The Shentong Tradition and Classical Theism: A Synthesis?

McNabb and Baldwin have recently argued that Classical Theism and Buddhism can be rendered in a logically consistent way. That is, one could theoretically endorse the theses of Classical Theism and the metaphysical theses of what they call mere Buddhism. One criticism of their project goes like this: McNabb and Baldwin’s project, typical to analytic philosophy, is ahistorical. While McNabb and Baldwin’s argument might go through with respect to some very generalized form of Buddhism, McNabb and Baldwin don’t show that actual Buddhists who belong to robust Buddhist traditions can adhere to theism. In this paper, I put forward the hypothesis that the Shentong tradition shows promise as an actual Buddhist tradition that is consistent with Classical Theism.