Comparative religious study of mission and conversion : Modernity, Religion and Colonialism

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This research on "propagation" and "conversion" was a tentative project to turn the crisis of representation into an academic chance, in order to re-examine the logic of spontaneous extension of each religious tradition and to study the historical situations as a result. The main purposes were as follows:1) to re-construct a more suitable conception of "religion" on the basis of a new typology (orthodoxy & orthopraxy) instead of an old ethno-centric one (monotheism & polytheism), 2) to re-cover a wider range of research topics for religions study, with the dynamism of modernity contextualized on politico-econo-cultural factors such as nationalism, colonialism and orientalism.It was through the re-examination of various historical cases that our research meetings held four times as the last project year gave birth to the following ideas:On propagation and conversiona)various patterns of missionary process concerning the native customs and languages,b)world-historical constellation of non-missionary type religions,c)various patterns of conversions to modernities.On typology of relirionsa)Christianity as an ideal type of religion (equivalence of practice & belief)b)limits of comparative method for Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Shintoism (orthodoxy & orthopraxy)c)Japanese model for religion and so-called animismThese ideas will provide us with valuable leads to solve the outsider/insider problem based on the insoluble border image of each religion