K. M. University, India Christianity in the Land of Santhals: a study of Resistance and Acceptance in Historical Perspective(03U)

Anti-Esoteric Polemics in Academic Discourse(13G)

When contemporary academics discuss "magic", in most cases they are dependent on Tylor's and Frazer's intellectualist theories, Mauss' and Durkheim's functionalism, and Lévy-Bruhl's theory of participation. These theories may be mixed and combined in various more or less interesting ways; but usually this is done within a general context that is more basic than the theories themselves, and the validity of which remains largely unexamined. This context is and remains essentially the Tylorean/Frazerian triad "religion - science - magic". Its point of departure is that "religion" (however defined) is something different from modern science and rationality. That relatively unproblematic distinction having been made, it is followed by the observation that there are certain phenomena which are likewise quite clearly different from modern science and rationality, but somehow do not quite seem to fit the model of "religion" either. This third category is referred to by a variety of names, the very abundancy of which already demonstrates that it is in fact a waste-basket filled with left-overs: "magic", "the occult" (resp. "occultism", "occult science"), "superstition", "mysticism", "esotericism", "the irrational", "primitive thought" (cf. "fetishism", "idolatry"), and so on. Tacitly assuming such a triad, academics have usually been in favour of "science and rationality", respectful at least towards "religion", and quite negative about "magic and the occult". This paper will explore some rhetoric strategies that have been used by academics to exclude the third category - and thereby the scholars who study it - from the domain of legitimate academic discourse.

Symposium, English
Hara, Shinjo

Rissho University, Japan

The Notion of Sin as Seen in the Lotus Sutra(09M)

How did Nichiren, who proposed the systematization of Buddhist teachings based on the Lotus Sutra, perceive the basic human concept of religious sin during the period of mappo? Nichiren is said to have coined the term hobo (more specifically, hiho shobo) or "acts against the fundamental spirit of the Lotus Sutra," applying it to sins committed in inter-personal relationships. The popular image of Nichiren is one of radicalism and exclusivism, as exemplified by the term shakubuku or active proselytization. On the other hand, some also emphasize Nichiren's moderation and magnanimity, represented by the term shoju. In my understanding, it is necessary to reevaluate Nichiren's methods for realizing a world based on the Lotus Sutra from a multi-dimensional perspective. An examination of Nichiren's thought in relation to individual sin and social sin provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of sin in modern society.

Roundtable session, Japanese
Haraguchi, Takaaki

Tohoku Gakuin University, Japan

A Tragic Farewell Discourse?: In Search of a New Understanding of Paul's Miletus Speech (Acts 20:18-35)(11N)

Paul's Miletus Speech (Acts 20:18-35) was given as a farewell discourse before his journey to Jerusalem. In ancient Greek literature there exits a genre of farewell discourse (Aesch. Ag. 1256-1330; Soph. OC 1515-1554). In the tragic farewell speech the speaker accepts his violent death as a fate and expresses his sorrow. Paul's Miletus speech is expecting his imminent martyr's death. He expresses his determination to face his tragic fate (Acts 20:23). The speech is filled with sorrow. We can conclude that it contains tragic elements.

Organized panel, English
Harashima, Tadashi

Toyo Eiwa University, Japan

Missionaries and Japanese Culture(10W)

Missionaries are messengers to different cultures and, as such come into conflict with the cultures of regions they are sent to. They, however, bring something new to those cultures and thereby transform them. In this panel discussion we will examine the relationship between missionaries and the Japanese culture by denomination. Missionaries work in response to their mission boards and clearly show their denominational characters, while their personalities and personal dispositions cannot be ignored. Five denominations are selected from among the many religious groups that came to Japan, and one or a few missionaries of each selected denomination will be introduced in connection with their activities in Japan. We will also discuss how the missions to Japan appeared to the eyes of missionaries who were sent to Korea so that we will be able to examine the subject in both the domestic and international contexts.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract
Harding, John Sheldon

University of Lethbridge, Canada

Fueling the Fire of Reform: Challenging Buddhist "Orthodoxy" in Modern Japan(12E)

Buddhists in the Meiji Era faced various challenges and stimuli to reform, including persecution and modernization. Some Buddhists directed resources to rebuilding traditional institutions after domestic persecution waned in the early 1870s. Others, however, embraced the impetus to reform their tradition. Their reformulations of Buddhism were influenced by a complex and mutually reinforcing convergence of foreign and domestic influences, intellectual trends, and competing religious representations in an increasingly global milieu. By exploring ways in which these Meiji reformers shaped and were influenced by this turbulent and dynamic era, this paper will examine how conflicting forces and agendas served as catalysts for forms of "new Buddhism" (shin bukkyo) in Japan.

Organized panel, English
Harding, Rachel

Iliff School of Theology, USA

Migrations of the Spirit: Meanings of Diasporic Identity among African American Candomblé Devotees(01T)

Candomblé is an indigenous, Afro-Brazilian religion, developed in northeastern Brazil during the late 18th and early 19th centuries by enslaved west and central Africans and their descendants. From its roots in Yoruba, Bakongo, Aja/Fon and other continental African communities, Candomblé was recreated and transformed in a New World context where the experience of slavery, the re-negotiation of individual and collective identities and the addition of some elements of Amerindian, Catholic and even Kardecist spiritualities helped shape the tradition into a fundamentally diasporic expression. In more recent history, Afro-Brazilian religion has been discovered and embraced by increasing numbers of North Americans of African descent (African Americans). Like their compatriots who are drawn to Cuban Santeria and Haitian Vodou, African American devotees of Candomblé often articulate their attraction to the African-based religious tradition in terms of ancestral connections and a larger diasporic black identity. The allure of Candomblé, however, is neither simple nor exclusively logical/rational. This paper explores the experience of several African American Candomblé initiates -- in the dynamics of their relationship with the terreiros (temples/ ilês) to which they belong; their experience of identification with Yoruba and other African spiritual energies (orixá/nkisi/voduns); and the tensions and affinities between spiritual traditions in black USA communities and those of Candomblé. The paper particularly examines meanings of identity which are developing from the "migrations" of rituals, practices and collective commitments from one community of the diaspora to another.

Organized panel
Harel, Anat

Leiden University, Netherlands

The Day Rome Will Not Curse Us, Is the Day Freemasonry Dies: Orthodox Catholicism and Dutch Masonic Identity, 1880-1910(12G)

In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, the Dutch Order of Freemasons suffered from an identity crisis. Between 1880 and 1917, the brethren struggled to determine anew the goal and mission of Freemasonry. One of the factors playing an important part in the shaping of the Masonic identity was the brothers' reaction to orthodox Christendom, especially Roman Catholicism. By analysing the Masonic reactions to orthodox Catholicism, the paper aims to show both the content and rationale of Masonic antagonism to orthodox religion. As it turns out, the fight against 'ultramontane' religion served as an important identity marker for the Dutch brethren in turbulent times. Furthermore, it led them to reconsider their relationship to religion in its various forms.

Symposium, English
Harnischfeger, Johannes

University of Frankfurt, Germany

Islamisation and Ethnic Conversion in Nigeria(05H)

In the Middle Belt of Nigeria, between the Muslim north and Christian south of the country, ownership of land is contested between Hausa-Fulani 'settlers' from the north and 'indigenous' ethnic groups which are mostly Christian and traditionalist. The migrants, who are still a minority, try to spread their faith among the 'native' population. Those who convert tend to assume the language, culture, and political loyalties of the Hausa-Fulani settlers. This process of ethnic conversion has been reinforced by the recent Sharia campaign. With the call to fight for Sharia, indigenous Muslims are put under pressure to prove that their new faith is more important to them than their old 'tribal' loyalties. Where armed conflicts broke out, most converts sided with the Hausa-Fulani migrants and fought, in the name of religion, against their (former) Christian or traditionalist kin.

Symposium, English
Haruchika, Takashi

Taisho University, Japan

Beckh's "Buddhismus" and German Perception: Toward Buddhism in the Early 20th Century(09S)

In this presentation, an aspect of the German perception toward Buddhism in the early 20th century will be demonstrated by introducing Hermann Beckh's (1875-1937) beliefs in Buddhism and his background through his work, "Buddhismus" (1916). Several years after finish writing "Buddhismus," Beckh left university to join Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy religious movement "Christengemeinschaft (Christian Community)." However, it can be perceived from his "Buddhismus" that Steiner's philosophy had given great influence to Beckh's perception of Buddhism. Beckh's perception put extreme faith in yoga, the idea of which was not mainstream at that time, and still does not play a dominant role in the history of Buddhist research. However, his perception, which was influenced by Steiner's German anti-rationalist tendencies, had become an antithesis against the rationalist way of perception toward Buddhism supported by Hermann Oldenberg and other academics.

Organized panel, Japanese
Harvey, Graham A

Open University, UK

"Violence with Impunity": Maori Religious Action without Transcendence(01I)

Te Pakaka Tawhai defined the 'purpose of religious activity' among his people as 'doing violence with impunity'. This paper explores, elaborates and applies his insight to wider Maori religious practice that places religious activity in respectful (careful and constructive) relationship with beings that particular groups and individuals engage. While these relationships may include human encounters with the divine, the divinities do not transcend worldliness. Those beings which are truly transcendent are irrelevant to ordinary and typical Maori religious practice.

Organized panel
Harvey, Graham A.

Open University, UK

The Violence of the Sacred: Studying Religion(s) without Transcendence(01I)

The definition of religion (the object studied by RS scholars) by reference to transcendence or sacrality is problematic. This panel presents recent research among indigenous peoples (Native Americans and Maori in particular) to demonstrate that this-worldly engagements can be appropriately considered religious, that the pursuit of culturally defined 'health, wealth and happiness' is the business of religions. These pragmatic concerns are of significance not only for indigenous religionists, but for others too: thus the panelists will argue that all religion may be studied without recourse to 'the sacred'.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Harvey, Graham A.

Open University, UK

Appropriation and Appreciation: Native American Responses to Non-Native and Intertribal Involvement in Ceremonials(06G)

*respondent

Organized panel, English
Harvey, Graham A.

Open University, UK

Appropriation and Appreciation: Native American Responses to Non-Native and Intertribal Involvement in Ceremonials(06G)

Non-native engagement in Native American and other indigenous ceremonies is hotly contested. Common discourses link such engagement (and even 'interest in' some such ceremonies) as theft and cultural genocide. The papers of this panel discuss varying perspectives on these issues. With varying emphases they seek to understand the motivations on all sides, ponder mediating and complicating positions, and reflect on the critical academic value of such discourses and practices.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Harvey, Graham A.

Open University, UK

Religion, Conflict and the Land: Indigenous Responses(10U)

*respondent

Organized panel, English
Hasan, Perween

University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Cultural Accommodation and Architectural Styles in Pre-Modern Bengal(13B)

The paper will explore how architecture was used to manipulate the identities and images of the ruling classes in Bengal from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The rulers were Muslims: the independent Sultans, and, later, the governors appointed by the Mughal emperors in Delhi. Mosques and temples, those religious spaces identified with the ritual practices of the two principal communities of the area, are used to illustrate a regional style that traveled back and forth across religious boundaries and was neither wholly Hindu nor Muslim, but Bengali. They were built either by the rulers and their officials, or by the Hindu elite. This style, first seen in Muslim architecture in the fifteenth century, had evolved from Hindu/Buddhist temple architecture and the thatched hut of the Bengal village. It continued in temples of the Mughal period, when Muslim architecture was overcome by a provincial version of the imperial Mughal style.

Organized panel, English
Hase, Shoto

Otani University, Japan

Japanese Study of Religion and Japanese Philosophy of Religion(02A)

While the field of Religious Studies is descriptive, the Philosophy of Religion is normative and does not have the dimension in which objective knowledge is the premise; therefore, it has been viewed that the Philosophy of Religion is a theoretical field that, through reason, creates boundaries in the study of religion, which is something that should not be confined in a set of fixed truths. However, it seems to me that this notion does not hold true when considering Philosophy of Religion conducted in Japan. In fact, Nishida Kitaro, who stands as the central figure in the Philosophy of Religion in Japan, states that Philosophy of Religion is fundamentally related to existence and is the pursuit to clarify this existence. This concept of existence is the same as the theory of "faith" found in the thoughts of W. C. Smith. According to Smith, one's faith is "the Quality of Human Life." Smith claims that the study of religion has been conducted with the emphasis on "belief," which is an objective perspective (noema) and we must rather strive to understand religion with the emphasis on "faith," which is a subjective perspective (noesis). This is the direction in which Philosophy of Religion in Japan has been pursuing in the study of religion; in other words, Philosophy of Religion in Japan is a description of the existence through this concept of faith.

Organized panel, English
Hase, Shoto

Otani University, Japan

On Turning Emptiness into an Image(07E)

Nishitani's philosophy of emptiness was made deeper because of its relationship to the problem of nihilism. Nihilism, which breaks down the significance of everything immanent, is absolute closure, which can be expressed through the phrase "there is nothing within the Triple Realms." Emptiness overlaps nihilism in as much as it leads to the transcendence of immanent things. However, since emptiness breaks through the closure of nihilism, it is absolute liberation. Hence, emptiness is grasped as the sky or empty space which lies beyond the summit of the highest mountain that humans can reach. This is frequently described as the realm of the Buddhas that no man can attain. However, in Nishitani's thought at the end of his life, emptiness comes down to earth from the transcendental sky and becomes something that reflects human desire. In connection with this transformation, "brute fact" came to be taken up for consideration in the place of "nihilism." Moreover, the "image" which is the emptiness that is reflected in desire, came to be taken up for consideration as that which breaks through "brute fact" from within. I hope to consider the problems associated with this transformation.

Organized panel, Japanese
Hase, Thomas

Universität Leipzig, Germnany

Transatlantic Networks of Christian Separatists in the 18th Century - A Case of Globalisation?(05G)

Radical pietists, separatist mystics and other religious dissenters in Early Modern Europe maintained broad and complex networks of communication that even reached the colonies on the North American continent. The paper will present and analyze examples for these transatlantic contacts and mutual influences that affected both American and European religious history. I show how the reach of those heterodox milieus and the mobility and communicativeness of its participants exemplify the rapid and effective dispersion of religious symbols. Finally, I address the question of whether the transnational interactions of 18th century religious dissenters might be understood as some early instance of "globalization".

Organized panel, English
Hase, Zuiko

Japan

Some Problems of Comparative Philosophy of Religion: with Reference to Bruno Petzold and Jyunyu Kitayama(09S)

The main purpose of my paper is to review the meanings and significances of the comparative philosophy of religion. I will refer to the realms of comparative philosophy in Japan, in comparison with the ones of other countries. Then I will make particular reference to the thought and actions of two thinkers: Bruno Petzold, who was a German Buddhist, but ended his life in Japan, and Jyunyu Kitayama, who was a Japanese Buddhist, but ended his life in Germany. While living in Japan, Petzold devoted himself to disseminating the doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism in English. And no one can deny that he belonged to Japanese Buddhism, without inclining to the Japanese militaristic atmosphere before World War II. On the other side, Jyunyu Kitayama wrote his dissertation in German. In his book, he proclaimed the significance of a traditional understanding of Mahayana Buddhism in Japan vis-à-vis the West.

Organized panel
Hasebe, Hachiro

Komazawa University, Japan

Gyoja and Buddhism(11R)

This paper deals with Buddhist ascetics (gyoja) in contemporary Japan. The term gyoja refers here not only to practitioners of Buddhist asceticism, but to practitioners of shamanistic techniques as well. On the whole, the shaman and the priest tend to be regarded as mutually opposed categories. That is to say, while the former deals with the problems of the client confidentially, the latter performs public rituals and keeps a continuous relationship to his followers. However, recent research has shown that Buddhist ascetics combine elements of both, the priest and the shaman, in their practice. Therefore, in this panel, I will report on concrete aspects of this complex nature that characterizes the Buddhist ascetic, and I hope to contribute to the elucidation of the world of "gyoja Buddhism."

Organized panel, English
Hasegawa, Masatoshi

Shukutoku University, Japan

Japanese Buddhist Activities and Social Welfare after World War II(07P)

In Japan there have been pioneering social welfare activities by Buddhists since ancient times. The ideas based on those activities may affect modern and contemporary Buddhist social welfare activities. Notably, these activities after the Meiji period have changed in their formation and development of the Japanese social service, and now they have been developing both in and out of the official social welfare system. At this round-table discussion, we will divide those activities into four parts, and would like to make the post-war development of them clear. We will also take up some main Buddhist schools such as the Tendai, Shingon, Zen, Jodo, and Hokke.

Roundtable session, * Session Abstract, Japanese
Hasegawa, Takuya

Kyoto University, Japan

Paul Ricoeur's Theory of Religious Language(08T)

After passing through a critical examination of philology, phenomenology of religion, and psychoanalysis, can myth and symbol still hold power? Such a question consists in the very ground of the philosophical hermeneutics as conceived by Paul Ricoeur. On the one hand, Ricoeur thinks that it is impossible for "modern" people who live in the age of criticism to return to naïve faith. However, on the other hand, Ricoeur pays attention to the fact that symbol and myth are expressed by language, and, such religious language effectively affects a human who interprets it. On this point, the possibility of the reconstruction of myth and symbol is abetted. But, if so, it is the specific nature of religious language that must be considered. In this presentation, I want to clarify this problem through examining the theory of religious language of Paul Ricoeur.

Organized panel
Hashimoto, Masanori

University of Tokyo, Japan

Shrine Materials and Shinto(08P)

Materials transmitted at Shinto shrines represent important basic materials in the study of Shinto. Viewed from the social position of shrines, however, these materials are relevant not only to Shinto in the narrow sense, but to research in a broad range of other areas as well, from social, political, and economic history, to literature and the arts. Postwar historians, however, have shown little interest in shrine-related historical materials, a trend particularly striking for the Edo period, which represents the largest concentration of such materials. From the Meiji period on, historiographical projects worked to investigate and reproduce main shrine materials from periods up to the beginning of the Edo period, but materials from the mid-seventeenth century on remain essentially unmined. The decade from around 1965 saw the rise of local historiographical projects, and great advances were made in the collation of historical materials, but shrine records remain the subject of only desultory interest. Shrine chronicles, in particular, remain virtually untouched, in part due to their quantity. In conclusion, to further advance research on Shinto, much more work needs to be done on the systematic collation and study of shrine-and Shinto-related materials.

Organized panel, Japanese
Hastings, Tom

Family, Church or School - Where Lies the Heir of Japanese Christianity?(04P)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Hatakama, Kazuhiro

Tenri University, Japan

Shinto and the Shirakawa Family during the Late Tokugawa Era(12P)

The Yoshida family, which was authorized by the Tokugawa shogunate, was the head of the Shinto school during the Tokugawa era. However, the Shirakawa family, the Director General of the Office-of-Shinto-Worship, began to interrupt the existing order and increased followers in many parts of the country during the late Tokugawa era. It was one of the features of the Shirakawa school's activity to respect conferment of the certificates, the dogmatic difference could be covered and various religious groups and philosophical activities could be absorbed. In this presentation, Shinto in the modern era is viewed through paying attention to the Shirakawa school's activity that related to various folk customs, popular religions, and scholars of National Learning.

Organized panel, Japanese