East Asian Religiosities in the European Union

This book explores how East Asian religions affect EU countries, both through Asian diaspora communities and through European converts and sympathisers. East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam) and the EU are two of the planet's most dynamic regions economically, politically, and culturally. East Asian diasporas have a long history in Europe and represent a growing part of the EU's population. Meanwhile, Europeans have long been attracted to and interested in East Asian religion and are increasingly converting or incorporating elements of East Asian religiosities into their own identities. For the first time ever, this book presents the state of the art of research in this area, with chapters on most of the EU's 27 countries and on themes such as migration, Orientalism, gender and sexuality. It covers, among others, East Asian Buddhism and Christianity, Daoism and new religious movements, as well as martial arts and other looser forms of spirituality.

Laurence Cox is Professor of Sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Ugo Dessì is FWF Professorial Fellow at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town. Lukas K. Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies (since 2016) as well as Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Vienna. His present research focuses on religion in Austria/Europe, millenarianism, new religious movements, and alternative religions (esotericism).