Real Making: How "God" Becomes Real (by Tanya M. Luhrmann)

2025/02/17

I received unexpected feedback from two of my former mentors to whom I had sent a copy of this book. Both mentors sent reflections to the effect that, while they agreed with many points of the author's analysis, they found the counter-cultural values within themselves difficult to overcome. In this research book, which discusses what religion is, they seemed to sense a kind of critique of the values and worldview derived from the culture of the 1960s, which had a significant influence on their generation. They were born in the early 1950s and are nearly ten years older than the author, Luhrmann, who was born in 1959.

Luhrmann herself seems to have grown up in an environment heavily influenced by the 1960s. Luhrmann describes how, during the 1960s and 70s, when people were interested in spirituality beyond individual religions based on so-called New Age culture, "it was as if all religions were part of a global Kumbaya" (p. 237). "Kumbaya" is a folk-style gospel song often sung in the 1960s, originating from "Come by Here [Lord]" sung in African American vernacular English. In the late 20th century, even when white hippies sang these songs with guitars around campfires, they were not criticized for "cultural appropriation." This was because it was believed that "cultural differences were a pretense" (p. 237) and that humanity could fundamentally become one. However, some of these white hippies later became the bourgeois left, while others became white supremacist evangelical Christians who support Donald Trump, and as of the 2020s, they are in a conflict that is difficult to reconcile.

Through the phenomenon of religion, Luhrmann considers why the 1960s dream of humanity becoming one was lost and why division remains. Her conclusion was that humans are creatures that engage in "real-making," and once this is established, it becomes extremely difficult to share that reality with others. This book will surely provide useful insights for those interested in the changes in society and people's consciousness since the 1960s.

Real Making: How "God" Becomes Real (by Tanya M. Luhrmann)

Tami Yanagisawa (Translator)

Keio University Press

360 pages, 3,520 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.