Religious Encounters in Transcultural Society (eBook)

David William Kim is visiting fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University.

AcknowledgementsList of Tables and Figures Introduction Part One: Islamic Encounters An Inter-Religious Perspective: The Dialogue of Islam within Abrahamic Religions in the 21st CenturyFarooq HassanWho is My Neighbour?: The Laïcité-Islam Encounter in FrancePauline C. H. KollontaiThe Cultural Muslim, Secularization and the Academic Study of IslamMilad Milani Ummah vs Citizenship: Multi-religious Societies and the Question of Clash of Loyalties with Focus on Muslims of New ZealandMortaza ShamsPart Two: East Asian Religious EncountersChinese Tibetan Buddhists and the Confucian Revival in Contemporary ChinaJoshua EslerNarrative Hybridity of Folk Daoism and National Religion: Religious Imagination in Early Twentieth Century Korean LiteratureSooyoun KimThe Silk Letter: A Case of Transcultural Religious Conversion and ConflictKevin N. CawleyJapanese Religions Outside of Japan: A Case Study of Tenrikyo Missionary Work in Congo and NepalMidori HoriuchiPart Three: Alternative Religious EncountersThe Relevance and Limits of “Hybridization” Theory: The Case of Jubus, “Jewish-Buddhists”Lionel ObadiaA Sethian Religious Encounter: The Astrological Cosmology of an Egyptian Gnostic Community in Tchacos CodexDavid W. KimWorld Rastafarianism and Challenges to the Status of the Rasta WomenStephen D. GlazierDeus and Shangti: Chinese Rites ControversyDaniel S. H. AhnIndexList of Contributions

This volume addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: religious encounters within multi-cultural societies in which significant religious tensions have been produced by modernity and globalization. The authors offer rare insights drawn from their depth of knowledge in particular religious traditions, including Islamic, East Asian, and alternative religious encounters. I strongly recommend this book to any reader interested in understanding the dynamic forces affecting religious traditions in today’s world.

Thematically divided into three parts dealing with Islamic, East Asian, and alternative religious encounters, this fine collection of twelve essays examines various historical and contemporary outcomes of religious encounters across the globe. By including multiple religious traditions, cultural settings, and periods, this volume helps to shed light to the different ways religious adherents have responded to interreligious contact and exchange by means of contestation, adaptation, or alteration. Thus, its specifically broad scope will catch readers' attention and will make it an important contribution for area specialists and students of religion, globalization, and processes of transculturation alike.

What happens when religion meets religion? They fight? They dialogue? They adjust? They merge? All of the above—and more. This volume takes us on a global voyage indicating something of the vast range of reactions by and to religions that find themselves encountering other religions in other cultures. A truly fascinating read.

This book will be a useful tool for specialists of several academic disciplines, including modern historians of Eastern and Western civilizations, historians of religions, sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists. It is also to be recommended to opinion- and decision-makers as a source of information and experiences to help face phenomena which are destined to increase in the near future and need to be wisely governed in a globalized world.