Images in Asian Religions : Text and Contexts

The study of images in Asian religions has tended to emphasize thecentrality of image worship in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Imagesin Asian Religions offers a challenge to any simple understandingof the role of images by looking at aspects of the reception of imageworship that have only begun to be studied, including the manyhesitations that Asian religious traditions expressed about imageworship. Written by eminent scholars of anthropology, art history, andreligion with interests in different regions (India, China, Japan, andSoutheast Asia), this volume takes a fresh look at the many ways inwhich images were defined and received in Asian religions. Areasaddressed include the complex, fluid, and contested nature of thereligious image; the reception of images within the intellectualculture of Hinduism and Buddhism; and the importance of historical andcultural context in the study of religious images. This compelling collection, demonstrating the range of debate overpractices of image worship, will expand our appreciation of the objectsthat serve, for many, as supports of divine presence. Of primaryinterest to scholars of Asian religions, it will also appeal to arthistorians, anthropologists, semioticians, and students of religion whoconcern themselves with images, icons, and material culture.