The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent
In this landmark work, Thomas Tweed examines nineteenth-century America's encounter with one of the world's major religions. Exploring the debates about Buddhism that followed upon its introduction in this country, Tweed shows what happened when the transplanted religious movement came into contact with America's established culture and fundamentally different Protestant tradition.\ The book, first published in 1992, traces the efforts of various American interpreters to make sense of...
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Originally published in 1992, this landmark study on "convert Buddism" in Victorian America is a fascinating cultural history that explores the ways Buddism was adopted and understood by a variety of Americans including intellectuals, travellers, and critics. This new edition has a preface that places the book in the context of Buddism's growing influence in American culture today. Sociology of Religion - William H. Swatos Jr. This is one of the finest books I have read in a long time.
ForewordAcknowledgmentsA Note on Foreign TermsIntroduction1"The Seeming Anomaly of Buddhist Negation": The American Conversation about Buddhism, 1844-1877, and the Contours of Mid-Victorian Culture12"Shall We All Become Buddhists?": The Conversation and the Converts, 1879-1912263Esoterics, Rationalists, and Romantics: A Typology of Euro-American Buddhist Sympathizers and Adherents, 1875-1912484"Walking in Fairyland": Buddhism's Appeal and Cultural Dissent785Strolling Down Main Street: Cultural Consent and the Accessibility of Buddhism1116Optimism and Activism: Responses to Buddhism, Victorian Religious Culture, and the Limits of Dissent133Postscript: Buddhism in America after 1912157Tables163Notes167Selected Bibliography209Index235
\ From the PublisherIndispensable reading for anyone interested in the history of Buddhism in America. (Jan Nattier, Indiana University)\ This book is an important contribution to the sometime rancorous debate about what American Buddhism ought to look like and how it can best be adapted to American culture in ways that will insure both its success in the future and its integrity. (Richard Hughes Seager, Hamilton College)\ This is one of the finest books I have read in a long time. (William H. Swatos, Jr., Sociology of Religion\ An important and original contribution to American intellectual and social history. (Robert S. Ellwood, (Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography)\ \ \ \ \ \ Jan NattierIndispensable reading for anyone interested in the history of Buddhism in America.\ \ \ Richard Hughes SeagerThis book is an important contribution to the sometime rancorous debate about what American Buddhism ought to look like and how it can best be adapted to American culture in ways that will insure both its success in the future and its integrity. \ —Hamilton College\ \ \ \ \ William H. Swatos Jr.This is one of the finest books I have read in a long time. \ —Sociology of Religion\ \ \ \ \ Robert S. EllwoodAn important and original contribution to American intellectual and social history. \ —Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography\ \
