Cox, Laurence and Bocking, Brian
(2020)
Thinking beyond the island: Buddhism,
Ireland and method in the study of
religions.
In:
The Study of Religions in Ireland: Past, Present and Future.
Bloomsbury, London, pp. 144-157.
ISBN 9781350291744
Abstract
An “Irish Buddhist” was often presented in old newspapers as an oxymoron, but our
research (with Alicia Turner, Yoshinaga Shin’ichi and others) on the unexpectedly
long history of Buddhism and Ireland has unearthed some fascinating dimensions in
the broader study of religions and Ireland. Stepping beyond traditional discourses,
we have found Irish Buddhists involved in Asian religious change, migrants bringing
new religions to Ireland and people in Ireland rejecting the Catholic/Protestant
binary. We have also found the first (1889) Buddhist mission to Europe (London) and
a forgotten early 1900s Irish Buddhist challenge to colonial missionary Christianity in
South & Southeast Asia. Our research has driven us to explore new methods – in
particular using digital humanities to reconstruct forgotten figures and fostering
developing scholarly networks to study translocal lives. This chapter situates our own
discoveries among expanding new research initiatives on Ireland and religions, and
highlights the significance of these research projects for the academic study of
religions throughout the island of Ireland and beyond.
| Item Type: |
Book Section
|
| Keywords: |
Thinking; Buddhism; Ireland; method; study of
religions; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
16831 |
| Depositing User: |
Dr. Laurence Cox
|
| Date Deposited: |
10 Jan 2023 14:13 |
| Publisher: |
Bloomsbury |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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