Professor Mark Mullins
Biography
Mark R Mullins joined the University of Auckland as Professor of Japanese Studies in January 2013. Prior to this appointment, he was engaged in academic work in Japan for 27 years and taught at Shikoku Gakuin University, Meiji Gakuin University, and Sophia University, where he also served a three-year term as editor of Monumenta Nipponica. He completed his postgraduate studies in the sociology of religion and East Asian traditions at McMaster University (PhD 1985). His teaching and research focus is on the role of Japanese religions in modern societies both within and outside of Japan.
Research | Current
- Asian Diaspora Religions in Aotearoa New Zealand: Mapping Religious Change
- Christianity as a Transnational Social Movement: Toyohiko Kagawa and the Friends of Jesus in the Japanese Empire and Beyond
- Religion and Social Welfare Regimes in Japan and East Asia
Teaching | Current
JAPANESE 292 Special Topic: Religion in Modern Japanese Society
JAPANESE 308 Religion in Modern Japanese Society
THEOREL 319 Theory and Method in Religious Studies
ASIAN 100 Images of Asia
JAPANESE 150 Exploring Japan
ASIAN 309 Transnational Asia: Challenges and Possibilities
Postgraduate supervision
Supervision is available for postgraduate students interested in research on religion in modern society, including the sociology of Japanese religion, religion-state issues, religious minorities, the cross-cultural diffusion of religions, amd the role of religion in Asian diaspora communities.
Distinctions/Honours
2019 Awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, by the Japanese Government in recognition for his contribution to the development of the sociology of religion in Japan, research on Japan in New Zealand, and promotion of academic exchanges and mutual understanding between Japan and New Zealand.
2016 Awarded Foreign Minister's Commendation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for contribution to and promotion of Japan-related research in New Zealand.
2005 Awarded 21st Joseph Roggendorf Book Award for the Japanese edition of Christianity Made in Japan: A Study of Indigenous Movements (University of Hawaii Press, 1998), published by Transview Press in Tokyo.
Responsibilities
Director, Japan Studies Centre, New Zealand Asia Institute
Postgraduate Advisor, Theological and Religious Studies
Undergraduate Advisor, Asian Studies Programme
Areas of expertise
Sociology of Religion, Japanese religions and society, Christianity in Japan and East Asia, New Religious Movements, Religion-State Issues in Modern Japan
Committees/Professional groups/Services
2019 - Executive Council Member, East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
2018 - President, New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions
2017- Member of the Editorial Board, Asian Journal of Religion and Society, Korean Association for the Sociology of Religion
2017- Vice-President, New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions
2016- Editor, Book Series: Religion and Society in Asia Pacific (Palgrave Macmillan)
2016- Member of the Editorial Board, International Journal of Asian Christianity (Brill)
2013- Member of Advisory Board, Monumenta Nipponica (Sophia University)
2010-2012 Editor, Monumenta Nipponica: Studies in Japanese Culture (Sophia University)
1991 and 2007 Guest Co-editor, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
2004-2009 Associate Editor, Japanese Religions
1993-2005 Editorial Advisor, Echoes of Peace: Quarterly Bulletin of the Niwano Peace Foundation
2004-2016 Board Member, Japanese Association for Religious Studies
Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)
- Mullins, M. R. (2017). Shinsaigo no Nihon ni okeru neo-nashonarizumu [Neo-nationalism in post-disaster Japan]. In H. Tsukada (Ed.) 徹底検証日本の右傾化=Tettei Kenshō: Nihon no ukeika (pp. 128-147). Tokyo: Chikumashobō.
- Mullins, M. R. (2017). Religion in occupied Japan: The impact of SCAP’s policies on Shinto. In E. Anderson (Ed.) Belief and practice in imperial Japan and colonial Korea (pp. 229-248). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mullins, M. R. (2016). Neonationalism, politics, and religion in post-disaster Japan. In M. R. Mullins, K. Nakano (Eds.) Disasters and social crisis in contemporary Japan: Political, religious, and sociocultural responses (pp. 107-131). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9781137521323_6
- Mullins, M. R. (Ed.) (2015). Critical Readings on Christianity in Japan. Leiden: EJ Brill. Pages: 1430.
- Mullins, M. R. (2015). Japanese responses to imperialist secularization: The postwar movement to restore Shintō in the public sphere. In M. Burchardt, M. Wohlrab-Sahr, M. Middell (Eds.) Multiple secularities beyond the west: Religion and modernity in the global age (pp. 141-167). Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter Inc.
- Mullins, M. R. (2014). Kagawa Toyohiko (1888-1960) and the Japanese Christian impact on American society. In A. L. Park, D. K. Yoo (Eds.) Encountering modernity : Christianity in East Asia and Asian America (pp. 162-193). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
- Mullins, M. R. (2013). Sacred Sites and Social Conflict: Yasukuni Shrine and Religious Pluralism in Japanese Society. Religious Pluralism, State and Society in Asia (pp. 35-50). New York: Routledge.
- Mullins, M. R. (2012). Christianity in Contemporary Japanese Society. In I. Prohl, J. Nelson (Eds.) Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions (pp. 133-157). Leiden: Brill.
Identifiers
Contact details
Alternative contact
Correct Location:
ARTS 2
Level 4, Room 207-427
18 SYMONDS ST
Auckland 1010
New Zealand
Office hours
Semester 2: Wednesday 1:00-3:00 (and by appointment).
Primary office location
ARTS 2 - Bldg 207
Level 4, Room 426
18 SYMONDS ST
AUCKLAND 1010
New Zealand
