Shinran’s Conversion in the Light of Paul’s Conversion

Shinran (1173-1262) is the founder of the Jodo Shinshu (or True Pure Land Sect) which is said to have over thirteen million believers today. The life of Shinran was that of a pilgrim in which he gradually deepened and purified his faith in Amida Buddha. His life was marked by conversion(s), which he had existentially experienced. In studying the texts dealing with Shinran’s conversion and Paul’s conversion, the author has employed the hermeneutic approach taken up by Luis Alonso Schokel, Paul Ricoeur, Hans-George Gadamer and others. The originality of this work consists in its reading of the Buddhist and Christian texts, by following the hermeneutic approach, in order to discover some structural similarities between the two conversions.