|
Name
of Project: A Research Study of Religion in Japan
Description:
Dr.
Gail Ramshaw spent two weeks in Japan. She lectured at a seminary
in Tokyo and visited shrines and temples in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara,
learning about Shinto and Buddhism, including their rituals and
beliefs. She attended the Sanja Matsuri, a festival for the bodhisattva
Kannon. As expected, she encountered at the seminary Christianity
quite different from that in North America. Her experience is that
such travels contribute immensely to her teaching of regular and
honors religion course at La Salle.
| Goals: |
|
| Dr.
Ramshaw hopes to contrast North American Lutheranism with that
she encounters in Tokyo; to visit significant Japanese religious
sites; and to learn about Shinto and Japanese Buddhism. |
|
|
| Outcomes: |
Her
recent report to the religion faculty indicates that she
learned far more than even she had hoped for. Her report
included consideration of the question about whether our
society is heading in the general direction of Japan, where
the majority of people practice several different religions
for different occasions, rather than thinking of a single
religious tradition as sufficient for all their religious
needs.
|
Lessons
Learned:
The
Department learned from Dr. Ramshaw that textbook descriptions of
a religion are sometimes a seriously inadequate way to present or
understand that tradition. She spoke of the considerable distance
between scholarly descriptions of a religion and the popular practices
of its adherents.
|
