Sinicizing Religions, Sinicizing Religious Studies (original) (raw)
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Beyond the market: exploring the religious field in modern China
Religion, 2011
This introduction discusses in general terms the applicability of the religious-economy (or market) model to the religious field in China and summarises the discussions in this special issue. This model has been adopted as a tool with which to grasp theoretically the complexities of said field; however, its application to Chinese religion(s) has taken place without an in-depth discussion of its analytical value to this subject matter. Contributions to this issue critically discuss the religious-economy model with regard to the institutionalised religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, 'popular' or 'local' religion, and the new player, 19th-century Protestant Christianity. While some contributions acknowledge a certain heuristic value of the market model, all of them point to conceptual flaws and highlight the need for revision. Taken together, they suggest a methodological pluralism in response to the pluralism of the Chinese religious field itself. KEY WORDS theory of religion; religious field; religious economy; China 'Chinese religion'or what we prefer to call the Chinese 'religious field'is a highly complex matter. Even the label for this object of research is debated. To speak of a Chinese religion, as not a few scholars have done and as some continue to do (e.g., Feuchtwang [1991], 2010; Goossaert 2006), might be reasonable as long as we concentrate on what is going on at the local level of traditional Chinese religion. It tends to emphasise that there are commonalities and cooperation in the field at least among those generally accepted religious conceptions and practices in China. 1 On the other hand, those scholars who opt for the plural (e.g., Gentz [2006: 17-18]), point to the high complexity, manifold interactions and commonalities, as well as competition between diverse religious practices, groupings and players found in China, which in their view preclude any notion of a singular Chinese religion, however internally differentiated it may be. Religious activities in China, they argue, consist of more than those of the institutionalised religions of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism together with local cults, rituals and their experts, which
Chinese Religion on the Edge: Shifting Religion-State Dynamics
2018
Not unlike in the modern Western world of Europe and the United States, the rise of the modern Chinese nation-state has led to the construction of “religion” as an autonomous institutional category distinct from secular state order. Since the end of the 19th century and the early 20th, the modern Chinese state’s insistence on secularization and on de ning and framing acceptable religion has o en made religion an anomalous “question” in social and political life.1 Perhaps more than in any other countries, state-driven secularization and modernization in China resulted in violent and tragic consequences inflicted by state authorities and modernity on traditional religious culture and practices.2 While the unexpected resurgence of religious life in the post-Mao era defies the historical narrative of secularization in the West, Chinese government policy toward religion has, for the most part, sought to relentlessly enact the classic version of secularization thesis into reality to make religion irrelevant to public life. On the one hand, state-approved religious forms and contexts always play a dominant role in structuring religion’s central, normative properties.
Chinese Religions on the Edge: Shifting Religion-State Dynamics
China Review-an Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China, 2018
Not unlike in the modern Western world of Europe and the United States, the rise of the modern Chinese nation-state has led to the construction of "religion" as an autonomous institutional category distinct from secular state order. Since the end of the 19th century and the early 20th, the modern Chinese state's insistence on secularization and on de ning and framing acceptable religion has o en made religion an anomalous "question" in social and political life. 1 Perhaps more than in any other countries, state-driven secularization and modernization in China resulted in violent and tragic consequences inflicted by state authorities and modernity on traditional religious culture and practices. 2 While the unexpected resurgence of religious life in the post-Mao era defies the historical narrative of secularization in the West, Chinese government policy toward religion has, for the most part, sought to relentlessly enact the classic version of secularization thesis into reality to make religion irrelevant to public life. On the one hand, state-approved religious forms and contexts always play a dominant role in structuring religion's central, normative properties. On the other hand, there are also
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 1992
This is a rich volume on religious development in China during the short period from the so-called Cultural Revolution up to 1985. Although freedom of religious belief is guaranteed in the new constitution of 1979 it has to coexist with a communist regime whose professed aim is the spread of materialism and atheism. This tension between the official Marxist policy and the persistence of religious beliefs and customs among the people is reflected in several articles. The contributions include articles on the academic study of religion, on aspects of religious revival and practice, on the situation of the Christian churches, and so on. The updated bibliography of Western and Chinese material is an additional strong
Religion in China: Major Concepts and Minority Positions
Ed. Max Deeg and Bernhard Scheid. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences. (Open access.) , 2015
Religions of foreign origin have shaped Chinese cultural history much stronger than generally assumed and continue to have impact on Chinese society in varying regional degrees. The essays collected in the present volume put a special emphasis on these “foreign” and less familiar aspects of Chinese religion. Apart from an introductory article on Daoism (the prototypical autochthonous religion of China), the volume reflects China’s encounter with religions of the so-called Western Regions, starting from the adoption of Indian Buddhism to early settlements of religious minorities from the Near East (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) and the early modern debates between Confucians and Christian missionaries. Contemporary religious minorities, their specific social problems, and their regional diversities are discussed in the cases of Abrahamitic traditions in China.