R. Po‐chia Hsia
· 2025
Abstract
Change in World History, Strathern's 2019 book, in which he advances a theory on "ruler conversion" to understand the "Axial Age," the period referred to by Karl Jaspers between the eighth and third centuries BCE, characterised by the emergence of major religious and philosophical systems such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity, and Islam.Two key concepts were employed in Unearthly Powers -Immanentism and Transcendentalismto explain religious conversions.Strathern defines Immanentism as "the default mode of religious behaviour" in which metapersons (gods, spirits, and ancestors) affect thisworldly life, and in which "the afterlife is often relatively undifferentiated from this life," and "the main purpose of religious action is to conduct appropriate relations with metapersons in order to ensure that their powers may be harnessed for our well-being" (pp.14-15).Transcendentalism, in contrast, separates the mundane and the spiritual, shifting focus to the afterlife in turning religion from a communal to an individual affair.In monotheismreligions associated with canonical texts and often with a single historical figureimmanentism attained its most developed form.Globally, transcendentalist religions, Buddhism and the Abrahamic religions, advanced at the cost of immanentist religions, victories often achieved with the conversion of rulers.In Part I Strathern offers the reader a highly condensed version of the theoretical arguments in his previous work, summarising the characteristics of Immanentism and Transcendentalism in ten and fifteen points respectively.In Part II he lays out in detail the four cases of ruler conversion that was only adumbrated in Unearthly Powers.The four cases are chronologically the ruler conversions of Kongo (1480-1530), the Christian era in Sengoku Japan (1560-1614), the failure of ruler conversion in Siam under King Narai (1660-1690), and the Christianisation of Hawaii (1800-1830).Drawing from the rich scholarship on these cases, and on primary sources in Portuguese, French, and English for the Kongo, Siam, and Hawaii, Strathern presents a masterful synthesis of precise theoretical analysis and captivating stories.He is particularly successful in the chapters on the Kongo, Siam and Hawaii, offering snatches of poetic prose and brilliant insights.While always attentive to how these historical cases fit with his larger theoretical framework, Strathern never loses sight of the individuals whose decisions and actions constructed these narratives -King Narai and his Greek minister Phaulkon, with their openings to the French, and Phetracha, who led the 1688 coup against Christianity in Siam; Nzinga a Nkuwu (Dom Joo) and his son Afonso, kings of the Kongo, who established an indigenous Catholic state recognised by Europe; King Kamehaneka, Queen Kaahumany, and Liloliho in Hawaii, key actors in the breaking of traditional religious tabus leading to the eventual acceptance of Calvinist Christianity.Only in the case of Japan does the prose seem hurried and the analysis crammed, perhaps due to the complexity of the events, the far more numerous historical casts, and the longer time period analysed.It might be argued that the daimyos of Bungo and Arima in Kyushu, the first and most important samurai converts, were not really equal in status to the hegemons Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, or Tokugawa Ieyasu, two of whom became shoguns (Nobunaga would have acceded to this supreme title under the titular emperor, but was assassinated in his prime).Strathern is quite correct in his conclusion that a synthesised form of Shintoism and a Buddhism suppressed 1