Buddhism in the Modern World

Buddhism in the Modern World examines the encounter between an ancient Asian religious tradition and the intellectual, political, and social conditions of modernity. Saunders writes with the comparative temper of early twentieth-century religious scholarship, combining historical summary, doctrinal exposition, and cultural observation. The book situates Buddhism amid colonial contact, reformist revival, scientific rationalism, and global religious dialogue, attending to both its classical ideals and its changing public forms. Kenneth J. Saunders was a British scholar of religion whose work was shaped by sustained engagement with Asia, Christianity, and interfaith understanding. Trained in the liberal comparative tradition, he approached Buddhism not merely as an object of antiquarian study but as a living faith confronting the same modern questions that challenged Christianity: ethics, social service, nationalism, education, and spiritual authority. His sympathetic yet evaluative stance reflects the missionary and academic debates of his period. This volume is recommended to readers interested in Buddhist modernism, comparative religion, and the history of East-West intellectual exchange. Though marked by its era, it remains valuable for understanding how Buddhism was interpreted when it first entered modern global discourse.