Module info

By the end of the seminar, students should be able to:

• Analyse the historical development and distinctive features of Buddhism, Shinto, and their interactions in Japan, situating these traditions’ ideas and practices within their wider social and political contexts.
  
• Evaluate the ways in which religious institutions, rituals, beliefs and forms of participation have interacted with political power and contributed to processes of legitimation in different historical periods.
  
• Apply and critically assess different methodological and theoretical approaches to the academic study of Japanese religion, including approaches to the interpretation of religious texts, practices, institutions and historical sources.
  
• Compare and interpret different soteriological, hermeneutical, and ritual strategies employed within Japanese religious traditions, recognising both continuities and historical transformations.
  
• Construct and communicate well-supported, independent arguments about both Japanese religion and Japanese religious traditions by engaging critically with relevant scholarly literature and current debates in the study of religions.