|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, it is one of
the first studies to give readers a sense of what is happening on
the front lines as a growing number of Buddhist priests try to
reboot their roles and traditions to gain greater significance in
Japanese society. The book profiles innovative as well as
controversial responses to the challenges facing Buddhist priests.
From traditional activities (conducting memorial rituals;
supporting residences for the elderly and infirm; providing relief
for victims of natural disasters) to more creative ones
(collaborating in suicide prevention efforts; holding symposia and
concerts on temple precincts; speaking out against nuclear power
following Japan's 2011 earthquake; opening cafes, storefront
temples, and pubs; even staging fashion shows with priests on the
runway), more progressive members of Japan's Buddhist clergy are
trying to navigate a path leading towards renewed relevance in
society. An additional challenge is to avoid alienating older
patrons while trying to attract younger ones vital to the future of
their temples. The work's central theme of "experimental
Buddhism"provides a fresh perspective to understand how priests and
other individuals employ Buddhist traditions in selective and
pragmatic ways. Using these inventive approaches during a time of
crisis and transition for Japanese temple Buddhism, priests and
practitioners from all denominations seek solutions that not only
can revitalize their religious traditions but also influence
society and their fellow citizens in positive ways.
What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture
for almost as long as there has been a political entity
distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto
Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki's major
Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel,
and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson's
observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits
their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious
events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society,
culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an
ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and
practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are
nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society.
Nelson explains the history of Suwa Shrine, basic Shinto concepts,
and the Shinto worldview, including a discussion of the Kami,
supernatural forces that pervade the universe. He explores the
meaning of ritual in Japanese culture and society and examines the
symbols, gestures, dances, and meanings of a typical shrine
ceremony. He then describes the cycle of activities at the shrine
during a calendar year: the seasonal rituals and festivals and the
petitionary, propitiary, and rite-of-passage ceremonies performed
for individuals and specific groups. Among them are the Dolls' Day
festival, in which young women participate in a procession and
worship service wearing Heian period costumes; the autumn Okunchi
festival, which attracts participants from all over Japan and even
brings emigrants home for a visit; the ritual invoking the blessing
of the Kami for young children; and the ritual sanctifying the
earth before a building is constructed. The author also describes
the many roles women play in Shinto and includes an interview with
a female priest. Shinto has always been attentive to the protection
of communities from unpredictable human and divine forces and has
imbued its ritual practices with techniques and strategies to aid
human life. By observing the Nagasaki shrine's traditions and
rituals, the people who make it work, and their interactions with
the community at large, the author shows that cosmologies from the
past are still very much a part of the cultural codes utilized by
the nation and its people to meet the challenges of today.
What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture
for almost as long as there has been a political entity
distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto
Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki's major
Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel,
and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson's
observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits
their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious
events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society,
culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an
ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and
practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are
nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society.
Nelson explains the history of Suwa Shrine, basic Shinto concepts,
and the Shinto worldview, including a discussion of the Kami,
supernatural forces that pervade the universe. He explores the
meaning of ritual in Japanese culture and society and examines the
symbols, gestures, dances, and meanings of a typical shrine
ceremony. He then describes the cycle of activities at the shrine
during a calendar year: the seasonal rituals and festivals and the
petitionary, propitiary, and rite-of-passage ceremonies performed
for individuals and specific groups. Among them are the Dolls' Day
festival, in which young women participate in a procession and
worship service wearing Heian period costumes; the autumn Okunchi
festival, which attracts participants from all over Japan and even
brings emigrants home for a visit; the ritual invoking the blessing
of the Kami for young children; and the ritual sanctifying the
earth before a building is constructed. The author also describes
the many roles women play in Shinto and includes an interview with
a female priest. Shinto has always been attentive to the protection
of communities from unpredictable human and divine forces and has
imbued its ritual practices with techniques and strategies to aid
human life. By observing the Nagasaki shrine's traditions and
rituals, the people who make it work, and their interactions with
the community at large, the author shows that cosmologies from the
past are still very much a part of the cultural codes utilized by
the nation and its people to meet the challenges of today.
In this book, John Nelson reconstructs everyday Anglican religious
practice and experience in Virginia from the end of the seventeenth
century to the start of the American Revolution. Challenging
previous characterizations of the colonial Anglican establishment
as weak, he reveals the fundamental role the church played in the
political, social, and economic as well as the spiritual lives of
its parishioners. Drawing on extensive research in parish and
county records and other primary sources, Nelson describes Anglican
Virginia's parish system, its parsons, its rituals of worship and
rites of passage, and its parishioners' varied relationships to the
church. All colonial Virginians--men and women, rich and poor,
young and old, planters and merchants, servants and slaves,
dissenters and freethinkers--belonged to a parish. As such, they
were subject to its levies, its authority over marriage, and other
social and economic dictates. In addition to its religious
functions, the parish provided essential care for the poor,
collaborated with the courts to handle civil disputes, and exerted
its influence over many other aspects of community life. A Blessed
Company demonstrates that, by creatively adapting Anglican parish
organization and the language, forms, and modes of Anglican
spirituality to the Chesapeake's distinctive environmental and
human conditions, colonial Virginians sustained a remarkably
effective and faithful Anglican church in the Old Dominion.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|