ABSTRACT
In view of the theistic character of Christianity and a ‘very strong non-theistic emphasis’ within Buddhism, Ninian Smart, well-meaning observer of and committed participant in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, declares: ‘there is a gulf … and it cannot I believe be bridged’.1 Smart does not elaborate upon this opinion, but apparently he sees the major difference, the unbridgeable gulf, primarily in the opposed answers of both religions to the question as to whether ultimate reality can be understood as the creator of the universe.2
