INSTITUT FÜR RELIGIONSWISSENSCHAFT Martial Arts

The reception of Asian martial arts, or rather martial arts inspired by Asian practices, as part of holistic self-optimisation practices was globally established in the second half of the twentieth century amongst the urban middle class.

In the process martial arts were (and are) located in different contexts: from education, wellbeing and the disciplining of children to spiritual self-discovery using Buddhist and esoteric motifs. The standardisation of martial arts training and disciplining methods, which are considered to be pedagogically effective, link these motifs, practices and ideas with increased performance, apparently caused by the spirituality of the practice. For this reason, Asian martial arts are understood as religious/ spiritual practices of post-secularisation in industrialised societies.