Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia - 9780415635035

The Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia provides a strong and comprehensive overview of religion in contemporary Asia. Compiled and introduced by Bryan S. Turner, one of the world’s leading sociologists of religion, the Handbook contains specially written chapters by experts in their respective fields.

The comprehensive introduction discusses issues surrounding Orientalism and the historical construction of such terms as ‘Hinduism’. 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, popular and orthodox developments.

Individual chapters are presented in the following six sections:

• Asian Religious Traditions
• Rise of States and Religious Competition
• Popular Religions
• Social Dimensions of Religion
• Reform Movements and Modernity
• Globalization

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 Religion, Sociology, Anthropology, Asian Studies and Religious Studies.