Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia

1. Introduction: Constructing religion and religions in Asia Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink

　Asian Origins: religious formations

2. The Invention of Religions in East Asia Jason Ananda Josephson
3. Revealing the Vedas in ‘Hinduism’: Foundations and Issues of Interpretations of Religion in South Asian Hindu Traditions Andrea Marion Pinkney
4. Dual Belief in Heaven and Spirits: The Metaphysical Foundation of Confucian Morality Kwang-kuo Hwang
5. Sikhism and its Changing Social Structure Surinder Jodhka and Kristina Myrvold

　

Missions, States and Religious Competition

6. Catholicism in India Thomas J. Csordas and Amrita Kurian
   
7. The Localization of Roman Catholicism: Radical Transcendence and Social Empathy in a Philippine Town Julius Bautista
8. The Spread of Islam in Asia through Trade and Sufism (ninth-nineteenth century) Paul Wormser

　

Reform Movements and Modernity

9. Shinto’s Modern Transformations: From Imperial Cult to Nature Worship Aike P. Rots
10. Islamic Reform in Asia Irfan Ahmad
11. Engaged Buddhism in 1920s Japan: the Young East mission for social reform, global Buddhism and world peace Judith Snodgrass
12. Conversion in post-Mao China: from "Rice Christians" to "Cultural Christians" Zheng Yangwen

　

Popular Religions

13. Shamanism in Eurasia: A Mongolian case study in a comparative light Morten Axel Pedersen
14. Chinese folk festivals Thomas DuBois
15. Popular Buddhism: Monks, Magic and Amulets James Taylor
16. Spirit worship and possession in Vietnam and beyond Oscar Salemink
17. Popular Qigong and Transnational Falun Gong Inside and Outside Post-Mao China Scott Dalby
18. Shrines, Religious Healing, and Pilgrimage in South Asia Carla Bellamy
    
19. Revitalised Sufism and the New Piety Movements in Islamic Southeast Asia Julia Day Howell

　

Religion and Globalization: social dimensions

　

20. Reading Gender and Religion in East Asia: Family Formations and Cultural Transformations Fang-Long Shi
21. Confucian Values and East Asian Capitalism: A Variable Weberian Trajectory Jack Barbalet
22. Religion and Asia’s Middle Classes Daromir Rudnyckyj
23. Buddhism: modernization or globalization? Lionel Obadia
24. Hinduism and Globalization: Gurus, Yoga and Migration in Northern Europe Knut Axel Jacobsen
25. Internet and Religion in Asia Sam Han
    
26. Globalising the Asian Muslim Umma: Alternating Movements East-West of Spirituality, Reform and Militant Jihad Pnina Werbner
27. Asian Pentecostalism: Revivals, Mega-Churches, and Social Engagement Terence Chong and Daniel P.S. Goh

　Conclusion

28.     Religion, Religions and Modernization Bryan S. Turner

Biography

Bryan S. Turner is the Presidential Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Committee on Religion at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and concurrently Professor of the Sociology of Religion at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. He was the research leader on globalization and religion in the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (2005-9) and the Alona Evans Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College (2009-10). He edited the New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion (2009) and he is the editor of the Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia Series. He was awarded a doctorate of letters by the University of Cambridge in 2009.

Oscar Salemink is Professor in the Anthropology of Asia at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Amsterdam. His current research concerns religious and ritual practice in everyday life in Vietnam and the East and Southeast Asian region. Recent publications The Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders (2003); The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development (2004) and A World of Insecurity: Anthropological perspectives on human security (2010).

As all good handbooks, this one is a mine of information, including a host of references for following up the reading of any one of its chapters. More than that, many of its chapters, but especially its introduction and conclusion, contextualise their topics in theoretical debates in the sociological, anthropological and historical comparison of religions, wisely avoiding any attempts at authoritative definitions. But the best thing about it is the focus, beyond doctrines and philosophies, on religious practices be they internet puja, mother-goddess spirit possession, or the sacralisation of place.

Stephan Feuchtwang

London School of Economics, UK

 

Religions in Asia presents a truly global combination of overviews and focused studies that traverses an Asian diasporic world stretching from London to Mongolia and deals with topics as diverse as amulets and the internet. This theoretically-informed collection will be welcomed by all those seeking authoritative but student-friendly essays that illuminate the multiple ways in which global interactions continue to influence Asia’s religious beliefs and praxis.

Barbara Watson Andaya

University of Hawai‛i

 

The Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia boldly challenges, critiques, and expands social scientific theories of religion as it illuminates religious practices and global connections. This handbook’s vast scope makes it a necessary reference for anyone interested in contemporary religion, globalization, and social change in Asia. 　

Rachel Rinaldo

University of Virginia, USA

 

This brilliant collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the religions of Asia. One of the rare books that offers a truly cosmopolitan dialogue across disciplines and cultures, it pushes the boundaries of contemporary thought on religion. A symphonic account of religions in Asia as they go through profound transformations in our global age, this volume prepares us for a better understanding of the future of religions.

Anna Sun

Kenyon College, USA