Book Reviews by Pablo Vazquez
A review of Schipper's academic classic "The Taoist Body".
A review of Jamison and Witzel's "Vedic Hinduism" ebook.
History and Politics Papers by Pablo Vazquez
In 2016, Kambiz Fattahi released an explosive exposé of how the Carter Administration had communi... more In 2016, Kambiz Fattahi released an explosive exposé of how the Carter Administration had communications with Ayatollah Khomeini during his exile in Paris. While receiving little press attention at the time, the article pointed towards an attempt by the Ayatollah to receive American support and by the Carter Administration to work towards a peaceful transition in Iran that benefited its interests. This essay will, considering there is a severe lack of information about the event, attempt to describe the circumstances around the Paris Communications.
Religion Papers by Pablo Vazquez
Most common interactions with Shinto note as core an ecological concern so pervasive in its theol... more Most common interactions with Shinto note as core an ecological concern so pervasive in its theology that it thus marks it as rather different from most other major religions. It permeates not just in the faith but also how it is expressed in considerably secular media inspired by the faith and its beliefs and practices such as the strongly ecological works of the animated cinema of Studio Ghibli which has noted its debt to Shinto previously. However, a cursory look at Shinto history shows that this was not always the case though it remained a present concern no matter the era as the faith became a theological battleground between either the sacredness of the lands or the sacredness of the Imperial line. This positioned Shinto throughout various points of its history as an unwilling weapon of State power until the mid-20th century when it began a reformation of massive proportions along eco-theological lines. This paper will thus provide a summary of the history of Shinto along with an exploration of its rediscovered eco-theological focus and how it interacts with historical elements of the faith and its international spread.
The history and experience of religion in Japan has tended to be discussed within the terminologi... more The history and experience of religion in Japan has tended to be discussed within the terminologies and lineages of Shinto and Buddhism, the traditional Japanese faiths, and sometimes Christianity depending on the geographical setting and time. However, one religion punches far above its weight, so to speak, despite being outrageously small compared to most religions in Japan: Islam. Muslims can be seen in most major cities of Japan and halal shops are not uncommon anymore in the urban landscape. There are now even Japanese Muslim celebrities and noted ethnically Japanese imams that have helped develop Islam in Japan into something unique with its own brief history and impression in ways that most scholars have not had the chance to discuss properly. Through traditional literary research and on-the-ground interviews, engagements, and observations, this paper hopes to provide an insight into Islam in Japan that will allow the reader to emerge with a new and detailed understanding of Japanese Islam and the lives of Japanese Muslims, both immigrant and ethnically Japanese. After exploring the brief history of Islam in the country, this paper will then detail the impressions that Muslims have of Japanese society and vice-versa and how these interactions and perceptions may be changing and shaping one of the world's fastest-growing religions in a distant land not known for its Islamic population.
Zoroastrianism, while being one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions, is also o... more Zoroastrianism, while being one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions, is also one of the world’s smallest in number of adherents with somewhere around 100,000 in estimated Zoroastrians internationally1. Throughout the millennia the religion has adapted in a variety of ways to survive whatever circumstances it comes across and continues to adapt in the modern world. This paper will explore this notion of Zoroastrian adaptability alongside the complementary notion of theological flexibility as it has developed throughout the religion’s history. Through analyzing the development of Zoroastrianism from a religion with localized practice yet borderless theology through specialized institutions into one without communicated theology yet maintaining localized practice for centuries and then back again with the aid of social media, the article will focus on exploring how social media, particularly the Facebook group Worldwide Zoroastrians, has become the premier Zoroastrian community, virtual or otherwise. It has thus become a modern Castag of sorts, a borderless institution for theological communication, religious education, engagement and debate on differing practices, and the development of a Zoroastrian virtual polytropy that has not been seen on this level since ancient times.
Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent of Africa, has long been the home for a varie... more Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent of Africa, has long been the home for a varied mélange of faiths over the last few centuries of which Christian, Muslim, and indigenous practices are the most dominant. Nigerians, through the necessity of proximity and engagement, have long had to operate in a state of required interreligious dialogue with each other especially noting that the country is nearly evenly split between identification as a Muslim or as a Christian. In 1976, as a result of religious strife and interreligious dialogue and activity in the capital city of Lagos, a Yoruba man named Tela Tella ceased identifying solely as a Muslim and founded the Chrislam movement in order to unite both Abrahamic traditions into what Dr. Marloes Janson, an expert in Chrislam at SOAS University of London, labels an “assemblage” of belief, practice, and engagement which transcends any socio-religious boundaries thus viewing both traditions as halves of a greater whole1. Originally developed in Lagos, where it is still at its strongest, it has now spread with the Nigerian diaspora internationally, and, though small, the Chrislam movement continues to grow. This paper aims to be an overview of Chrislam through not just the lens of the scholars who have studied it before or the practitioners who have spoken publicly on it but also through the filter of interreligious dialogue formation and theory among other theological insights to provide further perspective into this unique and syncretic movement which has begun to become more and more popular especially in online interfaith and syncretic circles.
An article exploring the development and portrayal of multireligiosity and the published approach... more An article exploring the development and portrayal of multireligiosity and the published approach to other spiritual traditions in "The Dial", the Transcendentalist periodical of note during its publication between 1840-1844.
This essay’s aim is to provide a brief exploration on immortality and the methods for achieving i... more This essay’s aim is to provide a brief exploration on immortality and the methods for achieving it as understood within the Daoist tradition.
This essay will serve as a report of my explorations of Tenrikyo in London, with a focus on the q... more This essay will serve as a report of my explorations of Tenrikyo in London, with a focus on the question of how the Joyous Life is expressed and lived within the boundaries of this ever-busy metropolis.
This essay’s aim is to show that monotheism is not a useful means of understanding Zoroastrianism... more This essay’s aim is to show that monotheism is not a useful means of understanding Zoroastrianism, particularly in a historical sense, and that if any term is to be used polytheism is far more applicable.
Author's Note:
Let me make it clear that I consider Zoroastrians who identify as monotheists as being Zoroastrians and that Zoroastrian theology is more complex in its multi-tendency fashion than this paper has the capacity to explore. For now, as long as we use these terms in our academic and lay vocabulary, I am against using monotheism and instead stand for its "opposite" especially when it comes to Pre-Modern expressions of Zoroastrianism.
Himalayan and Central Asian Studies, Jan 2021
This essay’s aim is to elucidate, through a brief overview, the main points of contention between... more This essay’s aim is to elucidate, through a brief overview, the main points of contention between the Reformist and Traditionalist movements that hold much sway in modern Zoroastrianism.
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Book Reviews by Pablo Vazquez
History and Politics Papers by Pablo Vazquez
Religion Papers by Pablo Vazquez
Author's Note:
Let me make it clear that I consider Zoroastrians who identify as monotheists as being Zoroastrians and that Zoroastrian theology is more complex in its multi-tendency fashion than this paper has the capacity to explore. For now, as long as we use these terms in our academic and lay vocabulary, I am against using monotheism and instead stand for its "opposite" especially when it comes to Pre-Modern expressions of Zoroastrianism.
Author's Note:
Let me make it clear that I consider Zoroastrians who identify as monotheists as being Zoroastrians and that Zoroastrian theology is more complex in its multi-tendency fashion than this paper has the capacity to explore. For now, as long as we use these terms in our academic and lay vocabulary, I am against using monotheism and instead stand for its "opposite" especially when it comes to Pre-Modern expressions of Zoroastrianism.