Publication: Not here to steal sheep: A reading of the history and politics of catholicism in Thailand
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Issued Date
2015-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
1656152X
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-84942081627
Rights
Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Kritika Kultura. Vol.2015, No.25 (2015), 134-154
Suggested Citation
Coeli Barry Not here to steal sheep: A reading of the history and politics of catholicism in Thailand. Kritika Kultura. Vol.2015, No.25 (2015), 134-154. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/35311
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Title
Not here to steal sheep: A reading of the history and politics of catholicism in Thailand
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Abstract
© Ateneo de Manila University. This article investigates how Catholicism has had to evolve and adapt in order to sustain itself in Thailand. As Siam/Thailand developed through economic, political and cultural interactions with Western powers, Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular served as a site on which Thai national identity was forged in response to these interactions. Christianity was an ‘other’ against which Thai Buddhist identity coalesced yet the appeal of first Catholic and later Protestant missionary education was very strong. This article combines interpretive historical method and analysis of contemporary shifts that reflect a more assertive Thai Catholic Church. In so doing, the article offers a new reading of the place of Catholicism as a minority religion that is both aware of the risks of overtly challenging Buddhist nationalism and also confident of its place within the Thai cultural imaginary and the global Catholic networks across Asia.