Asian Pacific Catholicism and Globalization: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges

This history of the Catholic Church in Asia and the Pacific illuminates the processes of globalization Since the sixteenth century, Catholicism has contributed significantly to global connectivity. Except for the Philippines and Timor-Leste, Catholicism in Asia is, and is likely to remain, a minority religion. For this reason, it can serve as a unique prism through which to look at the processes of globalization in Asia. Asian Pacific Catholicism and Globalization demonstrates to scholars and students of Catholic history that the development of Catholicism in Asia and later in the Oceania-Pacific region is closely associated with three different phases of globalization. This book approaches the historical processes of globalization not as structural agencies or causal forces, but rather as the historical contexts that condition possibilities for human action and reaction in the world. The editors identify three distinct phases in the development of Catholicism in Asia and Oceania: early modern (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries), modern Western hegemony (1780s–1960s), and the contemporary (1960s–present). The book’s contributors discuss the development of Catholicism in all the major countries of the region, including China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Australia.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Introduction José Casanova and Peter C. Phan Part 1: Historical Perspectives 1. The Three Phases of Globalization and the Long Formation of the Asian Pacific José Casanova 2. Catholicism in Japan as Globalist Culture Kevin M. Doak 3. Globalization of Catholicism in China Richard Madsen 4. Going Global: The Transformation of the Korean Catholic Church Denis Woo-seon Kim, SJ 5. Filipino Catholicism in the Midst of Global Currents: Translation, Nationalism, Migration José Mario C. Francisco, SJ 6. The Catholic Church and Globalization in Vietnam Peter C. Phan 7. The Indo-Malayan Archipelago John Mansford Prior, SVD 8. Indian Catholicism and Its Global Connections, from Early Modernity to the Present Chandra Mallampalli 9. Catholicism and Public Life in India Evelyn Monteiro 10. Australian Catholicism in the Third Phase of Globalization: Demographic Shifts and Unceasing Challenges Robert Dixon 11. Global Influences in the Growth of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Region Philip Gibbs, SVD Part 2: Contemporary Challenges 12. Women in the Catholic Church in the Philippines during the Three Phases of Globalization Mary John Mananzan, OSB 13. Scattered and Gathered: Responses to Migration in the Context of Globalization Gemma Tulud Cruz 14. The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences and Pan-Asian Catholicism Edmund Kee-Fook Chia 15. Modern and Contemporary Catholic Theology in Asia: Main Trends and Developments Peter C. Phan About the Contributors Index

About the Author :
José Casanova is one of the world's leading scholars in the sociology of religion and a senior fellow at the Berkley Center at Georgetown University, where his work focuses on globalization, religions, and secularization. His best-known work, Public Religions in the Modern World (1994), has become a modern classic in the field. Peter C. Phan currently holds the Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J. Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University. He is the first non-Anglo to be elected President of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. His work includes over 30 books and 300 essays.

Review :
José Casanova and Peter Phan have curated an impressive array of case studies demonstrating how processes of globalization...have unfolded among Asian Pacific Catholic communities.