'Never the 'Twain Shall Meet'
Disorienting East and West in Teaching and Scholarship
Keywords:
Orientalism, Buddhist modernism, Unitarianism, Socialism, Hirai KinzaAbstract
This article explores the categories of "East" and "West" within teaching and scholarship on Asian religions. After reflection on both the problematic and useful aspects of these terms in classroom pedagogy, I analyze the life and work of Hirai Kinza (1859–1916), a Japanese lay Buddhist who experimented with Unitarianism and socialism in an attempt to bridge "East" and "West" in the context of Japanese modernization.
References
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Hirai Kinza. 1892.“So?go? shu?kyo?ron” (On synthetic reli- gion), Dento 35.
———. 1893. “The Real Position of Japan toward Christi- anity.” In The World’s Parliament of Religions, vol. 1, ed- ited by John Henry Barrows, 444–50. Chicago: Parlia- ment Publishing.
———. 1900. “Jinrui shinporon” (On the progress of hu- manity). Rikugo? zasshi 236.
———. 1901. “Kagakuteki oyobi shikateki shakai” (Scien- tific or poetic society). Rikugo? zasshi 245.
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