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

Suzuki, Iwayumi

Tohoku University, Japan

The Past and Present of Mourning and the Dead in Japan(05J)

Symposium, English

Suzuki, Iwayumi

Tohoku University, Japan

The Past and Present of Mourning and the Dead in Japan 2(05J)

This symposium is structured upon two central problems, "The history of burial graves in Japan" and "Memorials for the war dead in Contemporary Japan." First, by offering examples from the Heian period aristocracy, and while tracing the changes of the burial system of urban Edo during the modern age an examination of Japan's burial system is undertaken. Then we will shed light on the individualization of burial customs and the funerary business within the backdrop of society's urbanization. Next, the questions facing Japan's burial system based on the results of a nationally conducted questionnaire will be presented. Secondly, with a focus on the war dead, the dead and mourning in Japan will be discussed. Beginning with a clarification on the difference in meaning of tsuito (Mourning) and irei (memorial), the problem will be further examined through examples such as the handling of war dead by New Religions, and the memorials to the kamikaze war dead. Finally, a summary of present day Japanese consciousness towards memorials for fallen soldiers, as well as a comparative examination concerning Japan's national war memorial in Okinawa will be considered to ascertain the actual nature of modern Japan's memorials to the war dead.

Symposium, * Session Abstract, English
Suzuki, Jun

University of Tokyo, Japan

The Philosophical and Theological Identity of Evagrius(12N)

It is well known that Evagrius constructed his theology drawing heavily on the teachings and technical vocabulary of the Hellenistic philosophical schools in the Alexandrian cultural tradition. Previous investigations have focused on the doxography of individual philosophical doctrines or terms in his corpus of work. However, his philosophical and theological identity and his strategies in his critical approach to Hellenistic philosophy have received little attention. Evagrius always attributes the source of his Platonic influences to an anonymous Christian sage, referred to as "our wise teacher," not to the Platonists. On the other hand, he never attributes his Aristotelian influences to the Christian tradition. It should be noted that Aristotle is the only non-Christian writer whom Evagrius quotes by name. Focusing on this slight difference in his attitude toward Platonism and Aristotelianism, this study analyzes the philosophical and theological identity of Evagrius.

Organized panel, English
Suzuki, Kenta

University of Tokyo, Japan

The Prajnaparamita Sutras and Sectarian Buddhism as Seen in the Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Sutras(05M)

The Prajnaparamita Sutras are generally argued to be critical of Sectarian Buddhism, especially of the Sarvastivadin sect. This view seems to be mainly led by direct comparisons between the Prajnaparamita Sutras and Sectarian Buddhist texts. In this paper, I will consider the relationship between the Prajnaparamita Sutras and Sectarian Buddhism through an alternative approach, namely by analyzing how this relationship was understood in the commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Although several of these Sanskrit commentaries have been known, little attention has been given to them to date. However, in my view, in order to fully understand the relationship between the Prajnaparamita Sutras and Sectarian Buddhism, it is necessary to know the views of the commentators, who lived in the time during which the Prajnaparamita Sutras were compiled.

Organized panel, English
Suzuki, Masataka

Keio University, Japan

Mountain Religion and Gender(07C)

Maintaining the purity of ritual sites in the mountains was a concern for Shugendo practitioners. Since they regarded women as being impure, they imposed limits on female access to mountains and set up exclusion zones. Because of Shugendo influence, most of the sacred mountains of Japan were forbidden to women. However, the policy of the new Meiji government to define the boundaries of Buddhism and Shinto destroyed Shugendo and in 1872 the government lifted the ban on women entering sacred places. Today only two places in Japan maintain female exclusion: Sanjogatake in the Omine range (Nara prefecture) and Ushiroyama (Okayama prefecture). With the designation in July 2004 of the mountains and pilgrimage routes of the Kii region (including Omine) as a UNESCO World Heritage site, argument has intensified over whether the ban on women should or should not be maintained at Sanjogatake. Those who propose the ban be lifted criticize the exclusion of women as discrimination and a violation of human rites. They use a modern argument to analyse a pre-modern custom, confusing the context by arguing about belief and religious practice in terms of the logic of secular male-female equality. Those who want the ban to remain in place insist that sacred sites should be maintained according to custom based upon 1300 years of tradition and belief. This is no more than a counter-argument using concepts like tradition and belief, which are a modern construct. This paper analyzes the various arguments surrounding female exclusion, as a component of mountain religion, in terms of gender, and reconsiders the modern situation, and examines where the issue might move in the future.

Organized panel, Japanese
Suzuki, Nanami

Kyoto Bunkyo University, Japan

Vegetarianism and Nature Religion in 19th Century America.: A Struggle for Health Reform(14J)

In nineteenth century America, vegetarianism attracted considerable attention. While those that sought Utopian communities in places remote from cities insisted on vegetarianism as a symbol of their difference, others recommended vegetarianism as a promised method for becoming competent to survive a rapidly changing life in modern cities. I would like to focus on the vegetarianism articulated by the latter group, which consisted of Bible Christians from Manchester in England and health reformers in America. The Bible Christians and the health reformers had been deeply anxious about the deteriorated mind and health of city dwellers, especially about what they called the "nervous disease."

Organized panel, English
Suzuki, Takeo

University of Tokyo, Japan

On Taoist Theory of 'Qi'(14D)

Organized panel, Chinese

Suzuki, Yasumi

Aichi Prefectural Meiwa Senior High School, Japan

Nakae Tōju's Religious Thought(09L)

Nakae Tōju(1608-1648) was born in Ōmi in the Edo Period beginning. When he was 9 years old, a grandfather brought him up as a samurai. He came back from Ōzu to home at the time of 27 years old to support mother. He spent a life as a farm village teacher with supporting mother. A Japanese to the Second World War called him Oumi saint. But, a Japanese forgets him now. He worshiped 孝経(The Classic of Filial Piety) from 32, 3 years old every morning. Then, he came to deify 大乙神(Taiitu-shin) from 33 years old once a month. Always he was thinking about the method a person's heart was made to be relieved. Then, he thought out the way that everyone could become a saint. I state the religious experience of Tōju, and want to state a change in his thought.

Organized panel, Japanese
Suzuki, Yasumi

Aichi Prefectural Meiwa Senior High School, Japan

Important Figures in Tokugawa and Meiji Period Religious Life(09L)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Svalastog, Anna Lydia

Umea University, Sweden

Indigenous People, National Identity, and the State(05S)

In Sweden indigenous peoples interests are to be integrated in Swedish political governmental and executive institutions. At the same time, interests and questions that can be related to Sami people are understood and treated as additional interests, something not Swedish. This in contrast to e.g.. Working class interests, women's interests, and occasionally immigrants' interests, which are usually understood as Swedish groups representing national interests. In the history of religion, Sami people have been studied as indigenous people, part of a circumpolar heritage, as the former carrier of Shaman traditions and bear-cult. In the present situation, where most Sami people are Christians, they seem to have fallen out of the academic focus. In the paper I will address two questions on the identity construction of Sami people today. How do academic institutions in Sweden present Sami people in education and research? Are Sami people understood and treated as representing Swedish interests in Swedish governmental institutions and bureaucracy?

Organized panel, English
Svalastog, Anna Lydia

Umea University, Sweden

Gene Technology, Riskhandling and Myths(10J)

I will present a story on how discussions on biological risk in plant science were inherited from medicine, and how plant science became an arena for apocalyptic discourse no longer possible to sustain in medicine. At the same time, social and economical consequences of plant science (themes central in the regulation of medicine) became banned by EU regulation, though the intended ends of the research were to invent and industrialise. In debates over gene technology and risk, mythic themes and references to Judo-Christian traditions are used strategically by opponents and proponents. To better understand this usage, I suggest concepts mythologization and demythologization be employed to analyze the rhetoric of this debate. Western researchers' analysis of western understandings of gene science and technology use myth as a central analytical concept, usually without motivation, or with references to Eliade. I will discuss this usage and suggest a contextual understanding of myths that includes political theory, globalization and postcolonial implications.

Organized panel, English
Swanson, Paul L.

Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Japan

The Lotus Sutra and Peace(01M)

*respondent

Organized panel
Swanson, Paul L.

Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Japan

Peace Studies in Buddhism(15C)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Swart, Ignatius

University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

The Social Development Challenge in South Africa: Mobilizing Grassroots Religion through a Participatory Action Research(PAR) Methodology(13L)

In South Africa a new partnership between the state and the religious sector is emerging in order to meet the challenge of social development in the country. However, serious questions remain regarding the religious sector's actual capacity to meet the paradigmatic challenges of the new social development paradigm, despite this sector's apparent potential as a social development actor. This paper describes the endeavours of the Unit for Religion and Development Research (URDR), based in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), to develop a research methodology whereby the religious sector's capacity as a social development agent could be enhanced and faith-based organisations mobilised effectively for sustainable social development at the grassroots level. Based on the philosophy and ideological orientation of participatory action research (PAR), three phases or components that comprise the URDR's effort to develop such a methodology are outlined and discussed.

Organized panel, English
Swart, Ignatius

University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

The Role of Religion in the Social and Political Conditions in Africa(13L)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Sweetman, Will

University of Otago, New Zealand

Green Orientalism(14J)

In a seminal 1967 article, Lynn White argued that the roots of a contemporary 'ecologic crisis' were to be found in Judeo-Christian conceptions of divinely-legitimated human mastery of nature, and that therefore the search for an alternative environmental ethic ought to begin outside the Western religious tradition. Despite recent research which questions the viability of founding such an environmental ethic on existing Hindu and Buddhist value systems, it is often claimed that these traditions are in some way inherently more environmentally sensitive than Western traditions. This paper seeks to explain the persistence of such claims by contextualizing them within the longer history of both Western representations of Asian religious traditions, and Asian appropriations and modifications of those representations. It suggests that they owe their persuasive power to that dialectical logic which Edward Said labelled 'Orientalism'.

Organized panel, English
Taeb, Muhammad

United Nations University, Japan

Building on Synergies between Science and Religion, a Key Element for Sustainable Development(05A)

Science and religion are two prominent institutions that have shaped human civilizations. They have contributed to human development in many ways and have been closely interacting with one another. While scientific curiosity led to discovery of the laws of nature, religion helped man to discover himself, and his purpose in life. The questions of a science approach in understanding religion, or how far religion should adopt itself to science have been a long-standing debate, whereas the question of how they complement each other is rarely addressed. The world has come to a cross road, choosing between development, values and sustainability. Environmental limitations and interconnectedness of people world-wide are two of the challenges of our time that offer a ground for science and religion to play their part in shaping the future. Science can bring about the outer change or physical change that is needed, while religion can bring about the inner change that enables humans to embrace the outer change needed in the quest for sustainable development.

Organized panel
Taguchi, Hiroko

Sensyu University, Japan

Poesie and der Heilige Sinn in Novalis' Die Christenheit oder Europa(10S)

Organized panel, English

Taira, Sunao

Yashima Gakuen University, Japan

The Contact Situation and the Quest for a New Origin of Okinawa(01F)

Today many Japanese recognize the uniqueness of Okinawan culture, and the Okinawan people maintain a strong sense of self-identity derived from this uniqueness. It is clear that this uniqueness has been formulated, discovered, and reconstructed through the process of contacting with modern Japan through various discourses, especially through the discourse of intellectuals. Iha Fuyu (1867-1947), an Okinawan scholar, was one of these intellectuals. He was the founder of the modern study of Okinawan culture and a torchbearer who enlightened the Okinawan identity as well. The whole academic life and activities of Iha was to respond to the historical situation of Okinawa in the framework of its communication with modern Japan, and to reconstruct the wobbling self-identity of Okinawa. In this presentation we examine the meaning of his academic conduct, and will reconsider it as the quest for a new origin or new arch to identify Okinawa.

Organized panel, English
Tajima, Tadaatsu

Tenshi College, Japan

Religious Education in Japan: Can Problems Be Solved?(06L)

*respondent

Organized panel
Tajima, Tadaatsu

Tenshi College, Japan

Joint Session with SISR in Honor of Dr.Abe, Dr. Anzai and Dr. Wilson: "The Dialogue among Civilizations through the Sociology of Religion"(12I)

This official joint panel with SISR/ISSR aims to discuss the development of further understanding among people of different religious cultures. More specifically, it also seeks to further the development of understanding inside the field of the sociology of religion itself through dialogue and academic exchange among SISR/ISSR members from various countries. Researchers who are constrained by their specific historical conditions, have encountered each other through the activities of SISR/ISSR. Our contention is that these academic encounters break the geographical and cultural boundary of civilization of which each scholar is part, and give them the opportunity to share the problems and difficulties experienced in our contemporary world. In this panel, I would like to discuss how these encounters between scholars from varying cultural backgrounds affects our studies.

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, English
Tajima, Teruhisa

Waseda University, Japan

Abegesheidenheit und Samadhi(04Q)

Die deutsche Mystik, die auf dem Boden des christlichen Glaubens erblühte, schöpft ohne Zweifei ihre soteriologische Botschaft aus der christlichen Theologie. Beispielsweise kann man Meister Eckharts Lehre von der „Gottesgeburt in der Seele" erst in einem diachronischen Kontext christlichen Gedankenguits, in diesem Fall speziell im scholastischen Kontext, recht begreifen. Zum Anderen aber vollzieht sich die Erfüllung der soteriologischen Botschaft unter der „conditio animae" im alltäglichen Leben. Erst die „abegescheidenheit" der Seele macht bereit zur „Gottesgeburt in der Seele". Dadurch, dass die „conditio animae" das alltägliche Leben anbelangt, eröffnen sich hier auch synchronische Ansätze zur Beschreibung dieses Problemfeldes. Unter solch einem Blickwinkel wird die „abegesheidenheit" bei Meister Eckart mit dem „Samādhi" "Begriff im Zen" Buddhismus verglichen.

Organized panel
Tajima, Teruhisa

Waseda University, Japan

Mystik als Selbstrelativierung des Glaubens(05Q)

Die Lösung des gegenwärtigen Konflikts unter den Religionen hängt m.E. davon ab, ob jede Religion ihren Glauben selbst relativieren kann,freilich unter der Vorraussetzung, dass der feste Glaube schon gewonnen ist. Erst unter diesen Bedingungen der Selbstrelativierung des Glaubens wäre die Koexistenz der verschienen Religionen zu verwirklichen. Jesus Christus ist ohne Zweifel der Angelpunktder Erlösung. Seit Athanasius wird die Menschwerdung Gottes als konkrete Zusage der Teilhabe am Wesen Gottes begriffen. In diesem Referat soll Eckharts „natura humana" in Bezug auf seine Inkarnationslehre behandelt werden, weil sein Begriff von der „natura humana" die Dynmik der Selbstrelativierung des Glaubens in sich birgt.

Organized panel, Japanese
Tajima, Teruhisa

Waseda University, Japan

Konflikt und Koexistenz in der Deutschen Mystik(05Q)

Die deutsche Mystik des Mittelalters war eine Art radikaler Glaubensform innerhalb des Christentums. Viele Mystiker/innen des 13./14. Jahrhunderts wurden für häretisch gehalten und mussen notgedrungen friedliche Lösungen in der Einheit des Glaubens suchen. In der Neuzeit aber wurde von Seiten der Mystiker der Weg zur überkonfessionellen Koexistenz unter mehreren Sekten und Schulen beschritten, da sie meinten. dass das Christentum in einer mystischen Erfahrung gründe. Diese Problematik behandeln Koda („Mystik als Ort der Begegnung und Auseinandersetzung") und Okabe („G. Arnolds Entwurf einer mystischen Theologie"). Ein Grund dafür dass die deutsche Mystik eine Art redikaler Glaubensform darstellt, liegt darin, dass sie sich insbesondere mit dem Leib des Menschen beschäftigt. Diese Thematik ist eng mit der Inkarnationslehre verknüpft. Ein Mystiker des Mittelalters etwa entwickelt eine eigenständige Anschauung von der Selbstrelativierung des Glaubens. In der Neuzeit schließlich wird dieses Denken dahingehend weiterentwickelt, dass der Leib des Menschen der einzige. Ort sei, wo die Heilsgeschichte in Erfüllung komme. Diese Thematik behandeln Tajima („Mystik als Selbstrelativierung des Glaubens") und Tomita („Leiblichkeit und Eschatologie bei Jakob Böhme").

Organized panel, * Session Abstract, Japanese
Taka, Yoshiharu

Religious Pluralism and International Peace by Faith Movements: The case of SEICHO-NO-IE(03B)

*chairperson

Organized panel
Takahashi, Hara

International Institute for the Study of Religions, Japan

Masaharu ANESAKI and Kiitsu Kyokai (Association Concordia): Its Changes in Activities(16V)

Kiitsu Kyokai (Association Concordia) is an academic organization founded by elites, such as Masaharu ANESAKI, Eiichi SHIBUSAWA, Jinzo NARUSE etc., in the last year of Meiji (1912). At first, it was aimed at understanding religions and sharing the knowledge of them. But the aim of the movement shifted and educational or social problems also became important topics discussion. In the Showa period, when Japan entered war, the topics discussed at regular meetings were now mainly ideological or political issues; these facts were previously relatively unknown. In this paper, I'd like to show the changes in the activities of Kiitsu Kyokai, from its early to later period, based on the materials I found (the Proceedings of Kiitsu Kyokai, etc.) and I hope to show an aspect of religious studies in Japan in the pre war period.

Organized panel, English
Takahashi, Hidemi

Chuo University, Japan

Eternity of the World in the Theological and Philosophical Works of Barhebraeus(15N)

The question of the eternity of the world was one of the points of dispute between philosophy and the monotheistic religions. This paper will explore how and with what success the Syriac Orthodox prelate and polymath Gregory Abu al-Faraj Barhebraeus (Bar 'Ebroyo, 1225/6-1286), who is known to have attempted to combine Christian theology and Aristotelian-Avicennian philosophy, reconciles the two positions in his theological works, such as the Candelabrum of the Sanctuary, and in his philosophical works, such as the Cream of Wisdom.

Organized panel, English
Takahashi, Kayo

Tohoku University, Japan

The Contemporary "Jidan Relationship" and The Organization of "Danka"(08K)

My central purpose in this paper is to address the question of how to analyze the Jidan relationship in contemporary Japan. Jidan relationship refers to some aspects of the relationship between the Buddhist temple and the people in Japan. Jidan relationship is composed of the Dan'na-dera (Buddhist temple and priest), and a Danka (parishioners). Dan'na-dera performs the funeral of Danka, and Danka makes various donations to Dan'na-dera. Generally, it is said that contemporary Danka, especially new Danka are indifferent to their Dan'na-dera. In this paper I aim to analyze the organization of Danka. My main consideration is that the structure of the new Danka's Jidan relationship is different from the old.

Organized panel, Japanese
Takahashi, Norihito

Hitotsubashi University, Japan

The Transformations of Japanese Buddhist Organizations Before and After World War II in Hawai'I(09F)

This presentation focuses on the transformations of Japanese religious organizations in their overseas missions, and the impact on them by World War II. Since late 19th century, many Japanese religious missions (Japanese Buddhist, Shinto's, and Japanese 'new religions' missions) have been active in the North America. In United States, Japanese Buddhist missions have been especially superior to other Japanese religious ones in both the number of believers and the scale of organizations. And in Hawai'I, Japanese immigrants or the Japanese-American community has been quite large and various Japanese religious groups have actively operated. But World War II did serious damage to Japanese religious organizations. The purpose of this presentation is to analyze the transformations of organizations of principal Japanese Buddhist sects in Hawai'I before World War II, and to clarify the influence by the transformations of the prewar period in the process of reconstruction of their organizations after the war.

Organized panel, Japanese