Suchergebnisse

The editor of this work is concious of opening up a new field of study with this collection of twelve articles by various authors. For this rather special reason it is defined in the title as an "introduction", but the reality is that it is an extremely interesting multi-authored survey with two points of entry. First there are contributions focused on particular ethnic groups: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Salvadoran and Guatemalan. In a second group come essays on the "U.S. Latina and Latino" religious experience as related to specific themes: art, film, health care, literature, music and politics. A final theme, "women", is only explored in the "Latina" variant, as if men and women can be treated in isolation when the gender question is raised. It is quite impossible to review the individual essays here, but the overall concept is imaginative and the editor has done extremely well to bring the contributions together from various quarters. In both groups of essays there is a wonderful liveliness, produced by the excitement of opening up this field over a broad range, and inspired by the vitality of the currently observable religious phenomena themselves.

Review: The relation between religion and ecology has become a big subject nowadays, but this extremely mature work represents the well-considered gist of studies which have taken place over many years. The author combines the training of a natural scientist with experience of socially engaged work with the World Council of Churches and, thirdly, a trained perspective in the comparative study of religions which has been enriched by social-scientific field study in Thailand and frequent interactions with Southeast Asia, India and adjacent countries such as Ladakh and Bhutan. All of this comes together in an immensely readable book, full of factual information and anecdotal illustration. There is even an appendix on medicinal plants identified in Thailand and an another with an impressively long list of Indian NGO's concerned with environmental questions. Much care is taken to make sure that those unsure of particular political developments in particularly relevant periods or of basic reference points in the major religous traditions considered, Hinduism and Buddhism, are not left floundering. This is an extremely useful and manageable textbook for use in a wide variety of university and college courses. Yet it is so much more than a textbook. The work is based throughout on factual material which is not otherwise easily accessible, though more may be found in David Gosling's own publications as listed in the bibliography.

Although the Shinto religion is the major indigenous religious tradition of Japan it is remarkable that, compared with Buddhism, there is no very great flood of publications on the subject. The earliest period of Japanese culture, including Shinto, has been addressed with some good studies and translations. Similarly the modern period from the mid-nineteenth century onwards has also attracted top-quality research, partly because of the political relevance. Yet this leaves many centuries of history for which first-class studies of Shinto in western languages are simply lacking. The purpose of Bernhard Scheid's study of "Yoshida Shinto" is to help to bridge the gap between the ancient and the modern periods. It is a very original piece of work which makes a most significant contribution to the overall history of Shinto.

y Legal issues relating to religion have been a matter of dispute in Japan from the nineteenth century up to the present day, and the Japanese experience in this regard continues to be relevant to international discussions in this area. The article provides a convenient introduction to the subject for readers who are not specialised in the study of Japanese religions. At the same time it contains new materials based on personal observation, particularly in connection with the imperial enthronement ceremonies (daijôsai) which took place in 1990 and which have previously been little documented. Also considered, against this political and legal background, is the underlying question as to how the plurality of religions is currently regarded in Japan. Attention is drawn to the markedly factional character of social institutions in this as in other fields. At the same time it is widely recognised in Japan today that the freedom of religions to exist in their plurality, and in some cases to cooperate with each other, can only be secured on the basis of equitable legal provisions which are respected by all concerned. The section headings may be translated as follows: developmental and secularisation processes in the history of Japanese religions, the plurality of religions as understood in East Asian thought patterns; Japan's current constitution - separation and freedom; borderline problems in the separation of religion and the state; the law on religious corporations; conclusions - tolerance, columnarization (verzuiling) and competition.

This article consists of the full text of an opening lecture for a conference organized by the International Interfaith Centre, at Westminster College, Oxford, England UK, on 19th and 2oth April 1995. A shorter version of the text appeared in the journal World Faiths Encounter 14 (July 1996) pp. 3-11 (published by the World Congress of Faiths). The academic study of religions and dialogue between religions or "interfaith" activities are by no means the same thing. Yet they share one rather fundamental perception, namely that religions are plural in number. The article reflects on the tensions and relations between the two perspectives on the basis of this shared presupposition. It also calls for a rewriting of the history of the comparative study of religions, taking account in particular of the political and ideological background.

National identity and religious diversity in Japan Questions of social and political identity in Japan have almost always been accompanied by perceptions and decisions about religion. This is true with respect both to internal political issues and to the relations between Japan and the wider world. Most commonly these questions have been linked to the changing roles and fortunes of Shinto, the leading indigenous religion of Japan. Central though Shinto is however, it is important to realize that the overall religious situation is more complex and has been so for many centuries. This paper examines some of these complexities. It argues that recent decades in particular have seen the clear emergence of a more general "primal religion" in Japan, leaving Shinto in the position of being one specific religion among others. On the basis of this analysis some of the options for the Shinto religion in an age of internationalization are considered.