Contemporary Buddhism is an international peer-review journal that publishes articles on the current state and influence of Buddhism from across the human sciences. The journal is cross-disciplinary in its outlook and in addition to Buddhist and Religious Studies approaches, presents work from philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, historians, theologians and political scientists. Contemporary Buddhism examines the historical, doctrinal, literary, social and political developments that have formed contemporary versions of Buddhism, East and West. In all this Buddhism is predicated as an inhabited and relevant action-influencing worldview.

The interests of Contemporary Buddhism include:

• the meeting of Buddhism with western culture
• the current self-understanding of different traditions of Buddhism and the relations between these traditions
• the relations of Buddhism to other world religious traditions, both in mutual appreciation and in conflict
• Buddhism in application within societies, Western and Asian
• the uptake of Buddhism into other fields and disciplines
• spotlighting issues arising for Buddhism in the 21st century
• the non-partisan representation of all schools of Buddhism
• the active investigation of diversity in the development of Buddhism as we see it today.

Submissions of papers, as well as proposals for guest issues, related to the aims and scope of the journal are welcomed. The journal will publish reviews of books, including reviews of non-English language books, films, exhibitions, internet resources, etc. The reviews' editor also welcomes proposals for bibliographic essays on specific topics and areas, as well as reports on specific genres. Suggestions or offers for reviews, as well as enquiries about any of these should be addressed to Phibul Choompolpaisal.

 

 

A Practical and Intellectual Agenda

For a statement of the ideas that inspired the creation of Contemporary Buddhism download the inaugural editorial by Michael McGhee:
The time has long since gone when the study of Buddhism in the West was the preserve of a few scholars, or its influence confined to a handful of European intellectuals. The time is long since too when Buddhist practice in the West was a polite genuflection, 'meditation'merely the occasional ancillary to a self defining intellectual conviction. Popular perception has altered too, and we are familiar now with Buddhist chic, with the movie stars photographed with smiling Lamas. But the current reality has become very interesting... more

 

Peer Review Policy

All research articles considered for publication are subject to anonymized peer reviewed by two referees.

Articles in Contemporary Buddhism are included in the Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index and the ATLA Religion Database.


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