Religion and social cohesion
Subtitle: Western, Chinese and intercultural perspectives
By: Edited by André van der Braak, Dedong Wei & Caifan Zhu
Publisher: VU University Press [Vrije Universiteit
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Amsterdam
Language: eng
Number of pages: 195
ISBN-13: 9789086596775
Subjects: Religion; Western Civilization; Civilization; Social integration; Religious aspects; Religion and sociology; Religion and civilization; Modern Civilization; East and West; Islam; Muslims
Description: Both in the West and in China, it is increasingly recognized that religion is not merely an individual matter, but a social force that has an important impact on society. And whereas the focus in the media today is often on the potential negative social impact of religion (the threats of fundamentalism, violence and terrorism), religion has also often been an important factor in the arising of social capital and social cohesion. The essays in this volume focus on three themes. First of all: how does religion manifest itself in culture today, what role does it play in the development of a civil society, and should the state 0be active in this process? Secondly: what are the boundaries of 'religion' and 'religious identity' in a time of rapidly increasing cultural and religious diversity? And thirdly: what are the specific social practices today that result from, or inform religion? This volume hopes to make an inspiring contribution to the interreligious dialogue between West and East, especially China. It contains sixteen essays, written by scholars from Holland, Belgium, South Africa and China.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / -- André van der Braak; title: Remembering the future: Christianity, social capital and the development of the West  -- Govert Buijs; title: Government, legal personality and internal structure of religious communities in the Netherlands and a number of other European countries  -- Tymen J. van der Ploeg; title: Religion, social capital and charity  -- Ab Klink; title: Can a crusade be civil? Evangelism as social contribution  -- Daniëlle Koning; title: The rainbow nation: reflections on religion and culture in the new South Africa  -- Annette Combrink; title: On promoting religious harmony, and helping religion to play an active role in China  -- Xunmou Zhang; title: A threefold perspective on the research into the sinicization of Christianity  -- Zhigang Zhang; title: From northwest to southeast: Islam in contemporary Chinese society  -- Yujie Wang; title: Contemporary Buddhism in China: the little courtyard in Shanxi Province  -- Caifang Zhu; title: Popular religion in modern and contemporary china  -- Yongsi Liu; title: The autistic worldview: a case study of China  -- Cindy De Clerck; title: Islam and pluralism: religious-cultural identity and multiculturalism  -- Yaser Ellethy; title: Chinese Chan Buddhism in the Netherlands as an example of multiple religious belonging  -- André van der Braak; title: In search of a 'new we' in the Netherlands: interreligious multimedia projects and their contribution to social coherence  -- Manuela Kalsky; title: Comparative scripture and interreligious dialogue: taking the Chinese experience as a starting point  -- Bin You; title: Migrant churches: chances and challenges for society and politics -- Kathleen Ferrier.