Silk Road Footprints: Transnational Transmission of Sacred Thoughts and Historical Legacy

The Silk Road generally evokes images of places, cultures and peoples linked by the exchange of exotic goods and fabled treasures. The notion of the subject, however, often disregards the historical fact that the Silk Road routes functioned as a unique channel for spreading religious ideas, culture and literature. The personal or community beliefs of the Silk Road were changed radically as a result of the impact of external influences. The Silk Road Footprints: Transnational Transmission of Sacred Thoughts and Literature demonstrates that sacred communities interacted, coexisted, competed and influenced each other over long periods. These include those local traditions that evolved in ancient China, the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Korea and Japan and the subsequent larger traditions that arose in the region—Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam—as well as the shamanistic and a... nimistic traditions of various nomadic peoples. The history of religions along the Silk Road is a remarkable illustration of how beliefs and civilisations often reflect a broad pattern of synthesis rather than clash. This book indicates that Asia (South, Southeast, East Asia and China), one of the most pluralistic religious regions in the world, has become a center of attention as a bridge between cultures. Ultimately, the creative study of the Silk Road and religious transnationalism evidences the implication that the local groups have been developed under the new environment of sacred principles and traditions as well as political influence.  Show more

David W. Kim (Ph.D.: Syd) is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, an Honorary Lecturer in the School of History at Australian National University, Canberra, and an Associate Professor of Modern History at Kookmin University in South Korea. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, UK, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, UK, and the editor of the book series East Asian Religions and Culture (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK). Kim’s publications include 'Socio-Anthropological Approaches to Religion: Environmental Hope' (Rowman and Littlefield 2024), 'Sacre... d Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures' (Palgrave Macmillan 2021), 'The Words of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas: the Genesis of a Wisdom Tradition' (Routledge 2021), 'Daesoon Jinrihoe in Modern Korea: The Emergence, Transformation, and Transmission of a New Religion' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2020), 'New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History' (Rowman and Littlefield 2020), 'Colonial Transformation and Asian Religions in Modern History' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2018), 'Religious Encounters in Transcultural Society: Collision, Alteration, and Transmission' (Lexington 2017), and 'Religious Transformation in Modern Asia: A Transnational Movement' (Brill 2015).  Show more

Transnationalism, Transformation, Identity, Maritime Culture, Human Movement