Confucianism as Religion: Controversies and Consequences: 5 xii, 208pp. Edition
Author(s): Yong Chen (Author)
Publisher: Brill
Publication Date: 8 Nov. 2012
Edition: xii, 208pp.
Language: English
Print length: 220 pages
ISBN-10: 9004243739
ISBN-13: 9789004243736
Book Description
Confucianism as Religion tackles the perennially controversial question of whether Confucianism is a religion. After surveying the epistemological difficulties in both Chinese and Western scholarship in addressing the controversy over Confucian religiosity, Yong Chen convincingly reveals the sociopolitical and cultural stakes that are deeply entangled with the controversy. He brings the issue to the scrutiny of the latest theoretical constructions in religious studies and anthropology and, by defying Wilfred C. Smith’s claim that it is a question that the West has never been able to answer and China never been able to ask, proposes a holistic and contextual approach to the question about the religious status of Confucianism.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“[Chen’s way of looking] at the debate over Confucian religiousness provides a way toward understanding the existential condition of the Chinese people in modern times and the obsession of Chinese intellectuals with the conundrum of tradition and modernity.” Christian Jochim, San Jose State University, Review of Religion and Chinese Society 2.2 (2015)
“The author can not only expose the epistemological significance of defining Confucian within the category of religion, but also he shows that the controversy over the religious character of Confucianism can be dissociated from the nationalistic and “salvific” attempts of the apparently Confucian essence and nature of Chinese culture (pp. 137-175). […] Yong Chen proposes in his book a comprehensive and contextual approach to solving the problem of whether Confucianism is a religion. This should make sinologists and scholars in religious studies, and graduate students in the fields of Confucian studies and Chinese religions, and anyone interested in the religiosity of Confucianism and its contemporary relevance delve into this book and search for his or her answer to this question.” Zbigniew Wesolowski,
Monumenta Serica 62 (2014)
From the Back Cover
” On the Rhetoric of Defining Confucianism as a Religion ” tackles the perennially controversial question of whether Confucianism is a religion. After surveying the epistemological difficulties in both Chinese and Western scholarship in addressing the controversy over Confucian religiosity, Yong Chen convincingly reveals the sociopolitical and cultural stakes that are deeply entangled with the controversy. He brings the issue to the scrutiny of the latest theoretical constructions in religious studies and anthropology and, by defying Wilfred C. Smith s claim that it is a question that the West has never been able to answer and China never been able to ask, proposes a holistic and contextual approach to the question about the religious status of Confucianism.
About the Author
Yong Chen , PhD (2005), Vanderbilt University, is Research Professor of Chinese philosophy and religion at El Colegio de Mexico. He has published a number of articles on contemporary Confucianism, including “Renewing Confucianism as a Living Tradition in 21st Century China.”
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