Hawaii S Religions

This is a comprehensive guide to the diverse religious history of Hawaii. Beginning with the religion of ancient Hawaii, depicting the arrival of the first missionaries, and, religion by religion, covering each faith as it came to Hawaii, the author thoroughly describes the inception and harmonious development of Hawaiian religions. Christianity, Judaism, Japanese and Chinese Buddhism, Shinto, the new religions from Japan (such as Tenrikyo), Baha'ism, and other religions are discussed, their leaders indicated, and their present standing in Hawaii given. Hawaii's Religions fills a gap in the library of Hawaiian literature. As a textbook, as a reference book, or for pleasure reading, it cannot be welcomed by those interested in Hawaiian culture.

Ho'omana examines what happened to Native Hawaiian beliefs from the time the priests ended traditional temple worship in 1819 to the present day controversies over sacred sites and objects. As a former Cultural Affairs Officer for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Malcolm Naea Chun was actively involved in the early initiatives of cultural and historic preservation and knows well of the conflicts and struggles that involve and invoke Hawaiian beliefs. He has written and published several articles on the historical dialogue between traditional religion and Christianity. In Ho'omana, Chun uses primary Native Hawaiian sources to compare pre-contact practices with contemporary beliefs and practices, looking for what has been retained, what has changed, and which current practices should be considered questionable as Native Hawaiian. This book is one of eleven short volumes of the Ka Wana series, which is part of the Pihana Na Mamo Native Hawaiian Education Program.

This is the first book solely devoted to the spirituality of the Hawaiian people and how taboos, superstitions and magical practices permeated and defined every aspect of their lives. With a historical and sociological perspective, it examines in detail their beliefs: the structure of their society; the names and ways of the deities; the practice of deifying ancestral spirits; the importance of dance, colors, water, stone and plants; and the concept of Mana, the spiritual power in all things.

DURING THE past century investigations have been made of native magic in Africa, India and other parts of the world. Spiritualistic phenomena have been certified as genuine and studied painstakingly by over a hundred recognized scientists. Religions have been surveyed and the instant or nearly instant miraculous healing at Lourdes verified. But from all these studies and efforts there has come nothing faintly resembling a definite basic system, philosophy, theory, or psycho-religious science which would explain, even in the most general terms, the phenomena of the various fields. In fact, investigations in these fields began to arrive at a stalemate several years ago. New discoveries have been conspicuously lacking. A much fuller and more detailed account of the long investigation is planned when the last stage-the experimental stage-has added its quota. (From Part 1) Get Your Copy Today!

Although religious fundamentalism is often thought to be confined to monotheistic “religions of the book,” this study examines the emergence of a fundamentalism rooted in the Shinto tradition and considers its role in shaping postwar Japanese nationalism and politics. Over the past half-century, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the National Association of Shrines (NAS) have been engaged in collaborative efforts to “recover” or “restore” what was destroyed by the process of imperialist secularization during the Allied Occupation of Japan. Since the disaster years of 1995 and 2011, LDP Diet members and prime ministers have increased their support for a political agenda that aims to revive patriotic education, renationalize Yasukuni Shrine, and revise the constitution. The contested nature of this agenda is evident in the critical responses of religious leaders and public intellectuals, and in their efforts to preserve the postwar gains in democratic institutions and prevent the erosion of individual rights. This timely treatment critically engages the contemporary debates surrounding secularization in light of postwar developments in Japanese religions and sheds new light on the role religion continues to play in the public sphere.