Religion in the Global East: Challenges and Opportunities for the Social Scientific Study of Religion

Abstract

This essay is based on the Presidential Address at the East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Inaugural Conference on 3–5 July 2018 in Singapore. It discusses some aspects of the key concepts, some of the distinct characteristics of religion in East Asia, and some implications for the social scientific study of religion in general.

Keywords

• Global East
• religion
• religiosity
• atheism
• Sheilaism
• spiritual but not religious