Science and Development in Thai and South Asian Buddhism

"David Gosling's Science and Development in Thai and South Asian Buddhism is a fundamental contribution to the scholarly understanding of patterns of Buddhist thinking and living across Southeast Asian locations, and especially in Thailand. Drawing on his immersive knowledge of Thai Buddhism and his scientific backgrounds, he sketches various vignettes of Buddhist life relating to the roles of lay nuns, lay women, and monks in programmes which skillfully interweave meditative practice with social engagement." - Ankur Barua, University of Cambridge

"David Gosling has already established a leading reputation as a scholar of the way South East Asian, especially Thai, Buddhist beliefs and values interact with everyday life in both rural and urban contexts. This book consolidates and enhances that reputation. His remarkable expertise, which uses both quantitative and qualitative criteria, takes in approaches from social anthropology, sociology, feminism, the history of ideas and religious studies to present a picture of Buddhism in transition over the last fifty years or so. Gosling’s work adds great significance to our understanding of Buddhism in the regions he studies." - Julius Lipner, Professor Emeritus in Hinduism and the Comparative Study of Religion, University of Cambridge, Fellow of the British Academy

"This is a notably sophisticated and wide-ranging study. It provides exemplary documentation about the various ways in which South Asian Buddhism has interacted with social change and aspects of modernity, providing some invaluable documentation about attitudes to the relation between religious and scientific language primarily in the context of Thailand, and tracing the contributions of Buddhist practitioners to issues in development and medical care. In its careful tracing of the complex encounters between traditional practice and different kinds of modernity, Dr Gosling's study raises questions whose interest and application extend far beyond one local context. This is a monograph of real significance for the general debate about religious identity, social change and the pressures of scientific world views." - Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and former Archbishop of Canterbury

"Science and theology do not mix easily but in societies in which religious belief is central they share an important role in understanding how society works. In a somewhat esoteric field, the book is especially interesting and valuable for drawing together the results of Dr Gosling’s decades of research. [...] The long perspective provided by Dr Gosling’s book will be of significant value both to students of Asian societies and practitioners of development." - William Crawley, Asian Affairs, Vol LIV, no IV. 2023