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The history of cosmology is often understood in terms of the development of modern science, but Asian cosmological thought and practice touched on many aspects of life, including mathematics, astronomy, politics, philosophy, religion, and art.
Because of the deep pervasion of cosmology in culture, many opportunities arose for transmissions of cosmological ideas across borders and innovations of knowledge and application in new contexts. Taking a wider view, one finds that cosmological ideas traveled widely and intermingled freely, being frequently reinterpreted by scholars, ritualists, and artists and transforming as they overlapped with ideas and practices from other traditions.
This book brings together ten diverse scholars to present their views on these overlapping cosmologies in Asia. They are Ryuji Hiraoka, Satomi Hiyama, Eric Huntington, Yoichi Isahaya, Catherine Jami, Bill M. Mak, D. Max Moerman, Adrian C. Pirtea, John Steele, and Dror Weil.
Because of the deep pervasion of cosmology in culture, many opportunities arose for transmissions of cosmological ideas across borders and innovations of knowledge and application in new contexts. Taking a wider view, one finds that cosmological ideas traveled widely and intermingled freely, being frequently reinterpreted by scholars, ritualists, and artists and transforming as they overlapped with ideas and practices from other traditions.
This book brings together ten diverse scholars to present their views on these overlapping cosmologies in Asia. They are Ryuji Hiraoka, Satomi Hiyama, Eric Huntington, Yoichi Isahaya, Catherine Jami, Bill M. Mak, D. Max Moerman, Adrian C. Pirtea, John Steele, and Dror Weil.
Price: $151.00
Pages: 298
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Crossroads - History of Interactions across the Silk Routes
Publication Date:
22 February 2022
ISBN: 9789004511415
Format: Hardcover
"The greatest strength of the volume is the unique groundwork it provides for examining cosmology in Asia: examining different cosmologies by perceiving them as being “defined systematically by monolithic and isolated cultures or even elite individuals, cosmologies were constantly in flux” is an undeniably useful means of understanding what is often a convoluted field. [...] Those with an interest in religion in
Asia have much to gain from this volume, particularly those within the field of Chinese religion, Manichaeism, Buddhism, and Japanese religion.
"
– Joseph Chadwin, in Religious Studies Review 48.3 (September 2022)
"Overlapping cosmologies testify to the complex transformations happening beyond the simplistic alternative of full adoption and full rejection, and they show how traditional cultures and religions shape the scientific discourse, for better or worse." - Thierry Meynard, Journal of Jesuit Studies 10 (2023).
"The book makes a useful contribution to a wider discourse proposing cosmology as a way to decolonize the history of science. It supports this effortby divulging a historical pluriverse characterized by both the interactionand boundary crossings of historical actors, while cautioning the modern analyst about their role." - Dagmar Schäfer, Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science (2024) 5: rev01 1–7. https://doi.org/10.33137/aestimatio.v5.45499
"[The book] is a groundbreking work that redefines how we understand the transmission and transformation of cosmological knowledge across Asia. The volume is not just a collection of scholrarly essays; it is a bold intervention tht challenges tradtiional assumptions about intellectural traditions and their boundaries." - Yi, J. H., Studies in Chinese Religions, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2025.2532287.
– Joseph Chadwin, in Religious Studies Review 48.3 (September 2022)
"Overlapping cosmologies testify to the complex transformations happening beyond the simplistic alternative of full adoption and full rejection, and they show how traditional cultures and religions shape the scientific discourse, for better or worse." - Thierry Meynard, Journal of Jesuit Studies 10 (2023).
"The book makes a useful contribution to a wider discourse proposing cosmology as a way to decolonize the history of science. It supports this effortby divulging a historical pluriverse characterized by both the interactionand boundary crossings of historical actors, while cautioning the modern analyst about their role." - Dagmar Schäfer, Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science (2024) 5: rev01 1–7. https://doi.org/10.33137/aestimatio.v5.45499
"[The book] is a groundbreking work that redefines how we understand the transmission and transformation of cosmological knowledge across Asia. The volume is not just a collection of scholrarly essays; it is a bold intervention tht challenges tradtiional assumptions about intellectural traditions and their boundaries." - Yi, J. H., Studies in Chinese Religions, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2025.2532287.
Bill M. Mak is a research fellow at the Needham Research Institute, Bye Fellow of the Robinson College, Cambridge University, and Principal Researcher at the Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Art Museum, Hong Kong. He received his PhD (2010) from Peking University.
Eric Huntington holds a T. T. and W. F. Chao Assistant Professorship in Transnational Asian Studies at Rice University and a PhD (2013) from the University of Chicago. His book Creating the Universe exposes complex cosmological thinking in Buddhist literature, ritual, art, and architecture.
Eric Huntington holds a T. T. and W. F. Chao Assistant Professorship in Transnational Asian Studies at Rice University and a PhD (2013) from the University of Chicago. His book Creating the Universe exposes complex cosmological thinking in Buddhist literature, ritual, art, and architecture.