ASIAN RELIGIONS - An Introduction to the Study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, and Taoism

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel

A study of Asian religions positioned within world history, emphasizing how religion shapes culture, meaning, and historical interpretation. It argues against easy comparisons and oversimplified, exotic-focused judgments, urging careful understanding through the perspectives of believers. The work explains why scholars need sympathetic, objective background knowledge, drawing on history and anthropology, and then turning to sacred scriptures and authoritative religious writings to approach each tradition accurately.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages40

Reading Time1 h 2 min

AccessFree to download

An Introduction to the Study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, and Taoism

Why comparative study requires caution

Religion as a foundation for historical understanding

Approaching each religion from the believer’s perspective

Methods: history, anthropology, and scripture

ASIAN RELIGIONS # An Introduction to the Study ofHinduism,Buddhism,Islam,Confucianism,and Taoism By KENNETH W.MORGANColgate University Publication Number 55 SERVICE CENTER FOR TEACHERS OF HISTORYA Service of the American Historical Association THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LIBRARY Lewis and Cl CollegePORTLAND,OREGON Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2021 with funding fromKahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/asianreligion0000unse ASIAN RELIGIONS An Introduction to the Studyof Hinduism,Buddhism,Islam,Confucianism,and Taoism By KENNETH W.MORGANColgate University A Publication of the American Historical Association'sSERVICE CENTER FOR TEACHERS OF HISTORY400 A Street,S.E.,Washington,D.C.20003 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY,NEW YORKCOLLIER-MACMILLAN LIMITED,LONDON religions of the world.Opportunities for graduate study and research inthe religions of Asia have expanded rapidly in the United States andEurope since the war,using the techniques of linguistics,history,literarycriticism,sociology,anthropology,psychology,the arts,theology,andphilosophy. There has been no such development in Asia.Japanese scholars havegreatly expanded their studies within the Buddhist context,coveringTibet,China,and the Buddhism of India and Southeast Asia,but havedone little with Hinduism,Judaism,Islam,and Christianity.Some workhas been done in India,courses have been offered in religions other thanBuddhism in Ceylon,there was a chair of comparative religions for atime in Turkey,but in general the scholars of Asia have not turned to astudy of religions other than their own. Various reasons have been given for the interest in the religions ofthe world.Some suggest that the very idea of religions,in the plural,came from a pluralistic society with a democratic form of government.Some attribute the interest to improved methods of communication andtransportation,together with more widespread education,saying that thedesire to know more about other religions is inevitable when educatedpeople have frequent opportunities to observe their differences andsimilarities throughout the world.Some of the studies seem to have beenmotivated by a desire to establish an underlying unity in all religions,or to prove the superiority of one religion over the others,or to developmore effective methods for conversion. The time is past for easy comparisons,oversimplifications,stress onthe exotic,or smug superiority in discussing religions other than one'sown.The information at our disposal now makes so evident the com-plexity,the diversity,of the religious aspect of human experience in allAsian cultures that we can no longer use easy generalizations or tradition-ally accepted patterns in talking about other religions.As Professor Smithpointed out in the work referred to above,"Normally persons talk aboutother people's religions as they are,and about their own as it ought tobe....Those without a faith of their own think of all ‘religions'asobservably practised.Hence insiders and outsiders use the same wordswhile talking of different things"(p.49).The aim in studying anotherreligion should be to know it as it is and as its followers think it ought to be.It is a good rule always to speak of a religion other than one's own asif the speaker were in the presence of a good friend who is a follower ofthat religion.And,obviously,comparative evaluations should not be madeuntil one is sure that he understands accurately and perceptively thereligion other than his own which he is judging—a level of understand-ing rarely attained by any of us. We are concerned here with the place of Asian religions in the studyof world history.When we study the history of Europe and America wecan assume at least a minimal knowledge about the influence of Greek,Jewish,and Christian religious thought and practices,but for the studyof the history of Asia we must prepare ourselves by gaining a sympatheticunderstanding of the quite different religious ideas and practices of t

FAQs

Why does the book argue against easy comparisons of religions?

It warns that oversimplification and exoticization distort the complexity and diversity of religious life, making generalizations unreliable and sometimes smug or careless.

What role does religion play in historical understanding according to the book?

Religion is presented as fundamental to how cultures form meaning and evaluate relationships to nature, others, and the transcendent, shaping historical processes and interpretations.

What does the book recommend as the first task when studying an Asian religion?

To see the religion as believers see it, rather than through the assumptions or biases of outsiders, and to approach comparative judgments only after accurate understanding.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel