Buddhism in Modernity: Thriving or Threatened?

Dear Colleagues,

Buddhism, the most protean of religions, has never been more widespread or influential as in the last fifty years. Yet many scholars and practitioners see Buddhism less as thriving and more as threatened by its very intimate and receptive contact with modernity in the form of the scientific-materialistic zeitgeist, global capitalism, consumerism, psychologization, decontextualization and perennialism. Numerous scholars and practitioners have called for a more socially engaged and critical Buddhist praxis that could serve as a countervailing force to address the proliferation of urgent social, political, economic and climate crises. We invite scholarship from all disciplines to address either or both sides of this question, with respect to the secular mindfulness movement, secular Buddhism, traditional Buddhism in modern contexts, Buddhist modernism, socially-engaged Buddhism, Buddhism and Marxism, and Buddhist Socialism.

Prof. Dr. Ronald E. Purser
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.