review of Scott Mitchell, The Making of American Buddhism

from Buddhist–Christian Studies, 44 (2024), 265–268

Here (review: <link>) is the full text of a review of Mitchell’s work demonstrating the foundational contribution of the Japanese American Jodoshin shu community to what developed into American Buddhism. All too often overlooked as a whole, Mitchell also explores the doubly overlooked contributions of manual labor by the ordinary members, particularly the women and the women’s associations. As such this is an excellent contribution to the study of lived Buddhism, rather than Buddhism as an abstract doctrinal system—or “hypostatized textual Buddhism>”

My thanks to the editors of Buddhist–Christian Studies for the invitation to write this review, and for permission to post it for wider distribution <link>

Oxford University Press webpage <link>