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Title: "Armchair theology"
Review: The chief benefit I found in reading this book was that it opened my eyes to new categories of thought when contemplating religion in Cambodia. It caused me to take seriously the matter of the Buddhist nuns; showed me the existence of various cults and powerful spiritual figures that mix Buddhism and animism; informed me about some key figures in Buddhist history in Cambodia, and led me to consider how Cambodians abroad interact with religion here in Cambodia today.Major disappointment: the book did not teach much about real Buddhist belief, and, what it did say was obviously arrived at through the "armchair theologian" approach to studying a foreign culture. After having lived here 11 years I can see through much of what these authors are saying as merely speculation and politically driven academia rather than a reflection of what Cambodian Buddhists really believe and think about in their daily lives.
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