Latter Han Religious Mass Movements And The Early Daoist Church

A state-of-the-art study of popular movements and religiosity in Late Antiquity China (1st–2nd cent. CE), focused on issues of theology, practice, sources and terminology, and including a critical assessment of received scholarship

Religion in the Peoples’ Republic of China: An Overview

In the three decades since the end of the Maoist era, all forms of religion in China have been undergoing restoration, innovation and expansion. Belying Marxist and secularist predictions of religion’s inevitable demise, most forms of religion, whether new or traditional, indigenous or foreign, official or illegal, ethnic or universal, communal or individual, and all combinations thereof, have enjoyed increasing popularity. This chapter begins with a discussion of what counts as “religion” in the Chinese context and how it can be measured, and presents a brief outline of the historical factors underlying the current situation. It then provides an overview of the PRC’s policy toward religion, which constitutes the framework within which (or, more often, outside of which) Chinese religious life is organized. It finally presents the basic evolution since 1979 of Chinese communal religion, the qigong movement, the Confucian revival, Buddhism and Daoism, Islam, and Christianity.postprin

Chinese redemptive societies and salvationist religion: historical phenomenon or sociological category?

This paper outlines a conceptual framework for research on Chinese redemptive societies and salvationist religion. I begin with a review of past scholarship on Republican era salvationist movements and their contemporary communities, comparing their treatment in three bodies of scholarly literature dealing with the history and scriptures of 'popular sects' in the late imperial era, the history of 'secret societies' of the Republican period, and the ethnography of 'popular religion' in the contemporary Chinese world. I then assess Prasenjit Duara's formulation of 'redemptive societies' as a label for a constellation of religious groups active in the republican period, and, after comparing the characteristics of the main groups in question (such as the Tongshanshe, Daoyuan, Yiguandao and others), argue that an analytical distinction needs to be made between 'salvationist movements' as a sociological category, which have appeared throughout Chinese history and until today, and redemptive societies as one historical instance of a wave of salvationist movements, which appeared in the Republican period and bear the imprint of the socio-cultural conditions and concerns of that period. Finally, I discuss issues for future research and the significance of redemptive societies in the social, political and intellectual history of modern China, and in the modern history of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. 本文嘗試勾勒有關中國救世團體及救度宗教之研究的概念框架。開始之先，本文回顧民國年間的救度運動及其引申的現代社群；並比較三組學術研究的處理角度：【一】帝國晚期「宗派主義傳統」('sectarian tradition')的歷史與寶卷研究，【二】民國時期「祕密會社」('secret societies')的歷史研究，以及【三】當下華人社會的「民間信仰」('popular religion')的民族志研究。本文析述杜贊奇提出的「救世團體」概念，作爲描述活躍於民國時期的一群特殊宗教團體的標籤。在比較主要例子（例如同善社、道院、一貫道之類）的特性後，本文主張把文首提到的兩個概念作出明確的學術區分：「救度宗教」指一社會學類型，並一直在中國歷史中出現，延續至今；而「救世團體」指出現於民國時期的一次救度宗教浪潮，且載有當時特定的社會文化因素。最後，本文將探討救世團研究在近代中國社會、政治及思想史，以及近代儒、道、佛等宗教歷史研究的意義和重要性。postprin

Religion in Chinese social and political history

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Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies

Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies explores the interaction between religion and nationalism in the Chinese societies of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. On the one hand, state policies toward religions in these societies are deciphered and their implications for religious freedom and regional stability are evaluated. On the other hand, Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam and folk religions are respectively analyzed in terms of their theological, organizational and political responses to the nationalist modernity projects of these states. What is new in this book on Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies is that the Chinese state has strengthened its control over religion to an unprecedented level. In particular, the Chinese state has almost completed its construction of a state religion called Chinese Patriotism. But at the same time, what is also new is the emergence of democratic civil religions in these Chinese societies

Religion in China

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

Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies

Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies explores the interaction between religion and nationalism in the Chinese societies of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. On the one hand, state policies toward religions in these societies are deciphered and their implications for religious freedom and regional stability are evaluated. On the other hand, Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam and folk religions are respectively analyzed in terms of their theological, organizational and political responses to the nationalist modernity projects of these states. What is new in this book on Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies is that the Chinese state has strengthened its control over religion to an unprecedented level. In particular, the Chinese state has almost completed its construction of a state religion called Chinese Patriotism. But at the same time, what is also new is the emergence of democratic civil religions in these Chinese societies

Locating Religions

This collection of articles applies concepts developed in the wake of the so-called “spatial turn” to the field of religious studies.; Readership: All interested in processes of interaction between societies and inidividuals of different creeds and cultures: historians, anthropologists, theologians

Religion and the State

With a clear statement of the theoretical issues in the debates about secularization and post-secularism, ‘Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology’ considers a number of major case studies – from China, Europe, Singapore and South Asia – in order to understand the rise of public religions in the modern state. By distinguishing between political secularization – the separation of state and religion – and social secularization – the transformation of the everyday practice of religion – this volume offers an integrating framework within which to analyze these different societies