2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research and Investigation on New Trends in the Study of Religion in the World Today
| Project/Area Number |
15320012
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Religious studies
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
TSURUOKA Yoshio The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 教授 (60180056)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KANAI Shinji The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Honorary Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 名誉教授 (30114440)
ICHIKAWA Hiroshi The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 教授 (20223084)
IKEZAWA Masaru The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Associate Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助教授 (90250993)
MURAKAMI Kokyo The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Assistant, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助手 (40292742)
KAMADA Shigeru The University of Tokyo, Institute of Eastern Culture Studies, Professor, 東洋文化研究所, 教授 (70152840)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | religion / genealogy / modernity / methodology / constructivism |
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| Research Abstract |
Since the last decade of the past century it has become common understanding in the academic study of religion that the concept of "religion" itself is a modern Western construction, of which Protestantism is the paradigmatic model. Based on this recognition, contemporary studies of religion in the world are developing new methodologies and views of "religion" in various areas of study.
This research project, collaborated by investigators from various fields of religious studies, endeavored to investigate as wide and profoundly as possible these new trends in the study of religion. We held several workshops every year during the research term, where the reports of each investigator's research were communicated and discussed. The outcomes of our activities have already been published in many academic media, as well as in the Report of Research Project book we publish with this abstracts. The fruit of the project will also appear in each investigator's future publications.
We can very succinctly summarize the result of our investigations as follows : in the contemporary "post-colonial" situations of religions and study of religion in the world, we are obliged to reassess every scientific terminologies the past studies of religion had elaborated since the 19^<th> century, including the very concept "religion". However, these legacies are still valid and effective in the scientific understanding of religious phenomena, if they are used with sufficient consciousness of their historical origins, political implications, and epistemological limitations, etc. Under this condition, they rather have possibilities to open up a new stage in the study of religion in the future.
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