The aging and depopulation of villages in Japan is affecting the “new religions” in a similar way to that of traditional Buddhist temples and shrines, according to an article in the Journal of Religion in Japan (5). Watanabe Masako writes that the new religions, most of which started in the 19th and 20th centuries, were […]
Unbelieving in Modern Society (Routledge, $119.96), by Jorg Stolz, Judith Konemann, Mallory Schneuwly Purdie, Thomas Engleberger, and Michael Kruggeler, is about Swiss religion, but the authors argue that its findings can be applied to the Western religious situation in general. While many sociologists of religion use the ideas of competition and a spiritual marketplace to explain the growth of religion, Stolz and colleagues use “market
Described as a charismatic leader and entrepreneur, Venerable Jigwang has founded the most powerful urban Buddhist temple in South Korea while borrowing management, preaching, and proselytizing techniques from Pentecostals. The Nungin Meditation Center (Nungin Sonwon) was founded in Seoul, Korea, in the mid-1980s. Although it started with limited resources, it has now turned into one […]
