John Breen (scholar)
John Lawrence Breen (born 3 March 1956)
Early life
Breen was awarded his BA at the University of Cambridge in 1979. He earned a Ph.D. in 1993 at Cambridge.
Career
From 1985 through 2008, Breen was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader in Japanese at the
Breen's critical examination of religious practices in Japan has been informed by his historical research. Historicity is construed as a fundamental component of Breen's view of Shinto.[4]
Breen's work on Shinto is influenced by the writings of Toshio Kuroda.[4] As most contemporary historians, he holds a more moderate position. While Kuroda denied Shinto was more than a japanized version of Buddhism, Breen and Teeuwen argue there was a pre-modern, indigenous tradition of worship, mythology and shrines, even if indeed Shinto as an organized religion was yet to be born.[5]
Breen has also written articles in English and Japanese and a book in Japanese on the transformation of the imperial institution in the 19th century.
Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about John Breen, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 30 publications in 1 language and 1,000+ library holding.[6]
Books
- Japanese simplified (1987)
- Japan and Christianity: Impacts and Responses (1996) (edited with Mark Williams)
- Japanese in Three Months (1997)
- Shinto in History: Ways of the kami (2000) (edited with Mark Teeuwen)
- Inoue Nobutaka et al., Shintō: a short history (2002) (co-translated and adapted with Mark Teeuwen)
- Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past (2008) (edited)
- A New History of Shinto (2010) (co-authored with Mark Teeuwen)
- "Girei to kenryoku: tennno no Meiji ishin" (2010)
- Book chapters (recent chapters in English only)
- “Popes, bishops, and war criminals: reflections on Catholics and Yasukuni in post-war Japan,” in Michael Bathgate ed., Course Reader 10: “Religion in modern Asia: Tradition, state and society,” The Asia Pacific Journal; Japan Focus
- “The nation’s shrine: conflict and commemoration at Yasukuni, modern Japan’s shrine to the war dead,” in Tsang, Rachel and Eric Taylor Woods eds. The cultural politics of nationalism and nation-building: ritual and performance in the forging of nations" (2014)
- “Yasukuni shrine: ritual and memory,” in Sven Saaler & Justin Aukema eds., Course Reader 7: “The Politics of Memory in Japan and East Asia,” The Asia Pacific Journal; Japan Focus (2013)
- “’Fine words indeed’: Yasukuni and the narrative fetishism of war,” Inken Prohl and John Nelson eds., Handbook of contemporary Japanese religions (2012)
- “Shinto,” in Helmut Anheier, Mark Jurgensmeyer ed., Encyclopedia of Global Studies (2012)
- “Voices of rage: six paths to the problem of Yasukuni,” in Roy Starrs ed., Politics and religion in modern Japan: red sun, white lotus (2012)
- “Mourning and violence in the Land of Peace: Reflections on Yasukuni,” in Breen and Yamada eds. Understanding contemporary Japan (2011)
- Articles (recent articles in English only)
- “Resurrecting the sacred land of Japan: the state of Shinto in the 21st century,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 37, 2 (2010)
- “’Shinto is the great way of the universe’: historical notes on Shinto-Christian negotiations,” Japan Mission Journal, 63, 4 (2009)
- “’The danger is ever present’: Catholic critiques of Yasukuni shrine in post-war Japan,’ Japan Mission Journal, 63, 2 (2009)
Notes
- ^ Library of Congress authority file, John Breen, n2002-55791
- ^ International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, faculty CV Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ H-Net: Japan Review, Vol. 22 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Rambelli, Fabio. "Dismantling stereotypes surrounding Japan's sacred entities," Japan Times. July 15, 2001
- ^ Lande, Aasuv. "Japanese Journal of Religious Studies" (PDF). Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ^ WorldCat Identities Archived 2010-12-30 at the Wayback Machine: Breen, John 1956-
References
- Rambelli, Fabio. "Dismantling stereotypes surrounding Japan's sacred entities," Japan Times. July 15, 2001; book review excerpted from Monumenta Nipponica, 56:2.