East Asian Religions

Abstract

This is a straightforwardly-designed survey of themes in traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese religions, with a special emphasis on 6 key themes: ancestors, self-cultivation, festival, sagehood, religion-state relations, and religion and food. Because it is taught for theological students, it includes theological as well as historical and anthropological questions and concerns, and also makes room for the exploration of East Asian Christian movements as well as AsianAmerican religious expressions, including Christian ones. Essential to the course's design is the assumption that neither a blow-by-blow historical survey nor a "tradition per week" survey will adequately convey the richness and interrelatedness of these religious cultures -hence the focus on theme, rather than chronology or "tradition." Historical and cultural backgrounds are provided, however, in weekly lectures which preface the completion of assigned readings.