Chinese Religious Life

by Palmer, David A.; Shive, Glenn; Wickeri, Philip L.

• ISBN13: 9780199731381
• ISBN10: 0199731381
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Thirty years ago, religion was severely repressed throughout China. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, however, religious communities have reemerged in vast numbers and many new forms of religious practice have developed. This book offers an introduction to religion in contemporary China. Instead of adopting the traditional focus on pre-modern religious history and doctrinal traditions, Chinese Religious Life is based on the social dimensions of religious life, with essays devoted to religion in urban, rural, and ethnic minority settings; to the religious dimensions of body, gender, environment, and civil society; and to the historical, sociological, economic, and political aspects of religion in contemporary Chinese society. This volume of essays, written by a team of internationally renowned scholars, is based on both field research and historical and textual studies.

Author Biography

David A. Palmer is an assistant professor in the department of Sociology and fellow of the Centre for Anthropological Research at the University of Hong Kong. His most recent book (co-authored with V. Goossaert) is The Religious Question in Modern China (2011). Glenn Shive is the executive director of the Hong Kong America Center, a consortium of Hong Kong universities promoting academic exchange between the United States and Hong Kong and between the United States and China via universities in Hong Kong. His B. A. in religion and Ph.D. in Chinese history are from Temple University in Philadelphia. Philip L. Wickeri is Advisor to Hong Kong's Anglican Archbishop on Theological and Historical Studies and Adjunct Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. His most recent book is Reconstructing Christianity in China: K. H. Ting and the Chinese Church (2007).

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. xi
Introduction	p. 3
Ways of Being Religious in the Chinese World
Spirituality in a Modern Chinese Metropolis	p. 13
Communal Worship and Festivals in Chinese Villages	p. 30
The Religious Life of Ethnic Minority Communities	p. 50
Modalities of Doing Religion	p. 67
Religion, Culture, and Society
The Body: Health, Nation, and Transcendence	p. 87
Gender and Sexuality	p. 107
Chinese Cosmology and the Environment	p. 124
Religious Philanthropy and Chinese Civil Society	p. 139
Religion, Politics, and the Economy
Religion in Chinese Social and Political History	p. 155
The Social Organization of Religious Communities in the Twentieth Century	p. 172
Contemporary Issues in State-Religion Relations	p. 191
Market Economy and the Revival of Religions	p. 209
Global Perspectives
The Globalization of Chinese Religions and Traditions	p. 227
Conclusion: The Future of Chinese Religious Life	p. 241
Glossary	p. 255
Suggested Further Readings	p. 259
Index	p. 265
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.