"The Modern Spirit of Asia" challenges the notion that modernity
in China and India are derivative imitations of the West, arguing
that these societies have transformed their ancient traditions in
unique and distinctive ways. Peter van der Veer begins with
nineteenth-century imperial history, exploring how Western concepts
of spirituality, secularity, religion, and magic were used to
translate the traditions of India and China. He traces how modern
Western notions of religion and magic were incorporated into the
respective nation-building projects of Chinese and Indian
nationalist intellectuals, yet how modernity in China and India is
by no means uniform. While religion is a centerpiece of Indian
nationalism, it is viewed in China as an obstacle to progress that
must be marginalized and controlled.
"The Modern Spirit of Asia" moves deftly from Kandinsky's
understanding of spirituality in art to Indian yoga and Chinese qi
gong, from modern theories of secularism to histories of Christian
conversion, from Orientalist constructions of religion to Chinese
campaigns against magic and superstition, and from Muslim Kashmir
to Muslim Xinjiang. Van der Veer, an outspoken proponent of the
importance of comparative studies of religion and society,
eloquently makes his case in this groundbreaking examination of the
spiritual and the secular in China and India.
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