Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
15. Why the Concept of “World Religion” Has Survived in Japan: On the Japanese Reception of Max Weber’s Comparative Religion
Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
Satoko Fujiwara
Executive Editor [+]
University of Tokyo
Satoko Fujiwara is Professor of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tokyo. She has been serving as Secretary General of the International Association for the History of Religions since 2020. Her main focus is on theories in the study of religion with latest publications on the global history of the discipline and the IAHR. She has also published articles on how religions have been described in public school education.
Description
This chapter deals with a hitherto unnoticed fact that the concept of ‘world religion,’ which is outdated in many Western countries, is still popular in the Japanese academia and education field. Rather than simply arguing that Japanese scholars are ‘behind,’ I will attribute the fact to the academic/educational/social roles of comparative religion in Japan, which are different from those in Western countries, with a special focus upon Weberian legacies.