Abstract
The chapter provides the broader context of religious changes accompanying Vietnam’s integration into the global market economy. The analysis draws on sociological and anthropological studies of religious changes both within Vietnam and in other regions and picks up a theme from the broader discussion of modernisation, namely the interaction between religious and nonreligious spheres. This interaction refers to the argument that central to processes of modernisation is the rise of functionally differentiated spheres such as politics, economics, and religion. The process of modernisation can follow diverse pathways in different parts of the world and results in patterns of interactions that are quite varied. It is argued that it is important to pay attention to the specific forms of differentiation and patterns of interactions found in Vietnam and a theoretical framework of religious reconfiguration is proposed in which Vietnamese new religious movements (VNRMs) are not only the by-product of processes of social transformation, but actors that attempt to reconfigure the religious sphere and also the nonreligious spheres. Their success here, however, is largely determined by the possibilities afforded them by the state.
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Notes
- 1.
This is not to overlook the considerable variation in the differentiation of the religious and nonreligious spheres in Europe and the West as discussed by Casanova (1994) and Davie (2000), nor the extent to which this differentiation is contested by the multifaith character of modern Western societies as discussed by Voyce and Possamai (2011).
- 2.
‘Spirits’ here refers to various forms of souls of the dead, demons, ghosts, and other invisible entities from the other world, believed to interfere with the living’s business in this world.
- 3.
Guidance in the form of messages were often received through ‘giáng bút’ (spirit writing) practices. This practice was found in the South, especially in Caodaism and Hòa Hảo Buddhism, in the first half of the twentieth century.
- 4.
The full text of the Resolution No. 26 NĐ-CP 1999 in Vietnamese can be seen at: http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View_Detail.aspx?ItemID=7119 accessed on 28 March 2012.
- 5.
The full text of the Resolution No. 25-NQ/TW in Vietnamese can be found at: http://btgcp.gov.vn/Plus.aspx/vi/News/38/0/159/0/1065/NOI_DUNG_NGHI_QUYET_SO_25_NQ_TW, accessed on 28 March 2012.
- 6.
The full text of the Ordinance in Vietnamese can be found at: http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View_Detail.aspx?ItemID=19488 accessed on 28 March 2012.
- 7.
The full text of the Guideline in Vietnamese can be found at: http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?mode=detail&document_id=164402, accessed on 14 June 2016.
- 8.
The full text of the Law can be found at: http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id=1&mode=detail&document_id=187900. Accessed on 9 March 2017.
- 9.
The full text of the Directive can be found at: http://btgcp.gov.vn/Plus.aspx/vi/News/38/0/159/0/1776/Chi_thi_so_01_2005_CT_TTg_ve_mot_so_cong_tac_doi_voi_dao_Tin_lanh. Accessed 9 March 2017.
- 10.
The full text of the report can be found at: http://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/VATREPRT.TXT, accessed on 14 June 2016.
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Hoang, C.V. (2017). Modernity and Religious Reconfiguration: A Vietnamese Perspective. In: New Religions and State's Response to Religious Diversification in Contemporary Vietnam. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58500-0_2
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