عنوان

Buddhist Apologetics and a Genealogy of Comparative Religion in Siam

شماره

LA122808

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

Buddhist Apologetics and a Genealogy of Comparative Religion in Siam

نام عام مواد

[Article]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Thongchai Winichakul

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

Contemporary identity in Thailand is prominently configured through an allegiance of reformed Buddhism with the modern Thai state. What is not well understood, however, is the centrality of "comparative religion" to the construction of this naturalized religionationalist identity, for interreligious study in Siam has been an integral component of modern Thai identity since the mid-nineteenth century. First, the emergence of "religion" as an object of study in modern Thailand is explored here, in an effort to detail the genealogy of this field for the first time. The articulation of Thai religious identity is identified as a response to intellectual challenges from colonial influences, especially the reproofs of Buddhism by Christian missionaries and Orientalist scholarship on religion. Thai Buddhist intellectuals responded to these challenges by robustly countering that Theravada Buddhism was, in fact, superior to Christianity and other religions. Finally, I explore the contentions between the Thai Buddhist apologetics and their opponents as a genealogy of the knowledge in comparative religion in Siam over the past century and a half. Given this genealogy, the field of comparative religion in Thailand is revealed as being far from a disinterested pursuit of knowledge; rather, it is part of the formation and reaffirmation of Thai national identity. Contemporary identity in Thailand is prominently configured through an allegiance of reformed Buddhism with the modern Thai state. What is not well understood, however, is the centrality of "comparative religion" to the construction of this naturalized religionationalist identity, for interreligious study in Siam has been an integral component of modern Thai identity since the mid-nineteenth century. First, the emergence of "religion" as an object of study in modern Thailand is explored here, in an effort to detail the genealogy of this field for the first time. The articulation of Thai religious identity is identified as a response to intellectual challenges from colonial influences, especially the reproofs of Buddhism by Christian missionaries and Orientalist scholarship on religion. Thai Buddhist intellectuals responded to these challenges by robustly countering that Theravada Buddhism was, in fact, superior to Christianity and other religions. Finally, I explore the contentions between the Thai Buddhist apologetics and their opponents as a genealogy of the knowledge in comparative religion in Siam over the past century and a half. Given this genealogy, the field of comparative religion in Thailand is revealed as being far from a disinterested pursuit of knowledge; rather, it is part of the formation and reaffirmation of Thai national identity.

تاريخ نشر

2015

توصيف ظاهري

76-99

عنوان

Numen

شماره جلد

62/1

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

1568-5276

اصطلاح موضوعی

Buddhism in Siam

اصطلاح موضوعی

Buddhist apologetics

اصطلاح موضوعی

Christian-Buddhist debates

اصطلاح موضوعی

comparative religion in Thailand

اصطلاح موضوعی

religion and modern identity

اصطلاح موضوعی

religious studies in Asia

اصطلاح موضوعی

religious studies in Thailand

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Thongchai Winichakul

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/15685276-12341356

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y