Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought

by Schmidt-Leukel, Perry; Gentz, Joachim

• ISBN13: 9781137333193
• ISBN10: 1137333197
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-09-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

China looks back on a long history of religious diversity. Though not entirely free from conflicts, it was comparatively much more peaceful than the religious history of the West. What were the reasons? Was it a strong control exercised by the ruling authorities? Was it the powerful ideal of harmony extended to the religious realm? Was it a different sense of religious identity? How translates this heritage into contemporary China, its current politics and its most recent discussions after the liberalization of religions in the 1980s? This volume offers fresh insights by renowned scholars and specialists in the field.

Author Biography

Perry Schmidt-Leukel is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, University of Münster, Germany.
 
Joachim Gentz is Professor and Reader in Chinese, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Table of Contents

Preface; Joachim Gentz and Perry Schmidt-Leukel
PART I: THE BROADER CONTEXT
1. Why Chinese Thought on Religious Diversity Matters; Judith A. Berling
2. China and Religious Diversity: Some Critical Reflections; Gregor Paul
3. Religious Diversity: What is the Issue?; Perry Schmidt-Leukel
PART II: PERSPECTIVES FROM PRE-MODERN CHINA
4. Daoist Approaches to Religious Diversity; Livia Kohn
5. Confucian Approaches to Religious Diversity; Xinzhong Yao
6. Buddhist Approaches to Religious Diversity in Pre-Modern China; Zhiru Shi
7. Diversity in Three-Teachings (sanjiao) Discourses; Joachim Gentz
8. Religious Diversity from the Perspective of Religious Consumers; Adam Yuet Chau
9. Muslim Approaches to Religious Diversity in China; Sachiko Murata
10. Christian Approaches to Religious Diversity in China; Matteo Nicolini-Zani
PART III: TRANSFORMATIONS IN MODERNITY
11. Early Sino-European Contacts and the Birth of the Modern Concept of Religion; Nicolas Standaert
12. The Transformation of the Concept of Religion in Chinese Modernity; Rebecca Nedostup
13. Chinese Communist/Maoist Thought on Religious Diversity; Robert Weller
PART IV: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
14. Religious Ecology vs. Religious Market: Two Competing Theoretical Models in Current Chinese Scholarship on Religions; Philip Clart
15. Do Chinese Religions Need a Pluralist Theory of Religion?; Zhicheng Wang
16. Christian Discourses on Religious Diversity in Contemporary China; Pan-chiu Lai
17. The Religious Policy in Contemporary China; Peng Liu
18. New Religious Movements and the Issue of Religious Liberty; Barend Ter Haar