76th Annual Conference

A Report on the 76th Annual Conference of the JARS

By The International Connections Committee

JARS held its 76th annual conference at University of Tokyo in Tokyo from September 15 -17, 2017. A total of 686 people, including 128 non-member participants, attended. We owe the success of the conference to our conference organizers, and above all, to chief organizer, Professor Yoshio Tsuruoka.

The theme of this year’s opening symposium was “The History of Religious Studies in Universities”. Professor Tomoko Masuzawa of the University of Michigan made a public lecture entitled “Church, State, and the University: Their Changing Relations through Western History” and Professor Yoshio Tsuruoka of The University of Tokyo made a public lecture entitled “Characteristics of Religious Studies in Universities of Modern Japan, from the Institutional Point of View”, followed by two assigned commentators’ comments and questions. Many participants attended them and enjoyed the presentations and discussions.

The conference organizers want to express their gratitude to the member for their kind collaboration.

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You can find the texts of the presentations by the keynote speakers and the comments by the assigned commentators at the following URL http://jpars.org/journal/bulletin/vol_91

Public Lectures
The History of Religious Studies in Universities

Tomoko Masuzawa (the University of Michigan), Church, State, and the University: Their Changing Relations through Western History

Yoshio Tsuruoka (The University of Tokyo), Characteristics of Religious Studies in Universities of Modern Japan, from the Institutional Point of View

Makoto Hayashi (Aichi Gakuin University), Report by Assigned Commentator. The Transformation of Religious Studies and Society after World War II

Hiroshi Kubota (Rikkyo University), Report by Assigned Commentator. Reconsidering the Relationship between the Study of Religions and Theology

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The regular program consists of 18 panels and 272 individual papers, which were organized into 14 parallel sessions.

Special Session Title and Convener

Reconsidering Religious Studies in Modern Japan in Light of the Institutionalization of Universities (Satoko Fujiwara)

Panel Titles and Conveners

Religious Studies and the Perspective of Izutsu’s “Oriental Philosophy” (Yoshitsugu Sawai)

Rethinking 20th Century Jewish Philosophy: Between Politics and Religion (Daisuke Ibaragi)

The Possibilities of Durkheim’s “Science des religions”: Commemorating the Centennial of His Death (Makoto Yamazaki),

The Compilation and Publication of Nichiren’s Writings (Zehō Miwa)

On the Plurality of Religions and Their Respective Functions Based on the Plurality of Public Spheres (Hirofumi Tsushiro)

Total Mobilization for War and Alteration of Self-Idea in Religious Affiliated Higher Education Institutions (Naotoshi Ejima)

Varieties of Kyōka in Japanese Buddhism: From Early Modern to Modern (Mami Iwata)

Buddhist Social Responsibility in the Death-Burdened Society (Yūkan Ogawa)

Re-examination of the Allied Powers’ Treatment of Asia and Religions in New Historical Documents and Field-Work (Sunao Taira)

“The Religious Reformation” in the Secular World: The Role of the Ethical Culture Movement in the U.S., Germany, and Japan (Hidehiko Kurita)

The Transformation of Religious Movements in Modern Japan and Korea: The Perspective of the East Asian Context (Takaya Kawase)

Myths as Traditional Language Cultures in Japanese School Education (Chieko Ōsawa)

Contexts of Society and Religions under the Movement for Clarification of the Fundamental Concepts of National Polity until around 1935 (Nobuyuki Kojima)

Renovating the Research on the Religious Peace Movement in Postwar Japan (Eiichi Ōtani)

Ancient Fascism and the Sacred (Kikuko Hirafuji)

Possibilities and Challenges of Involvement Research in Religious Studies (Tatsuya Yumiyama)

Religion, Disability, and Community (Yasunori Andō)

A New Concept of Public Religion for a Comparative Study of the Relation of Religion-and Politics (Yoshihide Sakurai)