Constituting Communities by John Clifford Holt PAPERBACK 9780791456927

State University of New York Press

Constituting CommunitiesTherav?da Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia\nAuthor(s): John Clifford Holt, Jacob N. Kinnard, Jonathan S. Walters\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: State University of New York Press, United States\nImprint: State University of New York Press\nISBN-13: 9780791456927, 978-0791456927\nSynopsis\nExplores how community is defined and how it functions among Theravada Buddhists in South and Southeast Asia.\n\nConstituting Communities explores how community functions within Therav?da Buddhist culture. Although the dominant focus of Buddhist studies for the past century has been on doctrinal and philosophical issues, this volume concentrates on discourses that produced them, and why and how these discourses and practices shaped Therav?da communities in South and Southeast Asia. From a variety of perspectives, including historical, literary, doctrinal and philosophical, and social and anthropological, the contributors explore the issues that .