A secular age beyond the West: religion, law and the state in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa

emergence, religiosity and globalisation of the Chinese NRMs. Quánnéngshén Jiàohuì (全能神教 会, Church of Almighty God), like Fǎlún Gōng (法轮功, Dharma Wheel Practice or Law Wheel Practice) in 1992, was promoted by the subject of the second Christ. The spread of Yīguàn Dào (一 貫道, Way of Heaven) that had deep roots in premodern Chinese popular sectarianism was successfully transmitted from the Republic of China to Taiwan after the abolition of martial law (1987). The prosperity of Fójiào Cíjì Gōngdé Huì (佛教慈濟功德會, Buddhist Compassion Relief Merit Society), Fóguāngshān (佛光山, Buddha’s LightMountain) and Fǎgǔshān (法鼓山, Dharma Drum Mountain) was uniquely figured in the perspective of Taiwanese humanistic Buddhism. In detail, Zhèngyán’s usage of the Hokkien (閩南, Minnan) language was a cultural strategy to grow from being a medical charity into the largest lay Buddhist organisation in Taiwan. The goal of Xīngyún’s Humanistic Buddhism that simply makes other people happy was revered through the teachings of a monastic life. The urban Buddhist aspiration of Shèngyán was even known in the United States as a respected Chán master. Yet, it is argued that the common issue the second generationof theEngagedBuddhistmonasteries face is the challenge of shaping a sustainable future. As in contemporary China, “religions (in Vietnam) remain subject to strict government control, including mandatory state recognition and registration requirements” (p. 547). However, the local authority has recognised “thirty-nine religious associations and denominations affiliated with thirteen religions, formally supported by over twenty-four million followers” (p. 548). Sergei Blagov presumes that Vietnamese NRMs emerged from the chaotic times of the Tây Sơn uprising and the beginning of the Nguyễn dynasty in 1802. Among them, the two ethnic groups ofĐạiĐạo TamKỳ PhổĐộ (CaoĐài,道高臺, Caodaism or theGreat Faith [for the] Third Universal Redemption) and Phật Giáo Hòa Hảo (道和好, Hoahaoism) were revealed in the historical figures ofNgô Văn Chiêu andHuỳnh Phú Sổ (Phật thầy). The two Indochinese NRMs of the 20 century were involved in politico-military activity in order to survive in the colonial and communist environment of cultural pluralism (Vietnamese, French and Chinese). There are general sources on the study of new religions, such as Trompf’s New Religious Movements in Melanesia (1985), Wilson’s The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism: Sects and New Religious Movements in Contemporary Society (1990), Dawson’s Cults and New Religious Movements (2003) and Hammer and Rothstein’s The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements (2012). However, the Pokorny and Winter edited volume provides unique accounts of social transformation in modern East Asia. It is an important contribution for scholars and readers in the fields of sociology, history, politics, regional studies, anthropology, religion, ethnology, conflict studies and theology.