New Religions and State's Response to Religious Diversification in Contemporary Vietnam

Dr. Chung Van Hoang is currently a visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. Before taking this position, he was the acting head of the Department for Research on Policy and Law on Religion at the Institute for Religious Studies - Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. His research interests are state-religion relations, policies and laws on religion, New Religious Movements, Vietnamese Buddhism, and popular religion. His publications in English and Vietnamese are mainly results of his research in these themes. He completed his PhD in Sociology at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia) in 2014. Previously, he had MA and BA in Journalism and worked as an editorial staff for the Religious Studies Review at the Institute for Religious Studies in Vietnam since 1999. He was granted full scholarship by the Vietnamese Government for his MA of Journalism at University of South Australia (2004-2005); and full scholarships and research fund by La Trobe University for PhD (2009-2014).

• 1. Competing religious worldviews of the post-renovation Vietnam.- 2. Modernity and religious reconfiguration: a Vietnamese perspective.- 3. Encountering the uninvited the state, the established religions and attempts to shape NRMS.- 4. Revitalising the legacy of a local sage: the school of teaching goodness.- 5. A “spiritual revolution” for national salvation: the way of the jade Buddha.- 6. An attempt to reconfigure Buddhism: the great mother’s field of esp.- 7. The reinvention and reconfiguration of NRMS.- 8. Conclusion.