Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan - (Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies) by Ioannis Gaitanidis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book critically analyses the creation and effects of spirituality as both discourse and practice in Japan. It shows how the value of spirituality has been sustained by scholars who have wished for a more civic role for religion; by the publishing industry whose exponential growth in the 1980s fashioned those who later identified as the representatives of this "new spirituality culture"; by "spiritual therapists" who have sought to eke out a livelihood in an increasingly professionalized and regulated therapeutic field; and by the cruel optimism of an increasingly precarious workforce placing its hopes in the imagined alternative that the supirichuaru represents.
Ioannis Gaitanidis offers a new transdisciplinary conceptualisation of 'alternativity' that can be applied across and beyond the disciplines of religious studies, media studies, popular culture studies and the anthropology/sociology of medicine.

Review Quotes

"Through novel periodization and careful attention to academic fields beyond religious studies, Gaitanidis completely upends the received wisdom on 'spirituality, ' ... This book is required reading not only for scholars of Japanese religions, but also for anyone interested in the study of alternative and emergent groups that may or may not describe themselves as 'religious.' ... Revolutionary." --Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"This book is essential reading for scholars and students interested in spirituality, what it does, and how it became a business, lifestyle and scholarly discipline in contemporary Japan. Rigorously researched and based on extensive original materials, it provides invaluable insights and is an important addition to the field." --Erica Baffelli, Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Manchester, UK

"An important contribution to the study of contemporary Japanese religion. This volume is insightful and rich in ethnographic detail, portraying spiritual therapists as freelance workers in a precarious economy. It also provides much-needed correctives to academic narratives of the so-called "spirituality boom" or "commodification of religion"." --Aike P. Rots, Associate Professor of Japan Studies, University of Oslo, Norway

"A ground-breaking effort that significantly challenges the conventional narratives surrounding 'spirituality' and shakes the foundations of academic scholarship ... It effectively lays a robust groundwork for a thorough deconstruction and careful reconstruction of the concept of spirituality as it has been examined and understood in recent years ... [T]his work is poised to become an essential resource for scholars and students who are engaging with these issues in their research endeavours." --Journal of Religion in Japan

"[Ioannis Gaitanidis] gifts with this book his readers a fascinating and rare insider's point of view into the overlap of contemporary spirituality and business ... [His argument] is presented in a highly engaging fashion, which should be of interest not only to scholars of religious studies but also to anyone who is keen to learn about potent contemporary ideas that have the ability to take our present-day societies by storm." --Lehel Balogh, Hokkaido University, Japan, Religious Studies Review

"A fascinating new contribution to the study of contemporary Japanese religion and religiosity... a valuable contribution to the study of contemporary religion in Japan, [and sure to] become a classic in the study of new religions and alternative religiosity... Gaitanidis shows his qualities as both a meticulous and empathetic researcher." --Nova Religio