Jason Ananda Josephson's Books

The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

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The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

A study of how Japan once had no concept of “religion,” and what happened when officials were confronted by American Commodore Perry in 1853. Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions” —and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition. Praise for The Invention of Religion in Japan “The Invention of Religion in Japan is truly revolutionary. Original, well researched, and engrossing, it overturns basic assumptions in the study of Japanese thought, religion, science, and history. . . . This book will absolutely reshape the field.” —Sarah Thal, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Written with remarkable clarity, this book makes an excellent contribution to the study of the interface of traditional Japanese religions and politics. Highly recommended.” —Choice “The range of Japanese primary sources consulted in his book is prodigious, as is his familiarity and usage of multidisciplinary theoretical works. . . . Josephson’s book is erudite, informative, and interesting. It should be a worthwhile read for Japan scholars as well as scholars and students interested in religious studies theory and history.” —H-Shukyo

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402

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226412350

ISBN 13

9780226412351

The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

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The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition.

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404

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226412334

ISBN 13

9780226412337

Metamodernism

The Future of Theory

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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Metamodernism

The Future of Theory

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

Opening -- Part I. Metarealism. How the real world became a fable, or, The realities of social construction -- Part II. Process social ontology. Concepts in disintegration & strategies for demolition ; Process social ontology ; Social kinds -- Part III. Hylosemiotics. Hylosemiotics : the discourse of things -- Part IV. Knowledge and value. Zetetic knowledge ; The revaluation of values -- Conclusion : becoming metamodern.

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375

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022678665X

ISBN 13

9780226786650

The Myth of Disenchantment

Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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The Myth of Disenchantment

Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.

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428

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022640336X

ISBN 13

9780226403366

Metamodernism

The Future of Theory

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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Metamodernism

The Future of Theory

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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375

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022678665X

ISBN 13

9780226786650

The Myth of Disenchantment

Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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The Myth of Disenchantment

Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences

By: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

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428

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University of Chicago Press

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ISBN 10

022640336X

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9780226403366

The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

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The Invention of Religion in Japan

By: Jason Ananda Josephson

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402

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University of Chicago Press

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ISBN 10

0226412350

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9780226412351

Buddhism and Modernity

Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan

By: Orion Klautau,Hans Martin Krämer

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Buddhism and Modernity

Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan

By: Orion Klautau,Hans Martin Krämer

Japan was the first Asian nation to face the full impact of modernity. Like the rest of Japanese society, Buddhist institutions, individuals, and thought were drawn into the dynamics of confronting the modern age. Japanese Buddhism had to face multiple challenges, but it also contributed to modern Japanese society in numerous ways. Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan makes accessible the voices of Japanese Buddhists during the early phase of high modernity. The volume offers original translations of key texts—many available for the first time in English—by central actors in Japan’s transition to the modern era, including the works of Inoue Enryō, Gesshō, Hara Tanzan, Shimaji Mokurai, Kiyozawa Manshi, Murakami Senshō, Tanaka Chigaku, and Shaku Sōen. All of these writers are well recognized by Buddhist studies scholars and Japanese historians but have drawn little attention elsewhere; this stands in marked contrast to the reception of Japanese Buddhism since D. T. Suzuki, the towering figure of Japanese Zen in the first half of the twentieth century. The present book fills the chronological gap between the premodern era and the twentieth century by focusing on the crucial transition period of the nineteenth century. Issues central to the interaction of Japanese Buddhism with modernity inform the five major parts of the work: sectarian reform, the nation, science and philosophy, social reform, and Japan and Asia. Throughout the chapters, the globally entangled dimension—both in relation to the West, especially the direct and indirect impact of Christianity, and to Buddhist Asia—is of great importance. The Introduction emphasizes not only how Japanese Buddhism was part of a broader, globally shared reaction of religions to the specific challenges of modernity, but also goes into great detail in laying out the specifics of the Japanese case.

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Page Count

305

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

082488812X

ISBN 13

9780824888121

Book's by Jason Ananda Josephson

The Invention of Religion in Japan

The Invention of Religion in Japan

The Invention of Religion in Japan

The Invention of Religion in Japan

Metamodernism

Metamodernism

The Myth of Disenchantment

The Myth of Disenchantment

Metamodernism

Metamodernism

The Myth of Disenchantment

The Myth of Disenchantment

The Invention of Religion in Japan

The Invention of Religion in Japan

Buddhism and Modernity

Buddhism and Modernity

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