Opening of the seminar “Religion and Western Science: from an East Asian perspective”

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities delivered a welcoming speech to the delegates at the seminar.

Western science was introduced to Vietnam and other East Asian countries from the 16th to 17th centuries. During that time, Christianity was also introduced to the region, and its popularity increased during the colonial period. Western science brought about significant changes in many areas of culture and social life in the region.

Prof. Tran Van Doan - Director of the Institute of Theology, Changrong Christian University, Taiwan, spoke at the opening ceremony.

Traditional East Asian culture is a region that combines the heritage of Chinese, Indian and indigenous cultures. Since the Middle Ages, Islam has been spread to this region. In modern times, Christianity has been introduced to many countries, making the culture of this region increasingly diverse. In that context, the relationship between science and religion needs to be viewed from many aspects such as epistemology, socio-cultural, ethical, etc. Unlike the West and some other regions, where monotheistic religions and church institutions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam prevail and in history have witnessed many views that are sometimes contradictory, confrontational, sometimes mutually complementary between science and religion, East Asia is a region dominated by Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and polytheistic, non-institutional religions. Therefore, the relationship between Western science and religion in this region has many special features, different from this relationship in the West and other cultural regions, requiring objective, scientific research.

Prof. Tuong Vi Van - Director of the Center for Vietnamese Studies, Thanh Cong University, Taiwan, President of the Taiwan - Vietnam Cultural Exchange Association spoke

With that meaning, the seminar on Western religion and science from an East Asian approach focuses on researching and discussing the following issues: Religion, magic and science - basic theoretical issues, Western science and monotheistic religions in different cultures of the region, characteristics of the relationship between science and religion in traditional East Asian cultures, Western science and polytheistic religions in East Asia during the colonial and post-colonial periods: problems and prospects...

The workshop is divided into 04 sub-committees with 30 reports.

Panel 1: Religion, magic and science: general theoretical issues

Panel 2: Western Science, Christianity and Buddhism in the Context of East Asian Culture

Panel 3: Western Science and Polytheistic Religions in the East Asian Cultural Context

Subcommittee 4: Religion and science in specific areas of social life

Since 2007, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Institute of Religious Studies (Missionswissenschaftliches Institut Missio), Germany, have cooperated in the field of religious training and research. The Center for Contemporary Religious Studies was established to undertake this work. Since then, organizing national and international seminars and workshops has been one of the main activities of the cooperation to promote research and training in the fields of Religious Studies.

Prof. Dr. Lisa L. Stenmark - San Jose State University presented the report "Limits of the Western model of religion and science in a multicultural context"

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh presented flowers to thank Prof. Tran Van Doan

Prof. Dr. Lam Ba Nam - Director of the Center for Contemporary Religious Studies presented flowers to thank Prof. Tran Van Doan