added the voices of religious professionals who are drawn to scholarship. Swami Prabuddhananda of the Vedanta Society of Northern California writes on ethics in Hinduism. Sister Marianne Farina of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross explores methods of achieving interfaith communication and genuine friendship. Finally, there is a short sampling of the ethical teachings of the eminent Buddhist monk and teacher, the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the Institute for World Religions and its sponsor, Dharma Realm Buddhist University. We welcome your comments.
issue 2, june 2002
vii