Salemink Oscar - Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia

Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia

Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia provides a contemporary and comprehensive overview of religion in contemporary Asia. Compiled and introduced by Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink, the Handbook contains specially written chapters by experts in their respective fields.

The wide-ranging introduction discusses issues surrounding Orientalism and the historical development of the discipline of Religious Studies. It conveys how there has been many centuries of interaction between different religious traditions in Asia and discusses the problem of world religions and the range of concepts, such as high and low traditions, folk and formal religions, and popular and orthodox developments.

Individual chapters are presented in the following five parts:

Asian origins: religious formations;

Missions, states and religious competition;

Reform movements and modernity;

Popular religions;

Religion and globalization: social dimensions.

Striking a balance between offering basic information about religious cultures in Asia and addressing the complexity of employing a Western terminology in societies with radically different traditions, this advanced-level reference work will be essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of Asian Religions, Sociology, Anthropology, Asian Studies and Religious Studies.

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, USA and concurrently Professorial Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, Australia. He was the research leader on globalization and religion in the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (20052009) and the Alona Evans Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College (20092010). He is the editor of the Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia Series and 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 include 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 Asias religious beliefs and praxis.

Barbara Watson Andaya, University of Hawaii, USA

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 handbooks 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

Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia

Edited by
Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink

First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2015 Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink

The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the contributors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Routledge handbook of religions in Asia / edited by Bryan S. Turner
and Oscar Salemink.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-63503-5 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-315-75853-4
(ebook) 1. AsiaReligion. I. Turner, Bryan S., editor. II. Salemink,
Oscar, editor.
BL1033.R68 2014
200.95dc23
2014006842

ISBN: 978-0-415-63503-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75853-4 (ebk)

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