Nikolas Broy - 百可思

Religious Studies / Chinese Studies

I am an Associate Professor at Rikkyo University 立教大学 in Tokyo, Japan, teaching East Asian history, culture, and religion in the "Global Liberal Arts Program" (GLAP).

I obtained my PhD in Religious Studies from Leipzig University in 2014 and have worked at SOAS University of London, Leipzig University, and the University of Göttingen, as well as in Hefei, Anhui Province (PRC).

I am interested in the social history and religious practice of Chinese religions, both historically and contemporary, and across various Chinese societies and communities. Specifically, I work on popular sects and new religious movements, the globalization of Chinese religions, Buddhism and violence, and religiously motivated forms of vegetarianism and fasting.

My first monograph Flourishing Fasts: Vegetarian Sects in Late Imperial and Modern Chinese Societies will be published later this year by Harvard University Asia Center. Based on my PhD Thesis and many years of work afterward, the book explores the place of the Zhaijiao ("vegetarian sects") within the religious landscape of late imperial China and modern Taiwan. Contrary to earlier research, which typically conceptualizes these sects as either nonconformist dissenters or lay Buddhist practitioners, I show that they represent a specific intersection of the “Three Teachings” of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, local religious life, and transregional sectarian salvationism. By examining salvational teachings, religious symbols, mythological narratives, everyday practices, architecture, and material traits, as well as specific sectarian rituals over a period of more than four hundred years, I situate the Zhaijiao at the very core of local society.

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

 

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