Podcast Summary: New Books Network — Jolyon Baraka Thomas and Matthew D. McMullen, "The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions" (U Hawaii Press, 2024)

Release Date: December 28, 2025
Host: Raditya
Guests: Dr. Matthew McMullen (Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture)
Dr. Jolyon Baraka Thomas (University of Pennsylvania)

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode centers on the recently published The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions (University of Hawaii Press, 2024), co-edited by Matthew McMullen and Jolyon Baraka Thomas. The discussion investigates how this new volume updates and challenges the field’s assumptions compared to the original Nanzan Guide (2005), exploring methodological innovations, shifting scholarly debates, and the broader significance of "Japanese religions" as a concept.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Rationale Behind the New Volume

[06:38 – 10:41]

• The new guide arose from discussions among scholars noting the 2005 volume had grown outdated, and there was demand for a fresh resource incorporating current trends.
• Rather than simply updating the older content, the editors aimed to interrogate and diversify approaches to Japanese religions, inviting a broader range of scholars and perspectives.
• The collaborative process included feedback from the field (notably a session at the American Academy of Religion) and brought on contributing editors for thematic sections.
• Unlike the first guide, which centered on traditional categories (e.g., religious traditions), the new volume is organized around broader themes and questions.

“We gradually realized that we didn't want to just put out a remake of ... the first volume. ... We see them as a companion to each other.”
— Matthew McMullen [10:41]

“I just couldn’t resist the intellectual puzzle … we brought on these contributing editors … wanting to make sure that other people got to say their piece about where ... the field was.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [09:07]

2. Questioning 'Japanese Religions' as a Category

[12:30 – 19:51]

• Both editors emphasize turning 'Japanese religions' into a question, rather than a given, highlighting how academic and popular discourse often essentializes religion along civilizational or national lines.
• The choice of title (using the familiar phrase) is strategic, to draw students and readers in, but the content insists on a constant interrogation of what 'Japanese', 'religion', and their intersection actually mean.
• This approach also includes challenging conventional periodizations and assumed categories in Japanese religious studies.

“We should always be treating the phrase ‘Japanese religions’ as a question.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [12:55]

“Looking at ... what is the field in broader terms, we wanted to invite other people who are not trained as Japanese religion specialists to look at the book.”
— Matthew McMullen [16:51]

3. Intended Audience and Classroom Applications

[21:14 – 26:29]

• The volume is designed for a variety of users: not only Japanese religion scholars, but also Japan specialists in other disciplines, and scholars of religion globally.
• While some chapters are more specialized, many are accessible to graduate students and upper-level undergraduates.
• Both editors use selections in their own classrooms, noting the strong utility of the section introductions and the adaptability of individual chapters.

“My students seem to find it ... generative insofar as I could contrast it with some other maybe things that had been published earlier so that then they could see kind of how the field has developed.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [21:29]

4. Structure and Thematic Organization of the Guide

[26:29 – 30:32]

• The book is organized into thematic sections, such as Knowledge Production, Cosmology and Time, Space and Environment, Feeling and Belonging, and Fieldwork.
• Section introductions were authored by experts to provide overviews and bibliographies.
• This organization is meant to reflect and push forward new scholarly directions, encouraging comparative and theoretically sophisticated approaches.

“We began with some very kind of loose categories, and then they kind of solidified around these even looser and broader concepts ... it highlights ... that ... religion ... is something that is constructed.”
— Matthew McMullen [28:17]

5. Focus on Space, Place, and Scale

[32:42 – 36:44]

• Spatial methodologies are a signature of recent research, but the guide pushes further by considering scale—how ‘Japanese religions’ transcend the archipelago through migration, empire, and other flows.
• New scholarship examines not just localized sites but broader transnational or scalar phenomena, shifting the focus from ‘Japanese’ as bounded territory to networks and movements.

“Bringing the category of scale into the analysis ... That’s such a valuable contribution.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [32:42]

“This section ... really challenges like what is the Japanese part ... because it focuses on space ... people don't often think of as Japan ... colonized areas ... really wanted to challenge people's notions.”
— Matthew McMullen [36:09]

6. Feeling and Belonging as Emerging Methodologies

[39:08 – 44:10]

• Chapters in this section demonstrate how religious studies benefits by focusing not just on ideas or doctrine, but on affective, bodily, and social experiences.
• The challenge is how to methodologically access and articulate “feeling” (drawing on contemporary affect theory), while foregrounding practices that build community and personal identity.

“People feel their way through the world. And if we want to understand something about religion, we should make sure that we don't just ignore feeling as being immaterial or unnecessary.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [39:11]

“It gives them a way to approach the question of why are people religious from a different perspective ... because they have a feeling towards some type of ... community building.”
— Matthew McMullen [42:17]

7. Contemporary Fieldwork: Patchwork Ethnography and Methodological Reflexivity

[44:10 – 50:29]

• The editors stress the increasing importance of thinking reflexively about access, identity, embodiment, and the ethics of research—moving away from extractive, “objective” modes of knowing.
• Themes like “patchwork ethnography” highlight how modern researchers balance fieldwork with life circumstances (carework, disability, digital access), broadening understandings of both method and knowledge.
• Trust and friendship (rather than "informant" extraction) are now at the ethical core.

“Tim Smith’s chapter on trust ... drilled down to such a basic aspect of fieldwork. You have to establish and maintain trust ... so different from the old school, kind of very extractive mode of ethnographic research.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [47:07]

8. Why Study Japanese Religions? Broader Relevance and Aspirations

[51:03 – 56:15]

• The editors hope the book serves as an entryway to the human condition, offering insights that extend far beyond Japan.
• The Japanese case can reveal broader dynamics of religious identity, politics, and practice equally relevant in other contexts.
• They advocate for anti-essentialism, inviting colleagues from other geographical/regional fields to test and adopt frameworks developed for Japan.

“The study of Japanese religions ... is a beneficial window into understanding basically the human condition.”
— Matthew McMullen [51:03]

“The anti-essentialist spirit that animates this book ... means our colleagues who are studying religion in other places or studying other societies tend to find it really, really stimulating.”
— Jolyon Baraka Thomas [52:55]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We should always be treating the phrase ‘Japanese religions’ as a question.”
  — Jolyon Baraka Thomas [12:55]

• “If you convince them to step back and look [at] ... what are people doing in their communities ... it has this emotive effect that makes a person a part of a community—and you identify with that community.”
  — Matthew McMullen [42:17]

• “There will be no rematch on this volume ... If anybody out there ... thinking maybe 10 years down the line, you want to publish another volume, please start—it takes that long ... so you should start thinking about it now.”
  — Matthew McMullen [59:59]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:20–03:01] — Introductions: Host and guest backgrounds
• [06:38–10:41] — Origins and goals of the new guide
• [12:30–19:51] — Questioning ‘Japanese religions’ as a field
• [21:14–26:29] — Audience and classroom use
• [26:29–30:32] — Thematic structure and organization
• [32:42–36:44] — Approaches to space and environment
• [39:08–44:10] — Feeling, belonging, and affect as methods
• [44:10–50:29] — Fieldwork, embodiment, and trust
• [51:03–56:15] — Broader relevance and takeaways

Closing Reflections

• The episode underscores that modern scholarship on Japanese religions is acutely self-reflexive and increasingly attuned to both historical specificity and global theoretical debates.
• The new Nanzan Guide is both a platform for anti-essentialist, comparative, and innovative research and a practical resource for teaching and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• Listeners are encouraged to see Japan not as an isolated subject but as a powerful vantage point for studying religion and society in general.

Further Reading:

• Thomas, Jolyon Baraka; McMullen, Matthew D. (eds.), The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, University of Hawaii Press, 2024.
• Josephson Storm, Jason Ānanda, The Invention of Religion in Japan, 2012.