K. Nishitani’s treaties on Pure Land Buddhism are not so much in comparison with those of Zen Buddhism, but there are very important understandings in them.
For instance, in “Religion and Nothingness” (translated by J. v. Bragt) Nishitani says, “In religion, however, faith comes about only on a horizon where this field has been overstepped and the framework of the ‘ego’ has been broken through.”（p. 26) “Faith, in contrast, marks the point at which the self is really and truly a solitary self, and really and truly becomes the self itself. At the same time, however, this faith is not simply a thing of the self, but takes on the shape of a reality.”（p. 27) “This reality comes about at once as the absolute negation and the absolute affirmation of the solitary self.”（ibid.) “The moment one pure act of faith (信の一念）springs up, this faith is constituted as a state of nonregression (不退転）through which the believer enters a state of ‘right confirmation (正定聚）’. This is so because this faith is not merely a conscious act of the self, but an actualization within the self of the reality we have been speaking of.”（p. 28)
Those understandings are very essential in the Shinran’s thought. We shall be able to realize the true meaning of “shinjin (faith)” in Shinran from the universal viewpoint by them.

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Nisnitani’s philosophy of religion originates in the problem of “I am”. “I am” is not an abstract idea, but a concrete and historical fact. This intrinsically historical character of his philosophy leads him to take interest in Christianity. His interest in Christianity，therefore, has an essentially historical character.
First, a brief investigation is made into how and to what extent Christianity is referred to in Nishitani’s writings. Including his profound and extensive studies on German mysticism and Kiekegaard, which should be examined independently, Nishitani shows a wide and accurate knowledge of almost all the topics of history and thought of Christianity from Bible to present-day. What deserves our special attention is his studies on Anselm. He criticizes K.Barth’s interpretation of Anselm from a historical viewpoint as well.
Next, how his interpretation of “I am” is developed in relation to Christianity is examined on the basis of his interpretations of Ex.3,14 and Gal.2,20. In both cases he emphasizes the “I am” in historical situations rather than simple “I” or pure “being”.
We arrive at the conclusion that, in so far as Nishitani’s philosophy of religion originates and develops itself in his historical consciousness, his relationship with Christianity was essential and inevitable. Throughout his philosophical life Christianity continues to be his earnest and helpful companion.

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For Nishitani Keiji, “Directness or 直接性” of the Reality was one of the most fundamental issues in his whole system of philosophy of religion. Although procedure of his thought life has shown the three clear-cut stages, as he recalled in his later life by using such terms as “pre-philosophical”，“philosophical” and “post-philosophical”，there lies his consistent interest in the “Directness” of the Reality in his deep experience of his life.
In his young days, Nishitani was suffered from the uncertain feeling of his own existence by his father’s death or his own disease, so much as he once decided to become a Zen monk. In those days, Nishitani came to the steady selfconfidence; “I am alone and nobody else helps me”. In this way he began to concentrate himself upon the self-inquiry (koji-kyuumei or 己事究明）. What made him decide to study philosophy amid of such situation was no other than the issue of nihilism, since a nihilism inevitably has the direction to philosophy.
A study in philosophy however gave him another uncertainty, and he felt as if his feet are not certainly touching to the ground. About that time, he entered the gate of Zen monastery, and his philosophy (such as Denken des Denkens in Hegel) transcended into the “post-philosophical” realm where philosophy was no more mere philosophy but Lebensphilosophie. Through his lifelong practice of Zazen meditation, Nishitani seems to have enjoyed his “Directness” through his existential touch with the Reality which had opened itself both within and transcending himself.

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“Millenarianism” is a term originally employed by medieval and early modern European historians, but has been referred to in various studies of many cultural, religious and nativistic movement outside the western world, such as the Prophetism in Africa, the Ghost Dance in North America, and the Cargo Cults in Melanesia. There is no consistent use of terminology among historians and cultural anthropologists, and the aim of this thesis is to offer some prospect for the integration of these studies.
Some fundamental standpoints are discerned among them. Critical examination of these standpoints —psychological, sociological— of science of religion, would make two opposite tendencies clear. One is the view that millenarianism is something absurd or eccentric, and that the absurdity is to be reduced to psychological or sociological deficiencies. This is nothing but “labelling”. The other makes efforts to understand millenarianism which is essentially alien to our secular world view. It must be the process of understanding to endeavor to explain what seems alien to us, and we call this kind of attitude “proper appreciation”. Most studies are situated between these two polaritic tendencies.
How can we avoid the labelling? There is something to learn in the standpoint of science of religion. As the science of religion is concerned with the integrated understanding of various religious phenomena which seem, at a glance, so hardly to be identifiable that we have difficulties in comprehending them under one word “religion”，so we must make much of our identification of many millenarian movements, for we have the tacit understanding that we also have an element in our experience which causes millenarianism. That is why we can recognize millenarianism. Thus, the preliminary lines for the study are laid down. First, the proper appreciation should be pursued as far as possible, not only to avoid labelling, but to carry our tacit understanding of millenarianism into direct statements. Second, the proper appreciation results in extending the application of millenarianism, because any of its limitation might presume the prejudiced labelling. This is only an immediate plan for the study, but we must start from it.

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In Chapter XXVI of The Principles of Psychology，William James tries to argue for the existence of “will” using a physiological concept of the reflexive action. His argument of “will” seems to consist of the two seemingly conflicting standpoints, of which one is a physiological psychology and the other is an introspective psychology. The former enables him to discard the dualism of mind and matter and to connect the voluntary actions with the reflexive actions, the latter proving the existence of mind’s functions, that is, to choose an object of mind and to make an effort to attend to it. In the last analysis, James’ conception of mind could be thought of as the teleologically interpreted reflexive arc.
This paper is intended to deal with the relationship of these psychological schemes and his theism, which is described in the papers included in The Will to Believe, such as “Reflexive Action and Theism”，“The Dilemma of Determinism”, and so on. His concept of “God” is a relative and functional term as his concept of “self” is. So his theism is not a traditional one, but something like an indeterministic world-view, which permits “chance” or “effort” to contribute, for its part, to the future of the world.

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