Rediscovering the West

An Inquiry Into Nothingness and Relatedness

By Stephen C. Rowe

Subjects: Comparative Philosophy
Series: SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions
Paperback : 9780791419922, 222 pages, August 1994
Hardcover : 9780791419915, 222 pages, August 1994

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Part I. Seeing the World with Zen

1. Western Teetering and the Japanese Claim

2. Worldview as the Problem

3. Buddhist Perspective and Zen

4. Eastern Presence in Encounter

5. World Perspective

6. Ram Dass, the Roshi, and Liberal Education

7. L. A.:Searching for Post-traditional Wisdom

Part II Rediscovering the West

8. Standing Our Ground

9. From Dialectic to Feminism

10. A View on the Western Drama

11. Testimony of Survivors

12. The Mystical Christ

13. The Radiance of Socrates

14. Jesus as Christ

15. Death and Rebirth

Part III. Relatedness as Practice

16. Dialogue and Development

17. The Practical Turn

18. Finding Western Practice

19. Sitting and Relating

20. Earth as Home

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Stephen C. Rowe is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Grand Valley State University. He is the author of Leaving and Returning: On America's Contribution to a World Ethic; and editor of Living Beyond Crisis: Essays on Discovery and Being in the World; and Claiming a Liberal Education.

Reviews

"This is a truly distinguished book on an extremely significant topic: the value axis of Western and, especially American culture. There are countless books dealing with a critique of Western culture in the light of spiritual ideas, but very few things in the Zen perspective with such sophistication and acuteness while remaining faithful to the West. " — Jacob Needleman

"This book is a remarkable achievement in the ongoing East-West encounter. Rowe forcefully and carefully pursues both Eastern and Western traditions, critical of each yet constructive in relation to both. In dialogue with the East, Rowe grapples with Zen and the Kyoto School, and I acknowledge his approach to be proper. On the Western Side, he emphasizes practice in relation to Western experience. He demonstrates how encounter with the East provides the ground upon which reclaiming Western integrity becomes possible. Reappropriation of Western tradition requires integration of Eastern insight. " — Masao Abe