28 research outputs found
Text and Context: Redemptive Societies in the History of Religions of Modern and Contemporary China
In recent years, scholars of modern and contemporary Chinese religion have turned their
attention to the subject of âredemptive societiesâ, a term coined by Prasenjit Duara in 2001
to refer to groups such as the Yiguandao, the Daoyuan, the Tongshanshe , the Wushanshe,
and others which had a major socio-religious impact during the Republican period.
Spiritually authoritative or sacred texts play a number of crucial roles within redemptive
societies. First and foremost, of course, they record and codify a redemptive societyâs
beliefs and rituals and are thus key sources for the analysis of these aspects of a specific
religious system. As obvious as this may appear, such analyses have not been carried out
for many of these texts, which more commonly serve as quarries in which to collect data
on the organizational structure or social and political history of a particular group. Research
that takes the doctrinal systems encoded in modern redemptive societiesâ sacred
texts seriously has been fairly rare.
We have therefore put together an international team of scholars from Europe, Taiwan,
Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Japan to focus on the textual and contextual histories of
redemptive societies, with an eye toward giving their past â and their future â the attention
they deserve
Migrating Buddhas and Global Confucianism: The Transnational Space-Making of Taiwanese Religious Organizations
This project explores the global spread of the two Taiwanese religious organizations Foguangshan (äœć
ć±±,
âBuddhaâs Light Mountainâ) and Yiguandao (äžèČ«é, âWay of Pervading Unityâ) by applying the theoretical
framework of transnational social spaces. Particularly since the gradual relaxation of political restraints in
1980s Taiwan, both religious organizations have started to spread their religious and cultural traditions on a
global scale. Their endeavours connect, cross, and inhabit countries affected by Chinese migration as well
as facilitate border-crossing spatial arrangements such as transnational communities (including Chinese
diaspora / Chinese cultural sphere / Buddhism)
Text and Context: Redemptive Societies in the History of Religions of Modern and Contemporary China
In recent years, scholars of modern and contemporary Chinese religion have turned their
attention to the subject of âredemptive societiesâ, a term coined by Prasenjit Duara in 2001
to refer to groups such as the Yiguandao, the Daoyuan, the Tongshanshe , the Wushanshe,
and others which had a major socio-religious impact during the Republican period.
Spiritually authoritative or sacred texts play a number of crucial roles within redemptive
societies. First and foremost, of course, they record and codify a redemptive societyâs
beliefs and rituals and are thus key sources for the analysis of these aspects of a specific
religious system. As obvious as this may appear, such analyses have not been carried out
for many of these texts, which more commonly serve as quarries in which to collect data
on the organizational structure or social and political history of a particular group. Research
that takes the doctrinal systems encoded in modern redemptive societiesâ sacred
texts seriously has been fairly rare.
We have therefore put together an international team of scholars from Europe, Taiwan,
Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Japan to focus on the textual and contextual histories of
redemptive societies, with an eye toward giving their past â and their future â the attention
they deserve