New in Pureland Buddhist Studies

Religious acculturation is typically seen as a one-way process: The dominant religious culture imposes certain behavioral patterns, ethical standards, social values, and organizational and legal requirements onto the immigrant religious tradition. In this view, American society is the active partner in the relationship, while the newly introduced tradition is the passive recipient being changed. Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898-1941, by Michihiro Ama, investigates the early period of Jodo Shinshu in Hawai‘i and the United States. It sets a new standard for investigating the processes of religious acculturation and a radically new way of thinking about these processes.

Pureland Buddhist Studies
Published in association with the Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Graduate Theological Union
January 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3438-8 / $47.00 (CLOTH)